10 summer flowers that are easy to grow from seed - Gardening With Brendan

Sunglasses and Factor 50 at the ready, the dry and warm spell this week provided the perfect opportunity to take up the shovel again. And the sunshine also brought the flowers out, with various plants showing themselves off for the first time.

Here’s a list of ten flowers I would definitely grow from seed again (I’ll do a list of the ones that I felt were more bother than they were worth at a later date).

Calendula

Probably my favourite flower of everything I’ve sown this year, these neon orange, edible flowers look like mini suns on lime green foliage (also edible). Known also across the world as ‘pot marigold’, they were super quick and super easy to germinate back in February. I tried four different varieties bought at different times from different places,including some quite old seeds, and the germination rate was superb every time. They have grown steadily ever since and needed little care and attention. Calendula also blooms throughout the summer and is proving a magnet for pollinators already, including the little hoverflies.

Pansies

Speaking of germination superstars, the packet of Swiss pansies I bought resulted in around 100 sturdy little plants being transplanted into single cell tray after single cell tray. I’ve given loads away and still struggled to find floor space for them in the ground and in pots. And these have thrived in both environments and are now flowering away in a mass of different colours. There’s single colour and mixtures of yellows, pale blues, navy blues, purples, rust orange, whites, pinks and magentas and no two seem to be same. As with calendula these seedlings required next to nothing to thrive and are already providing the multi-colour display I was aiming for in the garden this year. Best of all, they will flower well into autumn and you can even get winter varieties to keep the colour run going well into the bleak, dark days of the colder months.

California poppy

Never heard of it; never tried it until this year, but this is another edible flower like the two above that I’ll definitely be collecting seeds from for next year because it has been something of a dream to grow. I don’t think there was a single seed sown that didn’t somersault through the soil and announce its presence within a few days back in March, and it has been quite something to see them thrive and evolve much faster than anything else I planted this year.

The golden four leaf cups, which only open fully when the sun peeks out, seem to be popular with the bumble bees.

Cornflower

The humble cornflower is often overlooked by gardeners these days as trendier and showier flowers dominate the shelves and seed racks in shops and garden centres but there’s at least three reasons why these stunning blue flowers have been a cottage garden favourite for past generations. Not only were they simple and easy to grow from seed, but they are also a magnet for bees and other insects.

While there are buds a plenty, as I write this I only have two open but they catch your eye because of the other reason the cutely nicknamed ‘Benjamin buttons’ were so popular – their stunning shade of blue, which is where we get the description ‘cornflower blue’ from.

Nasturtium

Super easy to grow, and another edible to add to your salad, these beautiful orange, red and yellow flowers with their pan shaped leaves are a stunning addition to any flower bed or pot and the few that have opened so far are proving popular with the local bee population.

Iceland poppy

Despite an unusual growing habit of doing nothing for a long time and then taking off, I’d definitely grow these again. Don’t be fooled by the dormant habit and delicate look of the tiny seedlings- these guys are hardy and like being outdoors in the cold early on. Mine survived frost, gales and even snow and they are a clear favourite among the bees with a vibrating hum in among the pretty yellow, white, apricot and orange flower cups all day, every day.

Schizanthus

Not your everyday garden plant but they definitely lived up to the showy pictures on the internet with a profusion of tiny orchid like flowers in shades of white and lilac with a tiger-striped yellow centre. A real eye catcher and hardier than I expected. The germination rate wasn’t the best but definitely worth the effort for the interest they add to the potted garden.

French Marigold

I have to say of all the flowers I’ve grown this year I’m just not a fan of how marigolds look but I got two small packets of complimentary seeds when ordering others and decided to have a go. And I have to say I’ve been won round somewhat as they grew so quickly and without any fuss. I was very impressed with the germination rate on them and the velvety reds and yellows of the little flowers are quite pleasing on the eye.

Lobelia

Upright or trailing, these really are a brilliant addition to pots and window boxes, creating mounds and drifts of tiny flowers in shades of blue, white or dark pink. Super easy to grow from seed and happy enough in single cells with little to no special requirements until it’s time to pot them up. Just keep them watered and watch them flourish.

Sweet Alyssum

When we think about plants that are pollinator friendly we often think about what is best for the bees and rightly so, but there are so many winged insects which are also vital to our ecosystem and tiny flowers like lobelia and alyssum are a perfect fit for the smaller fliers you find flitting and hovering in the garden. I learned a while back about the importance of white flowers in amongst the colours to make them pop and the tiny white drifts of alyssum flowers do this beautifully. As an added bonus they also smell like honey and easily self seed.