Sunlight exposure: Full sun to part shade 6. When in bloom, its flowers are so abundant they may entirely conceal the lance-shaped grey-green foliage.īecause sweet alyssum flowers so profusely throughout the growing season, and each seed pod contains two seeds, it will easily double its numbers each year. Sweet alyssum is a low growing, mat forming plant that will quickly fill in any empty spots along border fronts, under plantings, and edgings.Ī showy and fragrant annual, it bears clusters of honey scented tiny flowers in white, pink, yellow, or purple. While deadheading the flowers will prolong blooming, leave spent flowerheads on the plant to ensure it self-sows. Pink, purple, and white are the most common colors, but with dozens of cultivars, cosmos blooms may be seen streaked and rimmed with various hues. Its foliage makes cosmos easy to recognize, a bushy mass of feathery and soft needle-like leaves. Growing up to 4 feet tall, cosmos is a low maintenance annual with 8-petalled florets arranged around a yellow center. Cosmos ( Cosmos bipinnatus)Ĭosmos provides a glorious display of blooms all season long – from June until the first frost. Once this capsule is ripe, it explodes to distribute its seeds that will quickly germinate the following season when the earth is disturbed. When bloom time is over, its petals drop to reveal a capsule filled with small black seeds. It reaches 9 to 18 inches in height on a hairy stem with toothy leaves.įield poppies flower from late spring to early summer. Field Poppy ( Papaver rhoeas)Īs memorialized in the World War I poem, In Flanders Fields, the common field poppy is so incredibly hardy that it will grow and thrive in even the most war ravaged landscapes.Ī stunning specimen with papery petals and a distinctive black center, its blooms are usually scarlet red but sometimes appear in purple or white. Sunlight exposure: Full sun to part shade 3. Its fragrant leaves are a natural repellent for mosquitos and asparagus beetles too.Ĭalendula seeds or starts only need be planted once, since this annual flower will reliably repopulate itself each season. Truly a gardener’s best friend, calendula is as beneficial as it is lovely.īearing golden daisy-like flowers, calendula (or pot marigold) is an excellent companion plant for tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, asparagus, peas, lettuce, and more.Ĭalendula also attracts numerous beneficial insects to the garden, including bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, as well as predatory insects like ladybugs and lacewings that will feast on aphids and other “bad guy” insects. Sunlight exposure: Full sun to part shade 2. Take care not to let morning glory take over by pulling up or relocating seedlings that have wandered too far. Growing up to 15 feet in length in a single season, morning glories will cling to any and all nearby supports – including other plants.Īlthough morning glory is an annual that will die back completely each winter, it self-sows so prolifically that each generation is more numerous than the last. With heart shaped leaves on twining vines, morning glory blooms with trumpet shaped flowers in purple, pink, blue, red, or white, opening up in the morning sun. Here are some of the easiest self-sowers to grow: Self-Seeding Flowers and Ornamentals 1. Many kinds of ornamental and edible plants reseed themselves. You can also collect seed pods in the fall and toss them into areas of the garden where you would like them to sprout. These are known as “volunteers” in the world of horticulture, since they require no effort or intervention on the part of the gardener.Īllow them to flourish where they happen to land or relocate them to a suitable spot. While most of the typical garden cultivars would require you to harvest, store, and then sow collected seeds the following year, self-sowing plants produce seeds that are so hardy, they drop to the ground in autumn and pop up on their own in spring. The key to a low maintenance and low cost garden is to grow a variety of plants that readily self-seed.
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