Top Flowers To Plant From Seeds

By Victoria Fuller It’s finally Spring time, we made it! As much as we would love to dust off the gardening gloves and get straight outside, we have to take the occasional beautiful Spring day with a grain of salt and make strategic choices when it comes to our garden plan. Enter: planting seeds! Instead of buying a garden’s worth of plants and hoping that we have seen the last frost, we would recommend starting some seeds indoors to not only get a head-start on the season, but also to ensure a high chance of success (and save some money in the process!). Why Bother Growing Flowers From Seeds? There are many fantastic reasons to grow flowers from seeds instead of purchasing juvenile plants at the garden centre, but the main ones that we want to focus on today are cost and satisfaction! Savings An average package of flower seeds can range from 50 seeds to up to 500 seeds per packet (depending on the type of flower!), which is already fantastic, but when you consider the cost of a packet of seeds compared to a juvenile plant at the garden center you are saving a substantial amount of money. Not to mention the fact that you could even harvest seeds from the flowers that you grow and store them for next season! Thus saving even more money! Satisfaction What could be more satisfying than cultivating a flower throughout its entire life’s journey, from seed to beautiful bloom? We have nothing against buying juvenile plants and transplanting them directly into your garden, but any gardener will agree that there is a special sort of joy that comes from knowing that the gorgeous flowers brightening up your outdoor space are there entirely because of you! What Will You Need? Pots (or planting vessels of some sort!) When you are starting your seed growing adventure you will need a vessel for your seeds to call home! Biodegradable pots are a fantastic option as they can be transplanted directly into your raised garden bed once the time is right (plus they help reduce single-use plastics: yay!), but traditional pots work just as well for the initial planting phase! You just need to ensure that the pot you use has drainage holes so as not to swamp your seedlings during watering! Seeds Arguably the most important part of the seed-growing journey is the seeds themselves! We recommend purchasing your seeds from a reputable source (such as a garden center) as opposed to buying mysterious seeds online or from an untrustworthy person in a farmer’s market parking lot. Tools During the seed planting stage you will need a watering can, a small trowel (like this fantastic one) for arranging your seeds and ensuring your depth is correct, and some gloves to keep your hands nice and clean! Determination This may seem obvious to those of us with green thumbs, but if you are just starting out we would encourage you not to give up! Gardening can be challenging (especially if the weather doesn’t play ball!) so give yourself the time and space to grow alongside your plants! Types of Flowers When choosing which flowers to cultivate from seeds there are a few questions that you have to ask yourself, the main one being: what kind of garden are you hoping to achieve? The recommendations below are some of our favourite flowers to have growing on site at our office here at Cedar Planters, all of these flowers can be started indoors from seed and then transplanted outdoors into your planter box once the last frost has finally subsided. We would recommend giving all of these flowers 1-2 inches of water per week and planting them in full sun! Zinnias These gorgeous flowers are often associated with friendship and lasting affection! So try growing a bouquet for your friends! Sunflowers Iconic yellow flowers that reach for the skies! These beautiful flowers are actually composed of thousands of smaller flowers and are the official flower of the Leo Zodiac sign. Marigolds If your birthday is in October then this gorgeous yellow and orange flower is your birth flower! Marigolds are also known to symbolize positivity! Cosmos This gorgeous flower comes in an entire rainbow of colours! Cosmos are known to represent order and harmony so they make a great addition to any garden! Sweetpeas These lovely flowers are known for their delicate fragrance and adorable butterfly-shaped blooms! Sweetpeas are commonly associated with saying goodbye or thanking somebody for a lovely time, so consider this before giving somebody the wrong message! Transplanting After a few weeks your seedlings will be ready to be transplanted outside in your raised garden bed, planter box, or traditional garden! The trick to transplanting is to simply be patient and gentle, don’t pull your plants by their stems or leaves, but scoop them up (roots and all!) from their base and then transplant them into holes pre-dug outside! Raised Garden Beds When planting flowers we would recommend a raised garden bed or planter box with ample planting depth such as the Cedar Planters 48” raised garden bed which has a planting depth of 12” (in fact, all Cedar Planters garden beds have a 12” soil planting depth!) which is the perfect depth for flowers to develop a sturdy root system. We can’t wait to see the flowers that you grow from seeds this year! Are there any specific flowers that you are hoping to bloom this season?