Gardening from Seed

Question from Cynthia:

I took out a big area of lawn to enlarge my flower beds. I started Virginia stock, sweet pea, and poppy from seed, then planted the bed densely. It’s beautiful!!! But….now I’m wondering how to transition as smoothly as possible from my spring garden to a summer garden.

I would like new plants growing up as these start to fade out, but the planting now is so dense that I don’t know how. Can I toss in cosmos and zinnia seed and hope they take hold? Should I get my seedlings going and sacrifice some of the current plants to make room?

I searched my books and online, but found no answers. I know you’ll have the answer though!!

Thank for answering this and all the other questions people ask. You’re very gracious and generous to do so.

Answer from Pat:

There are several ways to manage flower beds for year-round color. I don’t know where you live but am guessing Southern California. (If you have written to me before, you might think I can remember these kinds of things but too many people write questions for me at this time of year for me to keep them in mind.)

One way to manage a flower bed in a Mediterranean climate is to base it on perennials and bulbs with annuals filling in corners and flowering shrubs and vines providing height. In this case, one plants the entire thing the first time usually in fall concentrating on winter blooming plants for color in winter and spring. Then as these fade, one would pull them out or cut them back depending on whether they are annual or perennial, and fill the bare areas with summer-blooming annuals and perennials. In this way you get color almost year-round. You can also have bulbs in drifts along with the other plants, chrysanthemums in bloom in fall, and winter blooming plants such as primroses as well. During the second year after planting your time to cut back and revamp the bed is not October since the bed will still be in bloom. Instead it is usually February.

Another way is to plant entirely from seeds in fall. Once again the best time to begin is fall. One can plant easy annuals from seeds in fall, mainly wildflowers that will bloom in winter spring and the following summer and depending on the varieties you plant you can keep the bed in bloom all winter, spring and though summer into fall at which time you can pull it all out and begin again. These methods are included in my book since I have done all of them. Yet another way to go and I did this myself for years is plant winter and spring wild flowers in October, rush them into bloom by December, and pull them out in late May. At that time amend the bed and plant the whole thing, watered with a drip system to zinnias from seeds. (See instructions on page 191 of my organic book.) Benary’s Giant is my favorite variety and resistant to mildew.It was developed for the cut flower industry. This does not give you color year around since you have to wait for the zinnias to bloom but it’s fun nonetheless and such a thrill when they bloom and you will have masses of cut flowers for the house as well as a magnificent display in the garden. For quicker results you can plant transplants but most of these will get mildew and you won’t get the big display you want. Seeds work best. Small flowered types bloom quicker and many other variaties mentioned in my book give you ideas for great color splash.