Best flowers to grow from seed
 

I want to start some flowers from seed this year for my Mom.

She usually just buys fully grown flowers at a store.

I just wanted to see if anyone could recommend some good varieties of flowers that can be started from seed indoors? Most would need to be varieties that would do well in a container when planted outside not planted directly in the ground.

Thanks

Jim

Any kind of Petunia does great in containers as well as snapdragons.
I grew them both when I was a little kid from seeds.
Worth

Marigolds are easy to start from seed.

Wave Petunias are pretty, cascading, and more expensive to buy (as plants) than regular petunias.

Linda

I personally don't grow anything with extremely small seeds. That would mean begonias, impatiens, petunia, and coleus off the top of my head. I also only grow from saved seeds. What I have been successful with is cosmos, marigolds, nicotiana, snapdragons. I also save seeds from geraniums, but that is tedious. Purchased seeds are prohibitive in cost. The marigolds that I really love are the ones I got in the seed exchange here one year called Tashkent Monastery. The foliage doesn't smell unpleasant and they are velvety red with gold edges. The cosmos is the native cosmos Ladybird Scarlet. They stay very compact with brilliant. orange color. Also, I always grow Salvia coccinea, red and coral numph. Another easy to grow annuals I suggest, especially attractive in containers is talinum limon. It has brilliant gold foliage and sends up sprays of small pink flowers. Dahlias are also easily grown from seed, plus you can dig and store the roots for next year. Of course, I belong to the local chapter of seed savers anonymous.

Ooh this is a great thread....last year I did not start petunias early enough and so didn't bother. Then I had these big holes in the garden beds where they should have been :twisted:. I need to plant those really soon.

If you go with petunias, try to get the ones that have been pelletized (seeds)...they will be easier to plant. And water them with warm water. They do not like cold water.

Alyssums are pretty, seeds are tiny, but easily found at the dollar stores for like a quarter. Columbine was from the dollar store too and was surprisingly easy...and a perennial to boot!

Impatiens were not difficult to grow, just teeny tiny seeds.

I grow most of my flowers from seed. The easiest are the ones with larger seeds.
My favorite is the zinnia, it does get very tall though. As other have mentioned
Marigold's and Cosmo's are easy. Petunia seed are very tiny, so you have to be
careful not to put too many seed in a container. You sprinkle them on top of the
soil since they need light to germinate. I don't know if they would make the best
cut flower though.

Yes. Zinnias. They are easy to grow and easy to save seeds from. I grow them every year next to my tomatoes to attract butterflies, bees, etc. As cut flowers they usually stay fresh more than a few days.

I may try the shorter ones this year, but will use last year's seeds first.

I'll be starting Wave Petunia and Vinca in early Feb. Followed by Impatiens, Verbena and then Gazania in early March. These all do well in containers.

Cuttings are taken from Pentas and Lantana in late summer. These go back into the ground in late spring.

dahlia, poppy, asters, calendula, nasturtiums, stocks, nicotiana, to be truthfully, most seed-started greenhouse varieties are fairly easy to grow if you can manage their light requirements and have the space. You can also order plug trays like the pro's if you have a greenhouse.

Something I do every spring is buy a few (2-3) vegetative petunias already growing as early as I can get them from a GH, usually early april. I then take as many cuttings as I can and root them straight into potting mix in 4" pots. they all "Take" and are big enough to plant out at the normal time, here about the last week of May. The "mother plants regrow as well so I still have them to plant. You can easily get a dozen good cuttings from each plant.
Petunias are very easy to root from cuttings and a good one to try for a beginner.
I do this only for my own use though. remember it can be illegal to vegetatively propagate for sale many popular annuals due to licencing and branding. It is not illegal to do it for yourself.
I also save seed from those expensive F1 petunias and the F2's will give you unpredicatable colours but always nice spreading vegetative plants. as long as you are not fussy about a certain colour, it's a fun surprise to see what you get.
here's a timeline of it from my NG page
[URL]https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.355324704608724.1073741851.165594393581757&type=3[/URL]
click on the first photo and keep clicking for seed to full grown plants. you do not have to be a facebook user to see the photos.

KarenO

What Karen said. I make lots of cuttings. What I use is a clear plastic container to root them in though. That way, they have their own little green house. It becomes a steam bath when it is in a sunny location. I cut a 3-4 inch piece and remove the bottom leaves. I make sure to bury at least one node in the soil. I remove all flowers as they take energy from the cutting. Rooting hormone, like Rootone, helps. Also, drilling holes in the bottom of the container helps to not over water. Adding more perlite makes the soil more porous, aiding the rooting process. Coleus will have a generous new root system in 3 weeks. Other plants take longer.

The last slide is begonias I started from saved seeds. (I couldn't help myself) I guess the issue for me isn't so much the small seeds, but the fact that it will be forever before those seedlings are big enough to handle, and them many more weeks before they are plantable out. Just my experience. Oops, no picture. They were so small they didn't show up in the slide

Open container for viewing purposes.

Geraniums are easy from seed, too. Don't neglect the heat or if your seeds need to germinate cool, make sure you google it to see so you don't ruin the seeds. Snaps, dianthus, pansies.. all do well to be frozen for a week or two in the kitchen freezer before planting. Sweetpeas for baskets don't need heat either. You can also buy houseplants in the Spring and split them to add texture, trailing or an upright feature to a large planter.

Marigolds, petunias and zinnias are easy to start from seed, and will give you a wide range of colors and heights that will bloom all summer, into late fall. Allysum is a nice flowering plant that looks great mixed in a container with petunias, marigolds and many other flowers. Pansy is another one that is easy and looks great in containers with allysum that cascades down.

Everyone gave great advice and tips.. I would make sure you follow the package directions and look up each variety in a google search as many varieties have different growing and germinating methods. Good luck..

Ginny

[QUOTE=nancyruhl;526390]What Karen said. I make lots of cuttings. What I use is a clear plastic container to root them in though. That way, they have their own little green house. It becomes a steam bath when it is in a sunny location. I cut a 3-4 inch piece and remove the bottom leaves. I make sure to bury at least one node in the soil. I remove all flowers as they take energy from the cutting. Rooting hormone, like Rootone, helps. Also, drilling holes in the bottom of the container helps to not over water. Adding more perlite makes the soil more porous, aiding the rooting process. Coleus will have a generous new root system in 3 weeks. Other plants take longer.

The last slide is begonias I started from saved seeds. (I couldn't help myself) I guess the issue for me isn't so much the small seeds, but the fact that it will be forever before those seedlings are big enough to handle, and them many more weeks before they are plantable out. Just my experience. Oops, no picture. They were so small they didn't show up in the slide[/QUOTE]

Very nice Nancy..Thank you for posting. :)

Ginny

Ginny, hope it is helpful.

Also wanted to mention that I noticed that the beautiful orange cosmos I mentioned in a post above is on the seed racks and is being sold by Burpee as "Cosmic Orange".

Thanks for all the great suggestions Worth, AlittleSalt, Linda, nancyruhl, Nattybo!, roper2008, guruofgardens, bjbebs, KarenO ,clkeiper, and Ginny.

I remember as a little kid growing Zinnias, Petunias and Marigolds. None were in grown in containers though.

I'm looking forward to starting some off and hoping my Mom will like them!

Jim

Last year I started an annual cut flower mix from seed indoors in February, and a couple of the flowers are still alive today. The main ones that came up were zinnia, celosia (cockscomb), and a few bachelor's buttons, so I'd recommend those. The celosia aren't really all that flowery looking, but they have beautiful height and color to them (burgundy and gold and pink and purple) and would still look great in a vase.

This year, I've apparently gone mad and am starting oriental poppies and black hollyhocks indoors. I have no idea if they'll work out, especially in containers (hollyhocks get 5-6 feet tall!), but I'm determined to try! Seeds are so cheap that it's fun and easy to experiment a little and take more risks than you would with transplants.

This is the root system that developed on my cuttings of sweet potato vine made about 10 days ago using the clear plastic container. I am potting them up today to make room for more cuttings in the box.

[QUOTE=nancyruhl;528479]This is the root system that developed on my cuttings of sweet potato vine made about 10 days ago using the clear plastic container. I am potting them up today to make room for more cuttings in the box.[/QUOTE]

Mine are still hanging from the potato.:lol:
Worth

Cute, Worth. But it does bring up a good question. I have tried to make "starts" from sweet potatoes unsuccessfully. I try to get them started in flats at the one nursery I know that carries them. But you have to be at the right place at the right time to get them. Last year I plopped myself at the door to grab a flat as they came off the truck. Wonder if I made some cuttings from the vines "hanging from the potato" i could get more plants. Sounds like an experiment for this summer.

[QUOTE=nancyruhl;528498]Cute, Worth. But it does bring up a good question. I have tried to make "starts" from sweet potatoes unsuccessfully. I try to get them started in flats at the one nursery I know that carries them. But you have to be at the right place at the right time to get them. Last year I plopped myself at the door to grab a flat as they came off the truck. Wonder if I made some cuttings from the vines "hanging from the potato" i could get more plants. Sounds like an experiment for this summer.[/QUOTE]

I'm going to give it a try I have seen folks start the slips in water.
Once I get a stand going I wont have to do it anymore here in the south.

Worth

Okay I'm back and it works really fast.:))
Here they are.
And more on the way I have three sweet potatoes going.

To answer your question yes you can keep starting sweet potato plants from the vines.
Any place they hit the soil they take root or you can cut the and replant in moist soil.

Once a person gets these things going there is no reason to have to ever buy them again.
Where I live if you leave some potatoes in the ground they will keep coming back.
These potato/plants have been out in the cold all winter.

Worth
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Great to know. Thanks for the info.

[QUOTE=nancyruhl;528527]Great to know. Thanks for the info.[/QUOTE]

Your welcome also every place they take root they grow sweet potatoes all along the vine.
Crazy plant.:lol:

Worth