first year flowering seeds

redmatchstickman

hi everyone, am a bit late starting my garden this year and was wandering if any one knows of any first year flowering seeds its still ok to plant. dont mind if theyre autumn/winter flowers but would like some color this summer too. if too late now i will buy some plants instead but enjoy growing them from seed more. i would like a climber and some flowers. have already planted some shrub and grasses seeds but my gardens massive and needs filling. its full sun all day. thanks in advance.

kazwookie

I'd plant them, and see what happens.

Good luck

olly300

You can plant flowers like sunflowers, corn flowers, marigolds and other annuals now. Thompson and morgan have a list of what you can sow now here: http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/this-month

Last year I sowed sunflowers, poppies and a mixture of wildflower seeds around now. The sunflowers bloomed from end of July to the beginning of October. The poppies and mixed wildflowers bloomed from mid-July to September.

serena

I'm not sure if you want to grow perennials, which will die down for the winter and the grow again next year, or if you would be happy to have some annual flowers for lots of colour this summer?

It's a bit late for perennials to grow and flower this year, but a good time to sow them, grow on in pots or in a nursery bed, and then have some sturdy plants to put out in September. I can recommend: aquilegia, rudbeckia, potentilla, oriental poppies.

If you would like to have some colour this summer, then you can sow annuals direct, and thin them out if they grow too close. There are lots of very easy ones, and I suggest you look our for 'Hardy annuals' on the packet. Try calendula (pot marigold), nigella (love in a mist), cornflower, cosmos, nasturtium (climbing and bush) - there are hundreds!

For climbers, you could try canary creeper, climbing nasturtium, or the morning glories - or try runner beans or climbing french beans - fast, pretty flowers, and you can eat the beans!

If you want a book to help, then I can recommend the Alan Titchmarsh How to be a Gardener books. The first is on first time gardening, and the second more on design, They are often available quite cheaply from The Book People, or try the library. The videos were good too.

redmatchstickman

thanks all. i do want perennials but what im going to do is what you all advised, i will sow now in pots for next year flowering, then i can plan my layout and make beds for them. i will plant direct dome annual seeds, i think im going to do the peas, great idea. and it had a feature on peas on gardeners world i watched the other day too (uktvgardens repeat), i have made a note of the flowers suggested and am off googling seed shops.! thank you :beer:

redmatchstickman

oh and olly300 great link, just what i needed.