Because I do a lot of gardening at our small museum, I need plants that give a lot of bloom as soon as possible. I have found several annuals that fill in for now but was wondering what perennials might bloom their first year from seed.
I have shade and sun and everything in between. Our coldest winter put us in zone 6 like last year but usually we are zone 7.
What is your favorite perennial that blooms first year?
I have a list going in my Blog, so I copied and pasted it here for you. Hope it helps a little. : )
Perennials that flower the first year from seed.
10/30/08
These are some plants that I have grown from seed and have flowered the first year. I am only including ones that can be grown as an annual. In otherwords the flowers were showy enough that I would grow them as an annual if necessary. Some of them were started in '07' and have overwintered for me, I will put an asterick next to these.
1. Hardy Ageratum - Eupatorium coelestinium* Still have these now in 2010- so have proven hardy for me.
2. Hoary Vervain - Verbena stricta* Still have these now in 2010- so have proven hardy for me.
3. Tall Skullcap - Scutellaria altissima* Still have these now in 2010- so have proven hardy for me.
4. Agastache foeniculum - Anise Hyssop*
5. Scarlet Monkey Flower -Mimulus cardinalis*
6. Delphinium grandiflorum 'Blue Butterfly' - Dwarf Chinese Delphinium* Still have these now in 2010- so have proven hardy for me.
7. Knautia macedonica - Knautia (Although only one out of 9 flowered, the one that did flower - did so impressively - for being started that spring.)* Still have these now in 2010- so have proven hardy for me.
I had other perennials that got a bloom or two but the flowers were smaller than they would eventually be and not showy enough to be considered for growing as an annual. However I would still recommend them as a perennial where they are hardy. If you are in a longer growing season than I, it might be worth it to give them a try yourself and see if you have better results. When growing them from seed as a perennial, it was nice to see even the small blooms that they did get. The small amount of blooms were good to give me an idea of what's to come next year, at least color and shape wise, but not size wise. It is also nice to see that the seedlings are what you thought they were, especially if you had lost the tags. Or if you thought their might have been a mix up with the seeds, which happens to even the best of us.... especially us seed savers and traders.
Here are some examples:
1. Maltese Cross - Lychnis coronia* (only the straight species put out a few very small flowers on low growing plants. 'Alba' did not produce any flowers at all.)
2. Hollyhock Mallow 'Party Girl' - Sidalacea malviflora (Perhaps if grouped close together in a large cluster these would be 'okay' to grow as an annual but not good enough for me to want if they were only annuals)
3. Stachys coccinea - Only one plant got some flowers and the plants were very small and so were the flowers.
4. Bubble Gum Mint 'Purple Pygmy' - Agastache cana - Like the Party Girl Mallow, perhaps these would be 'okay' if grown in a large cluster. I found the plants were very small and the blooms barely showed, although mostly all the plants flowered and they did get a decent amount of them.
5. Balloon Flower - Out of over 36 plants I only saw two flowers and one bud. It barely opened after some good frosts but is still hanging on as I write this.
6. Dianthus 'Siberian Blues' - Out of 9 clumps, one put out a flower or two and it was very pretty, but again not enough for me to want as an annual.
7. Agastache foeniculum - Sunset Hyssop* - These had decent foliage growth, but very few flowers that could not be seen from more than a few feet away.
If you want to try growing perennials that flower the first year from seed as annuals there are some things to consider. The first thing is that they will need to be planted in large groups and spaced closer together than the eventual size would dictate, to put on a good show. This can become a problem if they prove hardy for you in their second year, because the plants will get much larger the second year, so the closely planted groups may need to be thinned out. I don't see this as a problem though, because when you thin them out, you can plant them in empty spots in your garden or give them away to friends that will enjoy the benefit of a full sized flowering plant.
Edited to update which ones have proven hardy for me. Now that I look at the lower second list, the only one that wasn't was Stachs coccinea. Also, Agastache cana made it through last winter but not the previous. You would probably find both of them completely hardy for you.
This message was edited Jun 11, 2010 8:41 AM
BTW - Verbena bonariensis is MY personal favorite, I don't have it there because it is an annual for me. In your zone it would most likely be perennial, however I have heard some people in warmer zones complain of it being invasive so I would do a little research before trying that one if I were you. Happy Gardening! : )
Edited to Add a link for you http://www.floridata.com/ref/v/verb_bon.cfm
This message was edited Jun 11, 2010 8:37 AM
What's your blog information?
Oh it's just my DG Blog, nothing special. :)
sticky spacebar here
This message was edited Jun 11, 2010 4:19 PM
Thank you so much. I have disalcea malviflora. I realize that most perennials won't bloom the first year; just hoping for something that give color this year.
Your welcome! Another one that is just starting to flower for me now in it's second year is the Irish eyes Rudbeckia. One of the plants put out a flower just before frost the first year, so I bet in your zone it would flower the first year, no problem. :)
Echinacea 'PowWow Wild Berry'
Pow Wow Wild Berry looks great. However, I found an image on Google and not in the plantfiles. Do you know where I can find the seed?
When I first bought my house,23 years ago.I would buy the plant and a packet of seed.Plant them both,next to each other.That way I had blooms the first year.I would also collect the seeds from the plant.Next season I would plant the seeds that I had collected.It doesn't take long to have many flowers.I must have 30 huge groupings of purple coneflowers.I only bought 1 plant.Edge
But where can I buy the seed?
Here's a link to the seeds of PowWow Wild Berry...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039UMAHE?tag=echinacea-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B0039UMAHE&adid=0CMWHZH71ZFYNQKZWHD0&
Gaillardia, especially 'Goblin', are my favorite for first-year performance. They are bright and cheery, flower all summer; and if you scatter the seedheads through the garden, you can have as many more as you want for next year. I've found some of the other cultivars, like 'Burgundy', to be floppy in our climate, but 'Goblin' is short and sturdy. Mine do well in full sun to half sun/half shade.
Has anyone here bought from Hirt's before? They have a lot of seeds I'm interested in but they seem to have quite a bit of bad reviews on Garden watchdog.
I've bought seeds from Hirt's and never had a problem. I think it's the plants that people complain about.
I've bought plants and seeds from Hirt's and have never had any problems. The plants are on the smallish side, but then, so are Bluestone's.
Hi spartacusbaby (& neighbor): i got some Goblin seeds and have planted them. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Woodspirit, good luck with them, though I doubt you'll need it; 'Goblin' has been a carefree and really reliable performer here. I love the little spots of cheery color they create throughout the garden for me.
Goblin is awesome! It's probably the longest blooming perennial I've grown!
I planted them in the greenhouse because I was afraid they'd wash away where their final place will be. I hope they transplant well.
Rudbeckias - not overly dependable to return following year as they sometimes are destroyed by heaving over winter/early spring but mine are reliable self-seeders as evidenced by this one.
That's a beautiful Rudbeckia. They are awesome this time of year.
Woodspirit, I'm sure the Goblin babies will do well in the greenhouse. I always start their seeds indoors in late winter, then move to the garden after last frost date. They move well. I've also dug up volunteer seedlings near the original plants, moved them elsewhere, and they settle in and thrive. They really do an admirable job of taking care of themselves: my kind of plant!
jmorth: what Rudbeckia is pictured? That is beautiful!
The rudy in question is a self-seeder with parentage an unknown mix from Chim Chiminee & Cherokee Sunset. Every year it's always a pleasant surprise to see the cross bred prodigy. Green Eyes and Irish Eyes are also contributers to the gene pool.
Another incarnation:
Obviously Green Eyes - made it through the winter, probably twice as I'd not set any new ones out for a couple of years. This year I did start some new ones from seed, Cherry Brandy, new Chim Chiminee, and one other one whose designation slips me at present.
I vote for delphinium grandiflorum. Any cultivar.
Meredith, I'm probably responsible for one of those bad reviews. I bought several kinds of perennial seeds from Hirts a couple of years ago, and almost none germinated. They also sent me the wrong one for one of the kinds I ordered. And they did not respond to my complaint. I would never buy anything from them again.
Lovely rudbeckias, jmorth.
Ahh yes and I would beleive a negative from you, since I know your experienced with seed starting... that's probably why it stuck! : )
I just had a look at their feedback and it's 50% negative - more positives for plants than seeds. Other complaints about lack of germination and seeds turning out to be not the correct plant if they do germinate. Really, Meredith, I'd definitely look elsewhere for your seeds. A few of the seeds I remember getting from them (pre-piggy swap) that didn't germinate were butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa), belamcanda chinesis and/or pardancanda, and tricyrtis. I've since germinated all of those easily from other sources, mostly the piggy swap.
I'm not the greatest seed germinator and do have lots of failures, but I really do believe it was the seeds in this case.
I bet it was the seeds too... I sprinkled tons of annual seeds out in my gardens and instead of all kinds of gorgeous flowers I had patches of grass that germinated. Maybe one or two seedlings here and there. These seeds were from Everwilde. I had been very pleased with the amount of seeds they had in the packages but hardly anything germinated. :( Wonder if the birdies ate them all up.
I'll bet they'd blame it on the birdies. Guess the birdies dropped a bunch of grass seed in their place.
Ha ha guess so! :)