Flower power in an instant
Julia Atkinson-Dunn has a new-found love for bedding plants to provide an endless array of colour throughout summer.
Suddenly it’s summer and you look out the window and realise you never fulfilled your self-made promise to grow some flowers this season. The thought of setting up seed trays makes you sigh and you’re not really feeling that confident on this growing thing yet anyway.
I’m here to release you from the idea that gardening is exclusively about growing from seed. I found, as I got started, that there was a real purist stance that if you were not ‘‘germinating, you were not gardening’’.
I’m not here to dispute that growing from seed is a rewarding and a super cost-effective practice. It’s also often the only way to grow interesting and hard-to-find plants. However, plugging locally grown seedlings into pots or garden beds is a painfree alternative when the life wheel is going a bit fast.
If you are new to garden centres, you may find the signs referring to ‘‘bedding’’ plants a bit weird.
Essentially, these are your cheap-and-cheerful punnets of flowering annuals – meaning their life cycle is completed in a single year.
Buying punnets of healthy, strong annual seedlings meant that my success rate of getting a mature flowering plant was around 99 per cent, as opposed to my – often disastrous – seedraising efforts.
Obviously, buying seedlings is less bang for your buck than buying seeds, but for the cost of a coffee you can dip your toe into growing flowers and, with a bit of luck, they might be wildly good self-seeders and go on to reward you in following years.
After a quick scan at my favourite garden centres, I found there were huge options of flowering annuals in punnets of six to nine seedlings for between $3.80 and $5. They also had deals on buying multiple punnets or box lots of 40 plants for $19. These are all robust seedlings that will mature and flower for you this coming summer, and if you are diligent with your dead heading, many will last until the first frosts.
There are few opportunities for instant gratification in growing a flower garden, but I would say this is as close as you get.
Antirrhinums (snapdragons)
I always grab a tray or two of the cheerful bubblegum mix, which grow to about 45 centimetres, and madame butterfly mix, which grows 60-75cm tall.
They are satisfyingly plump and look beautiful planted tightly in the garden. As cut flowers they are fantastic, especially if you harvest when only the bottom few buds have opened.
Cosmos
For first-timers, the classic sonata variety in pinks and whites will introduce you to the joy of happy cosmos in your garden. Just always read the label so you know if you are buying dwarf or full size, which is around 60cm.
Keep your eyes peeled for lucky finds like the cupcake or seashell varieties, plus lemonade and pink ice to mix things up.
Lobelia
You can buy this low-growing, airy little plant in a rainbow of colours, as trailing (great for baskets or over pots) or upright (great for garden edges) varieties.
My favourites are the deep blues, which delightfully, have self-seeded around my garden now, growing in cracks and together with others in pots. If you are frost-free, you might find that it continues to flower year round.
Nigella (love-in-the-mist)
A gorgeous if not alien-looking bloom that has the added bonus of having really interesting seed heads. This plant is an eager self-seeder if positioned in the sun, which means you will get bang for your buck when it pops up in seasons to come.
Available in blues, whites and pinks, it is also an incredibly long-lasting flower for a vase.
Petunias
Don’t turn away just yet! Petunias might have a bit of an old-fashioned, 80s kind of vibe, but their froth factor and long flowering efforts have pulled them into my spotlight. Again, they come in trailing and upright varieties, and I have had fun with the classic milky whites as much as the crazy saturated berry coloured mixes.
Keep an eye out for the double petalled and even striped varieties to bring some real frou frou circus vibes to your pots and garden.
Queen ann’s lace
One of my favourite plants that brings an ethereal romance to the back ofmy garden. This is a taller option, which is fun, growing to around 1metre high.
Its large, lacy white flowers will be sure to reward those who love texture. It’s a pretty magical addition to amixed arrangement, too.
Sweet peas
My most recommended plant for beginners to grow. Designate a spot in the sun and pile together a teepee or the like for the vines to clamber up. There are myriad varieties to choose from and I recommend going all in by selecting amix so you get to enjoy an array of colour.
They are mostly deliciously fragrant and if you keep up the deadheading and ample watering, they will reward with endless flowers.