For all those, who love flower plants, self-seeding annual flowers could be a nice option to grow in the gardens. They have two pros over growing perennial flowers; for instance, annuals blossom liberally during the growing season and many self-seeding annual flowers will self-sow, budding year after year. Whilst growing annuals, you’ll be required to allow the late season to come so that the seed gets enough time to bloom. In case you’ve been working hard to keep the flowers throughout summers, discontinue your efforts by mid-August. It’s time for seeds to get ripen, which also suggests that the flowers must dry completely. With a little help from mother-nature, you’d find flowers in and around your garden for years to come.
Sowing Seeds
A garden gets a natural look if its annual flowers have seeded themselves. However, at times, they grow at places where you wish they hadn’t. Fortunately, self-seeded annuals can be transplanted easily to other spots in your garden; you can also pot them up. For sowing the seeds, simply scatter the seeds directly into the flower bed. Following are the conditions that the annuals’ seeds need to germinate:
- Some seeds require light to geminate and therefore should not be covered with soil. While scattering these seeds, press them slightly into the soil. Some others need darkness, and hence should be covered with the top layer of soil.
- Some annual flowers have seeds with hard coverings. To improve their chances of germination, it is better to scarify or nick the outer covering of such seeds by rubbing with sand paper.
- Some annuals, like poppies, need a period of cold prior to start off the process of germination. If you are sowing such seeds outdoor, take care to sow them in winter. Incase of indoor sowing keep the potted seed in the refrigerator for the suggested period of time.
- If you’re sowing seeds in outdoors, there are factors, such as, type of seed and climate, which decide the best sowing time. If some annuals consistently self-sow in your garden, the odds are that they were sown in the fall. The annuals that disappear after a season can be sterile hybrids, or perhaps they require warmer germination conditions.