Easy FlowersYou'll soon have blooming flowers!Here are a couple of dozen or more of my favorite easy flowers to grow. If I can grow them anybody can. I know that in today's world most of us are tight on time. So why fuss with flowers that aren't easy to grow? 
You can grow flowers any where, even if you live in the desert. You can grow beautiful cactus flowers. And there are plenty of other easy flowers for your garden. I will divide the easy growing flowers up into their botanical categories; annuals, perennials, bulbs and other bulb types, shrubs, trees and vines. ANNUALS Annuals grow and bloom in one season. So they need to be planted each year. They are fun to grow because many of them bloom all season long until the frost kills them off. The first flowers I ever grew, I planted and grew from seed. I planted them right when I planted my vegetable seeds. As a matter of fact Marigolds are known to repel nematodes, so they are good to plant with your tomato plants. Three easy annual I recommend are; Marigolds, Zinnias and Cosmos.
If you don't want to grow them from seed, they are readily available from local garden supply stores. And most times they are already blooming, so you have instant easy flowers. These three types bloom all summer long for a blaze of color. Marigold flowers are double and come in golden yellows. There once was a white, but I haven't seen it for a long time. Then there are the French Marigolds which I particularly like, they are normally single flowers in bi-colors, yellow and mahogany. Zinnias come in a variety pinks, yellows, salmon and white, both single and double flowers. Double flowers have more than one row of petals. Single flowers just have one row of petals. 
PERENNIALSPerennials are an easy flower because they live longer than one year. You plant them once and then you have flowers year after year. Most of our landscape plants are perennials, including trees, shrubs, as well as many flowers. Snapdragons are a perennial that is treated like an annual. You will find them already blooming in garden stores in the spring. If you live in warmer climates they like the cool of the winter, also. Snapdragons used to be taller and had a tendency to to blow or fall over. But plant breeding has solved that problem. There are now shorter, sturdier varieties. They come in a variety of beautiful colors. White, yellows, pinks, crimson and other colors. I remember my brother and I opening and closing their snap-mouths in my grandmother's flower garden. A small version of pansy, another viola is the Johnny-jump-up, it looks like a little pansy.
Gaillardias are another type of daisy like flower I like. They are low growing with single bi-color flowers in yellow to mahogany. I would see them growing wild next to the road on Sanibel Island in Florida and people called them Sanibel daisies. They are summer blooming. 
Rudbeckia are another bi-color daisy. They bloom late summer to fall. They are taller than the Gaillardias and come in more variety of colors. Not all are be-colors, they come in solid yellows and oranges but always with a dark center.Cone Flowers are another daisy flower. They normally are pink, but occasionally you see a white one. I have seen them growing wild on the roadsides in Missouri blooming in June. A tough easy flower to grow.
You may grow them in the ground or in pots. They are fall blooming and range from white, pinks, yellows, reds and rusts. They have various flower forms from single, double, spoon shape to football mums which are like a round globe. Pinch them back when they are growing to make them branch and thus have more flowers. Other than that they are an easy flower that will take much abuse. Shasta Daisies, yes I said daisies; you know by now that I am fond of daisies. They have been one of my favorites ever since childhood. I think it is their simple beauty that I like. The Shasta Daisy is a sturdy, spring blooming white daisy. They actually are a species of chrysanthemums. Dianthus are a nice little perennial with white to hot pinks single flowers. A species of dianthus the Sweet Williams used to grow along our sidewalks at my childhood home. They have such wonderful fragrance and they make a good cut flower. 
Petunias are great for hanging baskets or planted in the landscape. They bloom all summer long and if they are not a hybrid they will reseed themselves and come up the next year. They will over winter in desert areas, but normally they are used as an annual. They come from white to all shades of pinks, yellow and light to dark purples. And they are fragrant, easy flower.
Hummers like petunias.BULBS, TUBERS and RHIZOMES These are plants that have an enlarged stem or roots. They are best planted in the fall so they have time to establish before they bloom the following spring. Daffodils are probably one of the most familiar with their bright yellow cup and saucer flowers in the spring. They also come in white and various combinations of white and yellow flowers. The ultimate easy flower. They keep blooming and multiplying even when nobody lives in the house anymore. Tulips are the famous Dutch flowers. They have bred them up into many beautiful colors and forms. Tulips do best best in the cooler climates. If you live in warmer climates you must make sure the bulbs have enough chill in order to bloom. And you will have to dig them up and chill them and replant them after they have been chilled. So they are an easy flower only if you live in cooler climates. Daylilies have tuberous roots and they will grow where it cold or hot. I saw them growing in the roadside ditches in Ohio and they do well in Florida. They bloom at various times thoughout the summer, so it is best to have different ones to stagger their bloom throughout the summer. They are mostly various shades of yellow, gold, some reds and peach and a 'purple' color that is more of a muddy reddish purple. Amaryllis we can grow in Florida, but in the cool areas it is best to dig them up and put them in your cellar for the winter so they don't freeze. Or grow them like my sister in Missouri does, she grows them in a pot and takes the pot to the cellar before hard freezes. You can buy the bulbs from garden stores that are already potted, you just grow and bloom them. What could be more easy? The flowers are various reds, pinks, white and bi-colors. They are an easy flower for Florida, but a little more work in other places. SHRUBS Yes, shrubs are great to grow for garden flowers. They are perennials and you get flowers year after year without much work. Roses probably deserve a whole page to themselves. They are not always easy to grow because they have specific requirement to get blooms. But thanks to the plant breeders we have a new rose that is disease resistant and blooms all summer. The Knock Out" Rose. It originally came in a single dark pink. But now there are doubles and a white and a pink. I recommend it. It is very easy to flower. It blooms all summer. 
Lilacs are beautiful spring blooming shrubs that have a lovely fragrance. I see them growing and blooming by deserted houses, so I would consider them an easy flower. But they won't grow in warm areas.Azaleas do well in warm and cool areas depending on the variety. They range from small to very large shrubs. The flowers are white, pinks, reds, and some corals, oranges and peach. There were some wild azaleas growing in the Trinity Alps in California where I worked a couple of summers. They were extremely fragrant. There some fragrant native azaleas here in Florida, also. A pale pink on that I have in my yard is very fragrant. If you live in cooler areas like San Francisco you can grow Fuchsias for the hummingbirds. But I don't consider it an easy flower. It won't do well unless your climate is cool and moist. TREES Magnolia Trees have glossy green, leathery leaves. It has huge pristine white flowers with a lovely lemon scent. It you can reach one to smell it because it makes a large tree. It grows in the southern climates. VINES I hesitate to mention these vines because some of them even though they have beautiful flowers and they are very easy to grow, by the very nature of vines they are rampant growers. Carolina Jasmine is not so bad. It has smaller stems and small evergreen leaves. In the spring it has bright yellow trumpet shaped flowers. They have a sweet fragrance. It grows wild in much of the eastern United States. I like it as an easy flower that I never water and it has no pests. 
Wisteria has lovely panicles of lavender flowers in the spring. And they are fragrant. They grow in most all areas and it is a long-lived plant. The reason that I hesitated to mention it is because in the south I see it growing up over trees and small buildings. So if you grow it in your yard it will take some pruning to keep it in bounds. But it is well worth it for the beautiful flowers. There is a white flower form that is not as aggressive. Trumpet Vine has orange trumpet flowers, sometimes yellow. And the hummingbirds love them. They are an easy flower to care for. However the vines travels from the root and will come up aways away from the main plant. So use with care, maybe in a less used portion of your property because it takes absolutely no care and it flowers all summer long. No matter where you live you can have easy flowers blooming in your garden all summer. Happy growing! |
Pansies are another perennial treated as an annual. They will however winter over in the warmer climates. They actually prefer the winter in warmer areas. Originally pansies were all bi-color with a dark face in the center. Nowadays you can find them in solid colors. Most commonly they are yellow, purples, lavender and white.
Chrysanthemums are a great perennial. The orientals knew what they were doing when they worked extensively on their breeding. They are the backbone of floral arrangements and they should be in every garden. 
Iris is a standard spring or early summer flower in most of of the US, but they won't grow well in Florida. I had numerous beautiful ones in California, but the don't do much in Florida. If you live where they grow, they are another easy flower for your garden. 
Hibiscus is a shrub for the warmer areas. It has beautiful glossy green leaves and large flowers in pinks, yellow, oranges and white. Hummingbirds like them. 
So what happens if you live by the ocean. If you live on the California coast, there is a ground cover that will knock your socks off when it blooms. Ice Plant is very stunning when it blooms in the early summer. 