A Frugal Gardener's Dream : My Favorite Annual Self Seeding Flowers

There are good and bad things about annual flowers.  The good... no great...thing about annuals is that they amp up the color display in our gardens and just don't stop until the fall frost reminds them that they were not built for our winters. The bad thing about annuals is that, like I said, they are not built to survive our winters here in Zone 6A (used to be 5B....just learned it recently changed here in central Indiana).  While our perennials are able to keep life alive underground in their roots, these annuals we cherish all spring and summer do not have the roots to withstand our freeze, so we go back to the store year after year and buy more.  Now hitting the local garden center is part of the fun of spring, but what I want to write about today are those annuals that you do not have to buy year after year....the self seeders. These plants are perfect for the areas that you are going for a more natural look or even as a backdrop to your more formal annual planting. They simply do all (most) of the work for us by dropping their seeds at the end of the season and sending up new plants in the spring....no greenhouse required!

 I first encountered Cosmos sulphureus 'Polidor' when I worked as a horticulturist.  The height of these plants is perfect...they are tall enough to be seen among other plants, but not too tall that they flop over (about 30 inches tall).  I saved seeds I collected from our old house and literally threw them in the side garden at our current house.  I did absolutely nothing except toss them in the general direction I thought a patch would look nice (they like a sunny location).....no soil prep, no covering up afterwards.  They are really that easy!  They typically give me a light orange/dark orange display,  but I occasionally get a red/orange bloom.  This variety looks great with purple flowering plants....stay tuned...you'll see!

Cosmos sulphureus 'Polidor'-early June. The feathery leaves in the surrounding area are from the surrounding Rocket Larkspurs that have yet to bloom.

 Delphinium (Consolida) ajacis (Larkspur/Rocket Larkspur, Annual Delphinium) are 12-36" in height (mine tend to be on the taller side).  I first encountered these beauties when I worked as a horticulturist as well and I was lucky enough to inherit them at our current house.  These are eye catching indeed and not shy about spreading....love it!  Like my Cosmos, these flowers are very giving year to year.  Both form fairly well behaved "colonies".  I have not yet collected seed from them, but they have not disappointed in how they have determined their distribution.  Most plants flower in this amazing electric purple/blue color, but every once in a while I get a pink one. The feathery foliage is different than most other garden dwellers and provides a nice contrast.

Rocket Larkspur early July 2013

Rocket Larkspur

Verbena bonariensis (Tall Verbena) is another favorite. This is a tall, but fairly sturdy plant (36"-48") with clusters of tiny lilac colored flowers on top. It looks best mixed in with other plants as it has such a tall stem with minimal leaves on it, but I do have a few that have seeded along a garden border and I don't mind them there...they may just have an occasional flop over into the yard.  I have not tried to collect and spread these seeds (they are super tiny), but have instead let it spread as it wishes. I did notice it in new places this year, but it is definitely not as prolific as my Rocket Larkspurs or Cosmos.  Tall verbena prefers a nice sunny spot and handles dry conditions well.

Verbena bonariensis early July 2013

Nigella damsacena (Love in the Mist) is a shorter plant (15" in height) with an interesting flower and very feathery leaves.  Love in the Mist comes in shades of blue, purple and white and I think they are a great plant to soften a garden look because of their delicate leaves.  I have them in a partially shady area and they are doing wonderfully, but I know them to do well in fairly sunny locations as well.  Their seed heads are worth waiting for as them resemble a papery balloon, providing some garden interest in late summer and autumn.

Nigella (Love in the Mist) early July 2013

My husband saw Alyssum at the garden center years ago and wanted to try it and we bought seed last year and spread it at the new house. I like this plant on the border (4" in height) and it reseeds itself in relatively the same spots every year. My Alyssum patches are growing in the partial shade of a crab apple tree, but they do well in sunny spots as well.  Allysum blooms in delicate white (my favorite) and shades of purple. You may often see this plant in potted displays as they seem to do well in those conditions and make a nice filler.

Allysum early July 2013

I have used several different varieties of Nicotiana over the years, but the variety Nicotiana alata 'Lime Green' is by far my favorite.  The flower is a five pointed star like flower about 2 inches wide.  These flowers are not nearly as prolific of re-seeders as the others in my gardens, but they do consistently return the next year preferring the partial shady spots, although I know them to grow in sun as well.  They tend to be around 36" in height, but in shadier spots such as mine, they do not reach quite that tall.  I do wish they were bit more aggressive, but I give their brown seed heads some extra shakes at the end of the season to help encourage spreading.

Nicotiana 'Lime Green' early July 2013

Purple and Orange- Delphinium and Cosmos 'Polidor' early July 2013

Cosmos 'Polidor',Verbena bonariensis, and Delphinium early July 2013

If you are looking for some no fuss garden additions next year, you might make note of these varieties whether you decide to buy them first as plants are try your hand at growing your first batch by seed, I don't think you will be disappointed.  :)

For the Love of Zucchini...

Last year was the first full summer in our new house and I was very excited to finally have the sun and yard space for vegetable gardening.  I don't have a lot of experience in vegetable gardening, but having worked as a horticulturist with ornamentals for almost 6 years made me believe that I would be lucky in this endeavor. Mother Nature (we have words occasionally) kindly reminded me that I was getting a big head and plagued my garden with pests and crop failure galore!  Regardless, I learned some lessons last year and this post is about one of those lessons.

Summer squash/zucchini is a favorite in this household, so it was a must on the ever growing garden list. Last summer, I planted three seeds around Mother's Day and watched these beauties take off....seriously, I wish I had taken a picture....they were gorgeous!  We harvested about 3-4 squash, made some zucchini bread, baked zucchini with tomato sauce, fried zucchini...we were in heaven and excited to get oodles more to share with family and friends and more to shred and freeze for future zucchini bread cravings. I so wanted to be that neighbor that brought baskets of vegetables over to share because our refrigerator was overflowing from such a good harvest.  I realize now "baskets" may have been setting the bar a bit high....but, a few zucchinis here and there to share would have been nice.  Ok, so you've guessed it...I had no zucchini's to share....

One day in July, I looked out the window and one of my beautiful zucchini plants was wilting.  My husband automatically assumed it needed water.  I thought maybe it was a temporary reaction to the heat and humidity of the day.  Long story short, this huge, once prolific looking zucchini plant was not looking any better as the week went on and his friends quickly joined him.  I had an 11 month old at the time, so I took more of the sit and wait method rather than pouring time and energy into figuring out what was wrong with the plants.....it HAD to be the hot and humid week we were experiencing because zucchini's are one of the easiest vegetables to grow!  After all, I took a quick look at the plants and could not see anything obvious to me ( I should have looked a little harder). 

After his friends followed suit, I did finally get onto google to research what might be going on and hoped for some sort of advice to get these plants back on track. I had noticed some larger brown bugs around the plant and with my biology background knew they were what we call "true bugs"....at least that is what we called them... names always seem to change. I was able to narrow my bug down with the help of my basic bug knowledge AND google images. I was dealing with a squash bug! But how could this insect create such damage on such healthy plants??? It didn't make sense to me based on what I was reading, so I kept looking.....

Squash Bug

insects.about.com

As I looked at my plants closer, I also noticed some yellowy sawdust type stuff at the base of their stems.  Upon lifting one of my zucchini stems to get a better look,  the stem easily snapped right off....back to google!  Turns out these plants were doomed from early on.  Before they even were large enough to flower and produce fruit, my zucchini had a little killer living inside their main stems that slowly sucked the life out of them.  The squash bugs were not the main killer, but they definitely did not help the situation. 
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My zucchinis killer was the squash vine borer. The squash vine borer moth lays eggs at the base of plants (winter squash, summer, squash and cucumbers are some of their targets).  When the eggs hatch, the larva burrows into the base of the plant and begins to slowly suck the life out of your zucchini...the worst part??????.....you most likely will not know anything is wrong with your plant until they are big, beautiful, flowering and possibly giving you a few good squash before they wilt and signal you to their ultimate death. Eggs are oval, flattened, dull-red in color, and 1 mm in diameter.

Squash Vine Borer moth

Squash Borer Larva

The only good thing to come out of my mass zucchini die off was that I came into this growing season armed with a little more knowledge.   I had read somewhere that you could wrap the stems of your zucchini in aluminum foil to prevent the moth from laying her eggs there.  Here is a video of the method I am referring to....pretty basic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnnJ84W8kyE

Here is a few pictures of MY zucchinis this year and their foil wraps.  The foil is wrapped loosely and should fall off as the zucchini grows.

My zucchini had just gotten their third leaf when I wrapped their stem.

I simply put a thin aluminum foil wrap at the base of their stems

 My only apprehension with my gardening this year is that I planted my zucchini  in relatively the same spot as last year. When you have a pest outbreak, it is generally a good rule to NOT plant that same plant in the same area the next time.....but I am taking my chances and hopefully do not have to report back that I again was an epic fail at growing one of the easiest vegetables out there! Wish me luck....

Happy Gardening! 

Candi