low growing flowers to sow in lawn?
Ashley_Clark
21 years ago
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burghroots
21 years agoRelated Discussions
growing self sowing annuals
Comments (11)Thanks, oilpainter. One article I saw said annuals rated HA could be sown in fall. I get nervous about any coming up and tend to start them under lights. This year I tried Emilia coccinea, some I planted under lights, some I sowed outdoors. The ones I started under lights Feb 12 I planted out May 7 and they started blooming June 26. They are a little tall, skimpy, and floppy, but still blooming, 1/2" red dandelion type flowers in clusters. They might look good mixed in with other plants of the same height that don't have a long bloom season. The direct sown didn't come up for a couple of months and then just started blooming in September. I will see what happens next year with fall planted ones. Johnny Jump-ups did really well, I started them under lights Feb 12, some were blooming under lights by April 20. I planted them out May 8, they are still blooming and have already self-sown, some of those are just starting to bloom. They stay low and are really cute, too. I will see if they come back well next year. An edible annual I grow is Corn Salad. It likes it cold, it comes up in October and grows all winter, the leaves are small, so hard to harvest, but they taste phenomenal. I use them kind of like a winter ground cover to keep down weeds. It seems to take forever for them to set seed in spring so I can plant something else, though. I don't collect the seed but they are great at self-sowing. In S. Calif. Nasturtiums will self-sow to grow in winter too, down there they can get montrous over winter. Usually they died out in warm weather....See MoreWinter Sowing Seeds that are Annual Flowers
Comments (11)Hi, laagarden, welcome to wintersowing! I'm responding to your questions from here, as well as the other post you made, because everything is tied together. Bookjunky has an answer in here too. Almost all of us wintersowers do at least some annuals in addition to perennials. Given the right growing conditions (sun or shade, enough water), an annual will give flowers the first year. They do need time to get to blooming size. When we buy annuals, many of them are started on January 1st in a greenhouse. So, you can fill your yard with blooming annuals, but you won't have instant color on May 15th unless you buy a few blooming greenhouse annuals to enjoy while your wintersown babies catch up. There are some annuals that bloom nice and early though, they are Larkspur, annual poppies, and Bachelor Buttons (centaurea cyanus). All of these can be purple, blue-purple, or lavender. I think there are orange annual poppies, too. These 3 early annuals are HARDY annuals, meaning that frost doesn't bother them at all. But they'll die after one summer of flowering and making seed, so they're an annual. Larkspur will often sprout right now and slowly grow through the winter. You could sow all 3 of these right now if you wish. Some people wait until the middle of winter to sow poppies, and some wintersow them in containers and plant them out when they're tiny. Some people do sow seeds on the ground and then cover with a mini-greenhouse. It's more typical to use something larger than a jug, but you can do that too. At the bottom of the main WS page, there's a bar for searching. Search for a thread called "winter sowing in situ" which talks about this. Pitimpinai does poppies, I know for sure. Most annuals or tender perennials that we grow are native to tropical areas. They "think" a warm spell means it's spring. They'll sprout, then the warm spell will end and they'll die from the cold. Last year I direct-sowed some annual seeds when it got cold, then we had a late-November warm spell like kcqrna described, and I had 20 4 O'clock seedlings pop up and then die. In any group of seeds, there are ones who sprout at the first sign of good conditions, and some that sprout later. Some people just sow heavily, and rely on the late-sprouters to stay dormant during a warm spell. They will get some sprouts in warm spells that die, but will still get some sprouts in true spring. (however, I didn't have any 4 O'clocks come Spring) A big rule for wintersowing: throw the screw-cap away. You need ventilation. Now you have it! Zinnias are great for easy color, and you can do those in orange or purple or both. They are quite tender. How much sun do you have, what's your soil like, and what heights do you you want? We can recommend some annuals for you, and some perennials in addition to what karendee suggested....See MoreXeriscaping vs.Low-water lawn. Which to pick?
Comments (8)I agree with Sandy Eggo. Last April we landscaped a 250' x 30' very steep hillside with Calif. natives (also mostly purchased from Las Pilitas). From small 1-gal plants some are now fully 6' across and 4' tall - and on water once a week or less. Amazing! This year we've only watered it twice since January 1st, and I'm cutting back the water to twice a month (or less) once our rainy season is over. For a lawn substitute please consider Dymondia. It's very low water and virtually maintenance free; tough enough to play and walk on (we even park our vehicles on ours sometimes), and does great in full sun. Other good suggestions are in the Sunset Western Garden Book. I would definitely steer clear of California sycamore - I've never seen a nice one in anyone's garden, and the leaves make a big mess. There are plenty of other choices in native trees, including many that are evergreen. Some of the larger shrubs can even be trained to be tree-like. In our area you can get FREE shade trees from the local utility - check in your area for similar offers. You could also check with the nearest chapter of the California Native Plant Society for suggestions. There are also several gardens in Calif. devoted to native plants - Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden is one and the Theodore Payne Foundation is another. Many other botanic gardens also have areas planted in natives. Look for local garden tours in your area in April and May, as some of those may well include gardens with natives, too. Good luck - and get some of those 8 grandkids hooked on gardening, too! Here is a link that might be useful: California Native Plant Society...See MoreLow Grow or Grow Low Sumac
Comments (7)When you read about a plant and it says it's good for erosion control, will naturalize, and spreads by root suckers, you know that this plant is going to spread its wings no matter what. Remember that each of those suckers turns into its own shrub and that will also want to spread. And they tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on. I had suckering Evans Cherry trees - I had to take them out completely and spray roundup for 3 years to get rid of all the suckering wanna-be new trees. I have suckering chokecherries that require at least annual applications of roundup to control the spread. Be careful and at the very least give it the crappiest soil you have in your yard. Or take it back, get a refund and buy a really nice new daylily instead....See MoreJohn_Blakeman
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