I don't know of home gardeners who grow other "bulb" plants from seed. But there are lots of tubers/bulbs that you can buy, and then lift in the fall for storage, though if you can grow a coconut palm, most of them - including dahlias, you probably don't have to lift, unless you are going to divide them. Many people in zone 8 in the US only dig their Dahlias every couple of years to divide the tubers. There is a Bulb forum on GW - I would ask this question there if you really want to start from seed.

This is helium. It is a perennial rhizomatous plant—straight stems, 1 m high. The foliage is dark green and lanceolate. Inflorescences are 7 cm in diameter. The lingual flowers of helenium are orange and tubular — brown. Flowering begins in mid-May and lasts about 30 days. In a winter climate, it can winter without shelter, and hot weather requires abundant watering. It bears fruit. You can extend the flowering period of the helium by shortening the stems in June. Don't know where to buy it? Call Mississauga flower delivery service. They have it.

Hi Both, Yes, I pop in every once and a while, but you all always have everything covered now-a-days. Also, Houzz has rendered the site practically unusable on my phone, so I find it rather off-putting to surf as I once did. Instead, I wish we could just have a constant group text going between us OG's (Original Gardener's?) and we could show each other our interesting finds. Yes, the infant botanist, who has reached the ripe old age of three-and-a-half, was practicing saying "Cardamine" yesterday as I was tearing out the hirsute members of the genus. She's also an excellent Equisetum removal specialist. Her older brother isn't quite as interested in this sort of thing and prefers the comfort of a flickering screen. I digress. I'm headed down to southern Oregon this weekend for a floral getaway in search of some Erythronium hendersonii, Fritillaria recurva and gentneri, Kalmiopsis fragrans and leachiana, and Dicentra uniflora, none of which I've seen in the wild! The weekend after will be a dayhike at the Dalles Mountain Ranch, which is quite a lovely place to be on the first of May. Wish me luck.

One of the best flowers for hot weather is the zinnia. Zinnias thrive in hot, sunny conditions and come in a wide range of colors, making them a popular choice for gardens and landscaping projects. They are also relatively easy to care for and can be grown from seeds or transplants. Other flowers that do well in hot weather include marigolds, sunflowers, and portulaca.