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August 19th 2015

8 Great Hardy Annual Flowers to Sow in Fall for Spring Blooms

Written by
Floret

During the dog days of summer, spring can feel like a lifetime ago, and next spring feels even further off. While it would be easy to coast through the next month soaking up the beauty of our dahlias and other late summer blooms, I know I need to be thinking and planning ahead for spring now.

Part of that preparation means making sure I have hardy annual flower seeds ready to sow in the garden this autumn in order to ensure a full flush of blooms during mid-late spring. These flowers fill an important gap between early spring bulbs like narcissus, tulips and anemones and late spring staples like peonies and field grown sweet peas.

IMG_3019 (1)In all but the very coldest growing zones, fall-sown hardy annuals are a great way to get a jump start on next year’s cut flower garden, but that’s only if you remember to order your seeds and plant them on time! Trust me, I’ve goofed this up more times than I’d like to admit. Hopefully this post will help you avoid making the same mistake.

Depending on your climate, most hardy annual flowers can be sown directly into prepared beds in your garden in late summer and early autumn. That means you don’t have to fuss with filling seed trays and babying seedlings in a greenhouse for months before transplanting them outside. These cold-tolerant plants will have time to become established and build a strong root system before the cold winter weather sets in.

IMG_3074 (1)Here’s my go-to list of fall-sown hardy annual favorites:

Larkspur: One of the easiest spring flowers to grow from seed, larkspur provides tall spikes of color that look stunning in the field and the vase. Great in early season mixed bouquets, these versatile flowers can also be dried for later use. My all time favorite variety is the smoky purple ‘Earl Grey’. I also custom blended a mix of dark indigo, periwinkle, a frosty blue and white bicolor and pure white as part of Floret’s Summer Sky Larkspur Mix.

IMG_1530Bachelor’s Buttons: Also called cornflowers, Bachelor’s Buttons (Centaurea cyanus) are classic cottage garden flowers that are most often seen in their distinctive bright blue hue. If you venture beyond the typical garden center seed racks, however, you will find that they come in a wide range of colors from pastel pinks and lavender to deeper magenta and merlot-colored blooms. They are a pain to pick, but since they are so easy to grow, I always tuck a few rows in during the fall for early spring bouquets.

Floret's Love in a Mist Starry Night Mix armload of flowersLove-in-a-Mist: With lacy, star-shaped flowers framed by a delicate halo of fringed foliage, Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella papillosa) adds incredible texture to bouquets. When left on the plant, the flower forms a beautiful pod that is great in design work. Two of my favorites are ‘African Bride‘ and ‘Cramer’s Plum.’ In the Floret Shop, you can find our custom Starry Nights Mix  which produce lavender, royal blue and white blooms, all with spidery black centers. Another fun variety is Love-in-a-Mist ‘Transformer’ (Nigella orientalis) which produces an unusual seed pod that looks like the shape of a court jester’s hat.

Armload of sweet peas at FloretSweet Peas: Over the years I tested out numerous ways to grow the very best sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) I can. After much trial and error I’ve found that fall sown plants outperform spring ones by almost double.

I start seed in October/November and then overwinter the plants in my minimally heated greenhouse until it’s safe to transplant them out into the hoop houses (Feb.) and the field (mid March). If you live in a cold climate, or don’t have any heated greenhouse space then you’ll want to stick with late winter sowing. Read more about how to grow sweet peas on our Resources page.

IMG_1679Queen Anne’s Lace: These lacy, umbel-shaped flowers are easy to grow and add great texture to any floral arrangement. Queen Anne’s Lace (Ammi majus) ‘Queen of Africa,’ ‘Green Mist,’ ‘Casablanca,’ and ‘Graceland’ have been huge producers for us and are the backbone of our early season bouquets. I direct seed them into the garden and then build a low caterpillar-type tunnel over them before winter arrives. This added layer of protection from the elements is all they need to winter over and be flowering in abundance by late May.

Bells of Ireland flowers growing in gardenBells of Ireland: With giant green spires ringed with cone-shaped flowers, Bells of Ireland (Moluccella laevis) add drama and fragrance to bouquets. Bells of Ireland like cool weather and can be tough to transplant, so direct sowing is a great way to ensure these flowers get off to a good start in your garden.

IMG_1970Bupleurum: Late spring bouquets would be impossible to create without this fantastic filler. The airy flower heads and the limey, citrusy hues of Bupleurum Griffithi (Bupleurum rotundifolium) combine beautifully with almost everything. These guys are finicky to start indoors so direct seeding in the fall is a great way to ensure you have plentiful fillers to pick come springtime.

IMG_6478Iceland Poppies: To get a jump on spring, I always start Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) from seed in early September and tuck them into the hoophouse by late October. They can also be tucked into a low caterpillar-type tunnel. This approach gives me armloads of the delicate, silk like flowers from late March through early May. Some of my favorites are Sherbet Mix and Champagne Bubbles. Learn more about growing poppies in Floret’s Poppy Primer.

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Note: for gardens in areas with extremely cold temperatures, you will likely need to wait until late winter/early spring to direct sow the flowers listed above.

Additional tips: When direct sowing seeds in the autumn, be sure to choose a site in your garden that will receive full sun. Prepare the bed by amending it with compost or manure. Be sure to rake the soil and smooth it out so that your seeder doesn’t get hung up on any clumps or debris.

For most varieties, we sow four rows per bed, spaced 9-12 inches apart with my old EarthWay Seeder from Johnny’s. We then string twine between posts anchored at either end of the beds to help guide us and keep our rows semi-straight. This technique also helps with weeding.

Even though it feels really strange to be thinking about spring right now, I promise it’ll be worth it. By taking a few minutes now to plan ahead, you’ll be better prepared to tuck a patch of hardy annuals into the garden this fall.

35 Comments

  1. Shawn on

    Hardy annuals are a favorite of mine! They thrive with minimal care and the Bees go crazy for them! I live in a very cold winter climate, so I sow in April in pots, trays and in the ground. In my veg garden I sow in long rows like a cutting garden mid spring. Thanks for this article! Great topic.

    Reply
  2. Josh G. on

    Thanks for sharing such a nice and informative post. It’s very useful.

    Reply
  3. erin aiston on

    I love gardening. Especially the flower garden, which attracts me a lot.Thanks for sharing the wonderful article & pictures.

    Reply
  4. Belfiore stores on

    Gardening flowers is always a good idea, They always make us feel good and decorate our surrounding with their beautiful colors. Flowers are always been used for decoration for special events. Flowers are the one which not only attracts us by their colors but by their smells too. http://www.belfiorestores.com/

    Reply
  5. Abhishek Bittu on

    Your garden looks beautiful It’s the best to place for the good decision to your peaceful life. thanks for sharing the wonderful picture & info.

    Reply
  6. Farah on

    Dear Erin,
    Thank you for this useful post! I live in a hardiness zone of 8b, our winters are mild but with occasional frosts to -5 C. we have a long hot summer (semi arid region). Our soil is (unfortunately) heavy clay. Do you think I can get away with direct sowing my seeds out in the field in late October? I’m planning on amending my soil with lots of well aged manure and will work it in to achieve a fine tilth as much as I can. But i’m still worried that the seeds of the varieties you listed above won’t sprout because of our clay soil and I really don’t want to waste precious seeds that I have imported overseas!. Your advice is much appreciated.

    Reply
    • Team Floret on

      Hi Farah, it sounds like you are doing everything right. As you know, every garden is a little different. While our soil is super sandy, we know many flower farmers with heavy clay fields that successfully direct seed in fall for spring blooms. If you’re still not sure, consider direct seeding half the seed now and the other half in the spring and see how they produce. Good luck! -Team Floret

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  8. Nathalie lepine on

    Hello,
    Thank you for sharing this …do you think in zone 4 that it’s possible to do the same process with those and have the same résulte ???

    Reply
  9. Anushka Sharma on

    It was wonderful to read your experience about the journey. Great advise and Guide.This was the most popular place ….nice post,I really want to go there

    Reply
  10. Marianne on

    We’re in love with your sweet peas, do you have any tricks to getting such long stems, or is it a specific variety?

    Reply
  11. Diane on

    Hello from just north of you in Ferndale! So fun to read this post and know you’re local! Love your place! Great advice I will try to take about doing for spring right now. So hard to get my head wrapped around that. I’m still loving summer and ignoring the shortening nights. Found you on FB at Angie the freckled Rose!

    Reply
  12. David on

    Wow! Just discovered this blog and I’m already blown away. The garden looks almost like a rural – but beautifully organised – countryside scene. Looking forward to learning a lot and hopefully emulating some of the ideas I’m bound to find within the blog!

    Reply
  13. Sas on

    Have you had success direct fall sowing Icelandic poppies? or do the have to be started in the GH?

    Reply
  14. Christy Sinclair on

    Where do you buy your anemone and ranunculus bulbs.

    I love your blog.

    Thanks for getting is going!

    Christy

    Reply
  15. Bibi on

    Thank you for all the great suggestions – so helpful! I have a couple of questions – in the photo net to the larkspur there is a row of white pompom looking flowers, what would they be? With the love in a mist – how to you get them taller – we found ours were to short for bouquets – fine for jar posies! Great job you’re doing and looking forward to more exciting info. you share! (:

    Reply
    • Floret on

      Hi Bibi–Thanks for your questions. The white flowers are dianthus ‘sweet white.’ In terms of nigella/ love-in-a-mist, we select only varieties that have longer-stem length. We also have found that direct seeding (versus transplanting) nigella helps them grow taller, as they generally don’t like to be disturbed. Hope this helps. Happy planting!

  16. Jordan on

    Beautiful pictures! I love the Bells of Ireland – a super unique looking bloom. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  17. ANGELA LONGHURST on

    If you plant three rows per bed how do you weed in the middle row?

    Thanks for the inspiration! Angela

    Reply
  18. Killoran Moore on

    Ooh! Thanks for this! I’ve read that spring-sown Nigella can be smaller/less productive than fall-sown. Mine was puny! Adorable, but not very useful. I’m sure there were a number of other factors, but I look forward to experimenting.

    Hopefully all goes well (IndieGoGo) and I can get some seed ordered and some beds made/planted up by the end of October.

    Reply
  19. Melody on

    Thanks for this post! I’ve been wondering what exactly fall planting means. For the poppys and sweet peas, would they be OK in a low tunnel in a mild climate? I’m a little south of you in OR in zone 8/9. If I started them indoors and moved them to the tunnels for the winter do you think they would survive? Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • Floret on

      Hi Melody. You should be ok to plant poppies and sweet peas in your low tunnel. I’d recommend that you plant them at least 6 weeks before it gets really cold, so it allows them time to get established.

  20. Kristy on

    Thank you again for a great article! Do you have a US source for the Ammi Casablanca seeds? The vendors that popped were overseas in my search.

    Reply
  21. Melissa on

    Thanks for the timely post Erin! Two quick questions: 1) Do you have a seeder you love and would recommend? 2) Do you then mulch the plants come spring, or just try to keep up on the weeds? Many thanks.

    Reply
    • Floret on

      Hi Melissa, I revised my post to include information on the seeder we use–thanks for asking. We do not mulch the plants in the spring, we just try to keep up with weeding (some years more successfully than others!)

  22. Allicia on

    Is it possible to do the poppies without a hoop house? They are extremely cold hardy,no?

    I’m in zone 5b/6a right on cusp.

    Reply
    • Floret on

      Allicia, technically, poppies can be grown without a hoophouse, but you may not have as robust of a crop as you’d like. I might recommend waiting to start seeds indoors in January and then transplant them into the field in early spring.

  23. Tangled Gardens on

    Thank you so much for this invaluable information. I am preparing to start my cutting garden and though I am a very seasoned gardener I have basically no experience with seeding annuals as my focus has been on perennials. I hope to be able to squeeze all of these lovelies in so I have a nice selection for the farmers market. Wish me luck!

    Reply
    • Floret on

      Good luck! Glad the information was helpful! Let me know how your crop fares next spring!

  24. Soni on

    Hi! Long time reader, first time commenter. What brand/type of seeder do you use? Thanks a bunch for your writing! Your blog is awesome!

    Reply
    • Floret on

      Soni— I just updated the post to include this info–thanks for asking.

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