CarrieAnne

I always start tomatoes and sometimes peppers. This year I want to start some flowers with seeds to save money.
Does anyone know any easy ones to start by seeds?
Thanks in advance!

Rebecca VLQ

Flowers are easy to start from seeds, they just take FOREVER to wanna grow a flower!!!

I think Bachelor Buttons are fast,as well as coleus (not really a flower, but pretty nonetheless!) and Cosmos.

Things that I haven't ever had work from seed:

Chinese Lanterns
Echinacea

marilynr

Zinnias; fabulous colors. Get the State Fair. 3 feet tall with large flowers. My favorite.

DA Mayer

I don't have flowers but I do keep my ivy, I think German ivy, you just break a piece off and stick it in the soil and it roots itself. I have another ivy that you root in water. I also kept another plant that is like a succulent that you break off and put in the soil to root. I don't remember the name, but friends of ours lived in Texas and said it is a weed down there because it spreads so easily.
I think moss roses do well started from seed and I have started morning glory, nassturom (spelling wrong) and holly hocks.

CarrieAnne

Thanks Ladies. I want a pretty porch, lol!

sweet

The annual flowers will be much easier to start with. They must grow, flower and reproduce in one season, so they grow fast. Some perennials have seeds so small that they can look like a spec of dust. They will be slower to grow and it will not bloom as quick but it may live for many many years.
Basil is one of my favorite herbs to grow from seed. They have a unique feature that I always find fascinating to observe. If you place a few seeds on top on some dirt, then water well, in a short period of time you will see that they have formed a white jello-like coating.
Best to start with a rosemary plant vs the seeds, same with french tarragon. Parsley takes an extra long time to germinate for some reason.
Peppers and tomatoes are pretty much heat loving so if they are in a cool area they will take longer to germinate. A little bottom heat will help, like the top of the fridge, only till they germinate. Then they need light and lots of it.
I could go on and on.....

Oh, I do take the roots and about an inch of a green onion and plant it, works great!

:)

Ramona Byrd

For porch plants, or hanging plants, I don't think anything will outclass a plain old Spider Plant (Airplane Plant) and this one can be either green with yellowish stripes or plain green. I love all plants with variegated leaves, so have more of them than any other kinds. The little spiders root in water, in dirt or just in the air. Where you are these should be taken inside in the winter, but here they stay out all year round.

I start seeds by flattening out coffee filters on a saucer, wetting it and sprinkling the seeds on it. Then I cover it with another coffee filter, and put plastic over it. I check them every few days till they sprout then put them in dirt. I used to use paper towels but the roots grow through the paper and would break off when separating them.

Lots of flowers will self seed, then can be dug up and replanted where you want them. I make a lot of my own potting mix, and always add fresh!! cat litter to the DRY mix. It's formulated to hold moisture and plants grow better with it. Peat moss, sand, compost, the fluff from NEW baby diapers or NEW adult diapers which have water grabbing crystals, rotted sawdust, old shoes, etc (just wanted to see if you were paying attention!!) But at one time I did use my DH's huge old boots for pots, just poked a hole in the toes and the plants grew nicely!!

Ramona Byrd

[quote=DA Mayer]I don't have flowers but I do keep my ivy, I think German ivy, you just break a piece off and stick it in the soil and it roots itself. I have another ivy that you root in water.
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I have an ivy called Virginia Creeper, which is a powerful grower and is now spitting on its hands getting ready to yank the shingles off the play house!! I cut it down every year and pour on some plant killer, but it comes up somewhere else in the fence.

Mamagus

Just started some seeds today!
Thunbergia is a climber and starts easy!
Calendula blooms right up until Christmas in our area. Nice big seeds.
Nasturtium has such pretty red flowers if you like red.
Stocks smell so nice but are a little harder to start from seed.
Sweet William is an old favorite of mine - biennial so it will self seed.

magpie

Morning glories, soak the seeds overnight before planting and they will self-seed after that. Need a trellis or support of some type. We put eye hooks in side of garage, strung thin wire to a plant pole in the flower bed and the vine just took it from there.