spring flowers

I think sunflowers are really easy to grow...and they always make me smile when I see one, I have one tattooed on my back!!!:flowerforyou:

I LOVE gardening, but I try to keep it simple and stick with plants that are low maintenance and that are tough enough to survive our winters (even though we are in New Mexico, we are at 7,000 feet -our temperature can easily dip below 0 and we get freezes through May). I also wait until Memorial Day to put out anything that isn't hardy. Here are the plants I've had the most success with:

Springtime blooms: Daffodils (they live longer than tulips and are supposed to be deer resistant), columbine, dianthus, lilacs, sweet violets, iris.

Summer blooms: Shrub roses (like Nearly Wild or the Knock Out roses - or ones growing on their own roots), daylilies, butterfly bushes, Russian sage, coneflowers, hardy geraniums. For bright and colorful annuals, I love petunias and geraniums for the sun and impatiens for the shade.

Late summer/autumn blooms: Blue mist shrub, sunflowers, Maximilian sunflowers, mums, asters.

Our soil is kind of alkaline and combined with the altitude there are a lot of things I can't grow here (I can't tell you how many hydrangeas I've murdered....I can't even get them to grow in pots ). Just realize some plants are going unhappy in your particular garden no matter what you do. It takes a bit of trial and error.

Happy Gardening :flowerforyou: - it can become an addiction. I spend most of January staring at plant catalogs and thinking spring will never get here!

I'm not sure what the weather is like where you are at, but in Minnesota, my favorites are...

for the shade... Hostas, astilbe, lily of the valley, bleeding hearts (keep in a low profile area - they get ugly after they are done with their spring season) & hydrangea bushes (need some extra watering)

Sun - I like to use grasses, daylillys, & spirea.

All of the above grow quickly & you can split them after a couple years - except for the bushes.

I don't usually plant anything until we get close to or after Memorial day (depending on how the weather has been.)

Talk to your local nursery for easy annuals if you are looking for something just for this season.

These are all great suggestions...I was thinking along the same lines. Just remember never to plant until you are sure there will be no more frost. It is also a great idea to find out what growing zone you are in, for example, here in Indiana we are a zone 5. This will be extremly helpful when it is time to make your decisions. The great thing when using seed, is that you can start your plants in small containers indoors and then transplant when the fear of frost is over. Perennials are a great investment because they continue to come back year after year. They are great for "anchoring" your landscape and then the annuals can be used to supplement or border your landscape. You might also want to think about wildflowers, too. I bought one of those roll on carpet like things and watered for a week or so....talk about easy. A good idea when planning your landscape would be to draw it out on paper depicting the type and placement of your plants and also the height and bloom time. That gives you a good mental picture of the effect you are seeking. Good luck on your first flowering endeavor!

PS. If you look into daylillies, check out the Stella D'Oro variety. It is small and compact w/ bright yellow flowers and blooms throughout the summer.