Anyone know any good flowers that can be planted now? I like to plant from seeds and garden mostly by trial and error...this year, mostly error. I just pulled up all my cosmos because out of about 20 plants, I got a handful of blooms and they just looked like 4 foot tall weeds. :-(
I planted some coreopsis...they are creeping...looking green, but no buds or blooms, (I'm assuming that'll hopefully happen next year). I had wildflowers, which were really pretty for a while, but now all that's left are small sunflowers. I've done the 5-6 foot variety of sunflowers 2 years in a row and loved them, but decided to do something different. I feel like I don't have hardly any flower garden left. :-( If you can't tell, I like to try flowers that are a little 'different' from what everybody else has in their yard.
I'm from back East, but have been here for 20+ years...oh, and I put down good soil, fertilized and watered well...the cosmos just didn't feel like blooming.
Wild flowers grow best in
Wild flowers grow best in the spring and fall here in Phoenix. The summers are just too hot to grow the traditional wild flowers that you want. However, there are many alternatives. First, walk around the Desert Botanical Garden during different times of the year to get an idea of what you can plant. They sell plants and flowers that grow well in Phoenix. Berridge and Baker's nurseries are also really good places to buy plants and seeds, plus their staff is extremely knowledgeable about growing seasons and when to plant.
Two very good books are:
Earth-Friendly Desert Gardening by Cathy Crohell, Jo Miller and Lucy Bradley
How to Grow The Wildflowers by Eric Johnson and Scott Millard
Another good resource is the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension. They can answer any question you may have, offer classes to the public, and have a fabulous website, which I've included below (this link specifically takes you to the flower growing guide).
http://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/pubs/flowertable.pdf
Good luck and enjoy!
The best way to predict your future is to create it. ~Peter Drucker
Wow-Thanks so much! I'll
Wow-Thanks so much! I'll check it out.