As I’ve said in other posts, last season I grew lots of different annual flowering plants from seed to try to attract more bees and butterflies to my garden. One way to keep annuals flowering prolifically during the season is to de-head (pull or cut) the flowers off the plants once they have died, to encourage new growth. Near the end of the season I left a few of the heads on the plants in order to collect the dried seed for next season. Well this was my intention. I ended up pulling up the dead plants and instead of just throwing the dead flower heads in the garden bin I just chucked the heads on the bare ground (not knowing really what would happen, maybe feed a few birds). After a walk around my garden this morning (after some rainfall and sun this week) I can see lots, well actually hundreds, of self sown seedlings popping up all around the garden. There was no need to burry the seeds as most seeds can grow just sitting on the soil.
Sure some of the seedlings are not where I want them to end up, and there are way too many. But they are going to give a really natural look to my flower garden this coming summer season (if they survive the winter) without a lot of work (or money) at all. My Asters, Zinnias and Echium have all self-seeded this way. I’ve been out at Patamahoe today on a pruning tutorial, so stay tuned for a pruning post soon.
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