Whether you like to start your flower seeds indoors to get a head start on spring or sow them directly in the garden, many annual flowers have seeds with high germination rates and quick maturation rates to bring you armloads of summer blooms in your sunny or shady landscape.
Many of these plants will re-seed, so you’ll have free plants the next year.
Here are some of the easiest annuals to grow from seed.
1. Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
This sweet honey fragrant flower is blooming from spring to frost. You can do indoor seeding before last frost or direct sow outside.
Sprinkle the seeds over the soil and press them down lightly with your finger. Keep the soil moist until the seeds germinate.
2. Marigold (Tagetes)
It’s hard not to love a marigold’s bright yellow, orange, and red flowers. Happily, this is one of the easiest seeds to grow. You can sow marigold seeds directly into the garden after the last frost date. If you start seeds indoors, sow seeds one-eighth inch deep. Look for sprouts in less than a week.
3. Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus)
The plump, round seeds of nasturtiums are easy to plant, germinating in around seven to 10 days. They tend to produce a mound of round leaves first and then nonstop bright, cheerful flowers after around 60 days. The whole plant is edible—even the seeds, which make great fake capers.
Nasturtium seeds are fairly large and can be planted directly in the garden or in containers or hanging pots after the last frost of the season. They germinate best in warm soil.
4. Petunia (Petunia × atkinsiana)
This flower is the most famous option for a container garden. Although it is easy to grow from seed, it requires indoor seeding about three months before the last frost.
Sprinkle petunia seeds in the garden bed in early spring. They can also be started indoors about 10 weeks before planting time.
5. Poppy (Papaver somniferum)
Annual poppies don’t like being transplanted, so directly sowing in the garden is optimal. You can sow in early spring, even before the ground has thawed.
Most varieties of poppies will reseed, so you’ll have free plants the next year.
6. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum Majus)
The seeds can be started indoors about six to ten weeks before the last frost in spring.
Snapdragon is a tender perennial, frost tolerant but treat it as an annual in a colder zone. The long cluster flower spike is excellent for cut flower and good for edging. Cut the spent flowers to encourage more blooms.
7. Stock (Matthiola incana)
Stock is an easy to grow annual that grows 2 to 2.5 feet (60 to 75cm) tall and blooms from spring to summer. Sow the seeds direct in the garden or plant them indoors for transplanting later.
8. Sunflower (Helianthus)
Sunflowers are easy to grow annuals with large yellow flowers.
These seeds are best started directly in the ground outdoors, as the seedlings get large and gangly fast in a little jiffy peat pot. If you must start them indoors, give them a strong light source to keep them stocky.
9. Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus)
Sweet peas plant is an annual vine and a cold hardy plant.
Although, it is one of the annual flowers for full sun, it always a good idea to grow it in partial shade to extend the bloom. Direct sow sweet pea seeds as soon as the soil warms up and workable, usually in the early spring after the hard frost.
10. Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)
Zinnia is one of the fastest-growing annuals from seed.
They don’t like being transplanted so it’s best to sow the seeds direct in the garden in spring when the weather has warmed up.