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what's your fav re-seeding/self sowing flowers? charlotte area

13 years ago

I'm am just starting to get my gardens going at this house. I want to plant some flowers that will help do some of the work for me since house had no flowers or beds at all when we moved in.

I'm in Charlotte, NC. Zone 7/8. My lot has some full sun areas, some full shade, and some in between.

thanks!!

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Comments (9)

Donna
13 years ago
Be sure to take the time to do good soil prep. Do it right the first time and forever after, gardening will be a pleasure.

My favorite re-seeders:
Vinca
Cleome
Chinese Forget Me Not
Larkspur: love the flower, but save some seed for insurance.
Melampodium
Gloriosa Daisy
browallia americana
pumpkin_pie
13 years ago
My favorite are:
Verbena bonariensis
Malva Zebrina
Columbine
Melampodium
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Your fav. perennials for WS'ing?
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In zone 5 my favorite WS perennials are Lupine and aquilegias of all kinds. I also love little cheery blue forget me nots at their feet, and daisies. Lupine, really? Thought those should be direct sowed because they don't like xplanting, says on packet. I sowed one container just to see what would happen. Aquilegias I sowed a lot but this is my first year for those, was thrilled to find the Blue Star ones, hope they work. Swallowtail has some pretty all-blue alpine ones, may try those sometime, can't have it all. Yes, those FGM's are lovely and self-seed well, also grow the ones with the bigger seeds, Myosotis. A few spring ones bloom first year in the fall. I sowed a mix the other day of blue, pink and white. Prairie Sun Rud flops, maybe other varieties will, too. Not much that gets very tall doesn't flop around here, have lots of hoop stakes which I use for single stems and ugly tying, have to work on that. Daisies I love but am always looking for just the right white ones. I sure hope my Painted Daisies come back, they sulked in a container all summer, finally stuck them in the ground anyway and saw they had good root systems. I think Canterbury Bells are a biennial. You're right. They are, had to wait 2 years, then maybe they're done. Looks like foxgloves are, too, (except one yellow one a true perennial) and some will self sow. I used to tend to pass by biennials (or perennials) because I didn't want to wait. I'll have more favorites if I'm successful especially any perennial violas and anything else that turns out well. I must say finding this forum opened a whole new avenue for me, WS lots and if they don't work, so what? The ones that do will make up for it, and I can keep trying on ones I really want. I'm just getting rid of my backlog seed collection; a lot germinate and grow but don't look so great. Here's one Canterbury Bell that turned out to be really nice while it lasted. The trick is to have a cycle of plants going all summer, and I'm still pretty inexperienced and poor at designing like others here and elsewhere.
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Hard to nail a favorite "first" since the Hellebores seem to start in December and just keep going all winter! One of my favorites in Hamamelis 'Arnold Promise', not just because of it's early and unexpected bloom, but because I happened to site it right next to an Ilex verticillata, still brimming with bright red berries - so the combination is exhilarating. . . And to the responder who was speculating about crawling about on hands-and-knees to view those downward-facing hellebores: many, many years ago, a very clever little old lady showed me how she dealt with that in her garden - by placing little 6" round mirrors on the ground (even in the snow!) under the blooms. . . Those old-timers really had it all figured out - that little old lady next door had this little tyke completely hooked on gardening at the age of seven ! Carl
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Scarlet sage (Salvia Coccinea) should still bloom from seed by fall, they germinate quickly, but take some time to get going on clay. They're not 100% perennial in zone 8a, but a lot can eventually return depending on mulch/weather and they do self seed well. They bloom from now until frost, but best show for us has been in early fall. Your spot sounds good because they seem to appreciate a little shade. We've been happy using them as a temporary ground cover in the open spots while the shrubs grown in. Here is a link that might be useful: Salvia coccinea at wildflower.org
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DYH
13 years ago
Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella)
California poppies

Echinacea 'Prairie Splendor' is a wonderful coneflower that I grow; it reseeds and I also collect the seed and scatter those at the same time that I pull the cones. It may take a year for the babies to show up, but in the 2nd year, they catch up quickly with mature plants. Perennial.
georgia-rose
13 years ago
Celandine or Wood Poppy - (Stylophorum diphyllum). Spring blooming, scattered blooms throughout the summer-fall, until frost. Shade plant.
Georgia Aster (Aster georgianus or Symphyotrichum georgianum). Fall blooming - Honey bee magnet! Sunny locations.
Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum, var.?). Another member of the Aster Family that forms a dense ground cover in partly shaded locations. Yellow flowers in late spring,
This is one of 2 varieties that also spreads by stolons, as well as seed. Some of the seed from my plants established a colony in a neighbors lawn, underneath a Red Maple tree. His attempt to eradicate it only invigorates it and it keeps spreading. Payback for his Japanese Honeysuckle & Privet, English Ivy & Chinese Wisteria, that I am forced to constantly battle!
All are native plants, so I don't have concerns about introducing a potentially invasive alien plant into the area.
dottie_in_charlotte
13 years ago
Mom, you might want to slip over to the Carolina forum, a subset of the Southern Gardening Forum. Very active and we have 2 subforums for Conversations as well as Exchanges.
Zone 7/8 in Charlotte is on the southside close to SC and also in Union County near SC.

The vinca referred to is the annual flowering type, not the groundcover with the pretty lilac colored blooms(spring).
My best reseeders this year have been datura (highly toxic)and perennial ageratum that blooms the same time as my blackeyed susans. The BES are thugs,spreading wildly so they cover a good 6-10 square intersperced with the blueviolet frothy blooms of the ageratum and at the same height. Good for an English garden appearance but hard to keep inbounds in a less deep border.
The verbena B. comes up everywhere and grows thinly about 3-4' tall/spindly. The goldfinches adore the seedheads and watching them do their gymnastics to hold on to the swaying plant while feeding is fun to watch.
Gloriosa daisy is a very dependable reseeder. My first came down as seeds from Ct. in 1985 and have moved two more times. Excellent,long lasting cut flowers but they don't flower much beyond the first flush of blooms (now).

In your shady/part shady areas you can have great luck with coleus. Get the biggest plant you can find(bushy) and take cuttings and put them in plastic cups of water. In two weeks you'll have them all rooted (just plain water) and ready to put in the soil.

Are you somewhere where there are deer and/or rabbits?
'wonbyherwits' has great blogs and garden photos on how she deals with the critters and a spectacular landscape.
DYH
13 years ago
Dottie -- thanks for the compliments on my blog and garden. In fact, Southern Living Magazine's July issue is featuring my deer resistant garden.

I haven't seen it yet, but one of the other garden bloggers has, so I guess some folks have their magazine already.

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: my garden blog
dottie_in_charlotte
13 years ago
Thanks for the head's up on the SL July issue, F.
We all appreciate the time you take to post here and share your photos.
Iris GW
13 years ago
Melampodium is very dependable, I agree.
Salvia coccinea (I think the common name is Scarlet Sage) is also very nice. It is an annual.
shamrockva
13 years ago
For plants that re-seed themselves, my all-time favorite has got to be Black-Eyed Susan flowers (Rudbeckia). We've had them re-seeding in one spot for probably ten years or more. Love 'em !! And the bright yellow flowers always seem to last for a good long while. We let them dry on the stem, then in the fall we shake any dry seed heads that are left, to help them re-seed for another year. Definitely a favorite! (We're located in Virginia, just north of Richmond.)

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