Seed choices part one

After trawling the seed catalogues the first list of choices have more or less been fixed. I've chosen the flower seeds. The flower list is much shorter than that for vegetables although choosing isn't necessarily any easier.

This year I have decided that we won't be growing any half hardy summer annuals. There are two reasons for this decision. The first is that although we have a fairly large greenhouse in our garden we are often hard pushed to find space for all the seed trays and modules that we end up with. The vegetables tend to take priority and so often I end up planting out flower plants that are past their best. The second reason which really was the one that tipped the balance was that I was really pleased with the patch of hardy annuals that I sowed directly in the ground last year.

The seeds were just a hotchpotch of seeds from two packets of mixed seeds and some annuals seeds that we happened to have. Not only did the resulting flower patch look good but the bees and butterflies loved it. The flowers were always swarming with tipsy insects.

This year I've decided to create my own mix so have chosen: 

larkspur - Sublime Mixed

godetia - Dream

cornflower - Blue Diadem

California poppy - Monarch Mixed

calendula - officinalis

poppy - Angels Choir

I've also chosen cosmos - Sensation - which the catalogues class as a half hardy annual. Last year I had success directly sowing seeds, and also cosmos often appear on the plot as volunteer plants so I'm going to treat them as hardy.

I'll also steal some of the phacelia seeds that Martyn sows as green manure. This is one of the bees all time favourite flowers but we dig in that sown as green manure before it flowers.

I'm also guessing that I'll end up with plenty self sown nasturtiums and candytuft.

I've tried to choose varieties that are fairly tall growing as I want to mix up the seeds and I don't want any shorter plants to be swamped.

You may remember my disappointment over what should have been pompom dahlias. In the end, the disappointment turned into a happy event for the butterflies and bees, lack of pompoming meant they could access the pollen. They loved them. So this year I am going for single dahlias and have chosen Bishop's Children which have what is described as rich bronze foliage. They also are shown to have a good colour range so let's see whether these live up to expectation!

I have to have lots of sweet peas and they HAVE to be perfumed. Sweet peas with no perfume is like a rainbow with no colours or a peach with no taste!

I don't buy separate colours as I want lots and separate varieties work out to be expensive. So I'll grow my usual varieties, Thompson and Morgan Prize Strain, Kings Special Mix, Perfume Delight and Kings Spencer Mixed.

Then I have to have some sunflowers. Shouldn't it be easy to choose sunflower seeds. The problem is that being 5' 2" ish . I don't want plants that carry the flowers so high up that I can't enjoy watching the insects browsing. I don't want double flowers - the bees wouldn't thank me for growing them. Also there is a trend towards pollen free varieties, which is a bonus if you want to cut the flowers for house decoration, but again these aren't bee friendly. The only one I have found that fulfil my requirements is Little Dorrit. I always seem to fall back on this one!

No doubt I'll get some self sown sunflower seedlings but I may end up with none at all if I count on this happening.

My final set of seeds are the biennials. We usually grow sweet Williams to use as early cut flowers and so I've chosen the variety Prettiness which has lived up to its name in the past.

Last year I grew lots of winter pansies which looked great when first planted but just haven't stood up to the weather very well at all.

So this year I'm going to give violas a try. I've read, or heard, that they are more tolerant of poor conditions so we will see. I'm going to grow a variety called Symphonia.

Almost finally, rather than buying plants, I've decided to grow my own wallflowers this year and have chosen a variety with the imaginative name of Brilliant Bedder.

Last on the list is a choice really made for my sister. Since childhood she has hankered after a potted mimosa - the sort with leaves that fold up when touched. We were talking about this recently, and whilst browsing, I came across a couple of varieties. I've chosen a pink flowered variety called Pink Sparkles so let's hope I manage to grow at least one plant for her, (and maybe one for me too).

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett