I need some flower help

[Tasha405]

I'd like to plant some flowers in the front of my house but I need something that is really easy to take care of. I usually kill everything I try to grow. lol I have managed to keep my love leaf plants alive though. Yay for me.

Anyway, what would be the best to get? What about Petunias? Meijer has some of them on sale and it says that they can spread up to 3 feet and I thought those would look nice. I'm wanting to put them under the picture window out front. Right now they have some of the red colored wood chips out there and nothing else. :rolleyes: I do see a stem of some sort but I guess the people that lived here before us cut down whatever they had planted there when they moved out. What else would look good? I need all the help I can get! LOL

If yall could give me some step by step instructions on how to put them in the ground and everything else I need to know, that would be great. :D

[amysusi]

I don't know about what's best for your area, but I would suggest Daffodils or tulips. I have somewhat of a black thumb, but the landlord planted them last year, and this year they just were suddenly there by themselves! As soon as it started getting warmer, there were all these green chutes all over the place, and in a matter of about a week, there were daffodils everywhere! THe tulips are coming up here and there in the yard. Just the other day while on a walk, I saw a tulip that had sprouted in a dirt mound in a truck yard. It was kinda neat!

Pansies are good too. I managed to keep mine alive for quite a while!

[DBackFan]

Gerber Daisy's! Bloom spring and summer, late fall too if warm enough. I have them in Red and Yellow and they are big bright and beautiful but most of all easy!

[Tasha405]

Thanks yall! :D

I've got a gift card to Lowes so I'm going flower shopping this week. :)

[Countrymom]

Pansies are pretty and easy to grow also.

[Tasha405]

Thanks Countrymom :) I think they also had some of them on sale at Meijer too. I guess I'll be doing most of my flower shopping there instead of Lowes. LOL

[kelly12569]

I plant petunias every year. They thrive in my flower beds. And they do spread well and last late into fall. My ex husbands new step daughter (hmmm thats a brain twister) sells geraniums every year for 4H so I usually plant some of those out back too. I also have tulips on one end of my house and they come back quite beautifully every year and I dont have to mess with then. Also one year I planted a hybrid lilly about 5 yrs ago when we first moved in. That sucker has reproduced every year like you wouldnt believe! I have over a dozen sprouts commin up out there this year! hmmm lets see what else do I plant on a regular basis.... I have flowers all around the front and one side of my house going around our L shaped porch. Plus a flower bed out back in front of the garage. I am shopping for flowers and plants this coming weekend. I love this time of year. ;)

[jaimethepooh]

i found this the other day this could help lol

http://www.burpee.com/shopping/search/gardenwizard1main.jsp?ruleID=16&itemID=0&itemType=Garden+Wizard&showChanges=true

:)

[twinkiesmom]

hmmm. I'm gonna hafta check my meijer ads. I need to get some flowers too, and if meijer has a sale, all the better! I always plant petunias on my south side, they like sun. To keep em flowering for a long time, all u hafta do is when the flower is wilted pull em off, and before long, another will produce. Dunno if u can get em at Meijer, but what are real pretty are double petunias. When they flower, they look just like carnations. But I've only seen em at greenhouses. Now I'm getting flower excited! LOL About a month ago, I bought a flower box and holder for my front porch, just waiting for the flowers to be in season here in MI.

[schsa]

There are petunia's called Purple Wave and they florish in the heat. You have to dead head them but they will last all summer long. If it weren't for the fact that I can't stand the smell I would have loads of them because they are so easy to grow and hard to kill.

[rlynn411]

Petunias are easy and they do spread, but unless you plan on spending what will begin to feel like forever pulling off the dead flowers I would go with something else. Dwarf snapdragons are nice, still have to dead head but it goes much quicker than with petunias.

[Bick'sMom]

Lilys are beautiful. I planted pink ones here at the new place but at one time I had all colors in my flower garden. They even started mixing after a while and I had some purple ones out there. They come in all kinds of colors that are bright and eye catching. They don't require much work and the best thing is they will come up every year. Of course I have a Lily garden though since my youngest DD is named Lillie! Tulips are another good one because they don't require much work and will come up every year.

[Tasha405]

There are petunia's called Purple Wave and they florish in the heat. You have to dead head them but they will last all summer long. If it weren't for the fact that I can't stand the smell I would have loads of them because they are so easy to grow and hard to kill. These were called wave petunia's, I wonder if they are the same? I have a pretty big space out there to fill and I thought that planting them would be cheapest since I can allow room for them to spread out. My friend also buys them in the hanging baskets and they always look so beautiful.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I'll probably come home with a little of all of them. LOL! I'm excited because this is the first year that I've ever been able to plant any. :)

[texasgander]

What about impatiens or hibiscus???? impatiens are perennials and they multiply like rabbits! so do periwinkles...........you might also check for native ferns in your area.....

here's my front yard, last year,....everything has multiplied now! Plus, my creeping ficus pumelia (plumia?) has climbed up the whole front of the house. Here's a couple of pictures.....

http://pic6.picturetrail.com/VOL168/1703684/3272859/51508712.jpg

http://pic6.picturetrail.com/VOL168/1703684/3272859/51508938.jpg
Go to your local nursery (or Home Depot, which I love)....they are usually full of information!

[Tasha405]

Oh wow that looks so pretty!!

Wanna come decorate my yard now?? :D lol

[texasgander]

sure! I LOVE working in the yard...............just finished up a bed in the back yard last weekend........all across the back of my fence! I planted pink jasmine (smells great!), petunias, begonias, an orangeAngel Trumpet tree,
cigar plants, lemon and lime verbena, pineapple sage, bluebonnets, apple geranium, etc.) won't look really good until next year....(just remember that.......it's usually the 2nd season before it looks really good....the plants need time to establish themselves.) I already have a Carolina jasmine, pittosporum (sp?) that is a hedge/bush, 3 rose bushes, snowbells, ferns, lariope.....all that was already there so it is established already. Along with a small bed of tomatoes and bell peppers, and a few herbs......

Also, when buying plants, don't always go for the pretty, already blooming ones......the blooms will quit earlier than ones just starting to bloom......

post pictures when you get a chance!

[kelly12569]

texasgander that was gorgeous! Now Im getting anxious as well....LOL...see what ya done Tasha.. hehehe

[fatesfaery]

texasgander....your yard is absolutely gorgeous! I never knew imaptiens were perennials? They're always sold here as annuals. I always pull mine up in fall, maybe this year I'll leave them and see what happens next spring. I did have begonias that came back up this year, that was the first time I had an annual re-seed itself.

I planted lillies, kalanchoe,lantana,marigold,impatiens, begoinas,salvia and zinnias in the front flower bed and the planters on the porch rails this year. DD picked the color scheme this year so everything is red, yellow and orange. I think I'm going to plant moss rose around the mail box and azaelas and hosta under the bradford pear tree. I have no idea about the back yard, we're just trying to make it look like a yard instead of a thickett.Though I did see a raised water garden at Lowe's that I'm determined to have before summer is over, it even had a faery water fountain.

Tulips and Daffodils are grown from bulbs that are planted in the fall....and here in the south, pansies and snapdragons won't flower once the weather gets hot, but they'll flower again in the fall when it gets cooler.If you're looking for something for color for this year, Petunias are a good idea, and dead heading them isn't that bad.Geraniums are pretty, I've never tried them in the ground, only in planters and baskets.

I agree with trying Home Depot and Lowe's, they can definitely help you with plants that do well in your area. They'll also help you with amendments to add to your soil so your plants do well.(I felt so bad for the boy who bought the house next door, he bought 2 little azeleas and dug little holes and stuck them out by the mailbox....they were dead within a week)
They love me this time of year, I've been to both stores at least 3 times each during the past week, and still have so much to get.

[texasgander]

maybe it's just here that the impatiens act like perennials! LOL! Mine actually never died from last spring....I finally cut them down to the ground in February because they were so leggy.......now they are thicker than ever! I just could never bring myself to dig them up because they kept blooming!

Mexican heather is something good that never dies, either.......I cut it back in Feb. also, and it's growing great again. My dianthus came back, as did my caladiums, periwinkles and some coleus.........

[schsa]

Texas, you are welcome to help me put my back yard together. Wave Petunias are the same as Purple Wave, except the Purple Wave are purple as opposed to white.

I bought my house two years ago and I have finally pulled out the last of the ugly bushes. I am planning on planting hydrangea's, more gardinias and then I am going to start building raised flower beds because the moles last year ate most of my bulbs. So they are going to have to fight their way through the lawn fabric and a layer of rocks to get to any bulbs that I plant.

I am only planting perinnels and flowering bushes. If it isn't heat resistant, it is not going to be planted either.

[texasgander]

yeah....and add drought resistant to that list, too! LOL!

[JazzMama]

Totally agree w/ Texasgander...you can't go wrong with Impatiens. I'm
in AR (northeast), but mine are true annuals. However, they spread quickly during the season and are inexpensive, so I just buy more the next year. For my full/part sun areas, I also like to get Dianthus (perennial), lilies, liriope, pansies, petunias, rose moss, spirea, and full-sun Hostas.

You can find all of those and more at any local store (i.e. Lowe's, Home Depot, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, etc.). ALSO ... check out the Big Deals board. They have an offer from brecks.com that can get you $20 worth of free bulbs...just call on phone and tell them you have $20 coupon. Works for shipping too! ;)