Reseeders

Even though I am a perennial gardener, I am very happy to have annuals in my garden too.  They provide weeks or months of color with zero effort on my part.  I don't even have to plant them!  I'm not talking about flats of impatiens or petunias.  I mean the plants that seed themselves.  Here is one of my favorites, moss roses.

                               

I didn't plant any of these.  They just reseed year after year from a flat of moss roses I bought over ten years ago.  They grow in the lime sand between the patio stones.

Here's another reseeder I really like.  I got some of this from my mom years ago, and it just keeps moving around my yard, wherever the wind blows the seeds.

Verbena bonariensis

Nothing comes in as many different colors as snapdragons do.  That's what I love about them - you never know what color each plant will turn out to be when they bloom. And you never know where they are going to show up.  I even have a snapdragon blooming up in my window box this year! This is another annual that I brought home in a flat many years ago and now have forever.

snapdragons

 Sea holly is an unusual plant.  The stems are the same blue-purple as the flowers.  People who see it in my garden often ask what it is.  

sea holly

This patch of calendula is pretty much done blooming now, but it was a sea of yellow and gold flowers all summer.  My parents gave me a few plants years ago and it reseeds itself.

calendula

There are many other plants that reseed:blanket flower, rose campion, gaura, and poppies.   I even have blue fescue and Autumn Joy sedum in the crevices of the rocks in our terraces. This look isn't for everyone.  It's definitely cottage garden style.  If you put down a thick layer of mulch, you won't get as much reseeding.  And if you like your landscape neat and tidy with each plant staying put, reseeders will drive you crazy.  But if you like a loose, natural effect, with plants moving around and lots of colorful flowers with no planting try adding some of these.