I vote for pansies, but not from seed since that’s difficult if you get a lot of rain.
There is one question I have about annuals, though. Pansies, unlike some of their smaller cousins, are annuals. At least theortically. Last fall I planted the new “sub zero” pansies, and to my utter amazement, more than half of them survived an average NH winter. They’re all happily enjoying the sun right now. But…annuals are supposed to die in winter. How long are these guys going to live? My my point of view they’re already living on borrowed time, but if the winter doesn’t kill them…is there any chance of having them survive the upcoming winter too?
True. So are the leaves, though quite peppery. Use the little ones. If you get the variegated type they look lovely in a tossed salad with a few flowers on the top.
They also make pretty little open-faced sandwiches with butter.
Pansies are edible and decorate baked goods nicely. So are marigolds, though I don’t care for the flavor.
Pansies are damned close to winter-hardy here (zone 3) - they bloom and survive well into winter. I can see them easily breeding winter-hardy pansies. I would love to have perennial pansies (I love my violas, but they’re not as spectacular); I’m going to look into these.
Perennials do take a little more planning, but I think they’re worth it. I plan my perennials for foliage and for bloom times (some early, some mid-season, some fall bloomers). Lady’s mantle, daylilies, all heuchera varieties (coral bells), pulmonaria for full shade, the aforementioned hostas for shade, too, and peonies - they have spectacular flowers in early summer, then are a gorgeous, almost shrub-like plant for the rest of the growing season (if properly propped up).
Violas (Johnny Jump-Ups and the like) are also cold hardy here in New England, and their flowers are edible, we have the purple violas growing wild in our lawn, and in garden borders, I pick a few and snack on them when I come home from work, sort of a sweet lettuce-y taste
I love marigolds, and they grow well for me. Practically nothing grows for me, except those marigolds…and one thing I really love about them is that I can save the seeds. Sure, the marigolds that I have now don’t look exactly like the ones on the front package pics of long ago, but they’re quite pretty and festive looking. And you can’t get cheaper than free.
I’ve always had really good luck with Petunias and pansies. They even do well where I live. I don’t have a yard, I live in a condo, so I grow them in baskets and pots on my balcony.
Just to add a caveat here: I’ve never had a flower garden that was truly easy. I’m always having to deal with weeds trying to take over. Putting down mulch helps, but only somewhat. Maybe I’m doing it wrong…
One bit of advice for INRS - be careful about planting anything under a tree like a Japanese maple.
You don’t want to plant too close to trees, because of the potential for damaging roots (lots are near the surface) and injuring or even killing a tree. It’s even worse to add soil around a tree for planting purposes - trees are sensitive to changes in soil levels and even a few inches of extra soil can kill an established tree.
Also, tree roots tend to be greedy and rob nutrients from whatever is planted close to them.
“Partial shade” can mean different things. If it’s light filtered shade (like that provided by some trees) all day long, that’s better for shade-loving annuals and perennials than no sun most of the day interrupted by direct glaring sun for a couple of hours in the middle of the day.
I’ve been wondering about this - I’m planning two fairly large beds on either side of my back yard - the north bed will be between two established Acer negundo (Manitoba Maples), and the south bed will be between two white spruce. I have a feeling I will end up hardscaping where the shade and roots are the thickest, but it will still look better than the patchy grass that’s trying to grow there now.
These are some of my favorites–especially the scarlett ones. The leaves are very dark and waxy-shiny and look fabulous against the bright red blooms.
Added bonus–they do great in the shade and are near-impossible to kill.
I just bought a box of mixed perennial seeds at the local hardware store for $2 (half off!), says enough to cover 750 square feet. I just rough up the dirt with a shovel, dump the seeds on, scratch the dirt around and try to cover the seeds, water, and wait.
I tried those (the ones in the big shaker cans) - I was not impressed with the results. The thyme one was okay if not spectacular, but the other one (I think it was moss) was a dismal failure. I hope you get better results than I did.
We got our first shrub of the season yesterday - a dwarf Alberta spruce. Who’s a cute little bright green shrub?
Some of my favorite perennials. I like perennials because they are really easy.
Daisies - invasive, but bloom like crazy pretty much all summer and take zero effort.
Hostas - not colorful, but easy green. Deer love them though so I don’t bother because otherwise I open a salad bar for deer.
Daylilies - the “not day” kind so you get longer blooms. Although if you mix in some of the daylilies they have really dense foliage that keeps the weeds out.
Coreopsis - just friendly looking. Light and airy as opposed to some of the denser stuff here. Again, blooms all summer.
Salvia - again, dense, purple (my favorite color) and impossible to kill. At least the variety I have planted is dense.
Hardy Geraniums - I love this plant. I only have one and need to get more.
Peonies and tulips for the spring and a few mum plants for the fall and its a garden.
Most of this stuff you can ask friends to divide out. Or find a garden club that does a perennial swap. The single salvia I bought ten years ago is now twelve huge plants. The few daylilies a friend gave me at the same time cover the side of the house. If you want to do it on the cheap, you need patience and the willingness to dig it up every two years and hack it into two or three parts.
