If you haven’t already planted flowers for summer 2021, now is the time. I don’t know about you but I am not a plant mom, yet haha! I do have some quick tips for growing and maintaining your beautiful flowers so they will last as long as possible. It looks like summer is finally starting with nice hot sunny days. What a better way to spend it than sitting outside on your porch and admiring all your flowers.
1
Basic Plant Knowledge
When planting you want to plant your flowers in containers or in the ground with 6-8inches of soil. You need to water them daily and fertilize weekly. Let’s talk about technique. You want to water the soil until it is moist and it should look dark in color. When you go to buy plants most have tags that tell you everything you need to know about them. It will tell you how fast they will grow, how much water they need, how tall they will get, and the amount of sun tolerance. The morning sun is best for most plants because the afternoon sun can kill or dehydrate plants faster. This also depends on your zone, tropical areas need less water than a dry desert-like place.
2
Where to Buy
You may or may not know that big box stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s don’t actually grow flowers. They get them from local stores and vendors near you. So if you are looking for advice on what to buy or details of taking care of a certain type of plant or flower that is not the place to go. Instead, you should opt for a plant nursery or a garden center. I highly recommend doing your research by looking at websites and calling places for specific information. I recently read this article about first-time planters and what to plant.
3
Best Biggest Brightest Blooms
To get your flowers looking like these you must fertilize every week in addition to daily watering. Most plants require that they have moist airy soil. You never want to let them dry out. There are different types of fertilizers you can use. Many people like natural fertilizer, which I highly recommend. Natural fertilizer is also known as composting, so you should use eggshells, leftover vegetables, and fruit trimmings to get that nice rich soil for your plants to flourish. One big thing I had never done that will save your plants is to pinch off all of the dead or dying blooms. It sounds counter-intuitive but it makes a huge difference in your time and the plant’s life. To do this you must pinch the first bit of green with the bloom it gives the plant strength and then it will re-bloom hopefully even bigger. I know we all love to pick the most beautiful big blooms but you should pick the ugly ones and re-birth them!
4
Rainwater does not water your plants!
You would think that it would be enough for your plants when it rains but it actually isn’t. Flowers don’t absorb moisture, leaves don’t absorb moisture, only the roots will absorb moisture. Most rainfall just goes straight onto the flowers and doesn’t get all the way down into the soil. When planting in containers there is a huge difference between stone and plastic. To figure out which to plant in take a look at Everything You Need To Know About Container Gardening. Stone is going to be more environmentally friendly. Your plants will retain more moisture and resist heat in a stone container. I think that stone is better than plastic even though plastic is more cost-effective.
5
Difference between Annual and Perennial
I had no idea that there were two different categories of flowers you can get, Annuals vs. Perennials. Annuals last one year and Perennials will grow back every year and don’t require re-planting. Both will grow well together but you have to be mindful of your spacing when planting different flowers. The biggest thing is you don’t want to plant succulents and flowers together because they are completely different. One last tip, you want to choose colors of flowers based on the color wheel. You don’t necessarily want a rainbow of completely different colors next to each other.
Make sure to be on the lookout for Memorial Day sales coming up and good luck planting!