First flowers

[new]

My family will be moving into our first house soon and are wondering what type of flowers to plant in front. Is there anything easy that blooms every year? When is the time to start planting? (I've never planting anything before.)

[Mr Yan]

Congrats on the new house. I've been in mine nearly 5 years and have yet to stop working on in or around it.

I have no idea about your climate, soil, or the amount of sun you get so I can only give you some of the thoughts I had when I started mine.

I knew I would be in my house more than 5 years which is enough time for most small plants to fill in. When I started looking for plants I spoke with people at garden shops and nurseries about what did well in my area (cold winters as low as -31C / -25F, hot summers as high as 38C / 100F, with little time in between cold winter temperatures and hot summer weather). Added to this I looked at my neighbor's yards to see what they had growing and what was doing well.

When I went out and bought the plants I bought mostly perennials as I want to spend my garden time getting tasty things to eat.

I also bought small container plants. The thinking is small plants cost a lot less and are more likely to grow into strong plants than if you were to shock a larger plant with transplanting it. A smaller plant also, usually, has a higher ratio of root mass to foliage than if you bought a big looking plant in a container you're still able to move without a tractor. For instance 3 years ago I planted a young peach tree which didn't even extend past my knee. It should flower and fruit this spring and is now pushing 3 meters tall. I bought this tree for less than $5. If I were to buy the tree it is now it would run me well over $250.

I also went with larger plants than a sea of small flowers. For me it is easier to prune a shrub or tree once to twice a year than maintain flowers.

For my area in the midwest United States I went with things like a flowering apple tree, peach tree, spirea bush which is covered with lots of tiny white flowers in the spring, dogwood bushes and trees, lilac bush, grape vine as well as perennial flowers like Echinacea and daisies.

[new]

Thanks :) We don't actually get to move until the beginning of April! The climate here is the same as where im originally from in the Puget Sound region of Washington state, are rose bushes easy? I like miniature roses. Or poppies? I have to look up what perrenials are lol. I have to get all my info online cause I don't speak French so I can't really ask anyone around here for advice. There is not much space in the front but we do have enough space to plant a few flowers and small bushes. We are also wanting to do a vegetable patch in the back and also have space for a couple small trees.

[Mr Yan]

I hope your good at absorbing new languages.

Perennials are plants which will remain year to year even if the top parts die off to the ground. In many areas roses are an example of this as are daisies. If you look at a plant tag it usually gives a few pieces of info like mature size and hardieness temperature. The hardeiness temperature is the absolute lowest that the plant will usually survive.

I did my early landscaping with sturdy bushes and trees most of which will flower at some point of the year. Then over the next two or so years my thoughts changed and I want anything that goes in my yard to be edible to some extent. I have a small veg garden which I push a little harder than most and I got over 112 lbs of fresh produce off it.

You mentioned small trees have you ever thought of fruit or nut trees? I would buy them, well any tree, from better nurseries and get named varieties. Trees are usually grafted which means that a the top of a kind you want (say it has the leaf colour or apple type) are put on the roots of a close relative which is known for something like disease resistance or a smaller size. Dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees are grafted and, as the name implies, are smaller than the normal cultivators would be. Even if you don't want the fruit or nuts many of these are also known for the flowers looks and sweet scent.

Over loaded yet?

[new]

Actually yes, the trees we are thinking about (altho havnt researched yet) are cherry, plum, apple, walnut, and almond. Not overloaded yet but im sure it will come when i actually start digging into this more:)

What u said about planting only edible things reminded me about something. When i was a little girl my grandmother had edible flowers planted in her yard....thats is something that is so cool for kids....im going to look into those for around the back yard :)

Thank you so much for responding to my posts:)

[Mr Yan]

There are a lot of edible options for flowers. One of the most common in the the US are daylilies, the flower petals are sweet and crisp if a little dry at first. Roses are edible. Marigolds are but some types don't taste good. Many herbs have nice flowers.

If you want a veg garden also look at "scarlet runner beans" these are a climbing bean that become covered in red flowers which attract humming birds and bees galore. The flowers, leafs, and beans (both as green beans and dried) are edible. Some people grow these just for ornamental reasons.

Blueberries have a white flower almost shaped like a blueberry and, some types, will turn bright red in the fall. These can be a problem to grow if you don't have acidic soil though.

Earlier I said I was growing Echinacea. This is the same herbal supplement you can buy in a drugstore but you may also know as purple cone flowers.

There is a plant I have read about but not tried called Jerusalem artichoke which has a root similar to potatoes. The upper part of the plant looks just like a sunflower, including the 6' tall part.

Check this link out:Johnny Selected Seeds edible flower collection (http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6253-edible-flower-collection.aspx)