Sowing Seeds in April
Summer’s bounty begins in Spring. There is much to be done in the month of April if you wish to fill vases in August. One of the biggest challenges for gardeners, new and experienced, is timing. The days get longer and brighter, yet the rapid pace of spring waits for no one. You have to take time to slow yourself down, looking ahead but not skipping the work that needs to be done for the rewards of later. Starting seeds is the perfect task for putting you in the present, and there is no better time than in April.
All those summer flowering annuals we love to see billowing from the garden bed in July and August, need some time to grow healthy roots and shoots before they can put out their showy flowers. Many summer flowering annuals, to give you a very general guideline, need about 3 months to go from germination (the first moment they crack open their seed casing) to flowering. That means that if you start now, April 1st, you should have your first flowers by the start of July.
Below are some of my favorite summer flowering annuals that I will be starting to sow this month. Most of them are very easy to grow from seed and can be done so whether you have a full seed starting set up, grow lights and all, or simply on a sunny windowsill. Give them a go, you may be surprised to find how easy it is to bring abundance into your garden with a few packets of seeds.
Cosmos. If you were to grow only one flower from seed, I would suggest cosmos. They germinate quickly, can be planted into the garden about three weeks later, and produce dozens and dozens of flowers over a very long period of time (basically all summer and fall). They actually prefer poorer soil conditions, are fairly drought tolerant and require little maintenance aside from staking taller varieties. Some of my favorite varieties include cupcake blush, rubenza, and apricotta
Zinnias. These happy flowers are also very easy to grow from seed. When you do, you will find more varieties available to you than the short and small flowered plants available in the garden centers. The kinds of zinnias grown for cutting, include the stunning Benary series with giant vivid flowers, the Queen series with unique coloration and the Oklahoma series with blooms the perfect size for bouquets
Sunflowers. We know them, we’ve grown them, we love seeing their sunny faces in the garden. Easy to grow for just about any and every gardener, from 5 to 99, sunflowers are a dependable seed to start. If you want to elevate your garden and try something other than the vivid yellow, there are dozens of beautiful varieties that will suit your garden style. Try the Pro Cut series for single stem varieties in plum, ivory and red, or go for branching sunflowers with multiple smaller blooms such as Italian white or Cherry rose.
Amaranthus. Known most commonly as a grain similar to quinoa, amaranth is also a beautiful showy garden plant that comes in a range of forms and colors. I love the green cascade for its trailing panicle of green and the red spike for its more upright formation of burgundy buds.
Basil. Not the sweet kind, but the lemon, cinnamon, or holy varieties. After it grows its tasty leaves, basil will start to flower in the heat of the summer. It can be cut and used as a remarkable foliage or accent flower, last a long time in the vase.
Grasses. There are loads of annual grasses that make wonderful backdrops to the summer garden. Frosted explosion has incredible texture and flowers over and over again when you cut it back. Green drops is another beauty that goes from green to bronze to deep purple as the season cools down in the fall. A personal favorite is Feathertop grass, which produces loads of fluffy white plumes that are as soft as a feather. All of these are excellent fresh or dried. Be mindful that if you are not cutting the seed heads off, they will spread seeds around your garden that will grow the following season.
Cosmos, rubenza and apricotta.