Some varieties are fast growers and are ready to flower in late summer and autumn, others wait for the onset of winter or spring to bloom
When it comes to planting flowers, there’s no doubt that their success or failure rather depends on climate conditions, or in the case of Lanzarote, the microclimate you live in.
If you’re impatient to see colourful blooms in your garden, consider one of the many varieties that can be planted from seed now and will be flowering by the end of the summer. Different varieties require different levels of care, like protecting from the hot sun, guaging the right amount of water and sheltering from the wind.
Annual varieties perfect for summer blooms include amaranth, cornflowers, marigold, nasturtium, cosmos, gaillardia (blanket flower), and pansies. Also perfect for planting in the summer are biennial and perennial flowering plants like poppies, daisies, foxglove, bleeding hearts (dicentra), flax, honesty and forget-me-nots (myosotis).
The upside of planting in the summer is that you’ll have a range of plants at different stages of growth which makes your garden look nice and varied. Another bonus is that edible flowers and aromatic and medicinal plants will give you a ‘harvest’ that’ll last for many months. Likewise, bees and butterflies, etc. can benefit from having flowers to pollinate all year round, and a further plus of perennials is that they need less maintenance.
These fast growing summer blooming (annual) flowers normally only bloom for one season. Many of them self seed extremely easily or produce lots of seeds that you can collect and plant the following year.
They can be grown from seed in pots, in a space set aside just for them, or planted among your vegetable garden. Having flowering plants attracts wildlife so you can avoid chemical pesticides as they are nature’s very own form of pest control.
