Flowering Perennnials advice/suggestions

robin3

hi, looking for advice about some flowering perennials,

Anyway I bought a pack of seeds earlier in the year, lupins, sweet pea, petunias(are these perennial), rudbeckia(spelling?) they have flowered/are flowering, but really only have small plants (think they were too long in small pots.) Will these continue to grow next year or is it the seeds that start to grow now when they grow into seed?
Want to have a few nice beds next summer when the garden should be looking better, is there anything else I could sow that would come back year after year.
Would love to have sweet William, does this grow well from seed?

MarkHitide

They will develop seeds (insects permitting), drop those seeds, die, and give you multiple healthy offspring next year.....
....I think.

MarkHitide

The logic of my previous post is based on the fact that you bought a packet of seeds, rather than young plants, and they germinated successfully. This leads me to believe that they are not necessarily perennials, but rather annuals.

robin3

thanks for the reply, the packet said perennials but they were a cheap pack.

newbie2

Put the lupins inthe ground now - they'll pop up again year after year. The sweet pea wont - but you can collect the seed and sow in october for plant to flower next July. The rudbekia will also come back next year - but get htem all in to the open ground. Add lots off organic matrerial to give them the best start.

I grew 50 lupins from seed this year and I'ver planted most of them out and they're doing great with lots opf flower.

looksee

Sweet peas and petunias are not perennials, they are annuals. Rudbeckia and lupins are perennials.

Mostly (but not always) perennials do not flower till the second year, so you need to have them planted somewhere where you can keep an eye on them and then move to permanent positions next spring.

Annuals of necessity flower first year, they may spread from seed, depending on what kind of plant it is (F1 hybrids for example will not propagate from seed).

Tbh I would not expend energy growing perennials from cheap seeds - any seed company that does not know the difference between annuals and perennials is not likely to be using good stock. Choose with care and look after them and you will get good plants.

Some are easier to grow than others, its hard to suggest as there are so many to choose from. Very unusual or exotic stuff will probably need more skill than you have at the moment so practise on simpler plants! Lupins are good, almost anything that looks like a daisy type, campanulas, Aqualegia are easy and very pretty, but you will spend the rest of your life getting rid of them - they have roots worse than dandelions and seed everywhere. The big poppies are perennial - they may seed around but are easy enough to control. Foxgloves are easy - they are perennial but do tend to revert to purple eventually.

There are endless amounts you could try, have a look and see what you fancy and then ask on here about how easy they are to grow.