Lovely Repeaters

Several flowering plants are into their second go round for the summer. These are the ones that bloom in the spring from seeds left on the ground over the winter and then re-seed and return for a mid-August bloom.
This white one is nicotiana or flowering tobacco. The link will take you to "2009 Year of Nicotiana" at the National Garden Bureau's site.

After the first bloom fades and the plants look worn out, I pull them up and leave the seed heads on the bed. The seeds germinate in the mid-summer heat, come up and bloom late summer.

Zinnias, tithonia (Mexican Sunflowers), Verbena bonariensis (photo below), Marigolds, Red Russian Kale, and cleome all perform this way in my garden if the weather is right.

Some gardeners consider any plant that behaves this way to be a weed.
What do you think?
Do you enjoy this about some of your plants or does it interfere with your garden design plans?

Comments

Lona said…
I just love flowers that keep on giving. Since there is no plans set in stone for my flower beds, surprise blooms are always welcome.
Unknown said…
I believe these are growing wild, and still blooming all over the hill along the edge of our lot in East Cherokee County, Georgia
Molly Day said…
I'm a huge fan of plants that re-seed and wish more of mine would.

Are you harvesting any seeds to move them to more beds? Today I bagged some of the black pearl ornamental pepper seeds - the plants are loaded.

Each year at the end of the larkspur season I take seed heads to other places in the yard.

We are going into the winter season of dreaming of plants coming up when we hope every seed that fell in the winter will become a plant in the spring.

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