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Self-sowing flowers are a good choice for organic gardeners
01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, October 5, 2008

Larkspur seedlings enable you to be a generous gardener.
Garden volunteers are more than just nice surprises — they are budget-wise gardening. The late-summer issue of Organic Gardening magazine tells how to plant, grow and manage self-sowing flowers. Editor Scott Meyer provides these tips: Some self-sowing flowers good for organic gardeners include: larkspur, California poppy, cleome, catchfly, amaranth, sweet alyssum, moonflower, tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis), love-in-a-mist, calendula, bells of Ireland, celosias and cosmos.
TIPS
Early spring: Wait to mulch, lest you smother the volunteers. If you’re even thinking of mulching in March, consider this: Old-fashioned favorites like larkspur and bells of Ireland are rare in modern gardens because many people mulch when they have the time, not when the time is right.
Mid-spring: When love-in-a-mist, calendula, and other abundant seedlings appear, thin and neaten them up about the edges for a self-sown display, or lift clumps and pop them into other spots in the garden, even the vegetable garden.
Late spring: Share plants. Make friends. Larkspur and California poppy seedlings enable you to be a generous gardener. Take a trowel and lift up a whole clump. Put it gently in a pot without disturbing the roots at all.
Summer: Observe. Knowing which plants self-sow allows you to be vigilant for seed-collecting opportunities. Each self-sower has its own timetable. Note locations and talk to gardeners about coming back for seed.










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