Add color and pollinator habitat to your garden with our flower growing guides. Each profile includes bloom timing, companion planting suggestions, and care tips tailored to weekend gardeners.
Bluestar is a dependable native perennial grown for its clusters of soft, star-shaped blue flowers and its fine-textured foliage. It brings long-lasting garden value, blooming in spring and often turning a rich golden yellow in fall. Easy to grow and adaptable, it fits beautifully into borders, pollinator gardens, and naturalistic plantings.
Green-and-gold is a cheerful native perennial ground cover prized for its bright yellow, starry flowers and tidy green foliage. It spreads gently to form a low carpet, making it a lovely choice for woodland edges, shaded borders, and naturalistic plantings. Easy to grow and beginner-friendly, it brings long-lasting color to spots where many flowering plants struggle.
Oxeye daisy is a cheerful perennial wildflower with classic white petals and sunny yellow centers that brighten borders, cottage gardens, and naturalized spaces. It is easy to grow in average soils and tolerates lean conditions where many other flowers struggle. While attractive and useful for pollinators, it can spread aggressively in some regions, so gardeners should plant it thoughtfully.
Mexican hat is a cheerful native wildflower known for its distinctive sombrero-shaped blooms in warm shades of yellow and reddish brown. It brings a relaxed prairie look to sunny beds, borders, and meadow plantings while attracting bees and butterflies. Once established, it is a dependable perennial for gardeners who want long-lasting color with relatively little fuss.
Common zinnia is a cheerful, fast-growing annual prized for its bold, daisy-like flowers in a wide range of bright colors. It is one of the easiest flowers for beginners, thriving in sunny beds, borders, and cutting gardens through the heat of summer. Zinnias also attract butterflies and make excellent long-lasting cut flowers.
Cardinal flower is a striking native perennial prized for its tall spikes of vivid red blooms that light up damp garden beds in summer. It is especially loved by hummingbirds and fits beautifully into rain gardens, pond edges, and partially shaded borders. Despite its dramatic look, it is quite manageable for beginners when given consistently moist soil.
Blue Flag Iris is a striking native perennial with elegant blue-violet flowers that brighten pond edges, rain gardens, and other consistently moist spots. Its sword-like foliage adds structure through the growing season, while the blooms attract pollinators and bring a natural meadow look to the garden. This plant is especially useful where many ornamentals struggle, such as wet or boggy soils.
Scarlet sage is a cheerful, easy-growing flowering salvia prized for its bright red blooms and long season of color. It attracts hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators, making it a favorite for cottage gardens, borders, and wildlife plantings. In warm climates it may behave as a short-lived perennial, while in cooler areas it is often grown as an annual.
Creeping phlox is a low-growing perennial ground cover that forms a dense mat of fine green foliage and bursts into color in early spring. Its cheerful flowers blanket slopes, borders, and rock gardens, making it a favorite for gardeners who want reliable seasonal impact. Once established, it is easy to grow and adds texture even when not in bloom.
Blue vervain is a tall native wildflower with elegant, upright spikes of small violet-blue blooms that bring a natural meadow look to the garden. It thrives in consistently moist soil and is especially useful for rain gardens, pond edges, and pollinator plantings. Home gardeners value it for its long bloom season, wildlife appeal, and easygoing nature once established.
Weekend Plant