The Lazy Gardeners' 4 Flowers That Easily Reseed Every Year

It certainly feels like spring here in San Diego, and the garden is looking great!
But I've got a baby and haven't really done a whole lot here in over a year. So how does it still look this good?
Here are four flowers that I love because they're SO EASY and will reward you with blooms for years to come.
As a seed company, we let stuff go to seed! Imagine that. We grow plenty of things to eat too, but we let a lot keep going and develop the seeds. When it comes to flowers, we get a lot of that start to take care of themselves if you just let them get to that "ugly" stage once.
Any seed, especially if you want them to get established without intentional planting, needs water. Here in Southern California, that means we need irrigation to provide moisture outside of the little rain we get in the cool months.
POPPIES: sandiegoseedco...
There are more than 200 varieties of poppies, but all of them are experts at reseeding. Each flower develops a pod that will house dozens of seeds. The California Golden Poppy is especially cool because you can hear the long, skinny pods actually "pop" on warm summer days.
STRAWFLOWER: sandiegoseedco...
Getting strawflower started can be tricky, but they are so good at reseeding on their own!
They're also one of my favorite cut flowers. They last so long, and part of that is because the petals just start to droop within a day or two. In fact, they keep their shape for months because they're much more like little pieces of paper than a typical flower petal.
CALENDULA: sandiegoseedco...
One of my favorite flowers, and it's also incredibly easy to grow. It's just a great all-around plant that looks nice, has medicinal properties, and much more.
SAGE: sandiegoseedco...
I started out with just a couple of these plants years ago, and they just pop up on their own every year! They're also pretty hearty and can handle getting moved around just fine.
We also carry blue sage, but the red variety seems to be especially easy.
KEEP LEARNING
→All the Seeds & Education You Need: sandiegoseedco...
→Join a Gardening Class: sandiegoseedco...
→Want More Gardening Tips? sandiegoseedco...
→Sign up for one of our on-demand classes (go through it at your own speed): "Organic Gardening: Grow Your Own Food" and our famous "Seed Starting Academy" are available at organicgardeni...
GET STOCKED UP:
→Vegetables: sandiegoseedco...
→Flowers: sandiegoseedco...
→Herbs: sandiegoseedco...
→Rare Seeds: sandiegoseedco...
→Tools & Merchandise: sandiegoseedco...
CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
→Instagram: / sandiegoseedcompany
→Facebook: / sandiegoseedcompany
#gardening

[@joelschmierer3544]

im a lazy gardener, im satisfied just watching garden videos

[@ruthsmith2367]

🤣🤣🤣👍

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

Ha! You're saving yourself from backpain for sure

[@Godisgracious85]

I must agree 😊. but I be on them plants like 👍🏾 okay y’all good. 😂Gardening has enhanced my life❤

[@garden_geek]

This is totally my laziest garden year ever but it’s working out! Nasturtiums EVERYWHERE. Two tomato plants I failed to rip out last year have survived the winter and are fruiting like crazy. I have a fruiting volunteer tomato plant as well. Marigolds, sunflowers, calendula, sweet alyssum and so much more. Honestly I kind of love watching the garden just do its thing. It’s beautiful.

[@ellenkuang8853]

Did I not-so-intentionally throw my nasturtium seeds into the "communal" section of garden patch on the other side of my condo patio because I despise the barren English Ivy patch? Yes I did. But no if the HOA is asking. 😂

[@oliviaglass3843]

Just now I am in a pi….ing contest with my HOA OVER wild flowers in the common area…

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

Pfft. Flower power, baby!

[@susanriggs8896]

Borage reseeds in my garden along with CA poppies. Every spring I look forward to the blue borage flowers and the orange CA poppies all over my garden.

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

Ooo LOVE borage too! I haven't planted it for years, but we still have it every season.

[@CosmicRiverstone]

Zone 7b Nasturtiums, Snapdragons, and Hollyhocks

[@ollerpops]

So Cal here, zone 10A plant once - grow forever are- Lobelia, Chamomile, Snapdragons, Sweet Alyssum & Cosmos.

[@HarmlessComment]

I love alyssum for that reason, it attracts so many bees too

[@nikkihorn3852]

Zone 5b cosmos, bachelor buttons, hollyhock, foxgloves, broadleaf sage.

[@dinaducheny3450]

I planted two California poppy plants years ago and they come back year after year all over the garden. I love it. I try to save some of the heads, but like you said they will pop open and spread everywhere. It makes me jump when I go to save one and they pop open as I try to harvest it. LOL

[@maryrose6229]

4 o clocks too and Mexican sunflowers.

[@mirandahein5344]

I love your shaking method!

[@Tony1771-yj8mc]

Growing flower seeds in trays is helpful because you get to know what they look like very young. Then next spring you will often see them popping up in and around your flower beds. I've done transplanting many times finding a seedling in my yard. "Oh, that would look good over here". Problem is digging them up is a little tough. The ground might be hard and a little rocky so doing several plants can wear you out some. It is easier to just plop a small peat pod in the ground.

[@Godisgracious85]

Seriously ❤loved this video❤ Now I want red and blue sage who knew😊

[@jeannamcgregor9967]

I have Cerinthe Purpura, which has gorgeous purple-blue bracts, sprout in cracks in the concrete every year.

[@novampires223]

Calendula seeds look just like a dragon's head and neck.😊

[@TheProdigalGardener]

This was my first successful year for poppies and I wanted to save the seed so I waited for them to dry up. I went out to get the pods and there were no seeds. Now I know why! They “popped” 😂 hopefully I get some next year!

[@enatp6448]

You guys look like you're in inner city which is so cool you've got a lovely piece of abundant nature. ❤

[@phoenixr6811]

Wow a 11 month old baby time flys 😊awesome garden

[@ebytwinbabel]

Thanks for this! I love volunteer flowers. I have a ton of Violas every year from one 9 pack I planted 3 years ago. I also have some natives - eligant clarkia, lacey phacelia, and showey milkweed - that pop up every year as well. ❤

[@earthsystem]

I had Phacelia for the first time this year, so beautiful, when I went to pull the dead plants I found beneficial assassin bugs on the seed puffs, which are really... so lucky!! this year I think the beneficial bugs have completely balanced out the boo boo bugs. Lazy gardening is the way.

[@kendallsproat]

Once upon a time, I planted one Borage. It’s everywhere!😂

[@itme7685]

Same here, only I even planted more on the other side of the garden now too! Calendula too. I tried California Poppies this year, so I’ll see about those. I think it will come back each year I’m in NW Oregon. We are zone 8b, but it’s a much cooler 8b than the rest of US.

[@ruthsmith2367]

🐝🐝🐝 love borage.

[@TheLifeMidwife]

Helpful, beautiful, inspiring! Thanks!

[@James_ER]

Ah, red sage. I had a california native pack that I planted recently and those popped up and I didn't know what they were. I'll need to get more. The hummingbirds love them!

[@annsfrench]

Ha, ha! You WILL have more. Just let them go to seed! 😊

[@HarmlessComment]

Pansies always come back for me, I even find them growing in cracks on the ground. I'm in Central Cali 🐻

[@dustyflats3832]

Poppies 😂 How do I corral them? I always said if anything returns on this sand it can stay-they lunged at the chance 😅. Everyone said borage reseeds and at first I didn’t think so, but Wow here they are appearing across the veg garden! Love it! I pulled a lot of the red poppies and apparently not enough. I have to figure out how to do that. Do you just leave circles of them? We had a ton of rain and out of drought and they were flopping into a mass. I didn’t think they would be so thick and I started 2 breadseed poppies and a Lauren’s Grape because they failed last year-😳what have I done? I think I will need to deadhead this year a bit. Calendula was new to me last year and surpassed marigolds because it takes the frost better. I started some Zeolites inside this year and only 2 germinated and thought seed was bad. I set the pots outside late spring and just a few days ago over a dozen popped up. I thought this odd as it’s been well over a month, but happy they arrived. Maybe I can grow enough that I can plant outside of the fenced area. Our wildlife Z5a, WI mows everything. Maybe they would like some Spilanthes (toothache plant) 😂. They would probably like it😂 Question-what flowers cross pollinate? Zinnias, hollyhock, poppies, calendula? Just curious if they stay true. Thx, this was fun! Have to check out red sage and see if it’s hardy here.

[@susanlisson7066]

Catnip, alyssum, nasturtiums & French lavender reseeds easily for me. In Perth, Western Australia zone 11b. Our ground is full of limestone so it’s ideal for flowers. I make sure to put the catnip in pots and place them off the ground so the neighbourhood cats don’t roll all over them. I give the fresh leaves to my cats & also make a tea out of it.

[@GaiaCarney]

Great recommendations, @SanDiegoSeedCompany 🌼 your garden is a beautiful riot, I love it! I’m in zone 7, and I have Shasta Daisy’s, Rudbeckia, poppies, feverfew & love-in-a-mist _NO MATTER WHAT_ 💛

[@judysocal8682]

Flowers that keep coming back whether wanted or not, hollyhock, borage, sunflowers, nasturtiums, california poppies, calendula

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

Haha. So true! Sometimes they're a little too excited to be in the garden.

[@MelissaWilliams74802]

I’m so excited I started 3 of 4 of them this year haha seed saving is my goal this year. Can’t wait for them to bloom

[@DelfinaAnaya]

I found an empty lot near our home covered with red sage, I dug a few plants and planted in my garden . I know have them everywhere, another plant that does well is Ruellia. I have the pink and taller purple flower.

[@ruthsmith2367]

I’m trying to do my front as an edible wild garden. I have No. 1 and No. 3 of yours but my poppies didn’t come up this year for some reason, but may be next year. Borage, Honesty, Mallow and Forget me Not self seed really well to which I encourage 😊

[@JessicaJLandi]

I love poppies and just planted some...but alas, they only seem to be annuals in my 7b zone.

[@TheSassysusie]

❤🙃 water is life

[@patriciamckean4682]

Zone 10a, central CA, sunset zone 17. Nasturtiums, borage, and foxglove, tomatoes and Spanish lavender 🤷‍♀️

[@ryleesblooms]

Zone 10b so cal. Bells of Ireland, poppies, borage, calendula, coreopsis, larkspur but I have to plant new strawflowers every year they never reseed for us unless I help them along.

[@smuggafree]

The red sage looks so much like salvia. I am over run by salvia.

[@Anhnongdan_27]

Great!!!

[@kellytong5441]

Will this method work if I plant these flowers in a heavily mulched area? Thanks!!

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

If the mulch is too thick, they won't be able to get established in soil. If it's only an inch or two, they can often find their way through.

[@davidnorris8852]

I gotta hear this pop now. #lifegoals

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

It's so cool! Just need those pods to get brown now.

[@lisapop5219]

😂 you're under the flightpath of either the airport or Miramar. It could also be one of the naval bases. I'm more familiar with the airport & Miramar, lived there for 3 years and moved up to north county. This came up on my recommended.

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

Yup! Definitely annoying for videos, so thanks for bearing with us!

[@lisapop5219]

@@SanDiegoSeedCompany I knew it had to be because it was the backdrop of my life for years 😅 The video was good & I did enjoy it. I apologize for not putting it in the first comment.

[@christinab9133]

❤❤❤

[@stephaniefuller]

I have tried to grow poppy seeds so many times but nothing ever happens. I am in Florida

[@Tazzyone.]

Same. Same with milkweed.

[@TheProdigalGardener]

I too am I’m Florida and this was my 5th year trying. I was finally successful. What I did was grew them indoors. I was going to leave them indoors but decided to take them outside early spring. They did very well after. They were placed under a dwarf papaya tree where they got early morning sun, dappled mid day sun and afternoon shade. I also only had luck with the bread seed poppy varieties. Papaver somniferum. California poppy just dies out around 6 inches in

[@Whipporwhill]

They need a period of cold temperatures to germinate. Try putting the seeds in the freezer for a few weeks prior to planting.

[@obilawnkenobi7230]

I've no ZERO luck starting straw flower from seed so far this year. I've tried everything, cover, no cover, inside, outside, heat mat, no heat map.

[@HollenbergR]

What zone? I had great luck winter sowing mine in zone 7a Idaho.

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

Try no cover + humidity dome

[@obilawnkenobi7230]

@@HollenbergR 10a

[@obilawnkenobi7230]

@@SanDiegoSeedCompany was going to try plastic bag in the window 😂

[@TheBestPaJam]

Because when they release their seeds… they pop!?

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

POP!

[@jujubee7351]

I just went to buy buy your seeds , the site said they were on sale for 2. , than it went away . Can you tell me why?

[@LottieSue]

How much is your water bill?

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

It varies. If we have a rainy winter, we can turn off our irrigation for at least a few months. We also have several large rain barrels that we use for watering trees and ornamentals. We're about to get into the hot season, though...

[@georgealderson4424]

I always forget where I plant my seeds so if I decide to plant others later....nightmare!

[@fayprivate7975]

Are all your flowers native?

[@SanDiegoSeedCompany]

Depends on where you are! Our seeds are produced locally, but they may or may not be native to your area. If you only want to plant native, you can identify varieties you're interested in and then see if we carry those sandiegoseedcompany.com/product-category/flowers/