At Bellair, May is time to get summer crops in the ground as soon as possible. It’s also time to plant flowers! Below are some of the flowers we grow in the pick-your-own field. We start many of these in the greenhouse in April, and offer them for sale in ‘six-packs’ for home gardeners.

Flowers that dry well:

Celosia: A feathery or spikey flower that comes in a wide range of colors. Dries very well! Long season, many blooms. Mass-plant this small plant.

Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan), Sunflowers, and Zinnias often last until Fall!

Gomphrena: a "globe amaranth," grows really well and dries well! Tiny spheres in multiple colors. Small plant, long season, many blooms. Does well in a mass planting.

Amaranth: grows like a literal weed. Put this one in the back of garden beds -- it gets tall!

Flowers to direct-seed:

Sunflowers: best sown directly (not transplanted, like most of these other flowers). Use multiple varieties for a longer harvest window. Leave spent seed heads up as the easiest bird feeder ever!

Nasturtiums: easy to grow and yummy to eat both the flowers and leaves in salads!

Big bushy long-season flowers:

Zinnias: grows large and produces many flowers over a long season

Cosmos: grows large and produces many flowers over a long season

Gold and Burgundy Amaranth, Lt Purple Ageratum, and White & Pale Pink Celosias.

Wildflowers:

Coreopsis: Short season, but couldn't be easier to grow and self-seeds readily.

Rudbekia: a bit more finicky to get the seed started, but pretty maintenance-free after that. This is your "black-eyed susan" and comes in the wild type and in different cultivars.

Flowers with other uses:

Calendula: a medicinal plant with edible petals for garnishes or desserts. easy to grow and pretty short season. Harvest flowers as-they-come for the biggest medicinal harvest.

Basil: We love using basils, especially holy basil, citrus basil, and lime basil in our bouquets for the scent and the beautiful foliage. Plus, you can eat or make tea with them! Very versatile plants.

Other flowers we love:

Snapdragon: kids love the blossoms. Come in mixed colors. Likes cooler weather and can be grown for early summer or fall harvest. Sometimes you can get them to last all summer well-watered.

Chinese forget-me-not: unique blue shape and color and self-seeds. Short season but worth it.

Ageratum: unique color, medium-sized plant. A little finicky to start seeds, but easy after that. Comes in blue, pink and purples.