This last week my mom asked if she should sow her flower seeds yet in Redding, CA. For reference, she just sowed her tomatoes last week.

Wait a few weeks was my answer!

Most flowers grow quickly, and can outgrow their starter pots before the weather becomes warm enough to set them outside. Plus, since she is dealing with all her solanum seedlings right now it will be easier to wait until those have grown up a bit before starting a new round.

I usually like to start flower seedlings in 2 inch cells about 4-5 weeks before I would plant them outside. However, depending on the length of your season you can absolutely wait even longer and still have plenty of blossoming time.

Here are my tips for my favorite flowers!

Zinnia- Zinnia can be started in trays about 4 weeks before planting. They grow quickly and germinate within about 5 days. Be sure your seedlings are in the full light to not become leggy. It is fine to sow several seeds per cell and plant them in small clumps. Give Zinnias about 12-18 inches of spacing when planted in the garden as they will become large plants. Zinnia can also be direct seeded in the garden. Either way, be on the look out for critters as zinnia seedlings are tasty. I usually cover the freshly transplanted or sown seedlings with row cover for a few weeks.

Calendula- Calendula can be sown earlier than the other flowers and planted out before the last frost date. They are quite hardy and will easily survive light frost and continue to bloom well into the winter months in zone 9 and above. The odd shaped seeds can be direct sown or sown in trays and transplanted when about 2 inches tall. Again, like zinnia, these seedlings are tasty to critters. Last year mice ate my calendula seedlings in the greenhouse so keep an eye on them. Be sure to plant your calendula in an area of your garden where it can perennialize and spread as it will do both!

Cosmos- Each year we have been exploring more and more cosmos varieties. I love their tall, graceful ways! The seeds germinate quickly and do great started in trays and transplanted to 12-18 inch spacing. By the end of the season they often stand head height and will keep blossoming until the frost arrives.

Marigold- Marigold seedlings grow quickly and I love their sturdiness. Grown in a 2 inch cell and transplanted to 12-18 inch spacing in the garden is a recipe for success! Marigold makes an amazing yellow plant dye too! The seeds can easily be collected from dry flowers as you dead head and stored to replant next season.

Strawflower- Out of these 5 varieties, Strawflower is the most fickle to germinate. The small seeds need light to germinate so barely cover with seed starting mix or just tamp them into the soil and water in. I definitely recommend starting these in trays since they will likely get lost in the garden if direct sown. Keep soil evenly moist with a spray bottle several times a day. The seedlings are small and slower to grow than the other flowers so consider starting these a couple weeks earlier than zinnias. Once the seedlings are a couple inches tall they can be transplanted to the garden where they become quite hardy and will grow vigorously until the first frost.

We will be planted big flower gardens again this year as we enter our second year growing flower seed as part of a large trial with the Organic Seed Alliance. The goal of the trials is to record growing and yield data to determine how viable these crops are economically in various climate regions.

What about you? What flowers do you plan to grow that I'm missing? I love growing a few new varieties each year so let me know what I should grow!