Flowers that Not Only Survive but Thrive for this “Wannabe” Master Gardener

This post was updated throughout last summer to show you how our flowers have literally blossomed!

I just love spring flowers but I don’t have a green thumb.

You see . . . I am a “wannabe” master gardener. ?‍? ? I struggle to keep plants and flowers alive. ?⠀This is when I really miss my Dad. He became a certified master gardener late in life. He and my grandmother had green thumbs. ?

Rio Dipladenia

We discovered these flowers last summer which not only survived but thrived . . . even in the sweltering heat of Alabama!
⠀
Why? Because they are DROUGHT RESISTANT (i.e. they survive when I forget to water them). ?‍♀️
⠀
They are called Rio Dipladenia. We bought them at Home Depot.
⠀
The pink ones pictured below were on my Mom’s deck last summer.

The red ones pictured below were on our dock last year.

Here is a close-up of these beautiful flowers.

Neal likes red and I like pink . . . so we put red in hanging baskets on the dock and in the erns in front of our house (perfect for 4^th of July gatherings) and pink ones on our deck, where we have breakfast ? ☕️ each morning in the spring and summer.

Here is an updated picture from early July:

Yellow Tickseed (Coreopsis Grandiflora)

These hardy yellow flowers are perennials and thus delight every year when they grow back. It is like they are saying, “Spring is here!” They resemble a daisy and add a bright splash of color.

Creeping Jenny

Our next discovery was creeping Jenny. It is a light, bright green, and cascades over the sides of pots or erns. It really is a nice finishing touch. The picture below is what I planted the other day. Soon Creeping Jenny will be cascading around all sides of the pot. I love my new friend Jenny and am thankful she is a creeper!

The picture below is an update from early July. Creeping Jenny has really been creeping! Notice we have replaced our deck railing since the earlier photos.

Zinnias

First, check out these beautiful zinnias! (It is amazing how much my photography has improved. Am I allowed to say that!?! Oh well, YEA for me! ?

For many, many years I have loved zinnias. They remind me of my childhood. My parents planted an entire row of zinnias in our garden each year next to the green beans. As a child, I loved picking flowers but hated picking green beans.

My mother cut zinnias and made beautiful flower arrangements for our home. I have adopted this same practice. I love having beautiful flower arrangements in the house.

Since living full-time at the lake, we have struggled to find the right spot to grow zinnias. They need full sun and we have a lot of trees (i.e. shade).

During the last few years, we have tried planting zinnias in containers on our side deck. This really did not work well.

All this to say, my sweet Neal used a stack of leftover simulated stone from various DIY projects (our house, porch, outside fireplace and inside fireplace) to make a zinnia flower bed by our shop.

What started off as a quick project of planting some zinnias turned into an almost full-day project of building a stone flower bed.

We dug a little trench, strategically stacked the stone, lined the area with landscape fabric (no weeds allowed), added 14 bags of potting soil . . . and then finally planted a large back of zinnias. Whoo wee, that was a lot of work!

VOILA! We have a zinnia flower bed – – all thanks to my wonderful DIY, loving Neal! ? Here is the final flower bed. Isn’t it pretty!

Here are my zinnias popping up!

Check out our Zinnia garden now (early July) . . .

Here is another mid-summer photo.

This picture of cut flowers is from last year.

Below is a recent picture (early July) of a bouquet I arranged for my neighbors.

Geraniums

This year, we have added pretty light pink geraniums to the collection. They like full sun in the morning and light afternoon shade. We will see how these do.

We really love the color; it reminds us of cotton candy. Again, I love pink and because Neal loves me, we have more pink flowers this year.

When we planted them, they only have small blooms.

Below is an updated picture from late June. One thing I learned is to pinch off each bloom at the node when the blossom starts to die. This keeps the flowers repeatedly blooming all summer. As summer progressed, it has more and more blooms! This was my favorite flower last summer.

Impatiens

And last but not least are impatiens. We planted these little beauties outside our basement apartment when we were newlyweds many years ago. Our toy poodle Jake would stop and smell them each morning. They are perfect for shady areas. We have them in small pots on the front part of our deck for that reason. And again, they are pink!

And there you have it!

Neal and I have been married for almost 35 years and it has taken us that long to figure out what flowers work for us in the hot Alabama heat. Our learning continues . . .

I am also really getting into composting . . . more on this soon!

What are your favorite flowers to plant in the spring and summer?

Happy Planting!!!!!