It’s Plant a Flower Day

In honor of Plant a Flower Day, we’ve rounded up some tips on how to plant flowers that will bloom to their full potential. Check out these great tips below.

Where to Start

If you want instant gratification, you can go to a plant nursery where they?ve nurtured and cared for seeds as they?ve grown into a blooming flower for you to purchase. You can also buy seedlings that you can watch grow and bloom at a later date.

In either case, you will have to transplant the flower or seedling. Winter 2014 has been brutal, so you should know to only transplant when the ground is warm enough ? ideally after the last frost date . If you haven?t had your last frost, you can keep your flower indoors until it?s warm enough to transplant outside.

Do It Yourself

If you want to start from scratch, here?s what you?ll need to get your seeds sprouting:

• seeds
• ventilated containers
• soil
• plastic wrap or covering

You can buy seed starting soil or you can mix it yourself. The soil should be lightly moistened when it?s put in the ventilated container. Too much moisture can cause the seeds to rot. ?Using a garden trowel, dig small holes for each seed with distances between each seed according to your seed packet. Drop the seeds in each hole and gently cover each seed with soil. Lightly water the soil and cover with plastic wrap to keep moisture in the soil. Place the containers in a warm spot and water only as needed.?When the seeds have sprouted, you can put their containers on a tray that will hold water so the flower will be fed from the bottom up.

Transplanting

Before you transplant your flowers, you can help them get used to living outdoors by letting them sit outside for a few days so that it won?t be such a shock to them when they?re put in the ground.

When you?re ready to give your flower a spot in the yard, water the planting bed, to help your flower take root. You should also water the flower before taking it out of the ventilated container so you can gently ease it out. The root will probably be knotted up in a ball. Try to separate the branches so that they can spread once they?re in the ground.

Dig a hole in the plant bed that?s roughly the same size at the roots. Set the flower in the hole, sprinkle enough soil around the base to keep the flower upright. Moisten the soil again and let your flower grow.

Planning for Next Year

If you want ?perennial flowers to bloom in the spring like irises or tulips, you?ll need to plant the bulbs in the fall.

If you want to have a flower ready to plant on Plant a Flower Day 2015, start your indoor seeding at the end of February ? it takes about a month for the seeds to sprout.