Five favourites: seeds to sow in March

A bouquet of snapdragon flowers, grown from seed that year and cut from the garden…

March is the time of year when seed sowing really begins in earnest! We know we’ve mentioned this before, but we are absolute suckers for a seed catalogue, and we just can’t resist buying more packets than we can ever reasonably hope to sow, grow and plant out… But though we’re always distracted by trying new exciting things, there are some stalwart favourites that we come back to year after year.

This selection of five of our favourite seeds will be guaranteed a place in the garden each year. All of them are easy to grow, beautiful in the ground, and give us flowers for most of the summer, with very little effort and maintenance.

Cosmos

We couldn’t not have cosmos in the number one spot! Such beautiful flowers, such little effort needed, and such an amazing range of different flower colours – with the choice getting bigger every year…

Cosmos grow into fairly big plants, and it never ceases to amaze us that one small seed can grow so big and create so many flowers in less than a year. Perfect for a sunny spot, either in the ground or in pots, cosmos bring a cheerful cottage garden vibe to any position.

Some of our favourite varieties are ‘Purity’ for a brilliantly white cosmos, ‘Daydream’ for a creamy pink cosmos with a darker centre, and we’re looking forward to trying out the new variety ‘Apricotta’ for (you guessed it!) a gorgeous looking apricot-coloured flower, that has a pink centre.

2. Scabious

Scabious is another cottage garden favourite, perfect for sunny positions. The flower heads look like little pun cushions, with flat centres and petals all around, and they dangle on thin stems.

Another plant that grows easily from seed without too much fuss, and transfers happily into the ground. Scabious will self-seed with abandon, when in a spot that it likes, so you might only need to sow seeds once, and then have plants popping up in your garden in subsequent years without any extra help.

We’re especially fond of the crimson varieties like ‘Black Cat’ and ‘Black Knight” and the round seed heads of Scabious stellata ‘Sternkugel’ are irresistible to cut and bring inside.

For more on growing and planting scabious, see our scabious plant guide.

3. Erigeron karvinskianus

I mean, it almost wouldn’t be a favourite plants list of ours, if it didn’t include erigeron! This is such a brilliant plant and we use it everywhere: at the edges of borders, spilling out of pots, and even growing in the cracks of walls.

The small daisy-like flowers are just irrepressibly cheerful and the plant usually flowers from February all the way through to November.

It’s another plant that will self-seed and pop up in different places throughout the garden, which gives you an idea of how easy it is to grow from seed.

Read more about growing and caring for Mexican fleabane: Erigeron karvinskianus plant guide.

4. Snapdragons

Botanically known as Antirrinhum, snapdragons are such a happy plant, that always remind us of childhood. They come in a huge variety of colours: some slightly garish and old-fashioned, and some in more muted tones, which we personally are a bit more fond of. We especially love Antirrhinum majus ‘Apple Blossom’ which has a lovely creamy-pink flower colour, and particularly long stems of flowers, that are great for cutting.

Unlike the other plants mentioned here, snapdragon seeds tend not to germinate quite as easily. You can cover the seed trays with a plastic bag, to encourage germination, or also just sow plenty of seed, so that you still have a reasonable number of seedlings, even if lots don’t germinate. (Seed packets usually contain really large numbers of these tiny, fine seeds, so that’s not too difficult to do.)

5. Cornflowers

Another absolutely classic seed-grown annual! Cornflowers look great growing in the ground, or in pots. They’re incredibly easy to grow – you can sow the seed inside now, or just directly into position outside once the last frost has passed.

The traditional blue cornflowers are always lovely, but we’re especially fond of the white and crimson varieties as well. (Take a look for Centaurea cyanus ‘White’ for a lovely white flowered variety that has a pinkish centre, or Centaurea cyanus ‘Black Ball’ for a beautiful deep scarlet flower…)

Cornflowers are often used in bouquets, especially bridal bouquets, as they’re great for cutting. They make really good dried flowers as well, so you can preserve them and keep them for a long time…