How to Grow Flowering Plants

Overview

Flowering plants can enhance any landscape. They add color and attract pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies that can be beneficial to other plants in your yard. Flowering plants also can be planted as companion plants in a vegetable garden.

Step 1

Till your flower beds. Use a spade or hoe to turn the soil in your flower beds. Use rake to break up big clumps.

Step 2

Add fertilizer or compost. Spread a thin layer of commercial fertilizer or organic compost over flower beds or planting areas. Use a rake to work the fertilizer into the soil. If the soil feels dry, water the planting area.

Step 3

Plant seeds or flowering plants in the prepared beds. Follow the instructions on seed packets. Annuals can be planted by seed directly into the ground. For variety, many gardeners also plant a few small plants, which can be purchased in a garden center or started indoors in peat pots from your own seeds. Leave enough space between plants for mature plants to grow. Two to three inches for smaller plants such as marigolds and impatiens, and four to six inches for larger plants such as dahlias or daisies is plenty of space. Water thoroughly after planting.

Step 4

Maintain flower beds. Newly planted seeds and seedlings require daily watering. After seeds have sprouted, mulch flower beds for weed control. Gardening expert, Barbara Pleasant, suggests using two inches of mulch on flower beds.