The Best Place To Plant Self-Seeding Balloon Flowers For A Luscious Garden Bed

Balloon flowers add a bit of whimsy to any garden. Their balloon-like puffs of closed petals will pop open to reveal star-shaped flowers. If you want the best place to plant the fun, self-seeding balloon flowers (Platycodon grandiflorus), then look for a space in the garden that's sunny or partially shaded with well-drained soil.

Aptly-named balloon flowers look a lot like hot air balloons before they bloom. All except the variety 'Komachi', which never unfurls. Kids or grandkids can even pop these balloon flowers by squeezing them. Balloon flowers are native to Asia, and you might even find them growing wild on hilltops in Korea, China, or Japan. They're versatile flowers and will thrive in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 3 through 8. They also like their soil pH slightly acidic.

These unique blooms arrive later in summer and are a great way to fill in bare spots in the garden. You can extend their flowering season if you regularly deadhead the plant. If you want to know how to deadhead balloon flowers, simply pinch off the dying bloom, but don't take the whole stalk. The unopened buds will likely still bloom. While balloon flowers can tolerate partial shade, you'll likely get more flowers if you give them six hours of sun or more a day. You can grow them in containers or flower beds,  where they'll offer a pop of purple, white, blue, or pink flowers every growing season.

These versatile flowers are easy to grow from seed, but not so easy to grow from cuttings, so it's probably best to sow the seeds directly in the garden. But be sure to plant them after the danger of the first frost has passed. If you plant seeds directly outside, know that they may not flower in the first year. Balloon flowers are slow to take a foothold, so be patient after planting. Since they can be slow to bloom, it's a good idea to take note of where you plant them. Otherwise, you can accidentally plant over them if you've forgotten where you put them!

Balloon flowers don't much like to be moved, so starting seeds indoors isn't ideal. They have a delicate root system, so moving them can do more harm than good. Their long taproot can be easily damaged. Only transplant balloon flowers when you have to. Balloon flowers should be planted at least a foot apart. Since balloon flower seeds are so small, much like lettuce seeds, tuck them just below the surface and leave a fine dusting of soil above them. 

Once mature, flowers can grow to be two feet high. They might grow heavy and need staking to support their stalks. If you want to harvest balloon plant seeds, just look for seeds at the base of the flowers after they've browned and died. You'll find tiny, black seeds in the brown pods.