{"id":834,"date":"2009-04-14T15:25:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-14T15:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2009\/04\/garden-volunteers-or-self-seeding-annuals.html"},"modified":"2019-06-20T15:22:21","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T19:22:21","slug":"garden-volunteers-or-self-seeding-annuals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2009\/04\/garden-volunteers-or-self-seeding-annuals.html","title":{"rendered":"Garden Volunteers or Self Seeding Annuals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garden volunteers is an actual term meaning flowers that seed on their own.<\/p>\n

Garden Volunteers Spread Joy<\/h1>\n

I love the term garden volunteers…I always picture a little army marching through the annual bed, gleefully volunteering themselves as seeds for next years’ plants. Garden volunteers are self-seeding plants, usually annuals. They pop up everywhere. For beginning gardeners or lazy gardeners, or simply people who need to cover a large area with flowers, they are an answer to our prayers.<\/p>\n

Some Garden Plants that Re-Seed<\/h2>\n

Last year I bought two 10 cent seed packets at Family Dollar, a discount store in Farmville, Virginia. It contained 30 Bachelor’s Button seeds, one package of all blue and the other a mixed package of blue, pink and purple. I directly sowed the seeds into the soil in the perennial bed next to the driveway in early May and promptly forgot about them. The conditions are tough in that area of the garden: hard clay soil with lots of rocks, a fairly steep slope, and hot sun most of the day.<\/p>\n

The results? Beautiful clusters of flowers last year…and this year…garden volunteers!<\/p>\n

Self-Sowing Plants<\/h3>\n

Along with the coreopsis<\/a>, the Bachelor’s Buttons did a great job self-sowing throughout the garden, so much so that I’ve had to move many of the seedlings.<\/p>\n

Not bad for spending only twenty cents!<\/p>\n

Here’s a list of what self-seeded in my garden this year:<\/p>\n