6 Easy Plants & Flowers for Gardening Beginners

I picked up a new hobby two years ago during the pandemic-gardening! I never thought I would be interested in flowers, plants, and landscaping like I am now. I still have so much to learn-I mean SO MUCH! It’s definitely been a learn as you go process for me, but I am loving it! I look forward to planting flowers, shrubs, plants, bushes, and trees every year now.

Since this is a new learning adventure for me, I thought I would share a few flowers/plants that I’ve had good luck with. There have definitely been some fails along the way (hello Arctic Snow Berry bush that didn’t survive the frost!) but I’ve discovered a few plants and flowers that I can trust to live through the season- and even some perennials that will come back each year! I got the biggest thrill when the little pink flowers I set out in May 2020 came back the following the year! I didn’t keep the label that had the name of them so I can’t figure out what they are but they thrived last year! I’ve since learned to be good about keeping the labels so I can look back and find info about each one!

Okay, let’s get started! Here are 6 flowers and plants that I’ve had luck with-which means they are super easy to start with when you begin your gardening adventure!

Phlox

When I think of spring and Easter, I think of purple phlox. This is always the first flower I get each year. I absolutely love it. I like to plant them in flower pots for the beginning of spring. When the end of May comes along, the purple flowers are pretty much gone, but don’t think the plant is dead! I randomly decided to plant it in a flower bed the first year I used them in flower pots and discovered they return each year! I remember stepping onto the back porch last year and looking down to the flower bed. I couldn’t figure out what that purple blob was. I walked down to investigate and what do you know? The phlox had come back! I cannot wait to see its return this season!

See the phlox on either side of the front porch steps? They make great container flowers and then you can transplant them to a flower bed and get more for your money!

Pros: They serve as a sign of spring! They can also be used in containers and then transplanted into the ground serving as multi purpose flowers-I love doing this with mums as well!

Cons: They don’t last very long and once the flowers are gone, they don’t look good in containers.

Petunia

This made be a bit controversial because I’ve had lots of people tell me they struggle with petunias, but I’ve always had really good luck with them. My yard has hardly any shade, so I’m always on the lookout for flowers and plants that can withstand full sun pretty much all day and I’ve found petunias to be really hardy.

I have discovered they tend to get beat down from too much rain, but once the sun comes back out, they perk right up! When you start to plant them, don’t get disheartened with how puny they look. They look completely different after a few weeks.

Pros: I have found them to be my longest lasting flower (does that make sense?) I usually start with these in late March and they last until early August!

Cons: My biggest complaint is that they need deadheading a lot-especially as the season goes on.

Geraniums

Geraniums are one of my very favorite flowers. I’ve only had them for the past few years, but they will forever be included in my spring and summer porch decor now. I think these are so pretty. Geraniums come in lots of colors, but I always get the pink punch color. There is a gorgeous peachy/coral color that I always love, but I never have anything to match it so I always pass. They also come in a purple color that my mom got one year and I loved it! Even though geraniums can take full sun, I have found they do much better if they only have sun for a few hours and then shade. I usually have these on my porches because they are shaded part of the day, but I tried them on my deck last year (see above pic of the petunia) and it was just too much sun. The leaves grew very yellow and just couldn’t take the heat.

Pros: When in shade, they are pretty low maintenance. You don’t have to water daily if they are in shade for most of the day.

Cons: Placement is key and these can’t take a lot of sun. Also, you do have to deadhead these often.

Lamb’s Ear

This is my absolute favorite non-flowering plant, but I don’t have any pictures of mine! I’ve searched through the last two years and I cannot find any pictures of my lambs ears! I discovered this plant randomly during the pandemic and fell in love. It has the softest velvet leaves and makes the best plant. It grows so quickly and can handle a little sun. These plants are also perennials, so they come back each year. I’ve only ever planted them in containers, but I really want to incorporate them into some flower beds this year. I *love* them!

Since I don’t have any pictures, I went back through my stories archive on IG and found these two so you can get an idea…

Pros: They come back each year-even in containers. Extremely low maintenance

Cons: They need a lot of deadheading as they grow bigger. Well, I’m not sure if deadheading is the correct term since these are a non-flowering plant, but you have to remove the dead leaves often. BUT the dead leaves are underneath, so they aren’t seen that much. They also cannot take a lot of sun, so part shade is best.

Vinca

My very favorite flower. I adore vinca. When I was growing up, my mom always had impatiens, so when I brought my first house, I got impatiens like she did and I could not figure out why mine were dying. Then I figured out that her porch had tons of shade throughout the day and mine did not. I tried vinca instead and never looked back. Now, I know there are different varieties of vinca and I don’t like them all-nor do I know what each is called LOL. All I know is that I like the kind that looks like this:

These are the easiest flower! You just plant them and water every other day (or every two days if it isn’t extremely sunny). They love the sun, which makes them perfect for me. They also don’t create as big a mess as Impatiens do. Impatiens deadhead themselves, so there is a constant mess of dead flowers on the ground under the plant.

Pros: Super easy to grow and require very little to keep them alive. They also come in tons of colors.

Cons: They do tend to make a mess as the flowers fall to the ground. You need to sweep under them if they are on a porch or sidewalk because the flowers can stick to the ground and make a mess.I don’t usually plant them until early summer, so I guess a con could be that they aren’t ready to go in spring? Trust me, these flowers are fool proof!

Daylilies

If you are just starting out with learning to grow flowers-especially flowers in the ground vs. containers, daylilies are the way to go. I’m convinced you can’t kill a daylily. They are SO easy. They also multiply and come back bigger every year. If you’re trying to create a flower bed and you need something that will be substantial and filling, daylilies are perfect.

They also come back year after year. They look completely dead in December/January, but I always remove the dead growth around February and then soon you’ll start to see new growth. I’m writing this post in mid March and my daylilies currently look like this:

Pros: Super easy to live. Come back every year. Multiply every year.

Cons: The leaves tend to get a little messy as the season goes on. They require a lot of deadheading throughout the summer. They also can get overwhelming as they multiply each year, so you may need to thin them out from time to time.

Like I said earlier, I am very new to this type of gardening and am by no means an expert. This is just my personal experience and what has worked for me. I’d love to hear if you’ve had any luck with these types of flowers/plants. 🙂