Cosmos, marigolds, petunias, gaillardia (blanket flower), Achillea (yarrow), lantana, verbena, four o'clock, alyssum, celosia, pineapple sage, zinnia (they do get mildew). They have all grown well for me. I have ordered some of the often mentioned Laura Bush petunias this year, but I have seed from Baker Creek for Fire House petunias that stood up to heat and the first frost. I suggest you go to the Sample Seed Shop and scroll through the flowers to see what you like. The seeds are low priced so you can get lots of variety.

Full sun?

Easy from seed:

Warm season: zinnia, cosmos, celosia, balsam, cockscomb, amaranthus, flowering nicotiana, marigold, Laura Bush petunia ((NOT like standard nursery petunias, love our heat, reseed easily, seed available from Wildseed Farms), annual salvia, butterfly weed, moss rose, purple, white or yellow coneflowers (more perennial than annual but some folks have such poorly draining clay that they only grow for them as annuals), black-eyed Susan, Mexican sunflower (Tithonia), penstemon, sunflowers, bat-faced cuphea, statice, globe amaranth (aka gomphrena), datura and cleome. Periwinkles grown from seed are great but become diseased if planted out too soon. I grow them indoors and put them in the ground in May if it is warm enough or later than that if it isn't. Four o'clocks are great if you have space, but form large tubers and are tender perennials, so only put them in a place where you don't mind them staying forever. For annual vines: morning glories, moonflower vine, cypress vine, black-eyed susan vine, cardinal climber, white-flowered or purple-flowered hyacinth bean vine. You can grow hollyhocks from seed. Some bloom the first year from seed, some not until the second year. Some are tall, others like Queeny are short and compact.

Cool season (most must be started indoors to have time to reach blooming size before too much heat arrives): pansies, snapdragons, poppies (direct seeded in winter), larkspur (direct seeded in winter), bells of Ireland, dusty miller (survives the summer), sweet alyssum, bachelor's buttons, dianthus, nasturtiums, chamomile, and violas. Most of these will burn up in the heat in June but sometimes some of them, especially dianthus and snapdragons can tolerate the summer heat if kept well-watered.

If you want to grow perennials from seed, say so and we can list some.

Grown from tubers, bulbs, corms, etc. for warm-season flowers: canna (a few types can be grown from seed and will bloom the first year), gladiola, dahlia (annual in some soils and locations, perennial in others, and short-lived if you have voles that will eat the tubers, and some dahlias can be grown from seed), calla lily (needs morning sun/afternoon shade in our climate), daylilies, lilies (Stargazer, Oriental, Orienpet, tiger lilies, surprise lilies), tuberose, and tons of other minor bulbs, tubers and corms that either are on store shelves now or will be arriving any time now. You can get bare-rooted peonies in bags at this time of the year but they may not bloom until their second year.

Remember that you can add color with foliage plants too, including coleus, perilla, dusty miller (sometimes blooms with yellow flowers but mainly grown for the dusty white foliage), and dichondra.

From purchased bedding plants you can add to the list both begonias and angelonia, both of which are tiny when green from seed and take months to reach a decent, blooming size.

For flowers that are quick from seed, easy to care for, disease and drought tolerant, and as beautiful as they are resilient, don't forget native wildflowers. The seeds of many can be bought as individual species from Wildseed Farms or other suppliers like Native Seed, or can be bought in wildflower seed mixes. Here's the species pages from Wildseed Farms to give you some ideas:

Individual Species Seeds of Wildflowers

You also can go to their Seed Mix pages and order a mixed bag of various wildflower seeds. I grow the TX/OK Mix, the Poppy mix, and the Firecracker Mix, though not necessary all of them in the same years.

Hope this gives you some ideas for having a flower-filled year. I largely tried to avoid suggesting plants that are more expensive from purchased plants in one gallon containers or larger, but you can find just about anything like that in nurseries in spring time and create an instant flower garden in one weekend.

Dawn

Thanks to the both of your!! This is a wonderful list!! Wow!

Dawn - On the wild flower mix, I see them in huge bags. Do you just scatter sow them? These are all going in raised beds around the few tomato, peas and beans I cannot help to grow so I can can them. I wonder what would happen if I took a handful and tossed them into the lawn? LOL...

Yes you can scatter sow them if they are going onto well-prepared soil. I have bought them in quarter-pound bags before. Otherwise, they have excellent planting instructions if you're sowing into an area that isn't already a well-prepared garden bed. I have tossed handfuls into the front pasture, only mowing it down short and not breaking up the soil at all. It works, but not as well on clay as on sandy soil areas. That's how I rehabbed our front pasture after the horrid drought year of 2011 when all the native plants died before they could go to see. I was surprised at how well it worked. Poppies work extremely well when scatter sown on top of the ground in our pastures, largely because that is how they self-sow in the wild---the wind blows the tiny seeds out of the seed pod and they just land on the ground. No one comes along and covers them up or anything, and the seeds sprout when the weather conditions are right.

Ezzirah, I'm sorry you had a bad year. I think flowers is an excellent idea. When I started, I never intended for flowers and had no idea how wonderful they are on personal level.

You deserve it.

Thank you chickencoupe! I appreciate that! I find I am excited to plan the garden around color and what color I want, then choose the flowers that will give me that color. A lady I work with told me flowers are easier than vegetables to grow. I don't know if that is the case, but I will be finding out this year! :)