My Favourite Flower

Long-lasting late-season flowers.

Mary Ann says: "I love the long flowering shasta daisy."

Jennifer says she loves sweet peas and their antique charm.

The sweet pea brings us the energy of friendship courage and strength. Sweet peas help us blossom new friendships and new opportunities. On the medicinal side, sweet pea or Lathryus latifolius are a part of the Pea tribe. Fabeae Plants of the Pea tribe can be distinguished by their pennate leaves and tendrils. This tribe includes sweet peas, lentils, and garden Pea. Only a few species of this beautiful blossom are edible. Other species can be toxic.

Sweet peas can be started indoors 8 to 10 weeks before last frost or so and directly into the ground in early spring.

These fragrant blossoms take usually around 2 to 3 weeks for germination and you should be enjoying the antique charm of these flowers in 75 to 85 days. Sweet peas make excellent cut flowers. One of my favourite things about sweet peas are their antique feel. They have that heirloom energy.

Sheila's favourite flower is anything that blooms for a long time. Flax (Linum usitatissimum) is a real winner.

Every morning for 6-8 weeks a fresh batch of smiling blue faces are there to greet you. By late afternoon they have faded but there are always more to replace them.

They self seed so you will always have a few plants.

Bob says: "One of my favourite flowers is the Lupine. The shape of the flower stalk is so unique, the various colors of the rainbow will show up in the cultivated Lupines and I especially like that Lupines remind me of hiking in the mountains where a native blue lupine can be found growing many times in masses, like a sea of blue in the meadow.

In the garden, they like a filtered sun location, not too hot in the afternoon, then the flowering period will be extended."

Mary Ann says: "I look forward to the beautiful baby blue of the forget-me-not flowers that burst into bloom in our front bed at the start of the growing season."

Sherry says they like to plant these passion flowers in containers along their trellis every year.

She says: "They are stunning, and bloom all season long. Despite their delicate appearance, they are relatively low maintenance. They require mostly sun with some shade. We purchase them each year from Golden Greenhouses, where we first saw them a few years ago. These photos were taken awhile back, about one month after planting."

She has planted both native and giant sunflowers in her garden.

The native sunflowers (Common Tall and Rhombic-leaved) attract birds, bees and butterflies, and are great spreaders (which means the sunflower patch grows and comes back every year!)

In the last few years, she has also planted giant sunflowers (mainly the Sunzilla variety). This year, she has extended her sunflower bed and is trying her hand at growing the Russian Mammoth, Giganteus and Kong varieties. These super-tall beauties will take all the Sun they can get, so they welcome the sunniest spot you've got. They are heavy feeders too, so adding composted manure and slow release fertilizers to the soil is highly recommended. After you have enjoyed their beautiful blooms, and their petals have dropped, you can expect birds to visit and feast on the mature kernels.

Milli says Sunflowers bring so much life, color and pollinators to her garden!

Learn more about this flower from the Canadian Wildlife Federation fact sheet.

He likes this flower because it blooms early in spring and provides a timely burst of color. Also it comes back year after year without any special care. Faith full!

This flower blooms at Easter (not Alberta) which is also known as Passover or Paschal or Pasque-flower. Ted says this makes this flower very very special.

Learn more about this flower from the Canadian Wildlife Federation fact sheet.