Best bedding plants.

Petunias give instant colour - you just need to keep on top of the deadheading.
I also really like geraniums...

Bizzie Lizzies are disease resistant these days and no dead heading!

Petunias are good but look to see if it is a bush or trailer . They do a bedding fuschia . Blue lobelia are nice bush and trailing .

The small begonias, often with purpley coloured leaves. They are like little machines and take a great deal of neglect from me! Sold in packs in supermarkets as well as garden centres..

Are you bedding them in pots and baskets or the garden borders?
I like geraniums (pelargoniums) in the garden and am trying the trailing ones like they have in Switzerland and Germany in my baskets this year, because I got so fed up with dead heading petunias last year.
I have a friend who swears my begonias.

I’m another fan of the small begonias - they cope with all weather conditions, don’t need deadheading and flower profusely well into autumn. I can’t be doing with anything that needs constant watering and deadheading!

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My favourites are Petunia Tidal Wave. I have used them for the last few years. They climb and trail, scrambling everywhere. I love a profusion, neat and tidy they are not!
The growers seem to have had problems this year, mine still have not arrived and alternative ones are not ready until the end of June.
Pic shows my five-tier planter and patio last summer.

Busy lizzies for me too, they’re no bother, just keep going and only need watering.

Tx so much everyone!

Geraniums for me. The trailing and the regular kind.

They flower for ages and can stand to be quite dry. I especially like the bright pink ones.

I also like petunias but get fed up with dead heading them.

Bizzy Lizzies are too flat for me. I like something with a bit of height.

I also like single coloured lobelia mass planted in a pot. I usually plant them under an hibiscus that I have in a large pot.

I like trailing fuchsia in pots and baskets. Especially if in shade or semi shade.

I like trailing geraniums in a terracotta pot, simple but so pretty.

B9exchange

Bizzie Lizzies are disease resistant these days and no dead heading!

They’re brilliant!
I always have a couple of pots of them through Summer, constant flowering.

PinkCosmos, Wave Petunias don't need deadheading, for which I m very grateful.

PinkCosmos

Geraniums for me. The trailing and the regular kind.

They flower for ages and can stand to be quite dry. I especially like the bright pink ones.

I also like petunias but get fed up with dead heading them.

Bizzy Lizzies are too flat for me. I like something with a bit of height.

I also like single coloured lobelia mass planted in a pot. I usually plant them under an hibiscus that I have in a large pot.

My bizzy lizzies grow up in a fairly un flat way😄
You get quite a mass of them if planted in pots.

shysal

*PinkCosmos*, Wave Petunias don't need deadheading, for which I m very grateful.

Thanks Shysal, I didn't know that

Not colourful ( mainly because I prefer them in white but they do come in other colours) but Bacopa are my favourite bedding plants. They also survive the winter if it isn’t too harsh. I’ve just been to a garden centre specifically to buy some and they’d sold out: thankfully as I was chatting to someone about cats ( as you do…) they bought another tray out and I bought the lot. I grow some in an old chimney; unfortunately they didn’t survive this winter, but I’m going to put some in smaller puts and move them under cover next winter.

Have a look at Sarah Raven's website .

It's inspirational .

I usually buy whatever is on offer .
So recently , I saw very cheap Pelagonums , French Marigolds and Petunias and that's what I've planted to fill up any gaps inbetween miniature roses and dwarf azaleas .

I usually stick to a colour scheme , but when buying cheaply it's Hobson's Choice .

In the past , I've grown Cosmos and Dianthus .
If planting pots I use trailing ivy .
I used to plant seeds but it's hopeless these days as there are too many cats digging them up .
If I have a major rethink on fencing I might try seeds again .

This is my favourite petunia

This is one bizzy lizzie, one of the larger ones. More expensive but they fill large pots with one plant so more economical I think.

I like pellies in the sun, and illumination begonias in the shade, finding as I get older though I'm loving every thing which might account for several visits to my local nursery last week!

Geraniums for me - the zonal (upright ones) and the ivy-leaved ones. They don't suffer as much as other bedding plants if its hot and dry. Ivy leaf ones come in (mostly) pink or red or white (with a slightly deep pink eye). Colour mix or you can buy separate colours. Another interesting and different plant for tubs is Colvolvulus sabaticus, a trailer which has pale blue flowers, if the winter is not too harsh it will survive but you can take cuttings to over-winter. It is in Sarah Raven's catalogue

besides the colour, if you buy a scented leaf pelagonium, you could put one in each pot and then when you touch them you have the lovely perfume. There are some lovely ones, with differing perfumes, lemon balm or rose or a mint smell. You get small flowers but press the leaves and you get the lovely perfume too

I like petunias, but a good downpour and they tend to look rather sad. Lots of varieties of fuschia, both trailing and upright, and they’ll last well into the autumn and may well survive to flower the following year. And yes, geraniums.