The Best Flower Seeds to Grow in Wisconsin

Bachelor's Button

• A rustic, old-fashioned wildflower or cut flower, bachelor's buttons (Centaurea cyanea) grow quickly up 18 to 30 inches tall and produce 1-inch diameter flowers of deep blue, white or pink. The flower petals are jagged and make a blossom look like a fuzzy button. Flower stems also dry well, and plants reseed themselves into the garden, sprouting up across the growing season and the following spring.

Nasturtium

• Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus) grow readily from seed when there's no frost and produce edible leaves, flowers and seeds. Plant nasturtiums for flower color or to supplement greenery or herbs in culinary delights. Nasturtium flowers range from yellow to orange and even red-orange and produce seeds in abundance. Pulverizing seeds yields a coarse powder worthy of a black pepper substitute, according to an online article on The Wisconsin Master Gardener's website. Sometimes called Indian cress, nasturtium grows like a climbing, shrubby vine and gets about 3 feet tall or wide in a Wisconsin growing season.

Sunflower

• Once the soil is warm in May or early June, sow the large seeds of sunflowers (Helianthus annuus). As their name suggests, the flower looks like the sun and appreciates abundant exposure to the sun's rays to grow and bloom their finest. Birds frequent the seed heads of sunflowers in summer and fall for food, and these same seeds germinate if collected and sown again next spring. Dwarf and giant/tall sunflower cultivars let you grow plants only 18 to 24 inches tall or tower upward of 8 feet before producing the flower.

Cosmos

• Fernlike, delicate foliage is one hallmark of the easy-to-grow annual flower named cosmos. Daisylike flowers of pink, white and burgundy develop on species Cosmos bipinnatus, while Cosmos sulphureus plants yield yellow, orange and red flower petals. Deadheading, or trimming off old flowers, encourages plants to continue producing flowers across summer. Collect seeds from old flowers to store and sow next year. Cosmos reseeds itself in the garden across the summer and matures between 16 and 36 inches tall.

Zinnia

• The most common garden zinnia species is Zinnia elegans, which includes many varieties with all flower colors except blue, purple and black. They need similar growing conditions as sunflowers and cosmos, and deadheading prolongs flower production across summer and fall up until frost. Dwarf and tall varieties exist, all great as cut flowers, maturing between 6 and 36 inches in height.

Marigold

• Although garden centers offer small marigold plants to transplant in late spring, sowing marigolds takes little effort and results in many plants. Tall growing marigolds are commonly dubbed African or American marigold types, while the shorter, compact marigolds that grow up to 12 inches in size are called French marigolds. Marigold flowers range in color from yellow, gold and orange to creamy white and shades of rusty dark red.