The Marigold Potager – A Zone 3 Prairie Garden

Though we had a very wet and windy summer, the flowers thrived, bloomed beautifully, fed the bees, birds, and beneficial insects. Some were delayed while they waited for the heat to come, but as soon as it did, they were ready and put on quite the show.

If I had to rate my 2025 flower season, I would give it an 8 out of 10. Almost perfect.

These are some of my favourite annual flowers from last summer. All were grown from seed, most were direct sown, all from Canadian seed houses.

Here are my top performing flowers in 2025, in no particular order.

1. Zinnias

Zinnias have been my favourite flowers to grow for the past 20-ish years. They are goof proof, bloom like mad till frost comes, come in a multitude of colours, and best of all… the bees, hover flies, and other beneficials just adore them.

I always direct sow (mid-April on the west coast, mid-May on the prairies). This can change by a week or two, depending on the weather.

The only zinnias I would pre-start are the dwarf ones to grow in pots or borders, like the Zahara series or the Profusion series. Both are fantastic and will bloom all summer long, needing very little deadheading. Though, the more you harvest, the more blooms they make.

They get a good, deep soak once or twice a week. No fertiliser though there is compost in the garden, as I feed my beds annually.

• Oklahoma Salmon – Antonio Valente Flowers – These little cupcake type zinnias were my favourites this year. Loved the peachy hues, the raised centers. Very floriferous, perky, and cute.
• Oklahoma White – Antonio Valente Flowers – I just love white. That’s all : ) Luckily, so do the bees.
• Another Word For Pink – Annapolis Seeds – These cute little pink zinnias were a bee favourite. The come in a variety of pink hues, go from open to poofy as they mature. So pretty, long lasting blooms, one of my favourite zinnias this year.

I also grew Green Envy, Queeny Lime with Blush, and Oklahoma Pink. All were stunning. All were loved by the bees.

• Green Envy – William Dam Seeds – apple green, add that pop of chartruese to your garden.
• Profusion Cherry Bi-Colour. Can be purchased in 6 packs from nurseries. I could not find this particular one in seeds from a Canadian seed source, but William Dam has Zahara Double Raspberry Ripple, which looks very similar. Vesey’s has some Profusion seeds, though not this particular one.
• Oklahoma Pink – Incredible Seed Company – big, poofy bubblegum pink blooms add a pop to your garden.

How To Grow Zinnias ~ It’s Super Easy! – The Marigold Potager – A Zone 3 Prairie Garden

2. Cosmos

As with the zinnias, I love to grow cosmos because they are super easy, flower from summer through till frost, bees love them, and I can direct sow them.

Cosmos are just about the easiest flowers of all annuals to grow. They are hardy, do not need rich soil, self seed, are not prone to many problems or pests. This is all great news as they are also the prettiest of flowers with their delicate petals on tall stems, and frond like foliage.

The flowers are magnets for birds, bees, and butterflies, as well as the beneficial insects (lacewings, parasitic wasps, tachinid flies, hoverflies) that feed on the pest insects and pollinate your food garden.

Direct sow them at the same time as you sow your zinnias (see #1 above). Water well once or twice a week. Do not fertilise. They do not like rich soil.

Here are some of my favourites from summer 2025.

• Apricot Lemonade – Antonio Valente Flowers – Delicate pale lavender flowers fade to a pale yellow. Shorter variety at 24 to 30 inches. Easy to tuck in a bit here and there.
• Double Click Bi-Colour Pink – Antonio Valente Flowers – Bi-coloured double blooms in a range of pink, blush, and white. 
• Double Click Bi-Colour Pink – Antonio Valente Flowers – Bi-coloured double blooms in a range of pink, blush, and white. (Yes, same package of seeds, some are dark pink, some are more white)

• Limelight – Anthonio Valente Flowers – These flowers start off chartreuse and fade to white.
• Rubenza – Antonio Valente Seeds – Blooms open a deep brick-red and slowly fade to a dusty rose. Gorgeous at every stage! 
• Cupcake Mix – William Dam Seeds – The only picture I could find of the cupcake cosmos, but they are such a fun addition to the garden. Here they are in pink and white in front of a bunch of Pink Sensation cosmos.

• Rubenza – William Dam Seeds – I like these when they are red, but I love them when they fade to a dusty rose as they age. Loved watching them change, varying hues on each plant. Will grow this one again even though red is usually not my colour (dusty hues are, though ; ) Psst – yes, I am aware that I have this posted twice but I had several pictures of them in varying shades so thought I would share two pics and also two seed sources.
• Double Click Bi-Colour Violet – Incredible Seed Company – Some are white with a kiss of violet on their petals, others are a deep eggplant colour with soft pink accents.
• Apricotta – William Dam Seeds – LOVE these peachy pink flowers so much.

How To Grow Cosmos – The Marigold Potager – A Zone 3 Prairie Garden

3. Calendula

Calendula is one of the best pollinator flowers that you can grow in your garden. The bees love them, the hover flies, and the tachinids. Great for pollinators and for attracting pest controlling insects, too. Easy to grow, will self sow in warmer garden zones, early to bloom, can take a bit of cold, great potager flower.

• Playtime Mix. These are from leftover seeds that I had from Baker Creek Seeds. I used to order from them a lot (before the shipping to Canada went crazy, and before Trump). They are kind of similar to Strawberry Pink (a bit more yellow) and quite similar to the common calendula.
• Orange Flash – William Dam Seeds – though this is not a great picture, so it is hard to see, this is another one of my top picks when it comes to calendulas. Peachy coloured blooms.
• Zeolights – Annapolis Seeds – This is one of my all time favourites. Pink edges, white petals.

#4 Soapwort

Pink Beauty Soapwort – the Incredible Seed Company.

I am going to come right out and admit it… this was my absolute favourite annual flower in my 2025 garden. It was my first time growing soapwort ever, now I wish I had tried it much earlier. It flowered profusely, giving me clouds of pink blossoms for 3+ months. No deadheading or fussing, just constant blooms.

I direct sowed the seeds on the edges/borders of my two patio gardens. They grew easily and quickly, flowered well into mid-summer before petering out.

It does not need fertiliser, thrives in most all well-draining soils. Needs no extra attention. It can be a happy seed spreader so you want to cut it down before it goes to seed. I do not, however, know if it is going to be a self seeder here on the prairies, with our harsh winters. I will let you know if it comes back!

Make sure that you plant it someplace where you do not mind it self seeding and spreading. Where I grew it, I would welcome it back heartily, but I would be hesitant to do so in my front garden or perennial beds.

#5 Snapdragons

Potomac White Snapdragons – William Dam Seeds

These long-lasting blooms just kept on flowering, needed very little deadheading. They were pre-started in early spring, planted out sometime late May, kept blooming till late October. Highly recommend these!

I grew some of these flowers in my pots, some in the pollinator strip, and some out front by the entrance. We had to remove a suckering caragana from this front yard spot so I’m always looking for something that can handle a dry, part shade location, and will fill in the spot nicely till the new perennials take off. Dwarf zinnias work really well here, too.

#6 Sweet Peas

I have a blend of colours here, from blush pink to white sweet peas. I have tagged 3 different seed companies to so you have some choices : )

A tip that I learned this summer for earlier blooms and more blooms that I must share with you!

• I direct sowed some sweet peas in April. I also started some in a seed snail at the same time, They were planted out sometime in May.
• Both grew at the same pace throughout the entire summer, were equally tall at the end of the growing season, too.
• However, the seed snail sweet peas started making flowers several weeks before the direct sown sweet peas did.
• They also bloomed more profusely all summer long. The direct sown sweet peas made far fewer flowers and were late to bloom.

Now, I have always preferred direct sowing as space is at a premium in the spring potting shed and greenhouse, but I will be seed snailing my sweet peas from now on!

#7 Dahlias from seeds/cuttings

While I have long grown dahlias from seeds, taking cuttings was a new thing to me. My seeds were from Floret Flower Farm when they were selling some of their very dearly priced seeds a couple years ago. I grew those dahlias from seed and then took both seeds and cuttings in the fall so that I could carry them on to summer 2025.

They both did well, I would recommend either way. Just wanted to let you know that this is an option, in case you have not tried either before.

Dahlias (from seed) can be purchased from these sources in Canada. There may be more, but a pinch, I quickly found these…

• Renee’s Garden Seeds
• Brother Nature Seeds
• Roam Flora
• Greta’s Family Gardens – Bishop’s Children dahlias (love these dahlias with the dark maroon foliage – make a pop in the garden)

To get earlier blooms, you will want to prestart them indoors and then move them out when all risk of frost is over.

Dahlias from seed will vary, will all be different, except the Bishop’s Children variety.

#8 Supertunias

SUPERTUNIA^® Tiara Pink petunia blew me away. This basket has just 2 basket stuffers in it. It bloomed all summer long, is self dead-heading so no sticky pinching to do. Just water, feed once a week or two, and watch it go. I put it in baskets and pots.

From the grower – Star-shaped pink blooms with darker edges that fade to light pink/white centers. Has a vigorous, mounded growth habit, with its self-cleaning flowers there is no need for deadheading. These flowers rebloom throughout the summer, lasting all season long. It is recommended to give your petunias a light trim in midsummer so they can put on growth resulting in fresh blooms, although the plant can be trimmed anytime if it gets too long or isn’t looking good. SUPERTUNIA^® Tiara Pink petunia acts as both a filler and a spiller in container combinations. In the landscape, it makes a nice groundcover plant for borders or mass plantings. It can reach a height of 12 inches and can spread up to 18-24 inches. Plant in part sun to full sun locations and watch the flowers shine.

#9 – Supertunia Silver & Trailing White Verbena

This basket is truly a shade basket. Gets maybe an hour or two of morning sun… perhaps. Begonias would be great in this basket, too. I will be using this white combo in my sunshine baskets this summer. If it did this well in deep shade, imagine what it will do with a good 6 to 8 hours of sunshine.

These are also basket stuffers rather than something I started myself, but they were remarkable and some of my favourites.

I will be going mostly all white this summer, so these two are going to feature heavily in my plantings. Variations on white petunias (Supertunia Mini-Vista White and this Silver Supertunia).

#10 Non-Stop Appleblossom Begonia (and Suntory White Trailing Lobelia)

Another one of my all time favourites this summer was this pinky white begonia with a trailing white lobelia. This planter also kept flowering from spring till frost. I will be using both flowers heavily this summer.

You can go with an all white begonia but the pinky highlights of the appleblossom make it just a bit more special.

Lobelia can absolutely be started from seed, if you want. They will need to be in a part shade to full shade location in order to not burn out after 6 to 8 weeks. A haircut in July will also help to keep them flowering.

The lobelia that I grow is a sun-hardy trailing variety that will keep blooming till frost. It is sold at greenhouses as basket stuffers. I buy it, I do not start it. There are a few different kinds of long lasting, heat resistant varieties, but Suntory Trailing White Lobelia is one that you can rely on to keep on blooming with no special care required.

There are many others I could tell you about, but these were the flowers that made me happy this summer. Made my heart sing ~ Tanja