Creating a yard full of easy color year after year needn't be hard work. It can be as easy as finding a few self seeders to replace all your high-effort bedding plants, then allowing nature to take the lead. There's something truly magical about plants that seed themselves. I sowed a pack of annual love-in-a-mist about 10 years ago, and I still have them. They've roamed far and wide, their brilliant blue lighting up gravel paths, raised beds and that original sunny border.
I’ve put together a round-up of some of my favorite plants that, along with love-in-a-mist, will reward you with easygoing color year after year, a selection of self-seeding plants that will quietly fill your yard with very little input from you. I've chosen them for their ease, their color and their ability to thrive in varying degrees of sun and shade. They'll give you all you need to let go of that expensive bedding and embrace a more naturalistic style of gardening that you and your local pollinators will love.
