When I’m chatting about gardening at the farmers’ market, the topic of seeds that are easy to sow often comes up. Many flower seeds are tiny and a bit fiddly to sow. (I’m making a note to talk about tips for doing this in a future post…) But there are numerous easy-to-grow flowering plants with big seeds that aren’t hard to pick up. These seeds are especially nice when gardening with kids, since they can easily hold them and place them in the soil:

Borage (Borago officinalis): a major pollinator magnet, borage grows rapidly in mild weather and full sun, producing fuzzy leaves (that get a bit prickly as they mature), and blue flowers that attract so many bees. Its flowers and young leaves are edible and taste a bit like cucumber, though I personally enjoy them more as a garnish than for eating.

Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus): Cosmos seeds are a little smaller than those of the other plants listed here, but they’re still pretty easy to grasp, and they germinate incredibly quickly in late spring and summer. To get the most flowers, it’s best not to amend their soil much; in spots with lots of compost or fertilizer, they tend to grow lots of leaves but fewer flowers, so poor to mediocre soil fertility is actually best.

Honeywort (Cerinthe major): This hardy annual is great for planting in fall in mild climates, or in early spring in places with colder winters. It produces seemingly endless stems, with gray-green leaves and purple bell-shaped flowers that bees enjoy visiting. My favorite variety is ‘Kiwi Blue’.

Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus, Tropaeolum minus): the peppery flowers of nasturtium make a colorful addition to salads, and its seeds can be pickled in vinegar to be used like capers (though I will admit I haven’t tried this yet myself). You can choose between a trailing variety that will spread throughout a garden bed or spill over the edge of a hanging pot, or a mounding variety that will make a compact plant with better proportions for smaller spaces.

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus): There are two types of sunflower plants to choose from: branching and single-stem. Most gardeners will want to plant a branching type of sunflower (such as ‘Sonja’ or ‘Valentine’), because it will produce numerous flowers and look pretty in your garden for many weeks. Single-stem sunflowers (such as ‘Pro-Cut’ and ‘Vincent’s Choice’) make the best cut flowers, but only one per plant, so they are done once you harvest that flower. If you harvest mid-way down the stem, a few more smaller flowers may bloom lower down on the stem later on. But keep in mind that single-stem sunflowers won’t look pretty in the garden for as long as branching varieties.