The Self-Seeding Flower That'll Effortlessly Fill Empty Spaces In Your Garden

Creating a lush flower garden year after year can be a challenge. Some beautiful annuals are sterile, which can leave you starting from scratch every year. Opting for perennials and self-seeding flowers is a great way to ensure your garden will naturally fill in any blank spaces within a few years. One of the best self-seeding perennials to consider is the lovely and unique balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus). 

When filling your garden with self-seeding flowers, it's essential to avoid anything invasive or overly aggressive growers. Luckily, this isn't a problem with the balloon flower. Despite this pretty perennial's ability to sow its own seeds, it isn't weedy. Balloon flowers take some time to get established, so you'll have to be patient and give your plants a year or two before you'll be able to fully appreciate their charms. But once they begin to bloom, you're sure to be wowed by them thanks to the unusual balloon-like shape of their buds, which then open into beautiful star-like blooms.

Native to Russia and Northeast Asia, balloon flowers thrive in USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 8. While they're an ideal addition to gardens with well-draining soil in full to partial sun, they aren't the right plants for soggier soil and can be prone to root rot. If you want to ensure that your balloon flowers self-seed, be sure not to deadhead all of them, instead letting at least some go to seed. You can also collect some of the seeds to start indoors if you want more control over where your plants will grow.

Balloon flowers come in a range of blue, pink, white, and purple shades, and can vary in height from less than 1 foot to around 3 feet tall, depending on the cultivar. Be sure to stake taller varieties to prevent them from falling over. Unlike many perennials, balloon flowers don't divide or transplant well, so try to avoid moving or disturbing the plants once they have gotten established. Balloon flowers are herbaceous perennials and can take a while to emerge from the ground in spring, so you may want to plant spring-blooming bulbs in the same garden bed to provide some color while you wait for your balloon flowers to get going for the season.