How Do I Grow Flowers as a Gardening Hobby?

Educate Yourself

• Invest the necessary time to learn about growing flowers. Take a class at a community college, scour the library for gardening books and read gardening magazines. Tune in to gardening television shows and peruse Internet pages that feature flower gardening tips and techniques. During your studies, educate yourself on the differences between annuals, biennials and perennials, how to select the right flowers for the U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone where you live and how to start flowers from seeds. Learn which flowers prefer full sun and which don't, and determine the type of soil you have in your planting area and whether it needs to be amended for healthy plants.

Obtain Equipment

• To begin flower gardening as a hobby, start with basic tools. Gather a number of various sizes of flowerpots if you plan to start plants indoors, a pair of gardening gloves, a collection of gardening tools and a caddy in which to keep them, and a watering can. All gardeners need a cultivator, trowel, weeder and bypass pruners. Include a knee pad to protect your clothing and your knees when you kneel in the garden. Keep a bottle of rubbing alcohol on hand to disinfect your tools after you use them. Locate a place where you can keep your equipment and perform gardening tasks.

Select Flowers

• Choose flowers that beginning gardeners find easy to grow. Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida), hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 9, purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea), hardy in USDA zones 3 through 8, and English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), hardy in USDA zones 5 through 8, are all perennial flowers that require minimal maintenance and tolerate full sun. Include a couple of annuals like pot marigolds (Calendula officinalis) and prickly poppies (Argemone polyanthemos) to round out your flower garden.

Plant Flowers

• After your preparation, it's time to go hands on. Choose the appropriate amendments for the soil in your outdoor bed. Enlist the assistance of an employee from your local garden center where you purchase your flowers or seeds if you have questions or need help. Determine whether you prefer to start flowers from seeds or purchase those already growing in flats. Your local garden center will carry plants that grow well in your area. Plant the flowers where they'll receive the appropriate amount of sun for their needs. Pat the soil around transplanted flowers until it's firm, yet not compacted. Water the flowers after planting and thereafter as needed.