I went out early with good intentions!

[Adina P]

OK--I will admit that the idea of starting a garden is hugely intimidating.  I don't truly have an interest in it for now.  (I HATED the Botany section of Biology).  

However, a small area I could, maybe-just-maybe successfully plant dawned on me.  The porch plant boxes!  They are built into the porch and hold the remnants of plantings gone wrong (my mom planted them and I killed them through neglect based on forgetting I had plants every day).

I asked a friend what I should plant there and she suggested petunias because they grow bountifully and were hard to kill and inexpensive.  I was SOLD.

This Sunday morning, off to Wal Mart at the bright and shiny hour of 7am I went!  I found a bazillion petunias and realized I didn't know how many I needed to fill the planters.  I asked the sales person and she mentioned Petunias required planting yearly and it was like she  just told me 'Petunias require 30 hours a day of manual labor and then you have to stay up all night to be sure they aren't crying or need their soil changed!'  

Needless to say I decided Petunias were the most wrong plant for me ever!

So I left my dream of planting at Wal Mart today.

What else can I plant that is hardy, pretty, and requires nothing of me?  Perhaps some silk flowers from the home decor section?

[Gabriele Kennedy]

I am not sure that petunias are that difficult but the do like regular watering. Every year my neighbor buys buys a very expensive over planted basket of Petunias and proceeds to kill it slowly

It would help us recommend something if you could tell us what the conditions are where you are looking to plant
How much sunny does it get a day?

You know everything will need some water but I assume you are looking for something forgiving.....

[Adina P]

The flower boxes are on the porch UNDER the roofline but built into the porch sides on the South and North-West sides of the porch The house faces West and I live in the SE corner of WA state.

[Linda Lynch]

Try some marigolds-pretty tough to kill-will live with a little neglect and they reproduce on their own. But even these need a little water weekly if it doesn't rain. If you invest in a good bag of miracle grow potting mix(contains all the nutrients that they need)-you have to do nothing but plant and water when they look wilted. You can grow stuff-I have, over the years-little by little graduated to stuff like tomatoes, roses, lilacs etc. but it takes time to get you garden confidence going!!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I do plant petunias, but find them to be a lot of work to keep they looking really full....lots and lots of "deadheading". The most forgiving plants in my garden are geraniums. A couple of years ago we went away on vacation and hired a young girl in the neighborhood to water. Well, by the looks of the garden when we returned, she didn't quite "get it". The only annuals that survived and still looked pretty good were the geraniums. I'm sure they had gone days without water, but they were still alive and relatively "well". I second Linda's comment about the Miracle Grow potting soil...I love it (especially the one with the moisture control).

[Linda Lynch]

If you can nurture a doodle, a garden is a piece of cake and Jane is right-geraniums are good too especially if your window boxes get a lot of sun. They can get pretty dried out and you cut off the dead parts and they come back. Good luck and keep the faith!

[Adina P]

LOL. Too bad flowers won't follow me around, begging, 1.5 hours before watering time like Rosco does before lunch and supper! Then I'd remember to water them :-O

I really HAVE considered buying expensive fake flowers...not kidding! But then I'd be embarrassed at what everyone thought when they realized I planted FAKE FLOWERS IN MY PORCH BOXES! They aren't window boxes. The sides of my porch are brick and at the top they were formed into plant beds.

[Adina P]

Is there anything in Miracle Grow that is dangerous to dogs or kids?

The WalMart lady suggested Geraniums, but my heart was all prepared for Petunias and having that hope dashed made me not quite ready to commit to a new idea. Plus they weren't as pretty as the petunias...but maybe I have to look at pretty pictures of Geraniums, get all excited about them, and go that direction. They were on Clearance even!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

There are actually lots and lots of kinds geraniums to choose from.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Okay, thank goodness I tuned in before it's too late. There is hope for you Adina because although you thought of fake flowers you rejected the idea. There are virtually no, I say virtually cause you never know, any perennials that flower continually like annuals. So if you want continual displays you need to plan containers or planters with annuals and maybe some foliage plants to fill in. Annuals do best with deadheading, which means you need to pick off the dead flowers beneath where the seed pods form. The plants keep producing if they don't set seed.
Petunias are very easy but I don't love deadheading them because they are sticky. There are smaller varieties nowadays called million bells which are very attractive. I think you do best with regular potting soil, or topsoil, adding some 5-10-5 fertilizer. These premixed soils are expensive and you would do best watering when need be rather than relying on moisture control stuff. If the plants are drooping or the soil is dry you need to water. Simple really.
The easiest annuals are impatiens which do like water. But even if you don't deadhead much they keep producing and growing. Very good for a novice. Geraniums don't require much water but they never are as full as some of the other annuals. (There are perennial geraniums which are great plants for general flower beds).
Mixed plantings are the most interesting of course but you should try to match plants with similar needs. Right now, though, you can buy three packs or even flats of annuals very inexpensively so there is not much to worry about.
For foliage there are vincas, sweet potato vines etc.
I will take some pictures and return.

[Adina P]

I don't care if they aren't continually flowering through the snow...but I do want something I do NOT have to replant every year. Is that what "annuals" are?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yep. Annual as in "yearly".

[Adina P]

OK GIRLS--I'm leaving a nursery with PETUNIAS and Miracle Grow. Wish me luck :) I guess I'll just suck it up and replant next year... *sigh* I can't handle ineptitude...so here's to aptitude!