To ask advice on growing flowers

[5lilducks]

Hi all, I feel really silly now, but need to start somewhere. I am a gardening virgin. A few years back i grew a few strawberry plants in pots which have all died since dd was born as I hardly had anytime for myself let alone plants.
DD (3) loves flowers and I would like to grow some flowers this year and ideally get her involved as well. I have compost from a few years ago (which I used for the strawberry plants) so not sure if thru are any good. Can anyone please advice me on some (ideally low metanance) flower plants i can grow. Are their any seeds/plants which flower from spring? I am thinking of pretty flowers and ideally bright colours and not dark purples or dark blue. They also must be in pots. Am I able to use the strawberry pots for flowering plants? Any advice will be much appreciated. Tia

Are there i mean*

You can get mixed seed packets. But for planters/pots I like trailing flowers like lobelia, creeping flox etc

If you def want to go for seeds instead of bulbs www.thompson-morgan.com/top-10-easy-to-grow-flowers or any website on Google is your friend.

I’d buy individual seed packets as they are often more reliable than the mixtures. I love flowers and grow loads in pots to brighten up areas where the soil is not so good.
Easy peasy flowers are :- Nasturtiums, Cosmos, Candytuft, California Poppies, Clarey, Clarkia, marigolds, Nigella ( is pale blue, but there is a white version), Cornflowers ( white)
Plants like Salvia, have a long flowering season, as do Hydrangea. They both do well in large pots.
For instant spring flowers, buy some strips of primulas. They’ll be in the garden centres/ supermarkets very soon.
When I sow the seeds I use large cheap plastic planters, small pots dry out too quickly. I also vary the shape of pots, the long thin troughs look like attractive drifts of flowers.

You should get some giant sunflowers your DD will love them and they're easy/quick to grow.

Thank you all for replying . A lot of options that I will look into
@Beebumble2 would I be able to grow the flowers you mentioned in my ex strawberry plant pots (large) or do you think i shouldn't ? If you think it shouldn't be a problem, do I need to change the compost I already have in them or can I just reuse that compost and just remove the weeds and top it up with fresh compost ? Really sorry, but I really have absolutely no clue. Ideally ,I don't want to waste the pots that I already have given that I am not sure how I can get rid of them!

If the strawberry pots are about 30cms circumstance or larger, that would be fine.
Annual flowers would be fine if you took about 10cms of soil off the top and replaced that. I often use the previous year’s compost in the bottom of large pots or throw it on the garden.
Check the drainage of the pots, in case it’s become compacted and fork over before adding the fresh top compost.

@Beebumble2 Thank you very much for your reply 👍

Sweet peas are lovely, and smell divine. I have only a small balcony and grew them last summer in a medium sized (about 10" diameter) pot with a little trellis stick in and against the balcony. They were great.

Seeds are the cheapest way, but you can also buy "plugs" cheaply, very young seedlings to bring on at home. Most flowering annuals (plants that last 1 summer) need to kept frost free, so in a porch or greenhouse or other cool bright spot. If that's not practical you may have to buy in May.

I adore snapdragons (antirrhinum) ever since my toddler laughed his head off watching the bumble bees going in and out. They are very tough, and slugs and snails never touch them. They also often self seed, or survive the winter.

Sweet peas are indeed wonderful, you can sow those right now.

www.sarahraven.com/articles/how-to-grow-sweet-peas-from-seed.htm?gclid=Cj0KCQiA6Or_BRC_ARIsAPzuer8dbS7O76k0eEjJSvGCdnp2eXtIs9m32v_abTTrZsyJsOnhjeYayscaArvEEALw_wcB

You need to empty the pots and use fresh compost each year. If they are outside the pots need to have a drainage hole in and a few stones or something in the very bottom. After that you are good to go. When the bedding plants come in the shops you can get little ones, as suggested lobelia is pretty and trailing, add in some uprights like begonia or geraniums are really hardy. cosmos are lovely and you can grow from seed but so many to choose from just try what you like. Some plants die off each year (annual) and some come back the next year (perennial) I don't know how much space you have for giant sunflowers but you can get dwarf ones too, these grow easily from seed, start them inside and move to bigger pots outside as they get strong.
Could go on for hours, get what you like and can get locally at the moment. B&m are good for value garden stuff