Annuals That Reseed

Gazania and Lupinus succulentus, with non-reseeding Rhodanthemum
 
After some years of experience, many gardeners develop a collection of reliable re-seeding annuals.  They are so handy for temporarily filling empty spots, or adding a brief bit of color here and there. Some are downright weedy, but are tolerated for certain virtues, like toughness.  The best are easily identifiable as tiny seedlings and easy to pull at any stage, so you have them where you want them and can quickly remove them from where you don't.  They are different for every gardener, due to climate and taste, and they change over time with the gardener's energy level and experience.  In my garden the ones that sprout in winter via rain and linger until a spring or summer heatwave kills them off, are ideal.

Lobularia maritima, common name Sweet Alyssum is undeniably weedy.   But here at least certain virtues outweigh the negative.  Their flowers provide food for both pollinators and predator insects, the predators before their prey builds up sufficient numbers.  The seedlings survive some spring heat in places where nothing else will grow.  I selectively pull all the tall, lanky plants which over the past couple of years has lead to tight and compact seedlings. 

Cerinthe.  Easy, quick to bloom, bees and hummingbirds love it.  Often gets too big (3' tall and wide).  Another plant I selectively cull--removing the plants with less colorful bracts and flowers, so only the very prettiest flowers reseed themselves.

Eschscholzia californica.  Native, of course, but all that needs be said is: iconic.

Gazania.  A few are lovely in the right spots, giving a splash of bright color for spring.  I deadhead them as much as I have patience to do, which limits seedlings but extends bloom time.  When the real summer heat hits and they stop flowering and start looking stressed and ratty, I pull them. 

Hunnemannia fumariifolia.  Like Eschscholzia, only even better, as they bloom most of spring, all summer and part of early autumn.  This plant is extremely picky about where it chooses to seed itself, preferring cracks in concrete to rich soil.  Seedlings, even when tiny, have been so far impossible to move successfully.  One must toss seeds around and hope for the best. 

 For at least three years, I've tossed hundreds of seeds onto the front slope, hoping to establish them there, but so far only one plant has come up, in the midst of Leucadendron 'Wilsons Wonder'.  Maybe it will reseed next year...

 Limonium perezii.  Survives summers on the front slope.  The splashes of purple improve the look of the slope.  The flowers feed butterflies.  This doesn't reseed much for me, just enough so that I can pull the old plant or two and replace it with a new plant or two, as they can be moved in cool overcast weather.  It has almost no root system, so it does not interfere with any neighboring plant, and will survive summer if the foliage gets watered.    This is more a short-lived perennial than an annual, but stressed to their limit on the dry front slope, they end up with scale and mealybugs, so pull-and-replace has become my practice. 

Lupinus succulentus is native to the immediate area, feeds some sort of butterfly or moth, bees, and rabbits, has lovely flowers, but is proving far too prolific.  I need to start pulling it when it appears.

 Too much, too big!

Lavender comes up in the hottest, driest places.  Free lavender plants!  Is that cool or what?  Yet more bee food, and the Goldfinches appear to eat the seeds.    No, they are not the prettiest lavender plants possible, but there they are where even the Alyssum will not grow.  

Orlaya, may prove to be a pest as well.  Harder to pull out due to a tap root, and reseeds in staggering numbers.  Last year I deadheaded diligently and ended up with just a few new plants, which is good.  The flowers are very pretty, but none are in bloom just yet.

Lobelia erinus, native to South Africa, has never reseeded enough.  Because blue, compact, and blue. This is one I dearly wish was just a little reseedier.  I get one or two plants a year, and treasure them.  Because blue.  Why not buy a packet of seeds?  Huh.  Maybe next winter. 

Nasturtiums are no longer here by choice.  I pulled them all last winter as they began to flower because they have become overwhelming.  The seeds must survive a long time, because the gully garden is full of them again.  The flowers are pretty, but I need room to walk, and they will smother other plants in their search for space and light.
Too many, again

  What are your go-to reseeders?  What has become a pest?  Do tell!