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In our hurried, stressful world, we're often looking for ways to relax and enjoy the things around us. Your own flower garden is a terrific way to do that. As the saying goes, you can improve life simply by stopping to smell the roses.

And those roses smell even better if you grew them yourself!

You've probably noticed that some people just have a knack for growing nice, healthy flowers while the rest of us seem to mostly grow weeds. Often the difference between a lush, wonderful flower garden and a gnarly weed bed are a few simple factors. Do the right things and you'll find growing beautiful flowers is easier than you imagined.

1. Plant flowers that do well in your area. Temperature, rainfall, and more that determine your local climate will favor some flowers, while making others almost impossible to grow. For example, if you endure the super hot summers of Texas or Arizona, you will have to grow different kinds of flowers than people in cooler New York or Utah.

To some degree, you can check the backs of seed packets to know which plants grow in your area and what time of year to plant. Gardening guides can also help. Your best bet is often to talk to someone who knows plants. Usually you can find these people working in smaller stores, greenhouses, and nurseries. It's usually not hard to identify who these plant experts are, as just about everybody in town knows about them and repeats their advice.

2. Pay attention to the quality of the soil you're planting in. Often adding richer potting soil or light fertilizer can give your flowers a much better chance of turning out healthy. The right soil is one of the major reasons why some people grow terrific flowers while others can't get anything to sprout.

3. Buy good quality seeds. Before we started our seed business we were surprised by how expensive flower seeds were, and by how FEW seeds were included in each packet. You could spend some pretty substantial cash buying seeds for a modest garden.

If you're looking to buy a new brand or type of seed that you haven't purchased in the past, I would recommend inspecting a pack before you fill your shopping cart with them. That way you'll know what you're getting.

Above all, be patient. Nature is an amazing system of interrelated factors. Sometimes we can understand and control all the factors, other times we just have to let nature take her course. Gardeners who understand the process of trial and error and remain persistent usually get the best results.

Also, be sure to include your family in your gardening activities. Planning a flower garden, planting it, then caring for the growing flowers can be a fulfilling, inspirational, and uniting experience for everyone in the family.