Flowers can grow beautifully with plenty of sunshine and adequate water, but if you really want lush, vibrant and full flowers youíll need to also provide them with some fertilizer. But figuring out what to use can be challenging especially since different types of flowers often require different mixtures of fertilizer for best growth.

If you want to be considerate of the environment, youíll want to be sure to use organic fertilizers. These are made from natural ingredients like fish emulsion and chicken poop and can be great to use on your flowers. They key is to be sure to get the right kind and donít overfeed the plants or they can become damaged.

Fertilizers typically contain 3 things, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Each of these provides a specific function for the flower which is why you might consider different mixtures of these at different times in the plants life. Potassium helps the plant grow a healthy root system and nitrogen helps with green growth so you might want to use a fertilizer that is heavier in these compounds when the plant is young. Phosphorous will promote beautiful, big flowers so use a fertilizer high in phosphorous before the plant starts to bloom and all during the blooming season.

Another thing to consider is the type of plant. Different flowers like their fertilizer to have different amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. This is typically called out on the label of the plant, or you can look it up in any good gardening book. Providing your plants with a fertilizer that meets itís particular needs will help ensure good, healthy growth.

If you are using a liquid fertilizer, youíll want to apply it to your annuals every 2 weeks or so. Perennials, roses and other shrubs should only be fertilized every 4 weeks. Be very careful to follow the directions on the package and not to over fertilize and this can burn the plant. Sometimes too much of a good thing can be harmful!

Granular fertilizers are released slowly into the soil, but you need to be careful that you donít put them too close to young plants as they can burn the fragile stems. Use these as directed on the package, usually every 4 weeks.

There are many different kinds of fertilizer out there, take a trip to your local garden center and pick out one that seems like it will work for you. Try it out and if you donít like using it then move on to another one until you find one that suits your needs. Always remember to follow the directions on the package and your sure to have a healthy lush garden all season long!