The winner: Mexican Sunflower, 96/100. Runner-up: Coreopsis at 95. Lowest upkeep of the qualifiers: Cosmos at 91.
Beginner lists usually mean 'pretty and popular': this one is gated so nothing rated high-maintenance can even enter, then scores what actually determines a first-year survival rate: dead-simple propagation, a documented spread of stress tolerances, wide hardiness margin, and a bloom season long enough to forgive a missed weekend of deadheading.
The picks
The flowers that won
The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
Deer: sometimes eaten (Rutgers C)Not for cat households
91/ 100tap for the breakdown
Maintenance ease30 / 30low
Foolproof propagation20 / 20seed
Documented resilience breadth15 / 204 documented
Hardiness zone flexibility15 / 152 to 11
Bloom window11 / 155 months
The protocol
How the score is built
5 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
Maintenance ease30 pointslow maintenance scores 30; medium (the eligibility floor) 15 Read from: how much upkeep extension guides report.
Foolproof propagation20 pointscan be started from seed scores 20 (cheapest, most forgiving route); division-only scores 14 Read from: propagation methods.
Hardiness zone flexibility15 pointsa spread of 7+ zones 15; 5-6 = 10; 3-4 = 6 Read from: the zones it survives.
Bloom window15 pointsblooms 6+ months 15; 4-5 = 11; 3 = 8; shorter tapers to 2 Read from: the months it is in bloom.
Not ranked here: rated high maintenance by source data: not beginner-friendly regardless of popularity; a woody shrub, tree or vine: a different project than a beginner's flower bed. Scores are never sponsored
and never sold. The full method ↗
The leaderboard
The top ten
The 10 highest of 66 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this job is not theirs.
a woody shrub, tree or vineHydrangea macrophylla, Lavender, Lilacs and 13 more
rated high maintenance by source data: not beginner-friendly regardless of popularityRoses, Gardenia, Poinsettia
The winner's badge
Generated by the ranking above, and re-scored whenever the table changes.
Mexican Sunflower
The badge is generated by this ranking, not awarded by hand. When the
table changes, it re-scores itself.
How we rank
We keep one table of 85 flowers,
with 25 documented facts each, drawn from university and extension sources. Every ranking is
a published formula worth 100 points; tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made
it. A flower that does not fit a job is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
named. Nothing here is sponsored, and no score can be bought. When the table changes, every
score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
