The table calls it a tie: Russian Sage and Catmint share the crown at 94 and 94 of 100, a gap smaller than the data can honestly split.
Beginner lists usually mean 'pretty and popular': this one is gated so nothing rated high-maintenance can even enter, then scores what actually decides a first year: how little skill the plant demands, whether it forgives missed watering and poor soil, how long it keeps showing flowers, and whether deer let it live.
The picks
The flowers that won
The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
How little skill it demands: low · Forgives beginner mistakes: both: air pollution, clay soil, drought, poor soil, salt, sandy dry soil, urban · Shows results long enough to keep you hooked: 5 months
Flaws, not dealbreakers:no vase data in the postharvest literature
How little skill it demands: low · Forgives beginner mistakes: both: drought, sandy dry soil, shallow rocky, urban · Shows results long enough to keep you hooked: 5 months
Flaws, not dealbreakers:no vase data in the postharvest literature
Shows results long enough to keep you hooked19 / 254 months
Survives the neighborhood deer5 / 10no published rating
The protocol
How the score is built
4 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
How little skill it demands40 pointslow upkeep 40; middling 23; demanding 7; sources disagree, we average the range; no rating 21 Read from: how much upkeep extension guides report.
Forgives beginner mistakes25 pointsshrugs off both drought and poor soil 25; drought only 18; poor soil only 12; neither documented 6; no data 10 Read from: stress tolerances.
Shows results long enough to keep you hooked25 pointseight or more months 25; six to seven 22; four to five 19; three 13; two 7; one 3; no bloom data 7 Read from: the months it is in bloom.
Survives the neighborhood deer10 pointsRutgers A, rarely damaged 10; B 7; C 3; D, deer candy 0; not rated 5 Read from: the Rutgers deer rating.
Not ranked here: rated high maintenance by source data: not beginner-friendly regardless of popularity.
The full method ↗
The leaderboard
The top ten
The 10 highest of 82 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
Shows results long enough to keep you hooked19 / 255 months
Survives the neighborhood deer3 / 10C
Considered, not chosen
Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this question is not theirs.
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.
Russian Sage
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 the question is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
shown. When the table changes, every score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
