What can I plant in small-ish pots please?

[HiawathaDidntBotherTooMuch]

DS 6yo has taken a hugge interest in gardening this year. He has a small veggie patch, and we are waiting for the carrots, potatoes and onions and garlic to grow

I have five or six small terracota and china pots which are sitting round with only weeds growing in them. They are on our north facing patio which actually gets quite a lot of sunlight as the area around our house isn't hugely built up. What can I buy to plant in them which will flower over the summer, and maybe into autumn? Or maybe a mixture of things? Any colours except orange and yellow please. And we already have geraniums and lavender.

As you can tell, I am a complete novice.

[dreamingofsun]

salad? he could it it then. its quite fast growing and would like a north aspect

[HiawathaDidntBotherTooMuch]

Nice idea. I think I will get some bellis too.

[funnyperson]

viola. then if he eats them nothing will happen.

[Liara]

Why don't you just let him choose what he wants to plant in them?

My dc each have their own (very different) preferences and are much more prone to taking good care of things they have chosen themselves than things I think are appropriate.

Ds1 loves bulbs of all descriptions. Ds2 loves succulents and cacti. They both have them in places I would never in a million years think they could work, and yet they do.

[HenI5]

How about a small herb garden? You can eat the produce too then and a lot of herbs flower so you get shapes, colours and lovely smells. You can mix straight up plants like rosemary and chives and some which trail like oregano and thyme and you get different textures such as curly parsley and sage.

One tip if you decide on herbs is do get them from a garden centre or nursery as herbs from the supermarket aren't really designed to go on and on and often fail even after replanting in new pots with better compost.

I've also had success growing chili plants from seeds in red chilis.
Soak the seeds in some warm water, put them in a small pot of compost and tie a plastic bag over the top. M plants had very pretty star shaped white and purple flowers and then grew more red chilis. You just have to watch the watering, do it from the bottom via a saucer and pinch the tops out often so the plant doesn't get too tall and leggy.