Summer's Radiant Blooms: Annual Flowers Maintaining Your Garden's Luminescence Throughout the Summer Season
The sun is out, the birds are chirping, and it's time to start thinking about planting a colorful, summer garden. May is the perfect time to snag some annual flowers in local garden shops or big box stores—unleashing a host of possibilities!
While perennials return year after year, consider these annual flowers for a pop of color throughout the entire summer season. Yes, there might be a bit more work involved, but the payoff is worth it: longer blooms, instant flowers, easy maintenance, affordability, variety, and most importantly—fun!
The Benefits of Annual Flowers
Ever wondered why you should invest time and effort into annual flowers? Well, they offer some incredible perks:
- Flowers bloom for longer
- Instant blossoms you can enjoy right away
- Easy to maintain
- Reasonably priced
- Available in every color you could imagine
- Adds excitement to your garden
True annuals grow from seeds, blossom, produce seeds, and die within a single season to complete their life cycle. These flowers take advantage of the warmer months to shower your garden with vibrant colors.
For an optimal display of these stunning blossoms, plant them in the late spring after the first frost, selecting annual flowers that bloom all summer long.
The Variety of Summer Annual Flowers
The summer season can bring both mild and extreme temperatures depending on location. Annual flowers come in different strengths to accommodate various temperatures:
- Hardy Annuals: Tough and tolerant of cooler temperatures, even freezing conditions. They can be planted in early spring or even late summer for blooms during late summer or fall.
- Semi-Hardy Annuals: Capable of withstanding cool temperatures and moderate frost.
- Tender Annuals: Thrive in warmer temperatures and do not tolerate cool conditions. Ideal for summer.
Brighten up any space with beautiful annuals, whether used in flower beds and vegetable gardens, container gardens or hanging baskets, or as borders or screens trained to grow on fences or trellises. Some even make excellent cut flowers. Can't wait to get started? Here are 21 annual flowers that will keep blooming even during the sweltering summer months.
1. Sweet Peas
Add a touch of romance and sweetness to your garden with the lovely scent of sweet peas. These beautiful blooms blossom from spring into summer and come in a range of colors: red, pink, blue, white, or lavender.
2. Sweet Alyssum
Carpet your yard in a fresh, white view with these tiny flowers that come in names like Royal Carpet, violet-purple, Bi-color Pink Stream, pink-purple, Easter Bonnet Deep Pink, pink, Purple Shades, Purple, or Wonderland Deep Rose.
3. Tuberous Begonias
Add a fluffy splash of color to your planters or flower beds with tuberous begonias. Considered a tender perennial, these flowers are usually grown as annuals due to their sensitivity to temperature.
4. Marigolds
These bright and hearty blooms will add splashes of yellow, white, red, or orange to your garden. Marigolds are perfect for borders to ward off pests, easy to care for, and sturdy throughout the summer. Some will grow to a few inches, while others will tower up to a few feet.
5. Calibrachoas
Calibrachoa, or million bells, plants produce a carnival of colors and are perfect for window boxes, hanging pots, flower beds, and along borders. Choose between blue, purple, red, orange, white, pink, or yellow. Select a striped hybrid for an eye-catching display.
6. Ageratum
Add blue, white, violet, or pink blooms in a sunny or light-shaded location with good drainage. These annuals are perfect for flower beds, along borders, or containers. Despite poor soil conditions, these hardy blooms will grow well.
7. Scaevolas
Lovely scaevola flowers are perfect to hide behind a garden gate or in a container, where they can trail freely. The flowers come in pink, white, or blue shades and are a great addition to a butterfly garden as they draw flying insects.
8. Vincas
Vincas are great options for windows, flower beds, or bare spots in the landscape. They can withstand a wide range of temperatures, making them an excellent choice for only watering during hot summers. Their blooms provide tons of color in pink, white, purple, or red from early summer until fall.
9. Zinnias
Bright and easy to care for, zinnias offer an array of colors: pink, red, purple, orange, yellow, lavender, and green. The only color missing is blue. Grow them in full sun and soil that drains well. They can even tolerate dry conditions.
10. Petunias
These classic annuals offer a wide range of colors: purple, red, white, pink, yellow, and many unique pattern combinations. They thrive in full sun, though they also grow well in partial shade. Encourage more blooms as flowers fade by removing the faded ones (deadheading).
11. Pentas
Pentas flowers bloom in colors like white, red, pink, purple, or lavender. They handle dry soil well and can tolerate both full sun and partial shade. Their blooms will attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
12. Portulaca
Moss rose flowers, also known as purslane, are perfect for full sun and dry conditions. These beautiful, tropical-looking annuals bring color to bare spots and come in white, pink, peach, yellow, orange, red, magenta, lavender, or purple.
13. Salvia
Sage plants, or salvias, offer a stately yet showy display of various colors, including white, red, orange, pink, salmon, purple, or burgundy. They require more watering, but their vibrant blooms attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
14. Penstemon
Plant penstemons in the sun or a shady spot, and enjoy their beautiful blue-violet, purple, red, pink, or white blooms. These sun-loving flowers bloom from late spring to summer.
15. Angelonia
Enjoy summer-loving flowers with a tropical feel, such as the vibrant and heat-tolerant Angelonia. These beautiful blooms look fantastic along walkways or borders and light up containers. They tolerate heat well and are low-maintenance. Choose pink, mauve, blue, purple, or white.
16. Lobularia
Fill your space with a cheerful white carpet of Lobularia flowers. These versatile annuals work well in containers, hanging baskets, or your choice of a pot. Lobularia does well in full sun or part shade and is easy to care for.
17. Lantana
Experience summer parties in your own yard with the vibrant multicultural blossoms of Lantana flowers. These sun-loving annuals attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Choose Orange Sunrise, Blooming Red, Charlotte, Miss Huff, or Lucky Series Lavender.
18. Mandevilla
Turn your garden into a tropical paradise with the breathtaking Mandevilla flowers. Tender plants are usually grown as annuals for a year-round tropical look. They grow well in the sun and can be used as low-maintenance, evergreen shrubs. Choose climbing or clustering varieties.
19. Geraniums
Cultivate a classic look with lovely geraniums. Choose from a range of colors such as red, pink, orange, purple, or white, and plant them either in containers or flower beds. They do well in both sun and partial shade.
20. Impatiens
If you love Impatiens Walleriana, try growing the New Guinea Impatiens. These annuals offer an array of colors (in addition to white, there are yellow, orange, or blue) and elegant foliage. They twinkle in both full sun and part shade.
21. Supertunia
Create a dazzling display with Super tunia hybrid petunias. These tough annuals are ideal for hot, dry conditions and produce larger bin thriving under full sun and well-drained soil. Try Sunburst Yellow, Lemon Twist, Cosmic Fuchsia, or Black Cherry.
The sun-filled season is perfect for sowing the seeds of annual flowers, indulging your organic lifestyle, and embracing the fashion-and-beauty of container gardening. Flowers such as sweet peas, sweet alyssum, and tuberous begonias can add a splash of color to your home-and-garden, bringing an air of charm from food-and-drink-inspired decor elements.
These blossoms, blooming from spring to summer, come in a wealth of colors, making it easier than ever to find one that suits your particular aesthetic. In addition to their visual appeal, annual flowers have several benefits: their longer blooms, instant blossoms, easy maintenance, affordability, and variety make them an essential part of any summer landscaping approach.
When planting these flowers in your garden, choose hardy, semi-hardy, or tender annuals depending on your local climate. Optimal displays require late spring planting after the first frost, allowing for the cultivation of a colorful, summer garden.
Inject excitement into your summer days with the results of your labor—whether used in flower beds and vegetable gardens, hanging baskets, or as borders or screens trained to grow on fences or trellises. And remember, with activities like travel, there's nothing like returning to a flourishing, beautiful garden filled with vibrant annual flowers.
