The Best Annual Flowers for a Colorful Garden
Creating a vibrant and visually appealing garden is a dream for many gardening enthusiasts, and one of the best ways to achieve an array of colors and beauty is by planting annual flowers in your garden. While perennial plants return every year, annual flowers last for one season, but the amazing colors they produce after blooming are well worth the effort.
Whether your garden is on a small balcony or a massive backyard, there are certain annual flowers that are incredibly versatile and can transform your garden into a naturally beautiful sight. Let’s take a look at some of those annual flowers that you should be thinking about first when making a colorful garden.
Pansy
If your garden needs a pop of color, the pansy is the way to go. These colorful flowers add a lot of personality to any drab garden. They come in a variety of different colors, purple, pink, orange, yellow, blue, and red. Much of their allure is due to the unique splotches of multiple colors found on each flower, like a sort of flowery fingerprint making each one stand out from one another.
Dahlia
The bushy and bright pom-pom head of the dahlia flower stands out amongst the rest. They grow in a variety of different sizes and colors, such as lavender, white, peach, red, orange, pink, and yellow. They bloom in mid-summer and will stick around until the first hardcore frost of the colder season.
Calibrachoa
These tiny and abundant flowers are usually seen hanging from planters on a sunny porch. They have a wonderful homestyle look to them and their vibrant yellow, red, and purple, hues add beautiful pops of color to accent any home. They thrive in full sun and need to be placed in planters with exceptional drainage. They’ll bloom all summer, until the first frost of fall.
Sunflower
Sunflowers are a total summertime classic. Their incredible height, large flower heads, and bright yellow petals just scream summer. Sunflowers take about 8-12 weeks to bloom, starting in midsummer until as late as October. The large flat heads of the sunflower make it the perfect landing spot for all sorts of pollinators.
Fuchsia
Fuchsia plants, named after 16th-century botanist Leonard Fuchs, possess a gorgeous, well, fuchsia color. The deep reddish-purple hue of the fuchsia plant’s flowers is a sight to see. They thrive in moist, cool, climates that stay below 85 F° during the day. The delicate dangling of the flowers means they require wind protection as well.
Lobelia
These tiny and delicate bunches of flowers pack a calming colorful punch. These five-petaled beauties are low to the ground in bunches, spreading color as far as the eye can see. They’re known to be deep purple, blue, red, and white. They’re perfect for any open space that lacks personality and needs a splash of color.
Cosmos
These bright-colored flowers are reminiscent of daisies and are actually within the same family as the sunflower. Which explains why they can grow to be a whopping 6 feet tall. Their wide-open heads and cute nectar-filled centers not only show off their amazing beauty, but they’re also the perfect chill spot for pollinators. Cosmos come in a variety of bright and refreshing colors such as pink, red, orange, yellow, white, and maroon.
Marigold
Marigolds are known for their place upon ofrendas everywhere during the Day of the Dead ceremonies derived from a Mexican heritage. The wonderful scent and bright orange/yellow color are said to lure spirits back on that special day. They make for a bright and meaningful addition to any garden. Even better, they’re edible and can be used in a variety of savory and sweet recipes.