Annual Flower Planter Designs: Cool-Season Color, Herbs, and Grasses

Overview

Create lush, balanced planters by mixing heights, textures, and trailing vines. Use tall annuals at the back, mid-size in the middle, low-growers to fill gaps.

Cool-Season Annuals

Primroses and pansies bloom through fall until hard frost. Ornamental cabbage adds purple-green rosettes at the base. Calendula reaches 24 inches with gold-red blooms and dark foliage. Forget-me-nots provide tiny pale blue flowers for tight spaces.

Culinary Herbs

Dill (4 feet, feathery) for height at the back. Basil (tall, bushy) for sides. Parsley (clumping, curly or flat) fills out the planter with bright green foliage.

Annual Ornamental Grasses

Red fountain grass: clumping, red leaves and plumes through fall. Ornamental wheat grass: tall, straight stems with cream feathery blooms. Bunny tail grass: soft, fluffy puffball heads—irresistible to touch.