Annual Flowers That Bloom All Summer: Top Picks for Continuous Color

Overview

Annuals are categorized by cold tolerance: hardy (light frost tolerant), half-hardy (cold/damp tolerant but frost-damaged), and tender (tropical, cold-sensitive). Use annuals to fill gaps among perennials/shrubs, as accents in planters, or with bulbs to hide fading spring foliage.

California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica)

Cup-shaped flowers in orange, yellow, white, pink, red. Pinch seed pods to extend bloom. Open in day, close at night/cloudy. Thrive in full sun, sandy soil.

Common Stock (Matthiola incana)

Fragrant clustered blooms on spikes in white, pink, red, yellow, purple. Fast-growing, upright stems, lance-shaped leaves. Likes full sun.

Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus)

Also bachelor's button. Easy hardy annual. Bushy with thin stems, fluffy 1–2 inch heads in white, blue, purple, pink, red. Pinch dead blooms to prolong season. Full sun to partial shade.

Dahlias (Dahlia hybrids)

Bushy with 1–8 inch flowers in nearly every color except true blue (near-black exists). Pinch dead blossoms to extend bloom. Full sun.

Petunias (Petunia x hybrida)

Clumps of upright/trailing stems, green oval leaves, funnel-shaped flowers in every rainbow color, some striped. Full sun with light shade.

Marigolds (Tagetes hybrids)

2–4 inch flowers on bushy mounds of lacy green leaves. Remove dying blooms to prolong blossoming. Full sun with afternoon light shade.

Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus)

Hardy annual with large showy blooms and edible seeds. Heart-shaped leaves, flat daisy-like flowers. Dwarf to giant cultivars. Full sun.

Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus)

Lance-shaped green leaves, dense clusters of five-petal blooms in red, pink, white. Full sun or partial shade.