Long Blooming Annuals

You wait with anticipation all winter long for springtime to arrive to enjoy the colorful flowers and green foliage of a flower garden. Taking a trip to the garden center is overwhelming if you do not know which plants to choose for continuous summer blooms. There is a wide variety of long blooming annuals that look stunning in hanging baskets and flowerbeds, and we’ll help you choose the perfect ones.

Annual flowers are a delight to grow in the garden. There is such a variety of flowering plants to choose from, and their versatility means they grow well in containers or a garden, in the shade, or in full sun. Not only that, but they bloom from early spring through fall, filling the yard with color. Many perks come from growing annuals.

Some varieties draw pollinators like hummingbirds to the yard, while others are perfect for cut flowers in the home. Many of these bloomers are so easy to grow that they do not require deadheading to flourish.

Growing Annuals that Bloom All Summer Long

There are many different types of plants and flowers, so choosing the best ones for your garden is confusing. Should you plant perennials or annuals for long blooming color, and where is the best place to plant them?

What about growing flowering vines and shrubs? We’ll help you learn more about annuals so you can choose the perfect flowers for your yard.

What is the Difference Between Annual and Perennial Flowers?

Perennial flowers, such as the coneflower and salvia, are easy to grow because you plant them once, they grow back every year, sometimes even bigger than the year before. However, perennials generally do not bloom all summer long.

Annuals produce blooms from spring through fall and grow in many types of conditions, but they die at the end of the season and need replanting each spring.

Other flowers, such as verbena, grow either as a perennial or annual, making them an excellent choice for either type of garden.

Which Types of Annuals Have Prolific Blooms?

Many annuals, such as coleus, do not have prolific blooms, but they fill garden beds with colorful foliage. Other annuals, like alyssum, produce beautiful flowers that die back during the heat of the summer.

To fill your space with flowers that bloom from spring through fall, consider planting petunias, celosia, ageratum, and marigolds.

Where is the Best Place to Plant Blooming Annuals?

Annuals grow just about anywhere, depending on the type you choose. They grow well in containers, hanging baskets, window boxes, and flowerbeds.

There is only one crucial factor to consider when deciding where to plant them, and that is sunlight. Check the plant care tag on your annuals to determine how much light they need to thrive.

Full-sun plants require a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight daily, partial shade plants enjoy filtered light or three hours of periodic sunshine, and full shade plants cannot tolerate direct light at all.

Are Annual Flowers Hard to Maintain?

Annual flowering plants are easy to grow and need very little maintenance. The hardest part about growing these plants is planting them in the spring and watching them die back in late fall.

All they need is the right amount of sunshine and regular watering to thrive. Deadhead the flowers of annuals to encourage them to produce more blooms.

Snapdragon (Antirrhinum)

Snapdragons produce colorful blooms that grow from the bottom up on long stems, which gives them a long blooming time. They bloom in colors of red, orange, white, pink, and yellow flowers from spring through fall and are an essential nectar plant for bumblebees.

These low maintenance annuals grow well in containers and make an excellent cut flower for the home. They grow best in part shade to full sun and grow 6 inches to 4 feet tall, depending on the type.

Dahlia (Dahlia pinnata) – Long Blooming Annuals with Stunning Blooms

Dahlias are available in a vast range of shapes, sizes, and colors, and they produce small-flowered or plate-sized flowers in colors ranging from purple, red, and orange to yellow, pink, and white, depending on the type.

These flowers are drought tolerant and low maintenance, and fill a sunny garden with flowers, as they are annuals that bloom into fall. Dahlias are suitable for containers and cut flowers, and the annual variety reaches a height of 6 to 8 inches.

Cleome (Cleome hassleriana)

Cleome or spider flowers are easy-care favorites among gardeners and are some of the most attractive long blooming flowers around. The fern-like, delicate foliage grows a cluster of softball-size flowers with petals that radiate from the center in shades of white, pink, rose, and lavender.

Spider flowers grow in full to partial shade and have a mature height of 2 to 5 feet tall with a 1 to 2-foot spread. They bloom throughout the summer with long stamens that give the flower a spiky appearance

Moss Rose (Portulaca grandiflora) – Dainty Flowers that Bloom All Summer Long

This popular ground cover or bedding plant has succulent leaves and produces dainty and colorful blooms of semi-double or fully double flowers.

The blossoms resemble miniature roses and bloom in colors ranging from red and orange to yellow and pink throughout the growing season.

Moss roses thrive in full sun and have a low growth height of 6 to 12 inches with an 18-inch spread. They are low maintenance, drought tolerant, and deer resistant and are a good choice for containers.

Pansy (Viola tricolor var. hortensis)

Pansies are a cool-weather favorite and fill low spaces of the garden with delicate-looking flowers that bloom in multicolored patterns. The cheerful flowers pop their heads in the early spring in colors of purple, red, orange, blue, white, and pink.

Fragrant pansies thrive in full or part sun and grow 6 to 12 inches tall with a 4 to 12-inch spread. They grow well as ground cover or in containers.

Zinnia (Zinnia Elegans) – Vibrant Flowers with a Long Bloom Time

Zinnias are a tough annual that comes in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, with both low growing and tall-growing types. They bloom in shades of purple, green, red, orange, white, pink, and yellow from summer through fall and attract birds to the garden.

These low maintenance flowers are deer resistant and grow well in containers or a garden setting. Zinnias grow 1 to 8 feet tall and spread 12 to 18 inches, depending on the type, and enjoy sunny areas of the yard.

These annuals for butterflies are appreciated because they often bloom later in the season when there are fewer flowers. The butterflies and other pollinators rely on them for much-needed nectar.

Vinca (Catharanthus roseus)

This annual has glossy green foliage with a colorful display of flowers in shades of pink, purple, white, and red that bloom from summer through fall even on the hottest summer days.

These bedding flowers thrive in full sun and grow 6 inches to 3 feet tall with a spread of 8 to 36 inches wide, depending on the type. They are low-maintenance, drought tolerant, and pest free, making them an easy-growing plant for the garden.

Impatiens (Impatiens walleriana) – Shade-Loving Flowers with Continuous Blooms

These annual flowers have brightly colored blooms that range from purple, red, and blue to white, pink, yellow, and orange. They fill the garden or planter with flowers from early spring to late fall and require no deadheading to thrive.

Impatiens loves part sun to full shade and grows 1 to 3 feet tall and wide, depending on the variety. They are low maintenance and grow as ground cover in the garden or as a filler in containers.

Begonia (Begonia x semperflorens-cultorum)

There are so many different begonia types that you’re sure to find the perfect one for your garden. They have waxy-like flowers in shades of pink, yellow, white, and orange with shiny bright green or purple foliage.

Begonias grow 6 inches to 3 feet tall and spread 6 to 12 inches. They love both shade and sun and bloom from late spring through fall. These low maintenance flowers grow well in containers or a garden setting.

Verbena (Verbena officinalis) – Vibrant Trailing Flower

Verbena grows as both a perennial and annual, depending on the location. It comes in a wide range of varieties, including fragrant annuals, and produces a cascading trail of flowers in shades of purple, red, white, pink, and blue from summer through fall.

The growing habit of this plant makes it an ideal choice for window boxes and hanging baskets. Verbena grows 6 inches to 3 feet in length and spreads 12 to 20 inches, depending on the species. It is deer resistant and thrives in full sun.

Lantana (Lantana camara)

Lantana flowers are easy to grow clay soil annuals that produce pollinator-friendly flowers in bright shades of orange, red, purple, white, pink, and yellow blooms from summer through fall.

They require very little moisture and tolerate full sun on the hottest days of summer. As a bonus, they are flowers that repel slugs and snails.

Lantanas are an evergreen annual that is both hardworking and low maintenance. They are deer resistant and drought tolerant, and grow 1 to 3 feet tall. These flowers are annuals that attract hummingbirds all season.

Marigold (Tagetes) – Deer Resistant Long-Blooming Flowers

There are many different types of marigolds, and they produce compact and cheerful blooms of red, orange, and yellow flowers from spring through fall. Marigolds are easy to grow annual flowers from seeds that deliver a lot for little expense and effort.

The non-stop blooms are deer resistant and drought tolerant, making them an easy plant to grow in the garden.

Marigolds do not grow very tall, with a mature height of 4 to 18 inches, depending on the variety. These fragrant, low maintenance flowers thrive in full sun and grow well in any type of container or garden.

Geranium (Pelargonium)

Annual geraniums are a classic flower plant that produces colorful bunches of flowers on tall stems. The blooms range in color from pink, white, and purple to red and orange from early spring to late fall.

These low maintenance flowers are deer resistant and drought tolerant. They thrive in full sun and grow 6 inches to 3 feet tall with a spread of up to 2 feet wide.

Cockscomb (Celosia cristata) – Unique Flowers with a Long Bloom-Time

Cockscomb is a unique looking flower with uncommon beauty. The blooms resemble a rooster’s comb or feathery plumes in bright shades of red, purple, orange, yellow, pink, and white flowers throughout the growing season.

This low maintenance annual thrives in sunny areas and grows well as a cut flower for the home. It tolerates poor soil and grows 6 inches to 3 feet tall with a 6 to 18-inch spread.

Growing a garden filled with colorful and vibrant flowers that bloom all season long is easy once you know which plants to choose. These plants are perfect for filling outdoor spaces with continuous blooms, they are easy to grow, and draw hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators to the yard.

We hope that you spend your summer enjoying long blooming annuals in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, and we’d love it if you’d share our flowering annual plant guide with your family on Pinterest and Facebook.