Why You Should Plant Annual Flowers

Subhead

What's the point of annual flowers? An annual debate!

Print Friendly and PDF
Almanac Garden Planner

The Almanac Garden Planner - Use It Free for 7 Days!

Plan your 2025 garden with our award-winning Garden Planner.

Try Now

Annual flowers are like Rodney Dangerfield: They “don’t get no respect.” However, if you have no annuals in your garden at all, you are missing out on one of life’s joys and a whole lot of color. Let’s discover some of the best and easiest annual flowers—including beautiful pictures!

Annuals provide gardens with all-season color, but they have to be replanted every year, so they often get the cold shoulder. Perennials are the garden divas; they give one outstanding performance a year and retire to the background to bloom sometime next year. Annuals are the hardworking chorus line, kicking up their heels all summer long.

Salvia 'Lighthouse' in bloom
Salvia ‘Lighthouse’ will add a pop of color to a drab spot in the garden.

At our farmers’ market, I have seen shoppers fall in love with an interesting annual in bloom, all ready to take it home, until they hear that it is “only” an annual, and then they drop it like it was on fire. However, there are many reasons to have annual flowers.  

bumblebee on a zinnia
Life without zinnias? Not worth living! Bumblebees and butterflies will also enjoy your zinnias.

The Benefits of Annual Flowers

So what’s the point of annual flowers? They have many advantages and complement perennials well. Here’s how I use annuals:

  1. Filling in bare spots
  2. Experimenting with new color combinations
  3. Adding color to containers
  4. Providing cut flowers for bouquets all season long.
  5. Changing the look of the garden every year by growing different annuals

Go from bold and bright to soft pastel or from cottage garden to tropical paradise by switching out your annual plants.

Favorite Annual Flowers

Tall Architectural Annuals

  • Tall plants look great as centerpieces, against a wall, or to add a touch of drama to the landscape. Examples are Nicotiana sylvestris, sunflowers, and elephant head amaranth.
Nicotiana sylvestris
The charming, old-fashioned Nicotiana sylvestris (White shooting star) grows 5- to 6 feet tall. 
Sunflowers
Sunflowers may be annuals, but they may self-germinate from dropped seeds!
Elephant head amaranth
Elephant head amaranth. Does it look like elephant heads trumpeting skyward? The plumes hold their color when dry, too!

Edible Flowers

Expand your palate with some edible flowers like nasturtiums, bachelor buttons, and calendula. Read more posts about Flowers You Can Eat!

orange nasturtiums
Edible nasturtium. See the Almanac’s Nasturtium Growing Guide for planting information.
Bachelor buttons (cornflower)
Bachelor buttons (cornflower) has such a gorgeous color and a cottage garden favorite.

Annuals That Double-Duty as Beautiful Dried Flowers

  • Grow some everlastings like celosia, globe amaranth, and statice to dry for winter arrangements (pictured below in order).
Celosia
Celosia has a velvety, ruffled form that is often compared to a cockscomb and grows in a rainbow of colors!
Globe amaranth
Globe amaranth is an easy annual for mixing in garden beds and borders or adding to container gardens.
Statice aka Limonium
Statice aka Limonium is a great accent plant for landscape borders and flower gardens. It loves full sun and sandier soil.

Annuals for Hot, Dry Soil

Most annuals do best in full sun with well-draining soil, but there are annuals for every situation.

  • Hot, dry soil a problem? Try growing portulaca, tithonia (Mexican sunflower), or gomphrena. They are pictured in order below.

portulaca
tithonia (Mexican sunflower)
gomphrena

Annuals for Shade

  • Shady sites can be brightened up with impatiens, begonias, lobelia, and browallia (shown in order below).

impatiens
begonias
lobelia
browallia

coleus
iresine
persian shield

Annuals for Moist Soils

  • Moist soil is no problem for cleome (spider flower), torenia (wishbone flower), or monkey flower.

cleome (spider flower)
torenia (wishbone flower)
monkey flower

One of my favorite gardens is Celia Thaxter’s on Appledore Island off the coast of New Hampshire. Based on the plan of her cutting garden found in her 1894 book An Island Garden, it is almost totally annuals.

completely annual garden

Or, plant a mixed border—a mixture of plants including perennials, shrubs, bulbs, vines, and annuals. Don’t be afraid to mix it up!

Browse more annual (and perennial) flowers. See the Almanac’s library of Flower Growing Guides.

About The Author

Robin Sweetser

Robin has been a contributor to The Old Farmer’s Almanac and the All-Seasons Garden Guide for many years. Read More from Robin Sweetser

Growing Flowers in Containers

 

Gardening Club