25 Best Annual Flowers to Grow for a Beautiful Garden
These easy-care annuals are perfect for your garden!
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It's spring! Whether you're designing a flower garden from scratch, trying to attract more pollinators to the area, or just want to add some pretty flowering plants around the front yard this year, you'll want to make sure you include at least a few annuals in the bunch.
If you're a newbie to gardening, there are some key differences between annuals and perennials worth learning about, but the main one is that perennials come back every year, while annuals don't.
So why not just plant nothing but perennials and be done with it? Annuals offer a few key advantages! First off, there's a lot more variety available. Many flowers that can't be grown perennially in your area can still probably be grown as annuals. If your area gets too cold for the plant to overwinter, you can just wait until the last frost! If the plant doesn't do well in your hot summers, you might be able to get an early spring bloom from it.
Secondly, flowers that are typically (or always) annuals tend to bloom quickly and fill areas rapidly, meaning that you get a lot more color in your yard with less waiting around. Perennials often grow more slowly—and some can take several seasons to fully establish. Annuals also tend to be less expensive, meaning you can plant a lot more for your budget!
Finally, possibly our favorite advantage: Though you have to replant those parts of your garden bed when the flowers have died off, you're able to experiment with lots of different flowers. Don't love the Gerber daisies you grew one year? Try cosmos! Or you can plant the same plant, but a different color! For those of us who are always rethinking our living room space, annuals give us an easy way to redecorate the garden without too much expense.
More Great Gardening Ideas from Country Living
Sweet Pea
This charming annual is a vining flower that blooms in profusion in cooler weather. Some varieties are sweetly scented, too, making them a lovely addition to the garden.
Sun Exposure: Full to part sun
Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer
Read more: Best Flowering Vines to Add to Your Yard
Sweet Alyssum
This honey-scented low-growing annual should be in every garden! It comes in white, pink and pale purple and looks amazing tumbling over walls or spilling out of window boxes.
Sun Exposure: Full to part sun
Bloom Time: Spring to hard frost
Read more: 30 Ground Cover Flowers for Your Yard
Ammi
Reminiscent of the roadside wildflower Queen Anne's lace, these delicate flowers make a spectacular addition to cut bouquets. They grow easily from seed and will self-seed for future years.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Bloom Time: Summer
Read more: Gorgeous Flowering Plants That Attract Bees
Gerber Daisy
Gerber daisies are some of the prettiest, most cheerful cut flowers! But they make attractive plants for beds, too. Give them morning sun and afternoon shade in hot climates. They're perennial in warmer regions, but they're grown as annual in colder climates.
Sun Exposure: Part to full sun
Bloom Time: Spring to fall
Read more: How to Grow Gerber Daisies in Your Garden
Lantana
Lantana is considered a perennial in hot climates. But in much of the country, it's grown as a sturdy heat-loving annual. Butterflies and other pollinators love this plant!
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Bloom Time: Spring to fall
Nasturtium
These pretty flowers are one of the easiest annuals to grow from seed. They come in tons of bright, cheery colors, including pink, yellow, salmon and red. Fun side note: They're edible!
Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
Bloom Time: Summer to fall
Read more: How to Grow Nasturtiums
Love in a Mist
Another gorgeous edible flower, these annuals, also called nigella, look beautiful by a garden gate or along paths. They're annuals, but they self-sow by dropping seeds in late summer. They bloom best in cooler weather.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Bloom Time: Spring or fall
Read more: 15 Pretty Edible Flowers for Decorating Your Dinner Plate
Cornflower
These lovely annuals appear to be made of crepe paper. They're available in many shades, but the most stunning is, of course, cornflower blue! Deadheading the spent flowers will keep them blooming.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Bloom Period: Early to mid-summer
Read more: Should You Deadhead Your Flowers? How to Do It and Why
Poppy
The paper-thin petals atop of tall stems make poppy flowers hard to mistake for anything else. You'll find them in every shade of the rainbow. They grow easily from seed. Though technically they're short-lived perennials, they're mostly grown as annuals.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Bloom Period: Late spring to early summer
Read more: The Symbolism of Poppies
Zinnia
Zinnias are easy to grow from seed! The flowers attract pollinators, such as butterflies and bees. They come in every color imaginable and sizes varying from a foot to three or four feet tall, making them a worthy addition to a cutting garden. They're also rarely bothered by deer.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Bloom Period: Summer to fall
Read more: How to Design a Cutting Garden
Petunia
You can't go wrong with these fuss-free flowers for containers, window boxes, hanging baskets, and garden beds. 'Supertunia Vista' is an especially striking variety that blooms and blooms until a hard frost.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Bloom Period: Spring to fall
Read more: 15 Easiest Flowers to Grow for Blooms All Year
Begonia
These super-tough flowers, which bloom in shades of white, pink, and red, require no maintenance and upkeep (no deadheading or pruning required!). When fall arrives, you can move them indoors or dig up their tubers to reuse for the following year.
Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade, depending on the variety
Bloom Period: Spring to fall
Read more: 26 Best Shade Annuals for Bare Spots in Your Garden
Angelonia
These heat- and drought-tolerant flowers are perfect for gardeners everywhere, especially in hot climates. They come in various colors ranging from white to hot pink and heights up to a foot tall. Deer tend to leave them alone.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Bloom Period: Spring to fall
Read more: 38 Plants to Protect Your Garden from Bambi and Friends
Celosia
These feathery beauties come in a variety of shapes (cockscomb, fans, and plumes) and a range of brilliant colors (pink, red, orange, and yellow). They're fast growers, too, and make long-lasting cut flowers.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Blooming Period: Spring to fall
Read more: How to Grow Cockscomb Flowers
Cosmos
These charming flowers produce all summer long as long as you keep harvesting them. Available in an array of lovely shades including pink, cream, white, and hot pink, they're a must-have in any annual flower garden. They have a long vase life, too.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Blooming Period: Summer to fall
Read more: How to Make a Pollinator Garden That Actually Works
Geranium
Dress up your walkway, porch, or front yard with these old-fashioned favorites. They come in vining varieties as well, which look good spilling out of a container.
Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
Bloom Period: Spring to fall
Impatiens
Impatiens are long-blooming favorites that brighten up any shady corner of the garden. They're available in colors ranging from white to hot pink to salmon.
Sun Exposure: Part to full shade
Bloom Period: Spring to fall
Read more: 25 Plants for the Shade
Marigold
Need an inexpensive annual to fill in beds fast? These sturdy flowers produce flowers all summer long and need zero care. They're also attractive to pollinators. Deer and rabbits tend to leave them alone, too.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Blooming Period: Spring
Snapdragon
Easily add height, dimension, and bold color to your garden with these tall, stately flowers. They also don't mind a little cold, so they're a great annual to plant early in the season.
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Blooming Period: Spring to mid-summer
Read more: How to Grow Snapdragon Flowers
Sunflowers
Sunflowers are some of the easiest annual flowers to grow from seed! They come in a variety of classic golds and yellows, but new types may be burgundy, chocolate brown or pink!
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Bloom Period: Late summer to mid-fall
Read more: How to Grow Sunflowers Like a Pro
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