They are versatile and easy for beginners to grow, quickly filling borders, flower beds, and containers.
Unlike manyperennial flowers, most of the fast, vigorous annual growth happens aboveground.
These plants don’t have extensive root systems to sustain them during a long, hot summer.
The Spruce / Paige McLaughlin
What Is an Annual Plant?
An annual is a plant that dies after one growing season.
Meanwhile, a perennial lives more than one year and returns the next growing season.
The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
A biennial, specifically, lives two growing seasons and dies after that.
Some annuals can return the following year if they have self-seeded or dropped seeds for the next growing season.
These full-sun annual plants thrive in hot, dry conditions.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
The fruity scent of angelonia is a bonus and is especially strong on warm summer evenings.
Amaranth
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Amaranth is beloved for its summer-blooming chenille-like flowers and colorful foliage.
The plants range from a few inches to several feet tall.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
argentealook like brilliant flames.
Another variety,C.
argenteavar.cristata, is known under the common name of cockscomb.
The Spruce / Marie Iannotti
C. spicatahas subtle flowers that are likened to wheat spikes.
Celosia flowers remain attractive for weeks; most varieties make excellent cut anddried flowers.
The plant’s intense, feathery plumes and bizarre brain coral-like colorful flowers bloom all summer.
Eric Van Lokven / Getty Images
Cosmos Flower
The Spruce / Marie Iannotti
Cosmos flowers are about the easiest flowers to grow.
They are available in several rich shades, soft pastels, and even white.
The flowers are only about an inch across, but they’re prolific.
ntdanai / Getty Images
The plants are sturdy, growing from 1 to 4 feet tall, and intermingle well with other flowers.
They are eager self-seeders, yet not to the point of nuisance.
The botanical nameNierembergiatends to be used more often than the plant’s common name, cupflower.
The Spruce / Autumn Wood
It is very popular as a container plant, but also makes an excellent edging plant in the ground.
It has a clumping growth habit and fills out quickly with blooms from early summer through fall.
It starts setting buds once it grows tall, so be patient.
The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
Give it something to climb or sprawl over as the plant grows, such asa trellis.
The blooms stay throughout summer up through the first frost.
Some four o’clock plants produce flowers in multiple colors, sometimes with marbling or other markings.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
This fast-growing plant often sprawls in the garden.
They are a high-performance option that prefers acidic soil.
They can tolerate full sun with some afternoon shade or a steady partial sun location.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
New Guinea impatiens flowers are a perfect addition to apollinator garden, attracting butterflies and other beneficial insects.
Gerbera
In warm climates, gerbera daisies are grown as tender perennials.
In areas with cold winters, they are treated as annuals.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
They are divided into four classes: single flower, semi-double flower, double flower, and spider flower.
Gerberas stay in bloom for several weeks, but high heat shortens their flowering period.
Gomphrena
These tropical plants adorn gardens with vibrant colors from June until frost.
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
The flowers consist of globe-shaped blooms of tiny flowers with contrasting colors in the center.
The papery, clover-like blooms retain their color when dried.
This is a well-behaved plant with a bushy habit ideal for filling bare spots in the landscape.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
In cool climates, it is usually treated as an annual.
Lantana is toxic to pets.
Marigold
The Spruce / Ana Cadena
Marigolds are tough little workhorses that bloom all summer until frost.
Jenny Dettrick / Getty Images
Another underrated feature of marigolds is their use ascompanion plants for herbs and vegetables.
Studies show they may repel certain nematodes.
The two most common species areM.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
divaricatum(butter daisy, with golden petals and darker yellow-orange centers) andM.
leucanthum(black-foot daisy, with white petals and yellow centers).
But it might need some support or staking, especially in windy areas.
Ron Evans / Getty Images
But do not rush them.
The seedlings get stunted when exposed to cold temperatures.
Their constant display of sunflower-like blooms begins in May and continues until the first frost.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Like peppers grown in vegetable gardens, the ornamental types undergo several color changes as they ripen.
Some have multiple colors on the plant at one time.
There arecountless varieties of petuniasto choose from.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Trailing petunias have a low-to-the-ground, spreading growth habit; they look great as ground cover or container spillers.
Gazania
Gazania is hardy in USDA zones 9 to 11 and is mainly grown as an annual.
With its vibrant color spectrum, this low-maintenance flower is excellent for brightening hard-to-landscape spaces.
Pinrath Phanpradith / Getty Images
Many flowers feature solids and horizontal or vertical variegation on petals, sometimes with white and bright pink splashes.
The plant is a prolific bloomer that attracts butterflies.
It’s a tall flower that branches out and supports itself without staking.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
As the flowers fade, slender seed pods form.
They tolerate partial shade.
The original species has been widely cultivated and hybridized, and stock is now available in various colors.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Stock flowers bloom in the spring and summer until temperatures hit 65F.
In cooler weather, they repeatedly bloom in the fall.
Sunflower
Sunflowers typically begin blooming in midsummer and persist into early fall.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
The stems hold a single flower or branch out with multiple blooms.
Some varieties grow to towering heights; select a variety that your space can accommodate.
Plant sunflowers in groups to support each other against wind and rain if possible.
Verbena Plant
Several species of verbena make excellent garden plants.
Most start blooming early in the season and continue until frost.
Options include ground cover verbenas, the tall, airyV.
bonariensis, and the uprightV.
rigida, which grows to about 3 feet tall.
Zinnia
Zinnias love heat and bloom easily from early spring to the first frost.
Even if you cut them for a vase, they will bloom again in a few days.
There is a zinnia color for everyonefrom peppermint stripes to eye-popping golds and delicate neutrals.
Older varieties are prone topowdery mildewin humid weather.
This won’t stop them from flowering, but it makes the foliage unattractive.
Other sun-loving, hot summer options include marigolds, cosmos, and lantanas.
Marigolds are among the easiest full-sun annuals to grow and are always recommended forbeginning gardeners.
Water to maintain consistently damp soil, and consider lightly mulching the soil to keep in the moisture.
Marigolds and Root-Knot Nematode.
Louisiana State University Extension.
