So many of us have that spot – that south- or west-facing garden bed or planter that stays fully exposed to the blazing summer sun from the time it rises in the east until it mercifully sets in the west. If you’ve tried a few flowering annuals there only to watch them struggle, we have some suggestions for bloomers that not only tolerate all that sun but seem to thrive in it. And to help you find the perfect combination for your container arrangement or garden plan, we’ve divided these heat-loving beauties into three layers of design – what we call our centers, supporters, and trailers.
Centers for the Sun
Whether it’s for the center of a full-sun container or the backdrop of a garden bed, you’ll want height in your design to grab attention and fill that vertical space with beautiful blooms.
Canna is an excellent choice for attention-grabbing height. Its broad foliage in green or deep reddish-burgundy gives this plant a real tropical flair along with its bold, jewel-toned blooms on upright, cane-like stems.
Annual grasses are another center option for full, hot sun. Although their blooms are more like plumes than traditional flowers, their slender, waving foliage adds both height and motion to an arrangement – and stands up to the toughest of sunny and dry conditions.
If you’re looking for more traditional blooming annuals with height for a center in the hot sun, you have a lot of options too. Angelonia is a favorite. It gets 12”-20” tall, and its blooms appear on spikes standing above the foliage. Look for angelonia in shades of pink and purple, with a white and a bicolor choice too.
‘Strawberry Fields’ gomphrena is an interesting center option too. Its spherical orange blooms stand high on slender stems above the foliage and give an arrangement a free-spirited personality. For a similar look, try annual butterfly milkweed – and support your local monarchs at the same time. Gaura, sunflowers, salvia, and some of the taller varieties of snapdragons make beautiful, blooming centers for sunny annual containers too.
Sun-Drenched Supporters
The supporting blooms in a three-layer container or garden bed design fill the middle-height space with tons of color and texture.
Lantana loves the heat and keeps producing loads of those round, clustered blooms all season long. You’ll find lantana in a wide selection of colors including oranges, yellows, pinks, and purples – and many varieties with multiple colors going on at the same time.
For mounds of bright color you can count on to tackle lots of sun, look to the classics – marigolds, zinnias, ageratum, and blooming vinca. ‘Profusion’ zinnias are particularly adept at expanding into bloom-covered mounds several times their original size in a garden bed. Whether you love hot shades of red, orange, and yellow or prefer the “cooler” blues, purples, and whites, somebody in this group will have what you need for your design.
Heat-Tolerant Trailers
To complete your sun-loving bed or container arrangement, you’ll need a few trailers to balance the center’s height and drape beautifully over the side of the pot or along the ground underneath the other blooms.
Scaevola is one of our favorite trailers for sun. This tough annual holds its fan-shaped blooms on the ends of spreading branches and doesn’t mind a full day of hot sun one bit. The most popular varieties are in shades of purple, but you may see white or even yellow sometimes too.
For places where the sun is plentiful, but the water is not, a succulent-type annual trailer might be a good choice. Portulaca – sometimes called moss rose – produces lots of plump foliage and tropical-colored blooms on its spreading stems. Dorotheanthus is another intriguing trailing annual that thrives in the sun. Its pointed, oval, succulent leaves are a variegated combination of cream and sage-green and provide lots of interesting texture. On top of that, the bloom is daisy-like with dozens of bright, tiny petals that give it a pom-pom appearance. Lampranthus has a similar daisy-like flower but with the more slender foliage of moss rose.
Bring on the Sun
Building a beautiful container or flowerbed in the full sun is as easy as finding the plants that love that kind of life – and choosing the center height, supporting blooms, and draping trailers to create a balanced design you’ll love too. With these favorite sun-worshiping annuals, you’ll be ready to get started with the perfect summer container. But if you have questions, just let us know. We’re glad to help you find the perfect flowering annual for any situation.
