Rainbow of Summer Annuals

Summer annuals come in a rainbow of colors.

By Jenny Peterson

Planting summer annuals is a great way to add an inexpensive pop of color to your garden. While most are easy to care for, they typically need consistent watering and regular fertilizing to keep them blooming into the fall months. If you're looking for a particular color to blend into your existing garden, these suggestions will help you out.

Purple and Blue

Purple and blue flowers are great additions to any garden, and they blend well with most other flower colors. If you have sunny areas, consider petunia, ageratum, phlox, scaevola, and verbena. You'll have fewer options for getting that purple or blue hue in the shade, but torenia and lobelia are good choices.

Yellow

Yellow flowers are so sunny and cheerful, you'll want to pop a number of them in your garden. Sunny yellow flowers include sunflower, coreopsis, rudbeckia, lantana, marigold, Dahlberg daisy, and melampodium. Yellow flowers for shade are a little more difficult to come by, but there are some impatiens and begonias in yellowish hues. Pair yellow with purple for a classic planting, or with red for a hot tropical look.

Red

Red flowers make a strong statement in the garden. For a classic look, pair red flowers with white ones, and for a more shocking look, try planting them with purple. Red annuals for sunny areas include geranium, calibrachoa, gerbera daisy, petunia, penta, and verbena. If you have shadier areas, look for impatiens and begonia.

Pink

Pink flowers are probably the most plentiful in terms of the different varieties you can find. Pink flowers for sunny sites include geranium, gerbera daisy, petunia, penta, verbena, candytuft, and moss rose. If you have shady areas, try impatiens, begonia, and torenia. Pink flowers blend well with most other flower colors except orange, but if you're going for a wild cottage look with all colors, it can work.

White

White annuals naturally look great with any color and create a stunning cooling effect all on their own. White flowers for sun include geranium, dahlia, and angelonia; for shade, choose impatiens, begonia, and torenia.