Low Maintenance, High Impact Annuals No Garden Should Be Without

Let’s ease the winter blues by dreaming of sunnier, warmer times and spring planting to elevate your mood. There are so many interesting plants you haven’t tried yet and new things you could grow.

If the budget is tight and free time is even harder to come by, you don’t need to forfeit your dreams of having a beautiful garden – you simply need to be smart about what you plant. 

With so many fun plants to choose from, you might be feeling unsure about where to begin. Let’s make it easier by looking together at three types of annuals that offer loads of color without demanding your constant attention or breaking the bank. They’re a solid place to start your planning this winter, and if you’d like to go further, there’s plenty more to explore as your garden grows.

Here are three types of low maintenance, high impact annuals that no garden should be without.

#1 – LARGE-SCALE FLOWERING ANNUALS FOR LANDSCAPES

To make an impressive splash of colorful flowers across the front of your home or surrounding your patio, choose large-scale flowering annuals. They’ll bloom non-stop from spring until frost and the longer your growing season, the bigger and more floriferous they’ll be. Your neighbors will spot these from down the block!

Three of our favorite large scale flowering annuals for landscapes include:

The vivid orchid purple flowers of Supertunia Vista^® Jazzberry^® petunias make a big splash in the landscape.

Supertunia Vista^® petunias

There’s nothing quite like the magic of Supertunia Vista petunias in the landscape. Spreading at least two to three feet across (even wider in optimal conditions), they become enveloped in vivid blooms, with seven shades of pink, purple and white to choose from in the series. 

These extra-vigorous petunias are known to grow and scaffold quickly up to two feet tall, so take care not to plant them near smaller, slower growing plants that could easily get swallowed up. You’ll see the most blooms if you grow them in full sun, though they’ll also grow well in part sun. No deadheading is needed to keep Supertunias in bloom continuously from planting time through the first frost.

Senorita Rosalita^® spider flower dwarf most other annuals by comparison.

Señorita Rosalita^® spider flower (Cleome)

If planting your flowers in spring and enjoying them all season without a single trim sound like your style, you’ll love this low maintenance annual. It lacks all the things that often plague Cleome – thorns, sticky sap, stinky odor, disease issues and a plethora of seedlings. Pollinating bees and butterflies enjoy its non-stop pink blooms all season, but especially in early fall as other food sources become less abundant. If you battle deer browsing on a regular basis, you’re likely to find they pass Senorita Rosalita cleome right on by. 

You could grow this cleome as a thriller in a large container, but where it really shines is planted en masse in full sun landscapes. Each 4” potted plant you purchase in spring will grow two to four feet tall and up to two feet wide, so you won’t need many to make a big impact.

Vermillionaire^® cuphea grows the size of a small shrub in a single season.
 

Vermillionaire^® firecracker plant (Cuphea)

Almost guaranteed to draw in the hummingbirds, this unique and floriferous annual is an absolute magnet for them and butterflies too, but it is typically deer resistant. It is constantly loaded with hundreds of bright orange-red, cigar-shaped flowers on large, shrub-like plants from spring through the first frost. The sturdy stems are useful in fresh bouquets.

Plant Vermillionaire firecracker plant in full sun and average soil. Keeping it moist and mixing continuous release plant food into the soil will help the plants grow fuller, but this dependable annual also tolerates some drought and high heat. Expect it to grow 18 to 28” tall and survive winters in zones 8 and warmer.

#2 – LUSH TROPICAL FOLIAGE PLANTS

Fun flowering plants are garden essentials, but don’t overlook lush tropical foliage plants that contribute bold texture to the garden with little maintenance needed. Their consistent appearance can be counted on to carry visual interest all season, bridging the gap between intermittently blooming perennials and shrubs. Foliage plants are often more flexible with their sun requirements too, which makes them useful for more garden spaces.

Three of our best lush tropical foliage plants include:

Heart to Heart ‘Chinook’ and ‘White Wonder’ caladiums combine to form a stunning container recipe for sun or shade called Instinct.

Heart to Heart^® caladiums

On hot, humid summer days when many plants look like they’d rather be in the air conditioning with you, Heart to Heart caladiums are living their best life outdoors. Planted en masse in landscapes or in containers, they thrive in average soil and moist soil and require feeding only about once per month.

Dozens of colors are available in the Heart to Heart series, including shade-loving cultivars and sun lovers with heart-shaped or narrow, arrow-shaped leaves, so you can be selective when you buy to find the perfect fit for your garden.

ColorBlaze^® Wicked Witch^™ coleus is one of the largest in the collection, topping out at 40 inches tall by season’s end.

ColorBlaze^® coleus

Like Heart to Heart caladiums, ColorBlaze coleus also contributes seasonlong color and texture to containers and landscapes in both sun and shade, but with even greater diversity in size and shape. From low, wide-spreading ColorBlaze Drop varieties to 40-inch tall ColorBlaze Golden Dreams and every size in between, they make amazing thrillers, fillers and spillers for container recipes.

If there’s a spot in your landscape that’s a sea of plain green, pop a few ColorBlaze coleus in the gaps to boost visual interest. Patterned and textured cultivars like ColorBlaze^® El Brighto and ColorBlaze^® Wicked Witch^™ coleus create opportunities for color echoes when paired with flowers of similar tones.

Sweet potato vines like Sweet Caroline Medusa^™ Black are vigorous, yet low maintenance foliage plants for containers and landscapes.

Sweet Caroline sweet potato vines

You might be familiar with using sweet potato vines as spillers in your containers, but did you know that not all of them are long, vining plants? Some like Sweet Caroline Bewitched or Sweet Caroline Medusa^™  varieties are full, mounded plants that can easily fill a container on their own or be used as a unique edging plant for borders. No matter which you choose, you’ll find them to be vigorous, low maintenance plants that can handle all-day sun to part shade conditions, as well as hot, humid weather, with ease.  

#3 – FUSS-FREE FLOWERS

If you find yourself always on the go with little time to tend your garden, but you still want some pretty flowers on your porch or patio, try these fuss-free annuals. They thrive with very little maintenance, requiring feeding only once every few weeks and no deadheading to stay in bloom all season.

Three fuss-free annuals everyone should grow are: 

Pictured here at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical garden, Campfire^® Flame bidens requires little help to grow and
bloom beautifully all season.

Photo courtesy of Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

Campfire^® bidens

To create a brilliant mass of color along the edge of a sunny border or in a container without needing to fuss with weekly feedings, try the Campfire series of bidens. They’re blanketed in orange, red or white blossoms that are visited by pollinators all season long. Strong heat resistance, a tolerance of drier soils and self-cleaning flowers make them a must-have for busy homeowners who need fuss-free flowers. Expect them to grow 8-14” tall in containers and landscapes in full sun.

Grow Summer Wave^® Trailing Large Violet wishbone flower as a small-scale flowering groundcover to attract hummingbirds to your garden.

Summer Wave^® wishbone flowers (Torenia)

These vigorous wishbone flowers with stems that trail or spread up to three feet make wonderful trailers for hanging baskets and window boxes, but also are beautiful small-scale annual groundcovers in the landscape. Hummingbirds will seek out the tubular, blue or purple flowers that shed cleanly once they are spent, so they won’t require any deadheading. You’ll find Summer Wave^® blooms well in both sun and shade, and doesn’t skip a beat when the summer’s heat settles in. 

The full sun container recipe Sand Dune combines two low maintenance, high impact annuals: Luscious^® lantana and ColorBlaze^® coleus.

Luscious^® lantana

If your summers are hot and rainfall isn’t always reliable, try this very low maintenance annual. It thrives in tough summer conditions even in the warmest climates and won’t need to be fed every week to keep growing. What sets Luscious lantana apart is something you might not notice when you’re shopping in the spring. Many types of lantana quit blooming by midsummer so they can produce seeds, but Luscious lantana varieties bloom continuously from spring to frost without going to seed. Grow them in the sunniest spots in your landscape for best results.

Grow further:

• Learn about more easy plants for your garden.
• See 10 easy foundation plants for the front of your house.
• Idea board: Best Bang-for-Your-Buck Plants

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Contributor Bio: Susan Martin is an avid zone 6 gardener and content creator who enjoys spreading her passion for plants to others across North America.

All images courtesy of Proven Winners unless otherwise noted.

Patent Information: Señorita Rosalita^® Cleome USPP19733 Can3290; Supertunia Vista^® Jazzberry^® Petunia USPP34152 Can6967; Heart to Heart^® 'Chinook' Caladium hortulanum USPP27094; Heart to Heart^® 'White Wonder' Caladium hortulanum USPP21044; Sweet Caroline Medusa^™ Black Ipomoea batatas USPP36978 CanPBRAF; Campfire^® Flame Bidens USPP32647 Can6539