Enhancing Your Late Summer Garden: Top Annuals for Vibrant Color
While perennial plants offer longevity in our gardens, annuals provide a burst of vivid color, interesting shapes, and delightful fragrances for a single season. Ideal for beds, borders, containers, hanging baskets, and window boxes, annuals can revitalize any garden space.
As summer progresses, many annuals start to fade and wilt due to the heat and dry conditions. To ensure your garden maintains its vibrancy and charm until autumn, selecting the right annuals is crucial. Here is a curated list of 15 must-have annuals that will add a pop of color to your late summer garden:
The Best Annuals for Late Summer Color
- African Marigold (Tagetes erecta)
- Ageratum (Ageratum houstonianum)
- Clary Sage (Salvia viridis/Salvia horminum)
- Cleome (Cleome hassleriana)
- Coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides/formerly Coleus blumei)
- Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus)
- Impatiens (Impatiens walleriana)
- Jasmine Tobacco (Nicotiana alata)
- Mealycup Sage (Salvia farinacea)
- Million Bells (Calibrachoa)
- Moss Rose (Portulaca grandiflora)
- Plains Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria)
- Petunia (Petunia x hybrida)
- Rocktrumpet (Mandevilla)
- Woolflowers (Celosia)
Let’s delve into each of these beautiful annuals to see how they can enhance your late summer garden!
1. African Marigold (Tagetes erecta)
The African Marigold, also known as American or Aztec marigolds, boasts large, showy flowerheads in various hues, growing on tall, sturdy stalks. With a fragrant aroma, these marigolds thrive in well-draining soil with average fertility and even moisture. Perfect for full sun locations, they attract butterflies and are ideal for beds, borders, and containers.
2. Ageratum (Ageratum houstonianum)
Ageratum, or flossflower, offers rounded clusters of fluffy, aster-like flowers in shades of blue, mauve, pink, and white. With a mounding habit, these flowers bloom from May until frost, thriving in full sun locations with well-draining, humus-rich soil. Attracting butterflies, they make excellent bedding plants and are suitable for borders and containers.
3. Clary Sage (Salvia viridis/Salvia horminum)
Clary Sage, with its pink, royal blue, or white bracts, adds reliable late-season color to gardens. Thriving in well-draining, humus-rich soil and full sun, this plant attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, making it perfect for beds, borders, and cutting gardens.
4. Cleome (Cleome hassleriana)
The Cleome, or spider flower, features loose, airy flower balls in shades of pink, purple, and white, with long, protruding stamens. Drought tolerant once established, these flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds, adding flair to butterfly gardens and containers.
5. Coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides/formerly Coleus blumei)
Coleus showcases splendid, multi-colored foliage in various patterns and tones, thriving in partial shade with well-draining soil. Ideal for shady areas, they are perfect for beds, borders, and containers.
6. Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus)
Cosmos produces showy flowers in various hues with broad ray florets and yellow center discs. Best grown in well-draining soil with average fertility and full sun, Cosmos attracts bees, birds, and butterflies, adding charm to gardens and borders.
Stay tuned for more insights on the remaining fantastic annuals for your late summer garden!
