Your Complete Guide to Growing Annuals That Bloom All Summer
If you’re growing annual flowers for a cut flower garden—whether professionally as a flower farmer, farmer-florist, or as a bloom-loving hobby gardener—finding new ideas and reliable go-tos for color all summer long is a win!
And if you’re a floral designer who loves to grow flowers as well, annuals can provide additional product and color for your clients without the long-term commitment and large up-front investment of perennials.
Annuals come in all shapes and sizes!
In this article, you’ll cover the following:
What are annuals flowers
Can annuals bloom more than once
Some of our favorite resources for growing cut flower gardens
Lists of annuals that bloom all summer by color palette
Best annuals for pots in full sun
If you’re looking for quick reference lists of annuals that bloom all summer, skip ahead to the list section of this article! There you’ll find annual flowers by color and best annuals for containers and pots, too.
We’ve specifically concentrated on annuals flowers that do well for cut flower design work, although they add lovely interest to gardens as well.
New here? We love supporting you as you love the world through flowers with online flower growing classes, how-to articles, step-by-step floral design video tutorials, a podcast for flower lovers, and more!
What Are Annuals Flowers?
Annuals flowers are blooms that, customarily, you plant annually and must replant every year. At the end of their growing season, annuals die off from stem to root, whereas perennials go dormant during their off-season but come back year after year.
Although annuals do die at the end of the season, depending on what growing zone you live in and your gardening or flower farming methods, they may reseed themselves. However, your best bet is to plan and prepare for replanting them each year from seeds or seedlings.
In addition, depending on your growing zone, some plants that are traditionally considered perennials in some zones may need to be treated as annuals.
Looking for perennials instead? Check out our guide to perennial flowers that bloom all summer long.
Can Annual Flowers Bloom More Than Once?
Yes! It’s a common misconception that when planting an annual, you’ll only receive one bloom per plant per season. Annuals bloom all summer (or for their entire growing season, if spring or fall), and depending on the care you provide and the frequency of cutting, they produce blooms all season long.
However, there are some varieties that do only provide one bloom per plant: think annual flower types such as large traditional sunflowers where you receive one flowerhead per seed planted.
In this article, we’ll specifically focus on recommending annuals that bloom all summer long and provide you with color and multiple blooms for cutting throughout the entire growing season.
Resources for Growing Annual Flowers from Seed (And How to Sell Them!)
Growing annuals is not an easy task, but it’s rewarding.
Before we jump into full lists of annuals to grow this next season, here are some of our favorite go-to resources for growing fresh flowers, starting your own cutting garden, or selling cut flowers.
If you’re good on growing and selling tips and you just need lists of annuals that will bloom all summer, feel free to skip ahead to our comprehensive lists below.
In fact, we encourage you to skip this section if you’re already familiar with how to grow annuals and you’re simply looking for lists of annuals that produce a high-bloom yeild.
Helpful Videos on How to Grow Flowers
Growing and Training Sweet Pea Flowers: In this video lesson, you’ll see a sweet pea-growing trick that’s essential! (And sweet pea flowers are one of the annuals we’ll recommend in lists below!).
Amending Soil and Growing Snapdragons: Here, you’ll get a complete lesson on amending soil for flowers and growing snapdragons (which are also recommended for growing below).
How to Divide Dahlias: Learn how to divide dahlia roots at the end of their growing season to save for your next planting. It’s easier than you think. (And dahlia’s make show-stopping, easy-to-grow annuals that bloom all summer!).
How-To Articles Covering Flower Farming Topics
A New Grower's Guide to Selling Flowers at a Farmers' Market: In this complete guide, you’ll get helpful techniques on how to sell your homegrown flowers at a farmers’ market.
Growing Organic Flowers: Here, find quick tips from an experienced flower farmer to help control the spread of insects on organic flowers—organically!
Creative Ways to Grow a Productive Cutting Garden in a City: Learn how one floral designer and grower got creative with growing flowers in limited spaces. You’ll also get soil prepping tips and see ideas of what to grow
For more floral design and growing tips, tricks, and videos, sign up for our industry-leading newsletter for flower-loving people. Over 35K flower pros and fans have joined!
Flower Growing Podcast Episodes That You Can’t Miss!
How to Become a Flower Farmer with Niki Irving of Flourish Flower Farm: Experienced flower farmer Niki Irving talks with us on the podcast about how to become a flower farmer and the hardships and joys involved with flower farming.
Sustainable Flower Farming with Blue Ridge Blooms: Mandy Hornick of Blue Ridge Blooms discusses how sustainable flower farming can impact your flowers and your community.
Working with Native Plants with Lee Carlton: Lee has been a horticulturist for 23 years and shares why it’s important to grow native plants and gives us excellent dahlia growing tips.
Annuals That Bloom All Summer—Complete Lists of Great Cut Flower Annuals
Okay, so now that we’ve covered some basic information on annuals and resources for growing them, let’s jump into our full list of annuals that bloom all summer (or season!) that also work well for cut flower use.
Here’s how to use the lists below:
We’ve segmented these lists by color palette, as a helpful guide for farmer-florists and designers who also grow flowers. Because of this, you’ll see some flowers duplicated on other lists. However, we’ll recommend specific color varieties of these particular flowers when we can!
We’ve marked cool season flowers for your reference. Flowers followed by an asterisk (*) generally do well as a cool season or early season flower and continue to flower throughout their season, depending on your growing zone.
Pictures purposefully aren’t provided. We intentionally didn’t include photos of every annual flower listed, as it would’ve made for quite the hard-to-load article. To check on the appearance of a flower, open a new tab and do a quick internet search. And then jump right back into this listing!
Our recommendations are based on cut flower gardens and floral design work needs. For the purposes of this listing, we’ve concentrated on including plants that generally rebloom throughout the season or produce multiple blooms in a season without significant assistance. So that’s why you won’t see some classic cut flower annuals on this list. And because we wanted to suggest plants that produce significant amounts of blooms, we’ve left fan favorites like tulips, daffodils, etc., off this listing. While those gorgeous flowers do well for cut flower work, their bloom yield throughout the season is limited based on replanting and care.
If you have specific annuals flowers you’d like to see added (or even a favorite variety you’ve personally grown!), simply contact us via the red chat button on this page and let us know.
Deadheading Your Annuals Flowers
For most plants to continue producing healthy, abundant flowers all season long, you'll need to deadhead (or remove) any spent flowers regularly from the plant.
Some varieties listed below even produce more blooms as you cut them, so check the growing and care specifications for each flower to ensure it meets your needs!
Learn how to grow flowers for market and floral design in our Foundations for Growing Cut Flowers online class. Get lifetime access to complete growing lists, comprehensive video instruction and notes, and so, so much more!
Annuals that Bloom All Summer in a Bright Color Palette
Here you’ll find butterfly ranunculus, a cheerful annual (Heather & Jake Photography)
The annuals listed below come in a variety of bright, cheery colors to liven up your garden, bouquets, and floral arrangements.
Zinnias
Cosmos
Celosia
Globe Amaranth (also called gomphrena)
Marigold
Bachelor button (also called cornflower)
Nasturtium
Larkspur (also called delphinium)*
Calendula (also called pot marigold)
Cleome
Snapdragon*
Ranunculus*
Ageratum
Nicotiana
Poppies
Amaranth
Salvia
Statice
China aster
Scabiosa (also called pincushion flower)
Love-in-a-mist (nigella)
Dianthus
Strawflower
Stock*
Lisianthus*
Sweet Alyssum (also called lobularia)*
Angelonia
Verbenas
Moss rose
Lantana
Dahlias
Firecracker sunflower (branching sunflower varieties like this one will give you multiple blossoms through the summer)
Sweet Annie (also known as sweet sagewort)
Bells of Ireland
Easy to Grow Annuals in a Creamy Peach or Blush Color Palette
The ever-elegant Cafe au Lait Dahlia. (Marcie Meredith)
In this list, you’ll find flowers that bloom all season long and come in creamy blush and soft peachy and apricot tones—timeless colors that are well-loved by wedding clients!
Sweet Pea*
Larkspur (also called delphinium)
Queen Anne’s Lace
Ammi Majus (also called false Queen Anne’s lace)
Cleome
Snapdragon*
Salvia
Statice
Scabiosa (also called pincushion flower)
Love-in-a-mist (nigella)
Stock (Katz Apricot is a gorgeous variety!)*
Gomphrena (globe amaranth)
Lisianthus (we love an Apricot lisianthus!)*
Sweet Alyssum (also known as lobularia)*
Angelonia
Verbenas
Strawflower
Dahlias (Cafe au Lait is a Team Flower favorite in this palette!)
Daucus
Ranunculus*
Cosmos (double click bicolor pink cosmos)
Chinese Asters (the king-size apricot is quite the looker!)
Saponaria (this flower does well in cool summers or early spring, but it blooms all season!)*
Zinderella Peach Zinnia
Centaurea (also known as cornflower)
Amaranth
Annuals that Bloom in a Moody Color Palette
These purple ranunculuses are the star of this moody arrangement. (heather payne)
The annuals flowers below come in moody and romantic tones such as purple, lavender, merlot, and even some purplish-chocolate colors.
Amaranth
Statice
China aster
Merlot Scabiosa (also called pincushion flower)
Love-in-a-mist (nigella)
Stock*
Gomphrena (globe amaranth)
Lisianthus*
Angelonia
Lobularia*
Verbenas
Ranunculus*
Dahlias (the Karma Chocolate variety offers quite the depth for a moody palette)
Rudbeckia
Celosia
Strawflower
Chocolate Sunflower
Wiltshire Ripple Sweet Pea*
Aromatto Basil
Zinnia (check out Benary’s Giant Wine variety)
Classic Magic Centaurea
Amaranth
Daucus Dara
White Annuals that Bloom All Summer
Whether you do a lot of wedding floral design work or just love a couple clean and white options for your garden, the flowers in the list below will suit your needs!
Nicotiana
Statice
China aster
Ranunculus*
Sweet Peas (White Frilled is a gorgeous white variety)*
Queen Anne’s Lace
Ammi Majus (also called False Queen Anne’s lace)
Scabiosa (also called pincushion flower)
Strawflower
Love-in-a-mist (nigella)
Stock*
Gomphrena (globe amaranth)
Lisianthus*
Lobularia
Verbenas
Zinnias (the Polar Bear variety is quite delightful!)
Dahlias (check out Fleurel Dahlias for a bright white)
Centaurea
Can you spy the sweet little white gomphrena? They’re annual flowers!
Best Annuals for Pots in Full Sun
Dahliahs and Zinnias galore! (jean moree photography)
Here’s a quick list compiled of the annuals listed above that also do well in containers in full sun.
If you'd like to have a cut flower garden for your own design work but have limited in-ground growing space, these flowers below could be a great option.
Moss Rose
Dahlias
Zinnias (We’ve found that zinnias will faithfully grow for you in a container, although they may not grow straight in pots. However, the Zahara Zinnia variety does grow straighter in containers.)
Angelonia
Gomphrena
Lantana
Sweet Peas*
Salvia
Cleome
Snapdragons*
Marigolds
Celosia
Stock*
Sunflowers
Strawflower
Ranunculus*
Bells of Ireland
Lisianthus (the shorter varieties can endure containers well)*
Discover how to make money growing flowers in our Growing and Selling for Market online flower farming class! Do what you love and make the world a more beautiful place while earning additional floral business revenue.
And remember, if there are specific annuals you’d like to see us add to this article, please contact us via the chat button on our site!
