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12 Best Full Sun Annual Flowers

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The best time to plant full sun annual flowers is right after frost so they’ll be ready to pick or cut in the summer. Such certain flowers bloom very well under the sun.

Another thing is that these plants are usually not too expensive unlike the perennials. Thus, annual flowering plants are a great start for newbies.

The only downside is that the flowers of annual plants appear once in a year only or for some season and you have to replant again in order to get new blossoms.

Flowers are a delight to have in your own yard or home. They add a unique appeal and freshness no matter how limited or spacious your area is. Even though full sun annual flowers live for some time, it is still worth the effort to plant them.

You can plant different types and varieties of annuals year by year. They can be sown directly in the ground where it gets the most sun or in containers, pots and boxes, which can be placed from one spot to another. At the end of the day, you get to enjoy the view once the full sun annual flowers appear.

Let’s identify some popular and recommended flowering plants that are considered as annual.

12 Best Full Sun Annual Flowers

1. Sunflower

Full Sun Annual Flowers Sunflower

Sunflowers are beautiful and distinctively big in size. Although this type of flower is costly in shops, it is one of the easy, low-maintenance full sun annual flowers you can grow in your own backyard.

The main attraction of this flower is its super bright yellow and huge petals. The disc florets are tri-colored in brown, dark red or maroon and yellow green or black. On this same central part is where you find the seeds that you can plant for a new batch.

Sunflower matures in 2 to 3 months and can grow up to 16 feet tall with a diameter of 12 inches. It amazingly follows the sun from the east to the west, and returns to face east at night in preparation for the next morning.

2. Lisianthus

Full Sun Annual Flowers Lisianthus

Lisianthus is one of the lovely full sun annual flowers you can choose to grow. It comes in a cute range of hues from pure white to pink.

Other white varieties have violet and pink tips. It can be mistaken for the common rose at a glance but it’s disc florets can help you distinguish the difference.

This flowering plant is a fast growing plant that thrives under the rays of the sun. On average, it can grow from 15 centimeters to 60 centimeters tall, with small leaves and long, straight stems. It’s certainly a beautiful ornamental that can be used as a table centerpiece. 

3. Petunia

Full Sun Annual Flowers Petunia

Assorted in colors from red to pink, purple to blue, yellow to orange, and white to bi-colored, petunias are undeniably beautiful blooms. The small flowers can add some pop to your lawn making the entire space look brighter and more colorful.

One example of petunia is the calibrachoa or popularly known as the million bells, which is one of the favorite full sun annual flowers by many growers and homeowners.

That’s because this plant is a great outdoor display that can be showcased in containers, hanging baskets or directly in the ground. It’s a perfect choice as borders to enhance the pathways or patio of your home.

It’s easy to plant and take care of this flower. Make sure that it gets enough sun to ensure it matures in vibrance and full height between 6 inches to 18 inches.

4. Angelonia

Full Sun Annual Flowers Angelonia

Make your bushy garden or green grassy lawn fuller of life with angelonia. Although one of the full sun annual flowers, it’s important to keep them protected from the strong heat as it may wilt the pretty blossoms. You can considerably grow it with little maintenance.

Moreover, the small, irregular petalled flowers, which vary in white, light pink and bluish purple, appear delicate. It has foliage that smells like apples. This plant is known as the “summer snapdragon because it resembles a snapdragon.

5. Cleome

Full Sun Annual Flowers Cleome

Cleome is popularly known by its other name, the spider plant. This is because its flowers form the shape of a spider. It’s a cluster of small flowers in a long, straight stalk with hairs like the whiskers of a cat. The typical hues are pink, white, purple, which equally add beauty to any garden.

6. Pentas

Full Sun Annual Flowers Pentas

Like most full sun annual flowers, pentas has 5 pointed petals in red, pink, purple or violet and white shades. It’s another clustered blossom with foliage that extends up to 12 inches high, providing some charm in a landscape.

You may consider planting this flowering plant and you will see its effect in your own garden. This is also called the Egyptian starcluster.

7. Salpiglossis

Full Sun Annual Flowers Salpiglossis

Salpiglossis is an unusual plant primarily due to its pretty flowers. Also called the painted tongue, the petals have lines that are marked by other shade.

It has a few stamens only, but the trumpet shape of the bloom is very attractive. As this annual plant produces flowers in different colors, you can sow two or more shades together in one spot. Keep in mind to place the plant in a sunny area.

8. Periwinkle

Full Sun Annual Flowers Periwinkle

Red, pink, magenta, purple and white are the natural colors of periwinkle, also known as annual vinca. The pretty, little blossoms pop up during the summer season. It is one of the full sun annual flowers and plants that love the hottest temperature.

9. Nemesia

Full Sun Annual Flowers Nemesia

Nemesia cannot be excluded from this list of full sun annual flowers. As a matter of fact, it’s a plant that can live both under hot and cool temperatures. Its origin is in South Africa and has grown in different countries basically because of its unquestionable charm.

The flowers of this plant display lovely colors like yellow, pink, white, blue and red in one bloom. That is the reason why a lot of gardeners from different parts of the world love to grow it.

The colorful petals also hide its stems and leaves. It resembles an edging lobelia having flowers that cover its foliage. At maturity, it can grow about 12 inches to 24 inches.

10. Purslane

Full Sun Annual Flowers Purslane

Portulaca is also one of the popular full sun annual flowers you may want to plant in your yard. Widely known as moss rose or sun rose, this plant makes a great groundcover, rock gardening as well as welcoming hanging baskets.

It’s an easy, low growing annual to sow that provides blooms in light or bright pink, yellow, red, orange, purple and white shades. This plant originated from Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. 

11. Geranium

Full Sun Annual Flowers Geranium

Geranium is an ideal flower plant to grow outside your house. You may consider growing inside but it needs some sun. You have the option to go for hanging pots and containers, anyway.

You can also create a garden border using this annual plant. This plant is among the favorite full sun annual flowers of several gardeners and homeowners.

There are numerous varieties of geranium showcasing different colored leaves and the classic green. The colors of the flowers can be plain or striped.

To ensure the typical growth, vibrance and loveliness are met, it’s recommended to use enough water, fertilizer and most importantly sun. It is a plant that can reach from 6 inches to 30 inches tall with a width of 12 inches to 24 inches.

12. Lantana

Full Sun Annual Flowers Lantana

Lantanas are very tiny, multi-colored flower plants that bloom continuously throughout the summer season. The plant’s flowers attract birds and butterflies.

It’s made of bushy foliage with clusters of small, irregularly shaped petals in various colors of pink, yellow, orange, red and purple.

Also known as wild sage, red sage, white sage and big sage, lantana is an ideal house plant to grow on any part of your yard. This flowering plant comes from Central and South America.


Conclusion

If full sun annual flowers are your first pick to enhance your surrounding, consider the list provided above. Each of these plants produces unique and remarkably gorgeous flowers that can surely create an inviting mood and provide additional charm to your home or garden.

Among these annual flowers, which ones you like the most? Do any of these meet the soil and weather conditions of your area? These should be the questions you can only answer.