Adding Our Annuals: My Favorite Full-Sun Flowers

Ah, the ever popular full-sun garden. When we bought our first house, family members kept raving about the fantastic planting opportunities of our front yard. With practically no shade at all, they explained, we could grow the very best plants! Instead of a prospering garden, season after season I ended up with burnt flowers that couldn’t handle the heat. Finally, after a few years of practice, I feel like I (mainly) know what I’m looking for when it comes to annuals. When your thumb isn’t naturally green, and your yard is constantly bright, you need full-sun blooms that are sturdy and practically fool proof.

Looking to plant in your full-sun garden? No green thumb? Here are the easy favorites I’m growing this season.

  • Petunias: My forever favorite, petunias handle the heat like champs so long as you don’t forget them.
  • Geraniums: I love the height and color geraniums bring to planters! Want easy? Grab these.
  • Lantanas: Like a technicolor spiraea, these balls of tiny flowers look too bright and bold to be real! It’s so pretty I audibly gasped when I saw it.
  • Alyssum: I’ve added this shorter bloom to the front of my largest pot for an extra color and new variation in height. The tiny flowers are, frankly, adorable.
  • Celosia: These flowers are straight out of Alice in Wonderland. Use them to add texture to your garden!
  • Ajuga: I gravitated toward this flower because it reminded me of lilac without the pounding headache that fragrant bloom gives me. It was looking a little lopsided but as it grows it is balancing itself out!
  • Hen & Chicks: With so much sun, succulents are a great idea! Just be aware of how much water they’re getting when it rains.

Which full-sun flowers are you favorite? I’d love to add more to our garden! (And am clearly still a beginner.)

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