13 Creative Ways To Use Annuals In the Garden
Learn practical tips and innovative ideas on how to use annuals in the garden to add vibrant color and texture all season long. This guide offers unique planting strategies and design suggestions to maximize the impact of these versatile flowers.
If you think that annuals are just for containers, think again!
They grow quickly, bloom all season and are generally easy to grow.
And sometimes the fact that they only live for one season is actually a benefit.
Which makes them perfect for addressing some of the problem areas in your garden.
1 | Add interest to hedges
Hedges are great for creating privacy and defining garden rooms.
But they can look a little boring. A lot of the same kind of plant all in a row.
Planting annuals along the bottom of them is a great way to add some color and interest. Even if you just repeat the same grouping of plants.
Since they are usually small plugs when you buy them, annuals are easy to plant between established roots.
And since they only grow for one season, their root systems don’t get big enough to compete with the shrub.
2 | Plant in hard-to-grow places
For the same reasons, you can use annuals in your garden under trees and other hard-to-grow places where perennials don’t survive very long.
You will need to provide some extra water and fertilizer to help them along.
But they will reward you with a whole season of blooms.
3 | Fill in bare spots in the garden
Whether something died or you just haven’t found the right plant for the spot, there always seem to be a few empty places in the garden.
Planting annuals are a great way to fill the space until you find something else.
They grow quickly and bloom all summer providing color where it would otherwise have been bare. (Like the alyssum and impatiens growing under the daylilies above).
4 | Add color when nothing else is blooming
Annuals can also help if you have a section of garden that doesn’t have anything blooming for a large part of the season.
Since they generally produce flowers all summer, annuals will outlast most perennials.
Pick colors that go with your color scheme and they will enhance your perennials when they’re blooming, too.
5 | Brighten up shady spots
If you have a lot of shade in your garden like I do, it can start to look a little dark.
And there aren’t a lot of shade perennials that produce big punches of color.
Annuals can help to brighten up the space.
Look for shade plants that are either covered in flowers (impatiens usually work well) or have white or bright leaves, like the Caladiums above. (They are actually perennials if you live in zones 9 to 11, but are treated like annuals in the rest of the country).
6 | Add repetition
Just like in interior design, repetition is a key principle to creating a garden that flows.
Repeating the same colors and plants in various places causes your eye to jump from one spot to the next. Which instantly draws you in.
And annuals are an easy way to do that.
Use similar colors or plants in window boxes, planters and urns. Then place them throughout your garden to create those leading lines.
7 | Provide contrast to existing perennials
Another interior design principle that applies to gardening is using contrast to add interest.
If you have a monochromatic garden bed, it can be fun to add a container full of flowers in a contrasting color. Like the yellow pansies with all the purple perennials above.
And you’ll notice the yellow echos the color of the tableware on the patio above. Which also provides repetition.
Or you can plant annuals directly in the garden.
These red begonias certainly make a statement planted with all the green Hostas and Hydrangeas.
8 | Create a meadow garden
If you like the look of a carefree meadow garden, annuals are your friend.
Pick varieties that will grow from seed.
Sprinkle the seeds around your garden bed and see what comes up.
Most will self-seed and grow again next year. Giving you a different combination of flowers every year.
9 | Hide bulb leaves
If you like to plant spring-blooming bulbs (such as tulips or daffodils), there’s always the issue of what to do with the leaves after they are finished blooming.
You don’t want to cut them off because they provide energy for the bulbs to grow next year. But they don’t look that great in the process.
Combining them with other plants that will hide the leaves is my favorite way of making them less noticeable.
Since many perennials haven’t grown big enough to do that, using annuals in your garden can help. Even if they aren’t tall enough to cover the leaves, their colorful flowers will provide a distraction.
And because you can see where the bulbs are while you are planting the annuals, you don’t have to worry about accidentally digging them up.
11 | Add layers of height
Putting annuals in containers out in your garden is a great way to add layers of height to your garden.
I look for urns that I can put on a plinth to add height to the back of the garden.
And interesting pots to add interest to the front and middle of the border.
The same concept will work for your deck or patio to help fill in an empty corner.
10 | Create an all-season focal point
If you want to create a floral focal piece, you’ll likely want to use some annuals.
Because they bloom consistently over a long period of time, they’re great for creating floral designs.
Like this “river bed” of petunias flowing from a giant urn.
12 | Use as edging
For an edging that blooms all season, annuals are hard to beat.
They often grow thick enough to keep the weeds down.
You can trim them back at the edge of the garden bed to keep them looking neat.
And the flowers look beautiful beside a lawn.
13 | Add flexibility
If you like to change your flower beds like you change your clothes, then annuals might be the way to go.
You can plant new colors and plants every year to create a different design or color combination.
The possibilities are endless!
Other annual garden ideas
Or browse all of our plant ideas.
Have comments or questions about how to use annuals in the garden? Tell us in the section below.
This post was originally published on May 9, 2024 but was updated with new content on November 23, 2024.