FAVORITE COLORFUL, RELIABLE PLANTS 

These are can’t miss plants! Examples are for Zone 7. Check at your local nursery for alternates in other zones.

Spring

• Pansies and snapdragons- plant in fall or spring/protect from deer
• Bulbs- crocus, daffodils, species tulips/plant in fall
• Peonies- short-blooming fragrant perennial but oh what a show!
• Creeping phlox, Phlox stolonifera– dramatic short blooming old-fashioned perennial
• Coral bell, Huchera– evergreen perennial with many cultivars and colorful/ patterned  foliage
• Anemones- beautiful, colorful, and showy blooms
• Daphne odora ‘Marginata’- shrub with fragrant blooms/ tricky, but worth a go!

SUMMER 

• Impatiens- I love the new yellow and gold color break series ‘Fusion’ and ‘Fanfare’.
• Four o’clocks and balsam- old fashioned flower/ can self-seed so deadhead to prevent
• Moon vine- huge fragrant white blooms open at dusk!
• Peonies- short-blooming fragrant perennial but oh what a show!
• Coleus- great cultivars with colorful foliage
• Zinnias- classic Southern annual flower
• Lantana- new cultivars last until frost, some perennials available
• Wave petunias- annual, many colors, not your ordinary petunia
• Black eyed susan, Rudbeckia– tried and true long bloomer
• Cone flower, Echinacea– long bloom perennials/ many new new cultivars
• Summer phlox- long bloomming upright perennial cousin of creeping phlox
• Coreopsis moonbeam and new cultivars/perennial
• Knock out roses- shrub will bloom until frost/ protect from deer