10 Versatile Flowers for Landscapes and Containers
At Proven Winners, we offer a vast array of annuals, perennials and shrubs and many of them are stars in both landscapes and containers. Here are a few annual plants we want to introduce you to that will wow almost anywhere you put them. You will be absolutely amazed by the beautiful garden performance they deliver from spring into fall.
Silver Bullet® Artemesia
Foliage plants are often overlooked in favor of the flash of flowers. However, foliage can be just as eye-catching, and since foliage never fades, the color impact is always present. I love the fuzzy, silver foliage of Quicksilver. This plant grows really fast and will fill a lot of space in your garden quickly and look great all summer. It will quickly outgrow small containers, so choose large ones and if you use it in a combination recipe, choose other super-vigorous plants, like Snow Princess® and Supertunia® Vistas.
GRACEFUL GRASSES® Prince Tut™Cyperus
If King Tut Cyperus had a little brother, this would be it, and he would be a popular little dude. Perfectly sized at 2 ½-4’ tall, Prince Tut™ is ideal for large combination containers, pond side plantings, and low spots in the landscape that tend to retain water. It grows quickly to form an impressive clump and is more floriferous than King Tut®, producing similar but more plentiful, finely textured plumes. This is a heat tolerant plant that can be grown in the north and south.
Sweet Caroline Bewitched Green with Envy™ Ipomoea
Speaking of awesome foliage plants, ornamental sweet potatoes are some of the easiest plants to grow. Green With Envy is not your run-of-the-mill Ipomoea. It has large, textured, maple-leaf shaped foliage with dramatic pointed edges. While sweet potato vines are one of the most common plants used in combination recipes, we often overlook what great landscape plants they are. They grow best in sunny spots, but will perform well in shady areas as well.
Sweet Caroline Bewitched After Midnight™ Ipomoea
After Midnight has the same wickedly pointed foliage as Green with Envy, but in a bold purple-black color. Unlike other sweet potato vines, these are more mounded than trailing. While it will spill over the side of a container, it also has enough height to fill in the middle of the container. In effect, you get a BOGO (buy one get one) plant--it’s both a filler and a spiller. While sweet potato vines are one of the most common plants used in combination recipes, we often overlook what great landscape plants they are. They have the best foliage color in sunny areas, but will perform well in shady spots as well.
Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Jet Black™ Ipomoea
The deep black, heart-shaped foliage of Jet Black has the densest color in full sun, but is a stunner wherever you grow it. Black-hued plants are a lot like the perfect little black dress that can be dressed up or down to make it work for almost any occasion. Plant Jet Black with white for the ultimate contrast planting or use it as a perfect complement to any vivid hue. While sweet potato vines are one of the most common plants used in combination recipes, we often overlook what great landscape plants they are. They do best in sunny spots, but will perform well in shady areas as well.
ANGELFACE® Super Series Angelonia
These super-sized Angelonia come in three colors, blue, pink and white. Standing nearly double the height of typical varieties, they put on an outstanding show of color in the landscape and in large containers. Large blooms appear on sturdy flower scapes from spring until frost, and they make wonderful cut flowers. Like all Proven Winners Angelonias, Angelface Supers thrive in hot, humid conditions and require less water than many flowering annuals.
Pure White Butterfly™ Argyranthemum frutescens
Want a daisy that blooms all summer? Try Pure White Butterfly Argyranthemum, which bears a flurry of pure white blooms from spring through fall on tall, bushy plants. It’s super versatile, thriving in both cool springs and hot summers in full sun. It will be the star of the show in large containers and landscapes.
TOUCAN® Series Canna x generalis
If you love the look of tropical plants but need one that is as easy to grow as a petunia, try our Toucan Cannas, which come in four colors: Red, Rose, Scarlet and Yellow. They grow quickly to make bold thrillers in your large containers and thrive in the landscape too. Cannas flower like crazy all summer in warm climates where they love the heat, and are grown more for their bold foliage in northernmost climates where they bloom late in the season. Toucan plants have lush foliage and bear warm-toned flowers that encourage hummingbirds and bumblebees to come explore your garden.
BRIGHT LIGHTS™ Yellow Osteospermum
Bright Lights™ Yellow will be one of the first flowers you’ll see at garden centers since it easily tolerates cool springs. But it’s one of few Osteospermums that also thrives in the summer heat, so you’ll have colorful blooms all the way from spring through fall with Bright Lights™ Yellow. Gardeners in sunbelt states can even grow it as a winter flowering annual. It has low water needs and is a neatly mounded plant suitable for growing in containers and landscapes.
SUPERTUNIA® Vista Fuchsia Improved Petunia
If you’re looking to fill large spaces with masses of electric fuchsia color that lasts from spring into fall, plant Supertunia Vista Fuchsia petunias. You won’t believe the amazing vigor of this plant as it scaffolds higher and wider as the season progresses. A single plant will quickly fill a four foot space in just one season. No deadheading is required to keep this beauty blooming all season long.
- Article: Learn More About Using Black in Your Garden
- Pinterest: Versatile Plants for Landscapes and Containers
- Video: Learn more about our plants on our Home Gardener YouTube Channel
- Calculate how many annuals needed for your flower bed.
Patent Info: Snow Princess® Lobularia 'Inlbusnopr' USPP 21,594, Can 4,189; Sweet Caroline Bewitched Green with Envy™ Ipomoea 'NCORNSP-020BWGWE'USPPAF, Can PBRAF; Sweet Caroline Bewitched After Midnight™ Ipomoea 'NCORNSP-020BWAM'USPPAF, Can PBRAF; Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Jet Black™ Ipomoea 'NCORNSP-021SHJB' USPPAF, Can PBRAF; Can PBRAF; Infinity® Lavender Impatiens hawkeri USPPAF, Can PBRAF; Angelface® Super Blue Angelonia USPPAF, Can PBRAF; Angelface® Super Pink Angelonia USPPAF, Can PBRAF; Angelface® Super White Angelonia USPPAF, Can PBRAF; Bright Lights™ Yellow Osteospermum 'INOSTYELOW' USPPAF, Can PBRAF; Supertunia® Vista Fuchsia Petunia 'BHTUN65301' USPPAF, Can PBRAF
