Are you racking your brain trying to find blooming summer annuals that can handle Alabama’s hot and sunny climate? With our long growing seasons, we want plants that not only survive but also thrive in the full sun and high temperatures. Here are some of our favorite annual flowering plants that flourish throughout the summer at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
Calibrachoa, commonly known as million bells, are prolific bloomers. Their flowers look like tiny petunias, and they come in all sorts of colors. Million bells tend to have a trailing growth habit, so they do best in pots and hanging baskets or planted near the edges of beds. Just give them plenty of water and fertilizer throughout the growing season, and you’ll have nonstop blooms!
Lantana is fairly drought-tolerant so it’s a fantastic summer annual if you’re someone who tends to forget to water their plants. Lantana can often be perennial in our zone as long as we don’t get a harsh winter. While it attracts pollinator insects, lantana is deer- and rabbit-resistant. This plant comes in many different colors, shapes, and sizes that range from trailing to 5-foot shrubs!
Pentas, sometimes referred to as Egyptian star flower, have clusters of star-shaped flowers that heavily attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. This showy plant has an upright growth habit and comes in an array of pinks, purples, reds, and whites. Thriving best in full sun, pentas can be showstoppers in any container or annual bed.
Portulaca, or purslane, is a flowering, trailing ground cover with leaves that closely resemble succulents. This plant requires full sun, as too much shade will prevent the blooms from opening. Portulaca can thrive in poor soil, such as sandy or rocky conditions. It looks gorgeous in hanging baskets and other containers or cascading over a stone wall.
SunPatiens® are an impatiens hybrid designed to be long-lasting in extreme heat. Their large flowers come in a range of pink, red, purple, orange, and white, with some even having variegated foliage. While they do require frequent watering, wilted SunPatiens will perk right up after a quick soaking without any residual damage.
