Easy Flowers to Grow in Pots

Grow flowers in pots when you want splashes of color for your porch, patio, deck or garden. Versatile beauties like this 'Tropical Rose' SunPatiens are great plants for pots outdoors. Unlike plants growing in your garden, they can be moved from place to place as they go in and out of bloom. With potted flowers, you don't have to have a gap in your display.

Need inspiration about what to grow? Petunias and zinnias are some of the best potted flowers for sun, while wax begonias and some coleus crave the shade. Browse these photos of flowers in pots for more ideas.

Not only do calibrachoas thrive in pots and other containers, the breeder of 'MiniFamous Uno Double PinkTastic', shown here, doesn’t recommend growing them in the ground. Million bells, as they’re commonly known, are hardy in Zones 9 to 11, and while they take full sun to part shade, they do best with at least six hours of sun. Aside from regular water and fertilizing, they’re almost carefree.

Classic geraniums like these, 'Dark Red' and 'White Watermelon', look as natural on porches in summer as pumpkins do in fall. Give these cheerful annuals at least four to six hours of sun each day. Keep faded flowers picked off to encourage new blooms, and fertilize the pots every two weeks during the growing season with a water-soluble fertilizer at half-strength. Move them indoors before frost and enjoy them as houseplants in a bright window.

Planted with Supertunia 'Bordeaux' petunias, Snowstorm Snow Globe bacopa and Diamond Frost Euphorbia, this container is ideal for part sun to sunny spots. The plants are usually grown as long-blooming annuals, although the petunias and euphorbia are hardy in Zones 10 and 11 and the bacopa is hardy in Zones 9 to 11. They’re all self-cleaning, which means you don’t have to remove the faded flowers. This combination of plants is a "recipe" called Last Tango in Paris.