Flowers and Foliage for Summer Color

These bright bloomers keep the color going in your garden until frost.

By: Lynn Coulter

Related To:

Verbena 'Lanai Twister Red'

Bi-colored ‘Lanai Twister Red’ thrives in full sun. Its red and white blooms can take the summer heat and its mounded, trailing habit makes it ideal for hanging baskets, containers or as a groundcover. It's also available in ‘Twister Blue’ and ‘Twister Pink’.

Sambucus Elderberry 'Lemony Lace'

New for 2015, ‘Lemony Lace’ is a deciduous shrub that shines in mixed borders or as a stand-alone plant. Use its cutleaf foliage to put some gold into your summer garden; new growth has tints of red.

Lobularia 'Dark Knight'

Most alyssum bloom in spring, but ‘Dark Knight’ keeps producing its purple to dark purple flowers into the summer—even in hot regions—as long as the soil stays evenly moist.

Lantana camara 'Luscious Marmalade'

Heat-tolerant, summer-flowering ‘Luscious Marmalade’ is a lantana with citrus-orange and yellow blooms. Its mounded habit makes it great for containers or the landscape, where it carpets the ground in summery shades.

Hemerocallis 'Going Bananas'

'Going Bananas’ daylilies don't just add splashes of lemony-yellow to summer gardens—they're also fragrant. These carefree perennials flower into fall.

Cleome ‘Pequena Rosalita’

Butterflies flock to Cleome 'Pequena Rosalita', also known as spider flower. Give these annual plants lots of sun to enjoy their pink blooms in containers or garden beds. Deep South gardeners may need to treat for cabbage budworm, which can cause wilting and stem tip death, with a natural bacterium called DiPel.

Lisianthus 'Charisma Blue'

Blue flowers can be hard to find so ‘Charisma Blue’, with its rich color, is a welcome addition to the garden. This lisianthus starts blooming in midsummer. Deadhead the flowers when they’re finished or snip them for bouquets to encourage reblooming.

Petunia 'Sophistica Blackberry'

Deep blackberry is the new black when it comes to this sun-loving petunia, 'Sophistica Blackberry'. The burgundy-red blooms are backed by dark green foliage.

Supertunia 'Limoncello'

Low-maintenance Supertunia ‘Limoncello’ attracts hummingbirds and butterflies to summer gardens with its soft yellow blooms. Grow it with petunia 'Sophistica Blackberry' for contrast.

Impatiens New Guinea Florific 'Sweet Orange'

An All-America Selections winner, Florific 'Sweet Orange’ adds pops of summer color to gardens with full to partial shade. The flowers range from salmon to deep tangerine and the foliage is dark greenish-bronze.

'Oso Easy Double Red'

Plant 'Oso Easy Double Red' roses in the landscape or mixed borders. The bright red, doubled flowers with pink-orange undertones unfold from spring through the heat of summer until frost.

Scarlet Coleus 'Kong Jr.'

'Kong Jr.’ doesn't monkey around. While this coleus didn't make it to the top of the Empire State Building when it debuted in 2013, it's climbed onto many gotta-have plant lists since then. Also available in ‘Rose’, ‘Lime Vein’ and ‘Green Halo', it brightens the shade all summer.

Begonia 'Santa Cruz Sunset'

How many colors are in a tropical sunset? Trailing begonia ‘Santa Cruz Sunset’ blooms in a range of rich oranges and reds. Give the plants some afternoon shade if you live in a hot climate. They’ll provide color from late spring into fall.