Choosing the Best Perennials and Annuals for Containers
Container gardening with flowers is a great way to instantly introduce color, fragrance, and beauty into our lives. It makes flowers part of any landscape—even on a deck, patio, porch, or balcony! See our tips for growing flowers in containers.
The Best Flowers for Containers
Perennial Flowers
Perennials offer some of the most beautiful flowers out there—with the added bonus that they’ll come back every year! Here are some of our favorite perennials suitable for containers:
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- Astilbe
- Bee balm
- Bergenia
- Bleeding heart
- Coneflower
- Evening primrose
- Daylily hybrids
- Hostas (dwarf or miniature varieties)
- Maltese cross
- Salvia
- Speedwell (Veronica)
Annual Flowers
Annuals are stunning in their own right, and their benefit is that they are easy to mix and match. If you don’t like how they look one season, just try again with different annuals next year! Some of the best annuals for containers include:
- Begonia
- Browallia
- Coleus
- Coreopsis
- Dusty miller
- Fuchsia
- Lobelia
- Marigold
- Morning glory
- Nasturtiums
- Pansies
- Petunias
- Portulaca
- Snapdragon
- Statice
- Sweet alyssum
- Sweet pea
Photo: The flowers and plants in the flower container shown above!
Container Gardening Tips
- Be sure that any container you use has drainage holes.
- Avoid small containers. They often can’t store enough water to get through hot days, so will need constant care. Large pots also insulate roots better.
- Clay pots are usually more attractive than plastic ones, but plastic pots retain moisture better. Consider a plastic pot inside a larger clay pot to get the best of both worlds!
- New, lightweight materials, such as fiberglass, plastic, or foam composites, make moving pots easier.
- Use soil-free potting mix; not only is it light, but the fluffy blend provides roots with more oxygen and nutrients.
How to Plant in Containers
- To plant, place the container where you want your flower to grow. Be sure it receives enough sun.
- Add a one-inch layer of fine gravel, horticultural charcoal, or clay pot shards to the bottom of the container so that water doesn’t collect.
- Fill the container 2/3 full with soil-free potting mix.
- With your hands, make a hole in the potting mix about the diameter of the pot.
- Knock the flower out of its pot, spread its roots slightly, and place it in the hole.
- Add more potting mix to bring the level up to 2 inches below the container top.
- Water gently, press the mix to reduce air pockets, add more mix if necessary, than water again.
- Feed container plants at least twice a month with liquid fertilizer, following the instructions on the label.
- Keep the planting medium moist. The container plant is totally at your mercy for water.
- As winter approaches in cold climates, you’ll need to store the container flowers inside.
See our library of Growing Guides for more information on growing and caring for the most common garden flowers.
Catherine Boeckmann
Getting Started with Flower Gardening
Building a Raised Flower Bed Garden
Choosing Flowers
Types of Flower Gardens
Flower Gardening for Pollinators
Growing Flowers in Containers
Spring and Fall Bulbs
Caring for Flowers
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Hi Jennifer, Flower blooms depends on soil, amount of sun exposure, variety of flower, fertilizer, and many more factors. If it helps, here are some "best bets for window boxes" and growing tips: http://www.almanac.com/content/window-boxes-best-bets
Will a window box be good for Forget-Me-Not? If not, what's the best size pot for it?
Yes, a window box would be lovely for forget-me-not flowers. You may also enjoy our article on the best plants for window boxes: http://www.almanac.com/content/window-boxes-best-bets
Can i keep plants in their pots and just plant the pots in the garden so that i can take them out easily in the winter.
A few questions bout the bare root rose.
My hubby just bought me a bare root rose a few days ago. I put the bare root rose in a large plastic flower pot. Plus I pour some good all natural fertilizer in it a few days ago. The instructions said to water it twice a week, and fertilizer every 2 months too. Plus my hubby has also cut off the black cane of the bare root rose. I a. Following the instructions. I am waiting for results. I have done a lot of research on the bare root rose. Thanks.
What to do when my area only gets bout maybe 4 or 5 hours of sunlight? For the bare root rose.
How do I take care of the bare root rose on a daily basis?
What do I do to hyacinths when they have dried their flower and are done with their fragrant days?
Keep the green leaves intact as they are gathering energy for the bulb for next year's growth. Once the leaves died down, you can dig up the bulbs if you need to store for winter. See this page for more information.
are metel containers suitable for potting flowers?
The benefits of metal containers: strong and non-porous (so it will hold moisture). It's not natural, but we do like the weathered look. The downside: metal conducts heat, exposing roots to rapid temperature fluctuations. This is more of an issue for vegetables than flowers; you can always line the pot with plastic.
I live in a ground floor apartment in Reno, NV, zone 7, (I believe), my neighbor cut down the large shrub that was shading my west wall, I can only plant in a long, narrow container (about 12 to 15 inches wide and five feet long). Any suggestions for the hot summer sun to shade my west wall? (I do not want to grow a really heavy vine, as I do not have a really good way to support it). Thanks, Dar
