30+ Best Garden Flowers to Plant

Whether you’re getting ready to plant your first flower garden or want to add some new plants to your already beloved floral oasis, it can be difficult to know the best flowers for gardens! Do you choose that bright red rose your neighbor has growing in their front yard or opt for a low-maintenance wildflower that will serve as a butterfly magnet?

The truth is, the best garden flowers are the ones that thrive in your location and make you happy! So the flower that’s perfect for you might not be the best option for your neighbor across the street or your friend on the other side of the country. We’ll cover some aspects to think about when choosing flowers and introduce you to some options to consider.

How to Choose Flowers for a Home Garden

One of the first steps in choosing flowers for your garden is to look at what conditions you’re working with. Do you have an open patio filled with sun or a wooded backyard with dappled shade? Is your soil compacted clay or well-draining sand?

While some flowers thrive in a wide variety of conditions, most have their preferences. Knowing what you’re working with allows you to choose flowers that are well-suited to your garden’s environment. And that means your plants will stay healthy!

After you take into consideration your garden’s environment, take a minute to think about what type of style you’re after. Do you want to keep to a specific theme like a manicured French garden or an eco-friendly garden filled with native plants? Are you looking for flowers that are great for cutting? Or do you just want a lush and low-maintenance place to relax? Answering these questions can help you find the best flowers for gardens.

Annual or Perennial?

One thing to consider when planting garden flowers is whether you want annuals or perennials. Annual flowers complete their life cycle and die in a single growing season, so you must replant them each year. Some popular annual flowers include cornflowers, impatiens, petunias, and sunflowers.  Annuals let you mix things up each year, and they are typically less expensive than perennials.

Perennial plants live for multiple years, so you don’t have to replant them each spring. Although their foliage often dies back in the winter, the plants reemerge in the spring. Columbine, peonies, coneflowers, and lavender are all perennials. Perennial flowers are a good choice if you want to skip the work of planting new flowers each spring, but they’re not always a great option if you’re only living somewhere for a year or two..

While most flowers are annuals or perennials, some are biennials. These plants produce vegetation the first year before blooming and dying the second year. Foxglove and Canterbury bells are both biennials.

Flowers by Garden Type

If you don’t know how to choose the best garden flowers, a good first step is to determine what type of garden you want. Once you’ve narrowed in on a garden style you like, find some flowers that will fit in well.

Shade Gardens

While many flowers need full or partial sun, these plants are happiest in a shady spot.

Impatiens

Perhaps the most popular annual for shade gardens, impatiens find a happy home along forest edges and sides of houses. Their simple, bright flowers add a boost of color to otherwise dark areas. With bloom periods that last multiple months, they’re a great choice for long-lasting color.

Plant impatiens in a well-draining spot in your garden after the last spring frost. Since these flowers remain under a foot tall, you can add them in front of taller plants. While the plants can tolerate full shade, they’ll produce more blooms if they receive a few hours of morning light. Just make sure to protect them from the harsh afternoon sun.

Sweet Woodruff

This ground cover is the perfect plant if you want to achieve a cottage garden vibe. It quickly grows into a thick mat that shades out weeds, and it’s deer resistant. While its foliage is present throughout the year, sweet woodruff plants send up small white star-shaped flowers in the spring. If you dry the leaves or the flowers, you’ll end up with a sugary, vanilla scent that is responsible for the sweet part of this plant’s name.

Hardy in zones 4-9, this perennial thrives in shade and various types of soil—try planting it along woodland edges as well as in neglected shady areas. As long as you keep the soil moist, the plants will remain happy.

Lily of the Valley

With cute bell-shaped flowers and an intoxicating floral scent, lily of the valley is a delight in any shade garden. But don’t let its name fool you, lily of the valley isn’t a true lily. The plants top out at about ten inches tall and look great planted in clumps. Be aware that it can quickly spread to form a thick groundcover.

These plants are easy to grow as long as you plant them in a shady area and keep the soil moist as the plants settle into their new home. There’s no need to prune or fertilize the plants, but they will benefit from a sprinkle of compost each fall.

Rock Gardens

Got rocks? No problem! These plants thrive in designated rock gardens as well as rocky areas of your garden.

Sedum

Also known as stonecrop, sedum plants are a group of flowering succulents. You can divide stonecrop plants into two main categories: upright and groundcover. Both types work great in rock gardens; upright stonecrop adds some height while ground cover varieties sprawl across rocky ground. Some cultivars to check out include ‘Autumn Joy’ and ‘Vera Jameson’.

Sedum plants are easy to care for as long as you plant them in a well-draining area with full sun. Although the plants look delicate, they can survive the winters in zones 3-11. Some sedum species are more cold-tolerant than others, so look for a variety that’s well suited to your temperatures.

Creeping Phlox

A low, trailing variety of the popular garden flower, creeping phlox works great in rock gardens. Since the plants are low-growing and easy to care for, they work great as ground covers and also look fantastic trailing over boulders or rock walls.. These plants produce loads of small, five-petal flowers that come in colors including lavender, fuschia, and white. 

Creeping plants are easy to care for, as long as you plant them in a well-draining location that receives at least six hours of direct sun each day. If you want to keep the plants from trailing, you’ll need to prune the stems back each year.

Cheddar Pink

A type of dianthus, the cheddar pink gets its name for the bright pink flowers that appear atop the plant’s green stems. These plants love well-drained soil, so they’re at home in rock gardens. To keep them happy, plant them in full to partial sun and water during periods of prolonged drought.

Sustainable and Native Flower Gardens

Native flowers provide food for bees, butterflies, birds, and caterpillars, making them an important part of any thriving ecosystem. And since they’re adapted to an area, they don’t require much (if any) extra water or fertilizer.

Purple Coneflower

If you’re looking for a plant that bees, butterflies, birds, and humans will love, you can’t go wrong with purple coneflower. These plants send up many large pink blooms that pollinators flock to. When the flowers die in the late summer or fall, birds swoop in to feed on their seeds. Also known as echinacea, the purple coneflower is also used for medicinal purposes.

This plant prefers full or part sun, but it can thrive in a wide variety of soil conditions, including rocky and nutrient-poor areas. It doesn’t require much water nor fertilizer, so it’s perfect in a sustainable garden and lazy gardeners.

Black-Eyed Susan

Meet a flower that’s sure to bring smiles. The black-eyed Susan produces lots of summer blooms that resemble small sunflowers. It’s a great flower to plant in meadows, wildflower gardens, and in front of houses. Since the flowers are native to much of the United States, they require little human intervention or care. And that means you can plant them, walk away, and enjoy their blooms!

New England Aster

Native to most of the United States, these cheerful asters light up fall gardens and meadows with bright purple blooms. Since it’s a fall-blooming plant, it adds color (and food for bees and butterflies) when many other flowers are done blooming.

These plants typically reach four to six feet tall, so make sure you plant them in an area that can handle their height. And make sure to plant them in an area that receives full or part sun. Besides watering the seedlings when you plant them in the spring or fall, these plants require little care.

Milkweed

When you think of native flowers, you may think about providing food for adult bees and butterflies. But another reason to plant native plants is to provide a food source for the juvenile caterpillars. Milkweed plants are the only type of plant that monarch butterfly caterpillars eat, so planting milkweed is a great way to support these beautiful butterflies.

With many different species of milkweed, you can find a plant that works in your area. Some types to check out include common milkweed, swamp milkweed, and antelope-horns milkweed. Each species prefers unique soil moisture, temperature, and environment, so research the type you’re planting before you add it to your garden.

Drought-Tolerant Gardens

Live in an area that doesn’t receive much rain? Don’t want to water your plants each week? Then check out these flowers.

Yarrow

With feathery foliage and clusters of small flowers, yarrow is a delight in any garden. While flowers are traditionally white or pink, you can now find blooms that are bright fuchsia, yellow, or purple. The plants send out new flower clusters from spring through fall, so you can enjoy the flowers for multiple months. The flowers also work well in bouquets, so take a moment to learn how to cut garden flowers like yarrow.

While these plants look lush, they can handle dry soil and drought. That means there’s no need to water yarrow once the seedlings have acclimated to their new home. To keep yarrow happiest, plant it in full sun or partial shade.

Salvia

Salvia is a huge genus of plants with lots of variety. However, one thing the vast majority of these plants have in common is their ability to tolerate drought. Many salvias grow a few feet tall and bloom from summer until fall. Plus, butterflies and hummingbirds love their flowers! Some popular salvia species include wood sage, Texas sage, and scarlet sage.

While salvia can tolerate drought, these plants hate sitting in wet soil. So make sure to plant them in an area with well-draining soil! The plants can tolerate a few hours of shade, but they’ll grow best in full sin.

Blazing Star

Blazing star is a show-stopping, drought-tolerant flower. It sends up tall flower spikes that bloom from the top down. Since it’s native to hot and dry prairies, blazing star can withstand some serious drought, making it perfect for dry areas.

Make sure to plant this flower in well-draining soil and full sun. There’s no need to regularly fertilize, but you can apply a few handfuls of compost to the plants in the fall.

Coreopsis

Also known as tickseed, coreopsis is a drought-tolerant flowering plant native to much of the United States. These perennials send up flowers from spring through fall, providing long-lasting color to the garden.

Coreopsis can tolerate a wide range of soil types, as long as the soil is well-draining. While the plants can tolerate extended drought, they’ll also be happy during summer storms. So if you live in an area with both wet and dry periods, coreopsis is a great garden flower.

Japanese Gardens

Japanese gardens are known for their simple layouts that inspire reflection and peace. As you might expect, Japanese plants are one of the key components of these gardens.

Azalea

Azaleas are a group of flowering shrubs that thrive in acidic soils. They are commonly used in Japanese gardens to provide a base structure to the land. While azalea flowers come in all sorts of colors, pink and white flowers are the most common in Japanese gardens.

Gardeners frequently practice karikomi on azaleas in Japanese gardens. This involves clipping and shearing the plants until they take on the appearance of boulders. However, if you’re looking for a low-maintenance option, you can also let your azaleas grow wild. If you want your plants to become loaded with colorful blooms, provide them with a dose of flowering fertilizer each spring.

Japanese Iris

While any iris will work well in a Japanese garden, the Japanese iris fits in well due to its simple shape. You can find flowers that range in color from white to blue to pink. 

These flowers thrive in wet areas, so they are excellent plants for pond edges and low-lying areas that collect moisture. Plant the plants’ rhizomes in the fall to enjoy blooms the following spring.

Tree Peony

While the word tree is in its name, this peony is actually a medium-sized shrub that produces large, ruffled blooms in the spring. Even after the blooms have faded, the tree peony adds beautiful foliage to Japanese gardens.

If you want to add one of these plants to your garden, plant them about a month before the first fall frost. Many types of tree ponies are grafted, which means the above-ground portion of the plant was attached to a different rootstock. When you’re planting, look for a line that indicates the graft union and plant it at least a few inches above the soil line.

Japanese Snowbell

If you’re looking for a large plant for your garden, the Japanese snowbell is an excellent choice. Every summer this tree turns awash in white as thousands of bell-shaped flowers bloom. To help this tree thrive, plant it in full sun to part shade. The plants require rich and slightly-acidic soil, so you may need to mix in some peat moss to create the ideal soil conditions.

Succulent Gardens

While succulents are often known for their beautiful, fleshy leaves, many of these plants also send up gorgeous flowers. When you plant a succulent garden, make sure to use well-draining soil and put it in a bright area.

Ice Plant

Ice plants are low-growing succulents that make excellent ground covers. The plant’s foliage seems to shimmer in the sun as if it were covered by thousands of ice crystals. Plus, their many bright flowers liven up the garden. There are many different species and varieties of ice plants; some types to look into include the Cooper’s ice plant and Starburst ice plant.

As with most succulents, ice plants require full sun and well-draining soil. Hardy ice plants thrive in hardiness zones 6-10.

Hen and Chicks

Plant a hen and end up with chicks! This low-growing succulent has a beautiful rosette shape, and readily produces offsets or pups, leading to the name hen and chicks. Like all succulents, this plant doesn’t need much water or fertilizer, so it’s easy to care for.

Crown of Thorns

People often grow crown of thorns as a houseplant, but it can also work well in outdoor succulent gardens. Choose a sunny location with well-draining soil if you choose to add it to an outdoor flower garden. Since crown of thorns cannot tolerate much cold, you’ll need to bring it indoors in the winter or replant each spring.

Hedgehog Cactus

With so many cacti available, it’s hard to choose just a few for your garden. The hedgehog cactus is a favorite due to its small size and large flowers. These cacti stay under a foot tall, yet they have some of the largest cacti blooms. There are numerous species of hedgehog cacti that produce flowers in shades of pink, red, and yellow. If you want to enjoy the cactus’ blooms, make sure to plant them in full sun.

Herb Gardens

While you may not think of flowers when you think of herbs, many of these fragrant plants send up gorgeous blooms.

Nasturtium

These peppery flowers bring a sharp bite to the table and a boost of color to the garden. While orange blossoms are the most common color, you can also find yellow, peach, and red nasturtiums. Look for bush varieties to act as a groundcover or trailing varieties to climb up fences or trellises.

Since nasturtiums are annuals, you’ll need to replant them each year. Fortunately, they’re easy to grow from seed. Plant the seeds in a well-draining soil after the last spring frost has passed. The plants prefer moist soil and don’t tolerate extended drought well, so water regularly and mulch around the plant to conserve moisture.

Lavender

With flowers that are both fragrant and gorgeous, lavender is a must-have for any herb garden. If you live in a cold climate, go with English lavender. And if you live in a warm area and want long-lasting flowers, plant French lavender.

All lavender types require lots of sun and well-drained soil. If you plant these flowers in a wet area, they will likely rot and die. As long as they have access to lots of sun and dry soil, they’re pretty easy to care for. Annual pruning helps keep the plants healthy and encourages them to produce new growth. After the flowers bloom, trim the pliable, green stems a few inches above where they emerge from woody growth.

Chamomile

Need some calm in your life? Then plant some chamomile! This plant produces loads of small white and yellow flowers that resemble daisies. You can harvest the flowers and use them to make a relaxing tea. There are many different varieties of chamomile, so you can find both low-growing groundcovers and taller plants.

When you plant chamomile in your garden, keep the soil moist for the first month. After this point, the plants will be well established and able to tolerate light drought. Removing dead flowers and cutting back long, leggy stems will help keep the plants healthy.

Thyme

While you’re probably familiar with the popular English thyme, you can also plant less common varieties like lemon thyme and creeping thyme. All types of thyme produce cute little flowers that taste similar to the plant’s leaves. Try sprinkling the blooms on dishes or cocktails to add a fun twist.

Thyme plants prefer well-draining soil and full sun. They also benefit from a regular trim in the spring; aim to remove the upper third of the plant’s foliage to encourage new growth.

Cold Weather Gardens

Who says flowers can’t bloom when the weather turns cold? These flowers can handle a bit of cold, and some even continue blooming after the first frost.

Pansy

While pansies look like delicate plants, they can handle quite a bit of cold. They thrive in both spring and fall gardens but struggle during hot summers. With flowers of all sizes and colors, you can find a variety of pansy that is perfect for your garden. 

Pansies can grow well in containers and in the ground—just make sure to plant them in rich and well-draining soil. The amount of sun depends on where you live; pansies can tolerate full sun in cold environments but prefer afternoon shade in warmer weather. No matter where you live, remove dead flowers to encourage new blooms.

Hellebore

Also known as lenten rose, hellebore is one of the first plants to flower each spring. After the five-petal flowers emerge in February or March, they continue to bloom for a few months. The plant has large leaves that remain green throughout the winter.

Hellebores grow best in areas with partial shade and well-draining and rich soil. It’s always a good idea to add a few handfuls of compost to the soil before planting these flowers.

Winter Jasmine

While most plants flower in the spring or summer, winter jasmine mixes things up with bright yellow, late winter blooms. The plant grows as a shrub with stunning, weeping branches. Consider planting it on top of a wall so the branches can cascade over the edge.

Winter jasmine is hardy in zones 6-10, so it’s a suitable addition to gardens throughout the United States. These plants prefer full sun, well-draining soil, and plenty of moisture.

Wetland Gardens

If you live in an area with moist soil or want to try your hand at creating a bog garden, check out these plants. Unlike many common garden flowers, these plants thrive with constantly moist soil.

Marsh Marigold

Native to wet woodlands in the Northeast and Western United States, marsh marigold is a member of the buttercup family. It produces bright yellow flowers during the spring and early summer.

It thrives in consistently moist areas, so plant it near streambanks or in that swampy area of your yard where other plants die. It prefers rich and slightly acidic soil, but other types of soil can work as long as they remain wet. Marsh marigolds can tolerate full sun or partial shade.

Pitcher Plant

A type of carnivorous plant, the pitcher plant adds both beauty and intrigue to wet areas. Their modified leaves act as pitfall traps that capture small prey like flies and spiders. While many species of pitcher plants work best as houseplants, some species are native to the United States and can tolerate cold weather. The purple pitcher plant is a great choice for outdoor wetland gardens.

Unlike most garden flowers, these plants need moisture to survive. Plant them in a pond to keep them happy.

Low-Maintenance Gardens

If you want a flower garden but don’t want to put in much time or work maintaining it, you’re not alone. These flowers are basically set and forget plants; they don’t require much water, fertilizer, or pruning, yet they still provide lots of beauty!

Marigold

What’s not to love about marigolds? These beloved plants produce warm blooms that brighten gardens for months on end. They’re deer and rabbit resistant, and they keep away many common garden pests. While deadheading flowers will increase the number of blooms, most marigold plants will produce lots of flowers even if they’re neglected.

Daylily

One of the most low-maintenance perennial plants, daylilies provide color and flowers year after year. While each flower only blooms for one day, the plants send out new flowers over the course of a month.

Goldenrod

If you’ve ever driven on the highway or walked through a field in late summer or fall, you’ve likely seen goldenrod flowers. This group of plants produces yellow flowers and thrives in a wide variety of soil types. Plant seeds in a sunny area and you’ll be rewarded with flowers year after year.

Shasta Daisy

Everyone is familiar with the white and yellow shasta daisy. Maybe you grabbed a handful of the flowers for a wildflower bouquet or picked off the petals to determine a crush’s love. But did you know the daisy is one of the birth flowers for April? 

Since these cute flowers are deer-resistant and suitable for rocky areas, they’re great additions to many gardens. They don’t require any care after they’re established, unless you need to water them during an extreme drought. Just make sure you plant them in well-draining soil and full to partial sun.

FAQ

What Flowers Should I Plant in My Garden?

This depends on numerous factors including your soil type, sun, and personal preferences. However, some popular garden flowers include roses, snapdragons, marigolds, and lilies.

What Is the Easiest Flower to Grow in Home Gardens?

The easiest flower to grow will depend on where you live. However, purple coneflower, black-eyed susan, yarrow, and marigold all thrive in most areas without much care.

Add Flowers to Your Home and Garden

We probably don’t have to tell you this, but there’s no such thing as too many flowers! So before you get busy planting flowers in your garden, take a moment to order spring flower delivery for yourself and your loved ones.

While there’s never a wrong time to order flowers, the warmer months coincide with one of the most popular flower holidays: Mothers’ Day! We’ve put together a wide selection of Mothers’ Day flowers, so you can find a bouquet perfect for every type of mom. Not only will your flowers arrive fresh, but your mom will love that they come from sustainable farms.

Shop All