Looking to stir up some drama in your garden during the cooler weather that winter brings? Well, do I have the solution for you! Just when you thought flower season was coming to an end or spring season blooms will never come, think again. Hardy annuals are just that–tough and enduring, and the best part is they have an intense color palette that livens up even the darkest days. All of these cool season flowers have the wow factor, especially when planted in clusters. Bring the outside in with cut flowers so the show can continue during winter!
What to Know About Hardy Annuals
Hardy annuals are flowers that have a blooming season of 12 months. They earn the title of hardy annuals because not only do they last through the cold climate that winter brings on, but they thrive in it! These cool season flowers mentioned in this post are some of the best and prettiest hardy annuals you will find!
Cool Season Flowers and Hardy Annuals
Here’s my pick for the showiest hardy annuals that are great cool season flowers. Most of these cool season flowers require little fertilizing except at planting but I’ve noted where extra supplementation may be needed.
Best Types of Cool Season Flowers:
Larkspur Flowers
Latin: Consolida ajacis
My pick: Cloudy Skies
The delicate orchid-like bloom on these larkspurs is only enhanced by their purply-blue and silvery-white clustered petals that march up a sturdy dark green stalk.
Larkspur is best planted from seeds that have been chilled for a few weeks. Just put them in a baggie in your refrigerator and let them get comfortable. Then plant!
This is a hardy plant for early spring or fall if you are in a warmer climate. Another benefit is that larkspurs are self-seeding so make a permanent place for them to call home. Deadhead often to stretch out the bloom time which can range from early spring to late fall and in warmer climates, into the winter.
Caution: seeds are poisonous.
Sun requirements: full sun
Planting time: early spring or early fall
Height: Up to 3 feet tall
Zones 2-11
Snapdragon Flowers
Latin: Antirrhinum majus
My pick: Madame Butterfly Ivory and Bronze
These colors and petal shapes just scream romance to me! Brozne and ivory double butterfly petals with dabs of yellow near the centers, branch out on green stalks covered with tiny hairs. I love how they start blooming near the bottom and then work their way up!
Plant in well- draining soil and harvest or deadhead to encourage more blooms. Snapdragons require hortonova staking as they are at all and prolific bloomer, throwing new stems consistently from March to October.
Snapdragon’s fragrant stalks repel deer but attract pollinators. A win-win! Did I mention the flowers are edible?
Sun requirements: full sun
Planting time: early spring or early fall
Height: 2-3 feet and may require staking
Zones 7-11
Iceland Poppies Flowers
Latin: Papaver nudicaule
My pick: La Dolce Vita
Iceland Poppies do not originate from Iceland! Their roots go back to subpolar regions of Europe, North America, and the mountains of central Asia. These cool weather lovers come in a range of colors, but I prefer the Champagne Bubbles Scarlet variety because of its soft pink and peach-colored ruffled petals that resemble crepe paper and sit atop a fuzzy leafless stem. What a showstopper!
Iceland poppies bloom from May to July and like most flowers, do best when harvested and deadheaded frequently. Remember to lightly water as poppy blight, a whitish-gray fungus, can invade the stems if soil gets soggy. To harvest pick stems when the bud is just cracking color and burn the ends of the stems with an open flame for 7-10 seconds. This helps immensely with case life!
Iceland poppies come in a variety of colors ranging from orange, yellow, pink, and salmon, to white and are deer resistant.
Sun requirements: full sun
Planting time: early spring or early fall
Height: 1-2 feet tall
Zones: 2-9
Sweet Peas Flowers
Latin: Lathyrus odoratus
My Pick: Mammoth Blend
Velvet purple, peachy salmon, petal pink, bright white, crimson red, periwinkle blue, dusty lavender are the multi-color range you’ll find with Mammoth Blend. These sweet peas are large, early bloomers sporting long stems perfect for bouquets. Native to the Mediterranean, these stunning climbers are drought resistant, hardy, and easy to grow. And they attract bees!
To help with germination, seeds should be soaked in water overnight. Dig in bone meal and a balanced fertilizer at the time of planting, then fertilize monthly during the growing season.
Did you know sweet peas are a member of the legume family? Don’t eat them though as they are toxic!
Sun requirements: full sun or partial shade
Planting time: early spring for late summer blooms or early fall for early (think February/March) for blooms in warmer climates.
Height: 6-8 feet tall. Will need a fence or trellis to support the vining peas.
Zones: 3-8
Orach Flowers
Latin: Atriplex hortensis
My pick: Ruby Gold
Orach is a prolific plant for many reasons: as a landscape ornamental, as a textured filler bouquets or for garden veggie growing. The deep reddish-purple leaves, shaped like a large arrow, can be used in place of spinach or Swiss chard. This ancient veggie has been called a superfood. Eat the leaves and young stems raw or cooked for a bolt of nutrition. The red leaves will turn green after cooking and tinge the water pink, like with red chard.
Its eye-catching foliage is a glowing acid-green, and stalks are streaked with cranberry. Early in the season, harvest the young leafy stems for an excellent spring bouquet addition.
Harvest orach from June until the first frost and pinch before it goes to seed to continue leaf growth. If plants are left to grow, you’ll be rewarded with gorgeous seedy stems that are wonderful in large, mid summer arrangements. Seeds are a blend of dusty rose and sunbleached moss which I love for their color and texture in summer bouquets!
Sun requirements: full sun to partial sun
Planting time: early spring for late summer harvest or early fall for winter harvest in warmer climates.
Height: 2-6 feet tall
Zones: 3-8
Bells of Ireland Flowers
Latin: Molucella laevis
My pick: Pixie Bells
Bells of Ireland, also called shell flower, is a summer flowering annual, native to Turkey, Syria and the Caucasus. These flowers have been cultivated since the 1500s and are a symbol of good luck.
Densely packed pale to emerald green tubular bells enclose tiny white flowers with a lime green calyx on sturdy green stalks. I happen to love these flowers as they remind me of leprechauns and St. Patty’s Day! A great addition to any garden, Pixie Bells add a splash of light green color a bit different from the purples and pinks and give you many cutting blooms as well, lasting up to two weeks in a vase.
These seeds do best when chilled for two weeks prior to planting to help speed up germination, which can take 12-21 days.
Plant in moist and well-drained soil and fertilize monthly for blooms from summer through fall.
Cool weather Bells of Ireland are deer and rabbit resistant.
Sun requirements: full sun to partial sun
Planting time: early spring
Height: 2-3 feet tall and may require staking
Zones: 4-9
Love-in-a-Mist Flowers
Latin: Nigella damascena
My Pick: Miss Jekyll Dark Blue
If this just isn’t the most gorgeous of the annuals, I don’t know what is. Flowers of periwinkle blue with double ragged-edged petals and leaves that are more like feathery, delicate tendrils resembling fennel or dill, are simply captivating! A symbol of unrequited love, Love-in-a-Mist comes from southern Europe and Northern Africa and is also called Nigella.
This flower is good to mix in borders, use in hanging baskets, bouquets and is a natural to combine with Bachelor’s Buttons and Bells of Ireland.
Love-in-a-Mist is best grown from seed and has a short bloom period. For successive blooms, plant seeds every three weeks. These plants love well drained soil, and an introduction of fertilizer at planting. Deadhead to keep the blooms coming.
This cottage variety flowers July to September, is rarely affected by pests and is low maintenance. After the petals drop, another show is on the way! The seedpod is just as beguiling as the flower with upright thin green stamens caressing green seed pods streaked with dusty burgundy mauve. Beautiful and great in flower arrangements.
Sun requirements: full sun
Planting time: March to September
Height: 1-2 feet tall
Zones: 2-11
Bachelor’s Buttons Flowers
Latin:
My Pick: Blue Boy
Native to Europe, Bachelor’s Buttons, also called cornflower, have a story. It seems that bachelors wore this flower in their jacket button holes to show ladies they were available. Wouldn’t that be fun today?
The variety Blue Boy drew me in with its deep amethyst blue petals that fan slightly upward as if protecting their deeper blue, white-tipped stamens. Really stunning!
Bachelor’s Buttons are best grown from seed and would like to be fertilized in early spring and throughout the summer. They are an early bloomer and will carry on until the first frost.
This low maintenance flower with its light fragrance is also edible. Use as a garnish, or dry for a tea. By the way, Bachelor’s Buttons are fantastic pollinators!
Sun requirements: full sun to partial sun
Planting time: early spring
Height: 1-3 feet tall
Zones: 2-11
As most of you know, I LOVE color, texture, and dramatic clusters of flowers and you will have it all in spades when you include some of these cool season hardy annuals into your garden mix. I know I will be planting orach this spring!
If you loved this post on cool season flowers, I think you’d love these ones too:
How to Prune Hydrangeas for Fall
The 7 Best Perennial Cut Flowers
Fall Bulbs to Plant for Spring Blooms
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