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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Have a potted rose plant in Southern California. It’s been pruned but now I’m not sure how to care for it during the winter months. Does it need to be watered regularly, etc.?
Can you give tips for growing Dahlias in pots! mine is alive but barely...... thanks
For pots, make sure dahlias are placed in a place that gets plenty of light. That is usually the reason for dahlias. Also, if you’re potting, make sure you’re not adding too much nitrogenous fertilizer.
Respected sir
I am Biswanath, I’m living in mumbai, india. I have purchase sum “Calla Lily Seed”
But I do not success to germination it over one and half month.
Please give me some suggestion about calla lily seed germination.
I Have 5 large clay pots and want to plant flowers on my patio which is shaded only get 2 hours of sun each days what would be the best flowers. I live in San Antonio Texas.
Caladium, bee balm, lenten rose, and astillbe are good plants for shade.
I have a beautiful flowering bush by my swimming pool. It is covered with orange "trumpets" all summer. I don't know the name of this plant, we just call it a trumpet vine. People ask me for something to grow this plant at their home. I collected some seed from the now dried pods and put them in small glasses with water. Now they have begun to sprout. My question is, now what? Do I transplant them in potting soil in plastic pots? Do I keep them indoors all winter? My wife says that since new ones have sprouted in the spring, obviously from seeds spread from the original big plant, should I put the pots outdoors in the winter? I live at 2300 feet up in the Sierras, and it very rarely gets below freezing here, but does sometimes go down as low as 28 degrees. Should I water them if they are indoors? Should I put them in sunlight or is normal indoor light in the winter okay?
There are several varieties of trumpet vines and many are invasive. These are best grown in pots to keep them from spreading. One is called trumpet creeper (Campsis Radicans). It can grow 30-40 feet in a season, with a trunk several inches across. A close relative is the cross vine (Bignonia Capriolata). It is also called trumpet flower, or trumpet vine. The vines are shorter and the flowers are smaller. Plant some of the seedlings in pots outside and keep some in pots indoors. If you have seeds left you can plant the seeds outdoors in the spring.
Very good tips for container gardening with flowers...........Thanks.
I planted flowers in containers and now they are all greenery and no flowers. what should i do?
