Top Flowers For Summer Colour To Plant Now
Now is the best time to get your garden ready for the warmer months ahead and ensure you have plenty of colour to enjoy. In late spring, the soil is finally warming up, making it more fertile for healthy plant establishment and growth. Daylight hours are also steadily increasing, providing ample support for new growth and healthy root systems throughout your garden. Planting now gives your flowers a chance to develop and establish themselves before the summer heat.
Choosing the right mix of long-flowering annuals and dependable perennials is the secret to creating a vibrant display that lasts for months. Getting prepared now ensures that your garden will be full of colour and life for a season spent outdoors.
Whether you want to refresh a tired border or brighten up a compact patio, you should get planting flowers for summer colour now, and we are here to help you make the right choice.
Taming Mother Nature is a leading landscape gardener with plenty of experience creating stunning outdoor spaces throughout the year. In this post, we are sharing the best flowers for summer colour that you can plant now and how to create a vibrant outdoor space in time for summer.
Why Plant Flowers for Summer Colour Now?
Planting flowers for summer colour in spring gives your garden a head start and is one of the best ways to ensure an attractive, vibrant landscape in time for the warmer weather.
The conditions of spring are optimal for healthy plant development and growth, allowing you to experience both immediate impact and lasting blooms in your landscape.
There are various reasons why spring is the ideal time to add more colour and flowers to your garden, such as:
- Faster root establishment: Warmer soil encourages plants to settle in quickly and securely.
- Heat preparation: Getting plants in the ground now gives them time to build resilience before dry spells hit.
- Prolonged flowering: Early planting creates stronger, healthier displays that stretch from early summer right through to autumn.
- Filling gaps: As spring bulbs fade and foliage dies back, newly planted summer flowers effortlessly fill empty spaces in garden beds, borders, pots and hanging baskets.
The Best Flowers for Summer Colour You Can Plant Now
Spending time outdoors can do wonders for your health and wellbeing, as we explore in our post The Health Benefits of Gardening: Why Green Spaces Are Good for Body and Mind, and summer is the ideal time for this. To ensure you have a place you want to spend time in, planting flowers for summer colour now gives your garden plenty of time to establish and bloom beautifully.
Whether you’re looking to add some colour to borders, your front garden or as adornments across the deck, there are plenty of flowers for summer colour that you can plant now, such as:
1) Cosmos
Cosmos grows incredibly quickly and flowers for a remarkably long period. The delicate, fern-like foliage and daisy-shaped blooms on these flowers bring a lovely, light movement to garden borders.
Pollinators love Cosmos for their accessible blooms, making them a great addition to any garden. These flowers are easy to grow and provide instant summer colour to the garden as they germinate quickly.
For more pollinator-friendly planting ideas, see our post Best Plants for Pollinators and Wildlife: A Seasonal Guide for UK Gardens.
These flowers for summer colour are ideal for sunny borders and cottage-style garden designs due to their vibrant blooms, but require less maintenance than traditional planting options.
To ensure these plants thrive in your garden, ensure they are placed in well-drained soil and deadheaded regularly to encourage a continuous supply of fresh blooms throughout the summer.
2) Zinnias
These flowers for summer colour are fast-growing and packed with vibrant colour. As they are fast-growing, these plants are excellent for filling out new planting schemes and ensuring all corners of your garden are colourful and attractive.
Like many other flowers for summer colour, they thrive in sunny spots and attract pollinators, so your garden can be sustainable and supportive throughout the season.
These flowers for summer colour are ideal for all kinds of outdoor spaces, as they come in a bold range of colours, including yellow. With their bold hues that bloom from early summer until the first frost, Zinnia is a lasting addition to your outdoor space.
Zinnias grow quickly from seeds and require minimal care, making them suitable for busy homeowners or those with no interest in gardening. To ensure they thrive, make sure to give these flowers full sun and avoid overcrowding them in flower beds or containers. Good airflow is essential to keep the foliage healthy and prevent powdery mildew.
For more low-maintenance planting ideas, see our post Top Low-Maintenance Plants For Effortless Style.
3) Marigolds
Reliable, cheerful, and incredibly easy to grow, marigolds are some of the best flowers for summer colour because they produce rich golden and orange colours for months on end. They also act as great companion plants, deterring certain pests in your flower beds and planting areas. With marigolds, you can create diverse, healthy planting schemes that require little intervention once established.
There are various options for marigolds, all of which perform well in sunny positions once established. Calendula, also known as pot marigold, is an easy-to-grow, hardy annual that adds colour to borders quickly and thrives with little intervention. This is a great way to add colour and interest to outdoor entertainment spaces, such as patios and decks, in container planting.
When establishing, make sure these flowers for summer colour are watered regularly.
4) Dahlias
If you want larger, more dramatic summer flowers, dahlias are the ultimate choice. Dahlias are a classic summer flower that can be potted now for blooms lasting through autumn, and they attract pollinators when kept deadheaded.
These flowers for summer colour can be planted in a range of locations across the garden, as long as you use fertile, well-drained soil. They are great for feature borders or statement containers. However, it is important to note that Dahlias can spread and fill space in borders or containers, so allow enough room for their growth.
Be sure to support taller varieties with stakes as they grow to prevent the heavy flower heads from snapping the stems.
5) Salvia
Salvias add brilliant height and rich, deep colour to your outdoor space throughout the spring and summer. As perennial plants, they return each year, providing reliable colour and sustained seasonal interest in your garden design. These flowers for summer colour are also fantastic for attracting bees and butterflies, so your garden will come alive throughout the season.
To ensure these flowers thrive throughout the season, choose a warm, sunny position to plant them in. Trim the plants lightly after their first flush of flowers to encourage a second wave of blooming later in the season, prolonging the visual appeal of your outdoor space during the summer.
Like many other flowers for summer colour, regular deadheading is essential to prolong flowering into autumn.
Flowers For Summer Colour In Smaller Gardens, Pots and Containers
You do not need sprawling lawns to enjoy a beautiful garden. Container planting is a flexible and versatile solution that allows gardens of all sizes to enjoy summer colour.
Choosing pots and container planting also allows for easy seasonal updates and better control over soil quality and drainage. For homeowners with limited space, a few carefully chosen pots filled with gorgeous plants can completely transform a patio or balcony.
Some of the best flowers for summer colour in these limited spaces include:
- Petunias: Excellent for hanging baskets and window boxes, offering large, trumpet-shaped flowers. Petunias are fast-growing annuals that establish quickly and bloom continuously, but they require regular watering and deadheading to maintain their appearance.
- Calibrachoa: Long-flowering and compact, these flowers produce hundreds of miniature bell-like blooms.
- Verbena: Great for layered container planting, these flowers bring clusters of bright colour that spill softly over the edges.
- Lobelia: Very useful for adding soft, trailing colour to the base of larger container displays. Lobelia can spread to fill out gaps in containers, creating a lush, full look to containers and planting borders.
For more small garden ideas, see our post 10 Small Garden Ideas To Maximise Space, Style and Functionality
How to Keep Summer Flowers Blooming Longer
A beautiful garden requires a little upkeep to look its best, but regular care brings life and vitality to your outdoor space. Following a few practical maintenance steps will keep your plants healthy and blooming beautifully as the season progresses:
- Water regularly: During dry spells, provide a deep watering at the base of the plants early in the morning or late in the evening. Check containers more frequently, as they dry out much faster in warm weather than border soil.
- Feed consistently: Apply a liquid fertiliser every couple of weeks during active growth to support heavy flowering.
- Remove faded flowers: Regular deadheading stops plants from setting seed and redirects their energy into producing more blooms.
- Apply mulch: Adding a layer of organic mulch to your borders helps retain essential moisture, regulates soil temperature, and suppresses weeds.
For more support on garden maintenance and ensuring your landscape thrives throughout the season, consider working with a professional landscaping company like Taming Mother Nature. We offer professional gardening services, along with landscaping and garden design, to help your outdoor space look its best throughout the year.
We can make your flowers for summer colour thrive and create a garden you can’t wait to spend time in.
A Simple Planting Combination for Instant Summer Colour
If you want a guaranteed formula for a stunning display, try this quick planting recipe. It creates excellent height, elegant movement, and long-lasting colour through the season.
- Back of border: Salvia, for rich colour and structural height
- Middle layer: Cosmos, for soft texture and continuous blooms
- Front edge: Marigolds for a bright, cheerful border line
- Container accents: Petunias or calibrachoa for trailing elegance nearby
Planting this layered scheme now will ensure your garden is attractive, vibrant and healthy ahead of the summer months, providing lasting visual appeal.
Conclusion
Planting now is one of the easiest and most rewarding ways to refresh your garden for the warmer months. A few carefully chosen flowers will quickly brighten your borders, patios, and containers while providing vivid colour throughout the summer months.
Summer is the peak time for garden colour, and planting flowers now gives your garden time to establish and bloom before a season spent outdoors. Be sure to check the specific planting guidelines for each variety to ensure optimal growth and blooming as the season progresses.
If you would like expert help planning your seasonal planting, require a complete garden design overhaul, or simply need regular garden maintenance to keep your outdoor space looking pristine, the experienced team at Taming Mother Nature can help.
Contact Us Today
To learn more about our services or to request a quote, please contact the team today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What flowers can I plant now for summer colour in the UK?
Good choices include cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, dahlias, and salvias. These all establish well in late spring and provide highly reliable summer flowering across UK gardens.
How often should I water newly planted summer flowers?
Newly planted flowers should be watered regularly while establishing their roots. In warm weather, plants in containers will likely need watering daily, while those in ground borders might need a thorough soaking every few days.
Which flowers are best for pots and small gardens?
Petunias, calibrachoa, verbena, and lobelia are excellent for smaller spaces. They flower heavily, stay relatively compact, and are perfectly suited for containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets.