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Sunflower Just about everyone knows the commercial-type sunflower: the really tall one with one broad yellow bloom filled with large seeds. Garden sunflowers come in a wide range of heights and habits and range in color from the usual golden yellow to white, lemon yellow, orange, red, and mahogany. Few annuals are as trendy, or as easy to grow!
Plant Profile Bloom Color: Varies by species; see individual listings
Bloom Time: Mid- to late summer through early fall
Height: 10 inches to 15 feet (30 cm to 4.5 m)
Spread: 1 to 3 feet (30 to 90 cm)
Garden Uses: Container planting, cut-flower garden, annual hedge, mass planting, meadow garden, mixed border, specimen plant, screening
Cosmos The bright flowers of cosmos are such a staple of the annual garden that they scarcely need any introduction. Both common species are fast-growing annuals, often reaching considerable heights in nature, although careful selection has led to hybrids of more restrained growth. They seem to thrive on neglect: The less you fuss with them, the better they do. And they even self-sow!
Plant Profile Bloom Color: Varies by species; see individual listings
Bloom Time: Early summer through early fall; fall through winter in mild climates
Height: Varies by species; see individual listings
Spread: 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 cm)
Garden Uses: Container planting, cut-flower garden, annual hedge, mass planting, meadow garden, mixed border, screening
Ageratum (flossflower)
Once a tallish annual for the mid-border, ageratum has morphed into the ideal edging plant. It forms a low mound of heart-shaped leaves often almost covered by dense clusters of fuzzy, ball-shaped flowers. The main color is lavender-blue: It's a hard color to capture in photos, so it ends up looking pinkish purple in some catalogs and nearly pure blue in others. It's a lovely and unusual color for the garden, and the flowers last and last.
Plant Profile Bloom Color: Lavender-blue; other shades vary by species
Bloom Time: Late spring through early fall; fall through winter in mild climates
Height: Varies by species; see individual listings
Spread: Varies by species; see individual listings
Garden Uses: Container planting, cut-flower garden, edging, groundcover, mass planting, mixed border, rock garden
Gomphrena (globe amaranth)
This charming old-fashioned garden flower has undergone a major revival over the last few years, largely due to new hybrids in a much wider color range and to more compact cultivars better suited to the average border. It is a bushy plant with numerous stems and oval to lance-shaped green leaves. Its claim to fame, though, is its flower heads: globular inflorescences looking more than a bit like clover blooms.
Plant Profile Bloom Color: Varies by species; see individual listings
Bloom Time: Early summer through early fall; nearly year-round in mild climates
Height: Varies by species; see individual listings
Spread: Varies by species; see individual listings
Garden Uses: Container planting, cut-flower garden, edging, mass planting, meadow garden, mixed border, rock garden
Zinnia Bright, long-lasting, daisylike flowers are the trademark of the zinnia, a New World native that has taken the plant world by storm. Modern zinnias come in a wide range of sizes and shapes, from upright, cut-flower types to multistemmed, multiflowered border zinnias. The flowers can be single or double, big or small, and the color range is just about complete: Only true blue is lacking. If that weren?t enough, they are particularly easy to grow!
Plant Profile Bloom Color: Varies by species; see individual listings
Bloom Time: Summer through early fall
Height : 4 to 48 inches (10 to 120 cm)
Spread: 10 to 24 inches (25 to 60 cm)
Garden Uses: Container planting, cut-flower garden, edging, mass planting, meadow garden, mixed border
