periwinkle
This tiny annual fourishes in full sun, scorching heat, and average soil and requires little watering. Plant seedlings in early summer for vibrant pink, red, or lavender blooms until frost. Try one of the trailing Mediterranean varieties in a hanging basket or in a border. While easy to grow, the plant can develop fungus, so clean up dead leaves, and don’t overwater.
fan fower
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It looks delicate, but this Australia native efortlessly shrugs of extreme temps and humidity, sprouting purple, periwinkle, or white fowers all summer. Let its trailing stems cascade from a container or spread as ground cover in areas with full sun to partial shade. Usually grown as an annual, fan fower requires only moderate watering during even the hottest days.
mexican sunfower
globe amaranth
No rain? No problem for this annual, which happily grows in desert-like weather. Plant it in spring and you’ll see tall pom-pom–shaped blooms in purple, pink, red, or white into fall. Bonus: Birds love it.
This cheery annual puts out daisy-like fowers in orange, red, or yellow that bees and butterfies love. It’s easy to start from seed. If you plant a large variety, just make sure to give them space— and be prepared to stake them if they become unruly. Mexican sunfower thrives in full sun all summer long and is very droughttolerant once it gets going.
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lantana
Perfect for sunbaked spots, this no-fail butterfybaiting annual (which is a perennial in areas that don’t get frost) packs a ton of color in each cluster of tiny fowers. It comes in vivid shades of pink, orange, yellow, coral, purple, and red, and it’s often two- or three-toned. Plant it in early summer and it will bloom until frost.
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162 HGTV Magazine
For sHoPPING soUrces, see PAGe 176.
FAN FLoWer: GeTTy IMAGes; PerIWINkLe, GLoBe AMArANTH, cockscoMB: IsTockPHoTo; LANTANA, BLANkeT FLoWer: GAP PHoTos; MexIcAN sUNFLoWer, BUTTer dAIsy, PHLox INTeNsIA: ALAMy
in the yard
