These Are the Full Sun Plants and Flowers Your Garden Needs

This beautiful vining plant keeps its brilliant color all summer long. Mandevilla comes in white, pink, red, and coral, and brightens up any deck, patio, or planting bed with its trumpet-shaped flowers. It’s usually treated as an annual, but you can bring it indoors for winter—just be warned, it tends to drop leaves and be messy.

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The profuse blossoms of this low-growing annual look like tiny fans. Available in white, pink, and purple, this full-sun flower stands up to heat and drought like a champ. Plant it as edging along walkways, in containers, and in window boxes.

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This handsome annual vine with its burgundy, chartreuse, or variegated leaves adds a punch to a mixed container. Just remember to give it plenty of room to spread.

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Catmint is a perennial that, once established, doesn’t mind heat, poor soil, or drought. With silvery-green foliage that has a minty scent and spikes of purple flowers that pollinators love, it’s a must-have in any garden.

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Cheery, daisy-like flowers in bright colors, such as orange and yellow, grow on this plant even at the height of summer. Plus, you don’t have to deadhead it to keep the flowers coming.

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Russian sage is a handsome perennial with striking spikes of purple flowers that last for weeks. Bonus: Deer and rabbits leave it alone.

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If you want a perennial that survives on neglect, opt for the daylily. This sturdy plant tolerates most soil types, and it needs almost zero care. Each flower lasts for just a day—hence the name—but there are many on each stalk! It comes in all heights and in every color you can imagine, with single or double petals.

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This Mediterranean native is no stranger to heat and drought. It actually prefers sandy, rocky soils and doesn’t like to stay too wet. There are many varieties of lavender, so make sure to choose the type that will grow best in your USDA Plant Hardiness zone.

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Silvery-green foliage and a dense, creeping nature make this annual a spectacular filler for pots and window boxes. Plant it alone or in a mixed container.

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Perennial salvia is a hardy, reliable performer, and pollinators love it. It comes in pinks, blues, and purples, and is typically avoided by deer and rabbits.

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Also called summer snapdragon, this striking annual has bright spikes of pink, purple, or white blooms that last all season. Layer the delicate-looking but super-tough plant in beds or containers as an upright accent.

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This hardy annual is a classic—it was probably your grandma’s favorite! And it’s popular the world over, from Mexico to India. Marigolds are super tough, so they’ll tolerate a lot of heat and bloom until a hard freeze. They come in bright orange, yellow, cream, and variegated types.

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This old-fashioned annual blooms and blooms for reliable season-long color. New varieties don’t need to be deadheaded to keep blossoming, and spread to fill in an area quickly. Petunias look especially smashing in hanging baskets and window boxes.

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This cheery perennial comes in every shade of the rainbow. A coneflower is a pollinator fave, plus the seedheads provide winter food for birds.

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This one might resemble a petunia, but it’s an entirely different plant. Best used in baskets or window boxes for maximum effect, this annual comes in amazing colors—ranging from hot pink to lemon yellow to vibrant orange and everything in between—with single or double petals.

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Pretty heart-shaped leaves with splashes of pink, green, and white make this foliage plant a stunner. Plant a caladium in its own container or within the landscape. It can survive winters in warm climates, or you can pot it and bring it indoors as a houseplant for winter in cold climates.

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This low-growing annual—which is also called portulaca—has thick, fleshy leaves that retain water, so it’s drought hardy. Quite the beauty, it has bright flowers in shades of hot pink, yellow, red, orange, and white.

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Heat, humidity, drought: This tough annual takes it all in stride! The round blooms of a globe amaranth offer an interesting contrast to other plants, and it’s an ideal edging plant along a walkway.

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Native to tropical regions, hibiscus adds an exotic flair to any container. Available in an array of bright, saturated colors—from deepest red to pink, orange, and yellow—some types are perennial, others annual. Read the tag to be sure what you’re buying.

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Also known as the cigar plant or firecracker plant, this is a favorite of hummingbirds. A cuphea plant is annual in most USDA hardiness zones, but perennial in some. Plant it in well-draining soil with medium moisture.

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