The most common flowering plants you'll find in gardens are roses, sunflowers, and lavender. Magnolia trees and cherry blossoms round out the top five. You can find all of them at nurseries from coast to coast, and each one fills a different role in your yard.
These popular flowering plants earned their fame for good reason. Roses have been grown for over 5,000 years and come in thousands of varieties. Sunflowers grow fast as annuals that anyone can start from seed. Lavender fills the air with scent while needing almost no water. Cherry blossoms and magnolia trees add height and drama that your smaller plants can't match. Common flowering plants like these give you options for every space and style.
I've grown four of these five in my own garden and the care gap surprised me. My lavender thrives on neglect. I water it once a week in summer droughts and ignore it the rest of the time. My hybrid tea roses are the polar opposite. They need pruning, feeding every six weeks, and spraying for black spot to look their best. When I first tried roses, I had no idea how much more work they'd take.
All of these plants share one thing. They're angiosperms that use flowers to make seeds. But their growth forms cover a huge range. Roses are woody shrubs. Sunflowers are annuals reaching 6 to 12 feet (1.8 to 3.6 meters) in one season. Lavender is a low evergreen subshrub that stays green year round. Magnolias and cherries grow into full shade trees. This range shows you how many shapes a flower-producing plant can take.
Roses
- Growing zones: Hardy in zones 3 through 11, making them the most flexible pick on this list for your climate.
- Best use: Cut flower beds and borders where you want fragrance and repeat blooms through the whole season.
- Care level: Moderate to high for hybrid teas, but shrub roses like Knock Outs need much less attention from you.
Sunflowers
- Growing season: Annual plants going from seed to bloom in 70 to 100 days, perfect for kids and new gardeners.
- Best use: Back-of-border statement plants that pull bees and birds into your yard all through the summer months.
- Care level: Low work once they sprout, just needing full sun and steady water to reach their full height.
Lavender
- Growing conditions: Loves dry weather with well-drained soil and 6-plus hours of full sun hitting it each day.
- Best use: Borders and paths where you want fragrance, drought resistance, and a magnet for bees and butterflies.
- Care level: Very low once roots set in, needing little water and just one hard trim in early spring each year.
Beyond these five, many other flowering plant examples earn a spot in your beds. Hydrangeas produce massive heads in blue, pink, or white. Coneflowers and black-eyed Susans bring native color with zero fuss on your part. Peonies give you some of the most fragrant blooms you can grow in zones 3 through 8. Zinnias are another great annual option that you can grow from seed in about 60 days for bright, long-lasting cut flowers.
I've found that mixing a few common flowering plants together gives you the best results in any sized yard. Put your roses and lavender in sunny beds near your front door where you'll smell them every day. Plant sunflowers along a back fence for a wall of summer color. And if you have room for a tree, a cherry blossom will give your whole property a spring centerpiece that no other plant can match.
Pick your plants based on what you want most. If you want fragrance, go with roses and lavender along your walkways. For cut flowers to bring inside, grow sunflowers and zinnias in rows. If you care about pollinators, native coneflowers and lavender pull in the most bees. And if you want spring drama overhead, a magnolia or cherry tree will change your whole yard's look every April.
Read the full article: Best Flowering Trees for Your Yard
