Flowering Annuals That Can Grow in Wet Conditions
Below you will find a list of flowering annuals from our database that can grow in wet climates. If you click on any of the photos, you will see a Virtual Plant Tag that may contain photos, plant descriptions, usage suggestions and a link to where you can buy that plant.
Many annuals that flower can flourish in wet areas, even standing water, but some of these same plants can also do quite well in dry areas or places in the landscape with average moisture.
With so many gorgeous bedding and container plants that will grow and flower well in wet places in the garden, you can choose what colors or accents you want to enliven your landscaping with. Known as Carpathian Bellflower, Tussock Bellflower or Carpathian Harebell, the Campanula carpatica and selections or cultivars can be grown as an annual or a perennial provided that moist soil has a chance to drain between rain or waterings. One of the most popular Bellflowers, they do well in any type of above ground container too.
Gaining ground for its intense colors are the Chile Peppers, now being grown as an ornamental since so many new colors and forms are available. Known also as Mexican Hot Peppers and Paprika, Capsicum annuum's fruits are where the bright red, orange, yellow and purple colors are. Breeding is resulting in new selections with variegated leaves and variegated fruit, frequently on compact plants that work better in the garden and add a splash of color and texture to containers.
A group of plants not always thought of as annuals are Cannas. While tolerant of a wide range of conditions if given adequate sun, Cannas will grow and flower nicely in standing water all the way to a baked dry island bed in the median strip of a highway. You will enjoy all season color until frost.
Not well-known, but deserving to be, is Shrubby Perilla, Perilla frutescens. Sunny and dry or Partially Shady and moist or wet, these fast growing annuals quickly become favorites where their reseeding is welcome. Less formal in texture, the Perilla adds fragrance and color with purple speckles to the dark green leaves.
Hybridization work with Verbena is giving us lacy leaves, a vast array of bloom colors and increased tolerance to growing in wetter spots in the garden. It is still best to use Verbena in areas that drain between waterings and lend themselves well to container gardening since both flowers and foliage is attractive. Bedding Verbenas come into flower early in the spring with white, light and dark pinks, blue, lavender-pink, purple, coral-pink, burgundy, cherry, hot pink and lavender-blue. New compact forms work well in pots.