Spectacular XXL annual plants for your garden

The appeal of annual flowers in the garden

If annual plants are found in almost every garden, it’s because they have no shortage of qualities.

1. They fit everywhere, whether in flower beds, borders, rockeries or containers. Even without a garden, you can enjoy them by growing a simple window box, trough or hanging basket.
2. They are easy to grow and succeed with. Annuals are often the first plants we recommend beginner gardeners to try.
3. They grow quickly. Since annuals have a very short life cycle (unlike perennials), they must grow fast. Just a few months are enough for them to show the tips of their petals. Moreover, they are often very floriferous for long weeks, as they must give their all to hope to produce enough seeds to ensure the survival of the species.
4. They are inexpensive plants. Often sold in seed packets to sow, in buckets or as plug plants, they allow you to green up your garden at low cost.
5. They are very diverse, ranging from cottage-style flowers to more sophisticated blooms. They can be fragrant or not, have ornamental foliage, produce decorative fruits, or even be edible and make their way into the kitchen… There are options for all garden styles: contemporary, English, cottage, exotic, romantic, etc.
6. They self-seed spontaneously if growing conditions suit them. If you plant annuals in the garden, there’s a good chance some will return faithfully each year. If you don’t prune the flowers, they will indeed produce seeds that may germinate the following year.
7. They allow you to change the scenery every year. If you dislike an annual, no problem – it will complete its cycle in winter. You can then replace it with another candidate better suited to your tastes and needs.
8. Many are melliferous, helping to attract precious pollinating insects.

Quick reminder: we grow some perennial plants as annuals in our climate. This is due to their very low hardiness, meaning they cannot survive our winters (except in Mediterranean regions where it never freezes).

Annuals like Petunias add an incomparable splash of colour to gardens or containers

Why grow XXL annual flowers?

Choosing annuals with exceptional flowering is an easy and quick way to enhance your garden. These are plants that will quickly add volume and colour. They are also ideal for bringing a touch of lushness and attracting attention.

But they will also help structure a space, for example in a flowerbed, or to delineate an area (such as a dining corner).

A harmonious garden involves selecting plants of varied sizes and shapes. Large flowers allow you to play with volumes and even heights if you choose climbing plants with big flowers or giant varieties. This creates contrasts and truly breathtaking scenes.

Finally, these XXL flowers will also allow you to create impressive bouquets that will brighten up your interiors or window ledges.

Among the spectacular and structural annuals: amaranth and sunflowers!

How to choose XXL annual flowers?

According to growing conditions

Like all plants, annuals should not be chosen at random. To enjoy abundant flowering with minimal care, it’s essential to select them based on your specific growing constraints.

This includes:

• soil type (heavy clay, light and well-draining, poor or rich in organic matter, moist or very dry…);
• exposure (dappled shade, shaded, sunny…);
• climate and its specificities (sea spray, high rainfall, intense summer heat, strong winds…);
• available space (large flowerbed, planter, border, small rockery, trellis…).

Feel free to use our Plantfit app, which helps you create your garden profile and select only suitable plants. A real time and energy saver.

According to personal taste

Of course, this is the other key factor when choosing XXL annuals. Consider the style of your garden or balcony/terrace, your favourite colours, those you like less, and so on. Also think about flower shapes: single, double, ruffled, star-shaped, airy, etc.

To create a harmonious display, it’s generally recommended to choose two dominant colours. For a foolproof approach, opt for a monochrome scheme (pinks, blues, purples…) or complementary colours from the colour wheel (yellow and purple, red and green, orange and blue…). And since beauty is subjective, don’t hesitate to experiment with your own combinations—your garden should be a creative space too!

Our favourite XXL annual flowers

Sunflowers

Let’s start with the king of annuals, capable of producing truly giant flowers: the sunflower. Solar, melliferous, generous and structural, it brings as much colour as graphic impact to the garden, while delighting biodiversity. To enjoy XXL flowers, consider:

• The aptly named Helianthus annuus ‘Uniflorus Giganteus’, monumental with flowers reaching around 30 cm in diameter, carried by stems rising to nearly 2.5 metres in height;
• ‘Titan extra-tall’, which certainly aims to set records with its oversized 40 cm diameter flowers that climb to over 3.5 metres in height;
• The variety ‘Teddy Bear’, more modest with its 15 cm diameter flowers, but still impressive with its double flowering in large pompoms;
• ‘Solar Eclipse’, which holds its own with its large 20 cm diameter suns.

Sunflowers thrive in full sun, in soil rich in organic matter.

Sunflowers are undoubtedly the stars of large-flowered annuals

Gazania

These annuals offer very colourful flowers, resistant to drought. Discover for example ‘New Day White’, which continuously produces white flowers with yellow centres, 10 cm in diameter, throughout summer.

Particularly graphic and impressive, ‘Big Kiss Yellow Flame’ displays large 12 cm diameter daisies, with yellow petals striped with scarlet red. An almost hypnotic bicolour variety.

Also worth mentioning is ‘New Day Pink Shades’, whose large 10 cm diameter flowers showcase a beautiful gradient of pink around an orange heart.

In the ‘New Day’ series, Gazania ‘Red Shades’ is a solar summer beauty!

Morning glories

Vigorous and fast-growing, morning glories can exceed 2 metres in height within a few months. These annuals climb any available support thanks to their voluble stems. Otherwise, no problem for this plant: it will simply trail along the ground.

Notably, let’s mention Ipomoea tricolor ‘Heavenly Blue’, which produces large trumpet-shaped flowers, blue with white throats, about 8 cm in diameter. They last only a day but are continuously renewed throughout summer. A variegated, generous, truly spectacular flowering!

Grow in a warm, sunny position, in well-drained soil (where water flows without stagnating).

Morning glory captivates us with its intense colours

Rudbeckias

Perennials often grown as annuals, as they are generally not very hardy, rudbeckias illuminate the garden with their large daisy-like flowers, always in vibrant colours.

Among the XXL-flowered varieties, let’s mention Rudbeckia hirta ‘Cappuccino’, for its beautiful orange flowering with bronze highlights. Each flower reaches nearly 15 cm in diameter.

Also worth mentioning is ‘Green Eyes’, with its yellow flowers and green centres, about 13 cm in diameter.

Rudbeckias prefer sunny or partially shaded positions, in rich, fresh but well-drained soil.

Rudbecka hirta ‘Cappuccino’

Petunias

Generous and colourful, these annuals will bring cheerfulness and a touch of sophistication to the garden as well as to your flowering pots.

Some reward us with large flowers nearly 10 cm in diameter. This is the case with:

• Petunia x surfinia ‘Tumbelina Diana’, with its double, crumpled pure white flowers;
• ‘Candyfloss’, with its bright pink pompoms;
• ‘Maria’, with double flowers of intense blue, delicately scented.

Plant in full sun, in fertile but well-drained soil.

Petunia x surfinia ‘Tumbelina Diana’

Amaranths

For autumn flowering, consider amaranths. If they are also called “foxtails”, it’s in reference to their flowering in long, variegated spikes, very textured. Impossible to miss these flowers!

In the variety ‘Dreadlocks’, the trailing purple spikes reach 30 cm in length.

‘Hot Biscuits’ produces spectacular tawny brown spikes, about twenty centimetres long.

Also worth mentioning is ‘Coral Fountain’ with its long dark red 25 cm spikes, as well as ‘Fat Spike’, with its erect, slender purple-red plumes, measuring 30 cm long.

Grow in full sun, in soil that remains fresh (never completely dries out).

Many amaranths produce remarkable spikes, including cultivars from Amaranthus caudatus

Other annuals with impressively large flowers

This list is obviously not exhaustive. We could also mention the Peruvian heliotrope ‘Marine’ whose violet-blue inflorescences, with a vanilla scent, reach 15 cm in diameter.

Let’s not forget hollyhocks, often grown as biennials. They produce huge floral spikes, adorned with flowers that can reach 10 cm in diameter.

Heliotrope ‘Marine’, star of blue gardens