Gardening in full sun offers both benefits and challenges. While many popular garden plants thrive in a sunny location the intensity of the sun’s rays can make maintaining a garden bed difficult. Proper plant selection design, and care allows any gardener to create stunning full sun beds. Follow these tips and tricks for glorious gardens that shine from sunup to sundown.
Choosing the Right Plants
The first step in creating great full sun beds is selecting plants that can handle the heat Some varieties actually prefer full blast sun for at least 6 hours per day and will languish in too much shade, Be sure to read plant tags and descriptions carefully to ensure your choices are right for a sunny spot
Annuals like marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers, and cosmos are tried and true picks for gardeners seeking nonstop color. These fast-growing plants bloom continuously if spent blossoms are promptly removed. For cool weather color, pansies, snapdragons, and ornamental kale thrive in spring and fall sun.
Perennials that thrive in full sun run the gamut from delicate herbs to sturdy ornamental grasses. Yarrow, coneflower, daylily, Russian sage, and liatris are just a few perennial possibilities. Choose varieties in a range of heights to create an attractive, layered look.
Don’t overlook shrubs and trees in your sunny garden plans. Many varieties do perfectly well without shade for protection. Fruit trees like apple, peach, and cherry relish full sun. Bright bloomers such as rose of Sharon, butterfly bush, spirea, and vitex illuminate the landscape.
Design for Success
Proper garden bed design sets your plants up to shine. Use these design tips when planning full sun beds:
Give plants room to grow. Avoid crowding by spacing plants according to mature size. This ensures good air circulation and allows each plant to reach its full potential.
Repeat colors and textures. Create a cohesive look by repeating favorite hues and leaf textures in clusters throughout the bed. Avoid a spotty, disconnected appearance.
Choose complimentary colors. Stick to a color palette of two or three coordinating or contrasting colors. Some pleasing combinations include pink, yellow, and blue or orange, purple, and silver.
Use tritones. Color schemes based on hues spaced three spaces apart on the color wheel offer visually pleasing drama. Try combining deep purple, bright yellow, and chartreuse plants.
Vary heights. For increased visual interest, incorporate plants of different heights. Mix low-growing herbs with mid-sized perennials and tall backdrops like sunflowers.
Add hardscaping. Hardscaping features such as trellises, stone paths, container gardens, and benches lend unique personality to garden beds.
Provide Proper Care
Caring for your plants properly ensures their health and vigor. Full sun beds need a bit of extra attention. Here are top care tips:
Water thoroughly. Most plants need at least 1-2 inches of water per week from rain or irrigation. Water lightly daily or deeply 2-3 times a week. Avoid frequent, light watering which encourages shallow roots.
Add mulch. A 2-4 inch layer of shredded bark, compost, leaves, or other organic matter keeps plant roots cool and moist while suppressing weeds. Replenish mulch annually.
Fertilize regularly. Apply a general purpose fertilizer monthly or according to label directions to fuel plant growth. Slow-release or organic formulas provide a steady nutrient supply.
Deadhead diligently. Removing spent blooms not only keeps plants looking their best but also encourages further flowering. Snip off faded flowers just above a leaf bud.
Stake tall plants. Add stakes or trellis support to keep floppy, top-heavy plants upright. Set stakes at time of planting to avoid root damage later on.
Pinch back leggy growth. Pinch or snip off the tips of wayward branches to force compact, bushy new growth. Timely pinching improves plant form.
15 Inspiring Full Sun Garden Bed Ideas
The gorgeous garden bed examples below offer visual inspiration for designing your own sunny beds. Consisting mainly of sun-loving annuals, perennials, shrubs, and ornamental grasses, these stunning plans offer color and interest from spring to frost.
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This golden garden features Rudbeckia, marigolds, dusty miller, geraniums, and dracaena. Ribbons of color create visual contrast.
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Cheery tulips, pansies, hyacinths, and other spring-blooming annuals flourish with cool early season sunshine.
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Underused in many gardens, snapdragons bring unique beauty interplanted with petunias.
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Climbing roses, veronica, and euphorbia thrive along a sunny garden fence accented with trellises.
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Portable planters like whiskey barrels allow moving the show when sun gets too intense.
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Colorful ribbons of celosia, petunias, torenia, salvia, and vinca make a bold statement.
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Keep it simple. Orange Mexican sunflowers and purple verbena dazzle against a sea of yellow marigolds.
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Orange and pink zinnias complement violet ageratum in a classic color scheme.
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Marigolds, lobelia, sunpatiens, daisies, and dusty miller shine on a raised planting bed.
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Low-growing salvia, dahlia, and marigolds make a big visual impact.
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Native plants like coneflowers, asters, grasses, and milkweed thrive in full sun while attracting pollinators.
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Succulents and sedums combine with sages and agastache for high heat tolerance.
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Brilliant mixes of zinnias, cosmos, calendulas, nasturtiums, and amaranthus provide nonstop color.
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Evergreen shrubs, ornamental grasses, sedums, and conifers create year-round interest.
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Tropical plants like canna lily, elephant ears, and pineapple lily lend a tropical vibe.
Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor
With proper planning and care, a full sun garden can surpass the beauty of beds in part shade or full shade. Take advantage of the numerous plants that thrive in sun’s brilliant rays. Follow these design and maintenance guidelines for success. Soon you’ll be enjoying a landscape that shines from dawn to dusk.
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- Plants for Sun
Full Sun Perennials, Shrubs, & Vines
These perennials, shrubs, and vines have a sunny disposition! Finding the right plants for your garden is crucial to achieving the garden of your dreams, and when it comes to plants that love the sun, there’s a wide variety of options. From knockout roses and vibrant coneflowers to gorgeous grasses and fragrant lavender, this collection of plants thrives in full-sun or part-sun environments.
3 of My Favorite Sun-Loving Perennials! ☀️ // Garden Answer
FAQ
What garden plants like full sun?
Plants that fruit heavily, like peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, melons, and squash, all need full sun—though in hot Southern gardens, these plants may appreciate a little afternoon shade, too.
Should garden beds be in full sun?
sunlight. The first, and most important, aspect to consider is sunlight exposure. Your garden will need to receive six or more direct sunlight hours per day. Really though, you’re aiming for as much sun as possible.
What vegetables do best in full sun?
Leafy green vegetables, like lettuce, kale, and chard, and some root crops, like carrots and radish, grow fine with as little as 4 to 6 hours of sun. However, if you’d like to grow heat-loving vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, beans, and squash, you’ll want to choose the sunniest spot possible.
What is the best ground cover for full sun?
- Thyme. Thyme (Thymus spp.) …
- Stonecrop. Stonecrops (Sedum spp.) …
- Moneywort. Moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia) is a good groundcover for wet sites. …
- Barren Strawberry. Barren strawberries (Waldsteinia fragarioides) are low-growing, mat-forming plants. …
- Roman Chamomile. …
- Creeping Cinquefoil. …
- Moss Phlox. …
- Speedwell.
What flowers go well with a full sun flower bed?
You can have a beautiful garden without a lot of work. As proof, here are 10 ideas for full sun flower beds. Golden rudbeckia pairs well with bright yellow marigolds, silver dusty miller, red and white geraniums, and variegated dracaena. The key to mixing all these colors: planting in swaths to avoid a spotty effect.
Which annuals grow best in a full sun bed?
Here are your options for annuals which grow best in full sun beds. 1. Marigolds Marigolds are bushy, round flowers filled with color. They not only add beauty to your landscape, but their scent is great for keeping pests away. If you’d like to grow marigolds in your full sun bed, be sure to provide well-draining soil and ample sunlight.
What flowers make a good garden bed?
Colorful ribbons of flowers make an artistic statement in this sun-loving flower garden bed. Flowers include red, gold, orange and pink celosia, pink and white vinca, purple and white petunias, and blue torenia and salvia. These are tough plants. Sometimes less is more.
Can you grow marigolds in a full sun bed?
Marigolds are bushy, round flowers filled with color. They not only add beauty to your landscape, but their scent is great for keeping pests away. If you’d like to grow marigolds in your full sun bed, be sure to provide well-draining soil and ample sunlight. Also, these flowers will bloom from summer until the first frost in autumn. 2. Begonias
How do you design a full sun garden?
Follow these simple design principles to create stunning beds for your full sun locations: Select a mix of heights, shapes, and colors for visual interest. Mass groupings of the same plants together for maximum impact. Use taller plants and trellised vines to add architecture. Add foliage accents like grasses or herbs for texture contrast.
What to plant in a full sun backyard in Oxfordshire?
Inspiration for a large farmhouse full sun backyard stone landscaping in Oxfordshire for summer. Photo of a traditional full sun backyard landscaping in Burlington. Succulents, grasses and low-water shrubs with vivid foliage give this coastal garden a rich, textured look with minimal maintenance.