Creating Temporary Gardens With Annuals
By Amanda S.
Although many gardeners work on their landscapes for the long haul, some may not be at their space for more than a season or don’t have the budget for perennial plants. The solution? Create a temporary or low-commitment garden with annual flowers! Use colorful annual wildflowers and flower bulbs for a spectacularly-designed carefree garden that's a reflection of your style and personality.
This is especially helpful if you're creating a garden at a home that you rent, if you're a beginning gardener, or if you just love to experiment. If you love so many flowers and just can't imagine committing to one long-lived perennial garden design, you can take on the challenge and thrill of creating a new design each season.
Great reasons to plant a garden with annual wildflower seeds that bloom just weeks after planting:
- If you’re renting an apartment or home and don’t want to invest in perennial plants
- You may not have the budget or design for a full perennial garden yet
- If you have upcoming work, changes, or renovations to your outdoor space (to create raised beds, upcoming renovations or hardscaping, etc)
- If you move into a new home late in the season and don’t have time to plant a perennial garden
- You want a guilt-free cut flower bed for endless bouquets all season long
- You have a very large garden bed that you want to fill without a lot of digging for individual plants
Zinnias and Cornflower
Annual Flower Gardens: The Possibilities Are Endless
One of the best things about creating temporary gardens is that you aren’t stuck with the design forever. This gives you room to get creative and try different combinations you may not have tried in other circumstances. You can stick to varieties that you know and love, and branch out from there with different color combinations to see what looks good together (and what doesn’t).
Our most popular Annual Wildflowers:
- Zinnia Seeds
- Cosmos Seeds
- Sunflower Seeds
- Bachelor Button Seeds
- Sweet Pea Seeds
- Marigold Seeds
- Nasturtium Seeds
Most Spring-Planted flower bulbs are perennial in only the warmest zones of the United States. You can use these flower bulbs as annuals. At the end of the season when winter arrives, you can dig up the bulbs to use next season, or start anew when spring comes.
Our most popular flower bulbs:
Starting from seed makes flowers extremely easy to grow and extremely affordable.
Learn More: How to store seed for next season
Learn More: How to store Dahlias for winter
Shop Annual Wildflower Seeds
Blooming in a rainbow of colors, the Cut and Come Again Mixture provides endless Zinnias from mid-summer all the way until frost, giving you plenty of blooms to cut and bring indoors...
Learn MoreZinnia Seeds Cut and Come Again Mix Cut and Come Again Zinnia Zinnia elegans Cut & Come Again MixAs low as $13.95 Sale $11.16Per 1/4 PoundBlooming in a rainbow of colors, the Cut and Come Again Mixture provides endless Zinnias from mid-summer all the way until frost, giving you plenty of blooms to cut and bring indoors. Like all Zinnia, this mixture is extremely easy to grow, deer resistant and attracts pollinators to the garden. Can be grown in any region. All of the seed we carry at American Meadows is non-GMO, neonicotinoid-free and guaranteed to grow. Annual.Create beautiful flower arrangements from your own meadow or flower garden with our Bouquets For Days Annual Wildflower Seed Collection. Cosmos, Zinnias, Sunflowers, and Delphinium a...
Learn MoreBouquets For Days Annual Wildflower Seed Collection Bouquets For Days Annual Flower Seed Collection$49.95Per 4 x 1/4 LB BagsCreate beautiful flower arrangements from your own meadow or flower garden with our Bouquets For Days Annual Wildflower Seed Collection. Cosmos, Zinnias, Sunflowers, and Delphinium are long-blooming with vibrant colors and tall stems, making them some of the most popular wildflowers for cut flowers. Plant this collection and let your creativity shine! These annuals will bloom in the first season, from summer to fall. All of our seed is non-GMO, neonicotinoid-free and guaranteed to grow.Limited Quantities Available! Texas Bluebonnet is a true-blue beauty and one of the worlds most well-known wildflowers. Famous for creating carpets of sweeping indigo color mid-seaso...
Learn MoreTexas Bluebonnet Seeds Texas Bluebonnet Lupinus texensisAs low as $12.95Per 1 OunceLimited Quantities Available! Texas Bluebonnet is a true-blue beauty and one of the worlds most well-known wildflowers. Famous for creating carpets of sweeping indigo color mid-season in meadows throughout the country, this variety prefers sandy, loamy and well-draining soils, as well as a minimum of six hours of sun per day. In warmer areas, Texas Bluebonnets act as perennials, coming back year after year, but in colder areas, they act as annuals. All of the seed we carry at American Meadows is non-GMO, neonicotinoid-free and guaranteed to grow.Cosmos lights up the garden or meadow in midsummer with pink, crimson and white flowers that hold until frost on tall plants. Attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds, its col...
Learn MoreCosmos Seeds Cosmos Cosmos bipinnatusAs low as $13.95 Sale $11.16Per 1/4 PoundCosmos lights up the garden or meadow in midsummer with pink, crimson and white flowers that hold until frost on tall plants. Attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds, its colorful and abundant blooms are easy to grow in any region. Cosmos is a popular cutting flower with ferny foliage and strong stems and looks lovely planted along a fenceline. All of the seed we carry at American Meadows is non-GMO, neonicotinoid-free and guaranteed to grow.
One of our favorite parts about annual gardens is the abundance of cut flowers! Sunflowers, Cosmos, and Zinnias shown here.
An easy combination of Zinnias and Bachelor Buttons on the narrow side of the greenhouse.
This fiery circle meadow was filled with easy-to-grow Cosmos, Zinnias, and Forget-Me-Nots.
Sunflowers can create a wall of color along the edge of a property line or along a fence.
Let your imagination shine with your temporary garden design using annual wildflowers!
Shop Annual Wildflowers
Our Wildflower Yard Annual Bold Color Seed Mix will fill your yard with bright blooms all summer long. This low-growing mix features 9 annual wildflower varieties that grow no higher...
Learn MoreWildflower Yard Annual Bold Color Seed Mix Wildflower Yard Annual Bold Color Seed MixAs low as $14.95Per 1/4 PoundOur Wildflower Yard Annual Bold Color Seed Mix will fill your yard with bright blooms all summer long. This low-growing mix features 9 annual wildflower varieties that grow no higher than 20 inches tall, so it’s perfect for borders, lawn replacement, and curb appeal. Easy-to-grow wildflowers bloom from spring all the way through frost, perfect for cut flowers and attracting pollinators. All of our seed is non-GMO, neonicotinoid-free, 100% pure, and guaranteed to grow.Our Wildflower Yard Annual Vivid Variety Seed Mix will fill your yard with vibrant colors all summer long. This mix features 20 annual wildflower varieties that grow no higher than 2...
Learn MoreWildflower Yard Annual Vivid Variety Seed Mix Wildflower Yard Annual Vivid VarietyAs low as $14.95Per 1/4 PoundOur Wildflower Yard Annual Vivid Variety Seed Mix will fill your yard with vibrant colors all summer long. This mix features 20 annual wildflower varieties that grow no higher than 2 feet tall, so it’s perfect for borders, lawn replacement, and curb appeal. Easy-to-grow wildflowers bloom from spring all the way through frost, perfect for plenty of cut flowers and attracting pollinators. All of our seed is non-GMO, neonicotinoid-free, 100% pure, and guaranteed to growRed Poppy, also known as Flanders Poppy, is famed around the world for the carpet of red beauty it creates when in full bloom. A must-have for any wildflower meadow or garden, this e...
Learn MoreRed Poppy Seeds Red Poppy, Corn Poppy, Shirley Poppy Papaver rhoeasAs low as $17.95Per 1/4 PoundRed Poppy, also known as Flanders Poppy, is famed around the world for the carpet of red beauty it creates when in full bloom. A must-have for any wildflower meadow or garden, this easy-to-grow annual delights with bright blooms throughout the summer season. Deer resistant and attractive to pollinators, Red Poppies can be planted in any region of the US. We're proud to sell only 100% pure, non-GMO and neonicotinoid-free seeds. Guaranteed to grow.Cosmos lights up the garden or meadow in midsummer with pink, crimson and white flowers that hold until frost on tall plants. Attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds, its col...
Learn MoreCosmos Seeds Cosmos Cosmos bipinnatusAs low as $13.95 Sale $11.16Per 1/4 PoundCosmos lights up the garden or meadow in midsummer with pink, crimson and white flowers that hold until frost on tall plants. Attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds, its colorful and abundant blooms are easy to grow in any region. Cosmos is a popular cutting flower with ferny foliage and strong stems and looks lovely planted along a fenceline. All of the seed we carry at American Meadows is non-GMO, neonicotinoid-free and guaranteed to grow.
You can see more of Amanda's journey as a novice farmer here: