Top New Red, Orange, and Yellow Annuals for 2011
These new-for-2011 annuals offer bright, beautiful flowers on easy-care plants that will fill your garden with warm, summery colors. Look for them at your local garden center.
By Justin W. Hancock
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A summer stunner, 'Coconut Ice' sunflower adds a crisp, cool look to the garden with its big, 8-inch-wide heads of vanilla-cream-color flowers that fade to white as they mature.
Name: Helianthus 'Coconut Ice'
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide
Grow it with: Black-eyed Susan vine, which will climb up the stems and add cheery color to the stalks
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Image courtesy burpee.com
Featuring double flowers in a warm range of fall colors, we bet this new line of gerbera daisies will catch your attention. They're great cut flowers and look fantastic when grown in mixed containers -- or by themselves.
Name: Gerbera 'Autumn Colors'
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 14 inches tall and 10 inches wide
Grow it with: Salvia, which loves heat and continues blooming well into the summer, when gerbera daisies typically take a rest
Source: Look for this variety at your local garden center
Available from seed: Yes
An easy-growing canna that fits well in beds and borders as well as containers, we bet you'll love its rich dark bronze foliage, bold scarlet-red flowers, and compact habit.
Name: Canna 'Topical Bronze Scarlet'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 30 inches tall and 18 inches wide
Grow it with: Dusty miller, which creates a startling contrast with its silvery foliage
Source: Look for this variety at your local garden center
Available from seed: Yes
The world's first yellow scaevola, 'Suntastic' features clusters of creamy-yellow blooms with rich lemon-color throats on a spreading plant that's perfect for spilling over the sides of your favorite container.
Name: Scaevola 'Suntastic'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 6 inches tall and 20 inches wide
Grow it with: Blue verbena, which creates a lovely color contrast
Source: Look for this variety at your local garden center
Available from seed: No
The boldest, brightest verbena we've ever seen, 'Estrella Voodoo Star' shows off flaming-red flowers painted with creamy-white streaks. It also offers good tolerance to powdery mildew, a common disease, keeping the plant looking good longer into the season.
Name: Verbena 'Estrella Voodoo Star'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 6 inches tall and 20 inches wide
Grow it with: 'Dipt in Wine' coleus, which features dark foliage with golden accents
Source: Look for this variety at your local garden center
Available from seed: No
A souped-up sweet William, 'Diabunda Red' offers a longer blooming season and more compact habit than older varieties. It's a great performer for containers, beds, and borders.
Name: Dianthus 'Diabunda Red'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall and 10 inches wide
Grow it with: White verbena for a lovely, classic combo
Source: Look for this variety at your local garden center
Available from seed: No
This perky variety, which features warm salmon-red flowers that fade to coral pink around the edges, is an ideal pick for baskets and containers where it can overflow to blooming exuberance. This calibrachoa flowers all summer long, practically smothering itself in blooms.
Name: Calibrachoa 'Superbells Coralberry Punch'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 1 foot tall and trailing to 3 feet
Grow it with: This bold variety doesn't need plant partners to look good
Source: Find a garden center near you at provenwinners.com
Available from seed: No
Offering great heat tolerance, 'Golddust' Mercardonia creates a mat of color in the landscape. It's a profuse bloomer, bearing many tiny golden-yellow blooms that give the carpetlike plant a sparkly look.
Name: Mercardonia 'Golddust'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 3 inches tall and 16 inches wide
Grow it with: Yellow zinnias, which make for great punctuation points for the Mercardonia
Source: Find a garden center near you at provenwinners.com
Available from seed: No
A cheery, long-blooming annual with semidouble golden-yellow flowers, Goldilocks Rocks will add excitement to your container combinations. In addition to those beautiful blooms, it also features ferny foliage.
Name: Goldilocks Rocks Bidens ferulifolia
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 1 foot tall and trailing to 1 foot
Grow it with: Rich purple petunias, which create a fantastic color combo
Source: Find a garden center near you at provenwinners.com
Available from seed: No
Offering the biggest flowers we've ever seen on impatiens, 'Magnum Fire' shows off 3-inch-wide blooms in a bold orange-red color. The flowers shine against the rich dark green foliage.
Name: Impatiens 'Magnum Fire'
Growing conditions: Part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 14 inches tall and wide
Grow it with: Croton, a tropical plant that often has the same bold orange color running in its leaves
Source: Look for this variety at your local garden center
Available from seed: No
Featuring soft salmon-orange flowers, 'Potunia Papaya' petunia stands out for its unique color. It also has a great mounding habit that makes it a winner when used in the landscape or container gardens.
Name: Petunia 'Potunia Papaya'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 12 inches tall and 36 inches wide
Grow it with: Blue salvia, which creates a delightful color combination
Source: Look for this variety at your local garden center
Available from seed: No
If you'd like something on the softer side in the nasturium world, try 'Buttercream'. This stunner shows off semidouble blooms in a delicate shady of creamy yellow. It's a lot tougher than it looks, holding up to heat and drought like a champ.
Name: Tropaeolum 'Buttercream'
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 10 inches tall and 20 inches wide
Grow it with: Dusty miller, for a breathtaking silver-and-cream combo
Source: reneesgarden.com
Available from seed: Yes
Image courtesy reneesgarden.com
Salvias have become garden favorites for their bold blooms, resistance to deer and rabbits, and tough constitutions. 'Summer Jewel Red' is an All-America award-winning selection for 2011 that shows off bright red flower spikes that hummingbirds find irresistible and a compact habit that's easy to use in containers or the landscape.
Name: Salvia coccinea 'Summer Jewel Red'
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 20 inches tall and 16 inches wide
Grow it with: Blue salvia, which creates a wonderful contrast in color and adds great garden texture
Source: Look for this variety at your local garden center
Available from seed: Yes
One of the boldest sunflowers yet, 'Frilly' shows off big flowers with chocolate-brown centers and uniquely ragged and frilled petals. Each one is a work of art! The plants produce branching clusters of blooms that are great for cutting.
Name: Helianthus annuus 'Frilly'
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 6 feet tall and 2 feet wide
Grow it with: Cannas, especially orange and red varieties, to create unforgettable summer drama
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Image courtesy burpee.com
Big sunflowers with massive heads aren't for everyone. If you like the idea of something smaller, look at 'Sunny Bunch', a dwarf sunflower that produces lots of branches of cheery 7-inch blooms.
Name: Helianthus annuus 'Sunny Bunch'
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide
Grow it with: Zinnias, which are also great cut flowers and love a warm, sunny spot
Source: cooksgarden.com
Available from seed: Yes
Image courtesy cooksgarden.com
One of the most interesting zinnias around, 'Little Lions' shows off 5-inch-wide clusters of double orange-red flowers that have multiple layers of petals, creating a distinctly wild look. It's an excellent variety for the butterfly garden and is tough to beat in bouquets.
Name: Zinnia elegans 'Little Lions'
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 42 inches tall and 20 inches wide
Grow it with: Heliotrope, which features purple flowers that smell great
Source: reneesgarden.com
Available from seed: Yes
Image courtesy reneesgarden.com





Tracy has a great idea. I would add to that a need for information regarding Non-GMO's (genetically modified organisms) for the health and environment conscious people using organic & heritage seeds only.
5/11/2011 03:53:36 PM Report AbuseIt would be a fantastic feature to list in the descriptions of these and all plants if they are pet-friendly. My dogs chew on everything so I need to be extremely careful of what I plant so we don't end up in the emergency room. LOVE the verbena and the salvia but I'll have to look them up to see if they're safe.
5/10/2011 02:44:21 PM Report AbuseI'm ready for Spring, March 20!!! with warmer weather!!! PLEASE!!!
3/10/2011 02:08:14 PM Report Abuse