Add colors to your garden with our 27 favorite Purple Annual Flowers, which you can grow in containers, windowboxes, and garden beds.
If purple is your favorite color and you love growing annuals–this list is perfect for you.
1. Petunia
Botanical Name: Petunia
The purple varieties of Petunias range from deep violet to soft lavender. This popular annual blooms profusely during the warmer months of spring and summer.
While planting, ensure they receive plenty of sunlight, and regular deadheading is a must for continuous flowers.
2. Sweet Alyssum
Botanical Name: Lobularia maritima
The delicate purple flowers of alyssum make it the perfect ground cover and border plant. Their tiny, fragrant blossoms appear in spring and fall.
Alyssum is easy to care for; you can also grow it in small pots and windowboxes.
3. Verbena
Botanical Name: Verbena officinalis
This sun-loving annual displays clusters of purple blossoms throughout the summer and continues till fall. Verbena is a drought-tolerant plant too, and known for its low-maintenance nature.
4. Pansy
Botanical Name: Viola tricolor var. hortensis
There are Pansy varieties that display deep purple shades with cute “faces” on their petals ☺️. This flowering plant prefers cool weather, which makes it an ideal choice for spring and fall displays.
5. Salvia
Botanical Name: Salvia officinalis
The tall purple flower spikes of salvia are a favorite among hummingbirds. These annuals burst into bloom in early to mid-summer and keep flowering till the fall.
Plant them in full sun and enjoy their stunning architectural presence in containers, borders, and mixed planting beds.
6. Purple Geranium
Botanical Name: Geranium viscosissimum
This purple annual flower shows five open petals arranged in a cluster. It grows well in areas with both full sun and partial shade and more vigorously when provided with regular watering and half-strength bi-monthly fertilizer.
7. African Daisy
Botanical Name: Osteospermum
African daisy produces daisy-like flowers in various shades like purple, pink, and bicolor. They come from arid and rocky areas, so it’s important to use well-draining soil.
8. Lobelia
Botanical Name: Lobelia erinus
The elegant, cascading foliage of lobelia with small, deep purple flowers looks adorable, especially when cascading down from shallow pots and hanging baskets.
They are the perfect choice for spring and early summer plantations, but if you live in a warm, frost-free climate (USDA Zones 10 and 11), grow them in winter and spring.
9. Cleome
Botanical Name: Cleome viscosa
Also known as the “spider flower,” it boasts clusters of spidery, lilac-pink or purplish blooms. These annuals are visible throughout the summer.
The towering presence makes them ideal for the thriller plant, background of flowerbeds or as a focal point.
10. Morning Glory
Botanical Name: Ipomoea purpurea
Morning glories have blue flowers, but as the day culminates, flowers start to become purple before closing in the evening.
11. Ageratum
Botanical Name: Ageratum
If you’re looking for an annual with a long flowering season, this is the one–it blooms from late spring to fall. Offering fluffy, powder-puff-like clusters of tiny lavender-blue flowers with a hint of purple.
12. Browallia
Botanical Name: Browallia speciosa
The bell-shaped, purplish-blue flowers come in display from spring through fall. These compact annuals require a little upkeep. Due to their growing habit, you can also plant them in hanging baskets.
13. Torenia
Botanical Name: Torenia fournieri
Also known as the wishbone flower, it features trumpet-shaped purple and blue blossoms with distinct patterns. These shade-loving annuals bloom profusely from spring to fall, and if the winters are mild in your area, they may continue blooming in colder months.
14. Annual Vinca
Botanical Name: Catharanthus roseus Periwinkle
If you’re looking for a drought-tolerant annual that thrives in heat and doesn’t mind some neglect, grow this one.
Look at the best types of vincas
15. Heliotrope
Botanical Name: Heliotropium arborescens
The deep purple, fragrant flowers resemble tiny bouquets. These annuals typically bloom from late spring to early fall.
They are known for their sweet vanilla scent and if you’re growing them in pots, select a container that is 10 to 12 inches in size.
16. Impatiens
Botanical Name: Impatiens
Some varieties of impatiens appear in beautiful pink and purple colors, which is why they are on our list. If you’re looking for a purple annual flower that grows in part sun or full shade, this is it.
17. Nicotiana
Botanical Name: Nicotiana tabacum
Nicotiana, or flowering tobacco, is a popular cottage garden flower with a robust floral fragrance and purplish-pink petals.
If you love fragrant plants, this is a must for your container garden, and don’t miss checking out this list of best scented flowers here.
18. Stock
Botanical Name: Matthiola incana
Matthiolas may not be as rich purple as some other annuals here, but they offer a distinctively warm, spicy fragrance. They are suitable for colder climates and areas with mild summers.
19. Nemesia
Botanical Name: Nemesia
Nemesia offers lively purple blooms with a mildly sweet fragrance. They are one of the best flowers for window boxes in a balcony garden.
20. Snapdragon
Botanical Name: Antirrhinum majus
Many varieties of snapdragons come in shades of purple. These cool-season annuals bloom in spring and fall. To flower well, they require regular deadheading to promote continuous flowering.
21. Dianthus
Botanical Name: Dianthus ‘Everlast Lilac Eye’
Lilac Eye Dianthus displays beautiful pink blooms with purple centers. And like any other Dianthus type, this cultivar also adapts well to various environments and conditions.
22. Lupines
Botanical Name: Lupinus
While there are perennial lupines, the biggest benefit of planting an annual cultivar is more showy and ornamental flowers that emerge in purple, white, blue, or yellow shades.
23. Larkspur
Botanical Name: Delphinium
Larkspur is a tall, spiky annual with deep blue or purple blossoms that bloom in late spring and early summer. It is relatively low-maintenance and perfect for garden beds and containers.
Look at the Indoor Plants With Purple Flowers
24. Cosmos
Botanical Name: Cosmos bipinnatus
Some varieties of cosmos feature violet and purple flowers, which is great if you love this color, considering their long-lasting flowers and extended blooming season that starts from early summer and continues till early winter.
25. Sweet Pea
Botanical Name: Lathyrus odoratus
You can find shades of purple in sweet peas! These climbing annuals flourish in slightly cool weather and offer fragrant blossoms from anywhere around late winter to early summer, depending more on the climate.
26. Zinnia
Botanical Name: Zinnia
There are purple zinnias that appear from early summer through fall. Their long-lasting, daisy-like flowers attract butterflies and other pollinators in the garden.
27. Calibrachoa
Botanical Name: Calibrachoa parviflora
You can call calibrachoas “miniature petunias” because they are more compact and smaller; another similarity is their growing requirements are the same as petunias.
