Purple Annual Flowers: 12 Stunning Varieties For Your Garden

There is a certain mystique to the color purple. It’s a hue that has long been associated with royalty, creativity, and magic.

In the garden, purple flowers bring a sense of depth, richness, and cool sophistication that is simply captivating.

They can be dramatic and bold, or soft and serene, pairing beautifully with almost any other color. Planting purple annual flowers is a wonderful way to infuse your garden with this enchanting energy, creating a space that feels both elegant and full of life, all in a single season.

This guide is your personal color palette, showcasing twelve of the most stunning and reliable purple annuals you can grow.

We will dive into a world of vibrant violets, deep indigos, and soft lavenders, exploring flowers perfect for your sun-drenched containers, shady borders, and cascading hanging baskets.

You’ll learn about their unique personalities and how to care for them, making it easy to weave this magical color throughout your entire landscape.

Get ready to discover the power of purple to transform your garden into a regal and breathtaking retreat.

Essential Supplies for a Vibrant Purple Garden

To help your purple annuals showcase their richest, most beautiful colors, having a few key products on hand will ensure a season of healthy, vigorous growth. These essentials will help you plant, feed, and care for your royal beauties.

{Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food} by Miracle-Gro: To produce deep, saturated colors and abundant blooms, your annuals need consistent nutrition.
This classic, easy-to-use fertilizer provides the essential nutrients your flowers need. Simply mix it with water and feed every 1-2 weeks for a spectacular display.
{Black Gold Organic Potting Soil} by Sun Gro Horticulture: The foundation of any great container garden is excellent soil.
This high-quality organic potting mix is enriched with nutrients and has a wonderful, loamy texture that retains moisture while still providing the excellent drainage that annuals need to thrive.
{Fiskars Ergo Garden Tool Set} by Fiskars: Every gardener needs a durable trowel, transplanter, and cultivator.
This ergonomic set from Fiskars is designed to reduce hand fatigue, making the initial planting of your beautiful purple garden a much more comfortable and enjoyable task.
{Dramm One-Touch Rain Wand} by Dramm: A harsh blast of water can damage delicate purple petals.
This rain wand is perfect for providing a gentle, shower-like spray that won’t harm flowers or displace soil. The easy-to-use thumb valve allows for effortless water flow control.
{Velcro Brand Garden Ties} by Velcro: Some taller purple flowers may need staking. This soft, adjustable garden tie is perfect for securing stems to supports without cutting into them.
It’s reusable and easy to adjust as the plant grows, making it a garden essential.
{Felco F-2 Classic Manual Hand Pruner} by Felco: A sharp, reliable pair of pruners is crucial for “deadheading” (removing spent blooms) to encourage a continuous show of flowers.
These iconic pruners make clean, precise cuts, which helps keep plants healthy and productive.

12 Stunning Purple Annual Flowers for Your Garden

Ready to add a touch of royalty and magic to your garden? Here are twelve reliable and stunning annuals that will bring the captivating beauty of purple to your outdoor space.

1. Petunia

Petunias are the undisputed champions of the annual world, and the purple varieties are particularly rich and enchanting. From deep, velvety violets to soft, dreamy lavenders, purple petunias offer an incredible profusion of blooms that can fill any sunny spot with a cascade of cool color.

Why You’ll Love Them: Purple petunias are incredibly versatile. They can be planted on their own for a dramatic, monochromatic statement, or used as a rich, cool-toned counterpoint to hot pinks, bright yellows, or crisp whites. At dusk, the deep purple blooms take on a luminous, velvety quality that is truly magical.
Growing Tips: Petunias are sun-worshippers and need at least six hours of direct sun to produce their famous avalanche of blooms. They are heavy feeders, so fertilize them every couple of weeks with a water-soluble plant food to keep them performing their best.
Varieties to Try: ‘Supertunia Royal Velvet’ is a classic, with rich, deep purple-blue flowers that look and feel like velvet. The ‘Easy Wave’ series in blue or violet offers a vigorous trailing habit perfect for hanging baskets. For a truly unique look, ‘Night Sky’ petunias have deep purple flowers speckled with white, looking like a tiny galaxy.

For reliable flower power and rich, deep, cool tones in your sunniest spots, purple petunias are an unbeatable choice.

2. Salvia

When it comes to adding vertical spires of color, few purple annual flowers can compete with salvia. The annual varieties produce tall, elegant spikes of small, densely packed flowers that are magnets for hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies.

Why You’ll Love Them: The deep, intense indigo-blue and rich violet hues of purple salvias are simply breathtaking. They provide a wonderful textural contrast to mounding flowers and are very heat and drought-tolerant once established, providing a long season of color.
Growing Tips: Plant salvia in full sun and well-drained soil. While they are tough, they will bloom more profusely with consistent moisture. Cutting off the main flower spike after it fades will encourage the plant to send up new side shoots with more flowers.
Varieties to Try: Salvia farinacea ‘Victoria Blue’ is an award-winning classic, famous for its deep, true-blue flower spikes. For a true purple, try ‘Mystic Spires Blue’ which has a more violet-purple tone. Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ is a showstopper, with brilliant cobalt-blue flowers emerging from near-black calyxes.

For a bold, vertical statement and a non-stop pollinator party, purple salvia is an invaluable addition to any sunny garden.

3. Ageratum (Floss Flower)

Ageratum, commonly known as floss flower, is a charming annual that produces fluffy, button-like clusters of flowers. The purple and blue-violet varieties offer a soft, fuzzy texture that is unique and beautiful in the garden.

Why You’ll Love Them: The soft, fuzzy texture of ageratum provides a wonderful contrast to plants with smooth petals or glossy leaves. It’s a favorite of butterflies, and the taller varieties make excellent and unusual cut flowers. It blooms continuously from late spring until the first frost.
Growing Tips: Ageratum performs well in full sun to partial shade. In hotter climates, it appreciates some afternoon shade to help the flowers last longer. Plant it in moist, well-drained soil and deadhead the spent flower clusters to keep the plant looking tidy and encourage new blooms.
Varieties to Try: ‘Blue Hawaii’ is a popular, compact variety with a rich blue-violet color. For a taller option perfect for cutting, look for ‘Blue Horizon’, which can reach 2-3 feet.

For a unique, fuzzy texture and a beautiful shade of violet-blue, ageratum is a wonderful and reliable addition to the garden.

4. Browallia (Amethyst Flower)

Browallia is a fantastic but sometimes overlooked purple annual flower that is a star performer in the shade. It produces a cloud of beautiful, star-shaped flowers in brilliant shades of amethyst purple and deep blue.

Why You’ll Love Them: The vibrant, jewel-toned purple of browallia seems to glow in shady spots, making it a rare and valuable asset for low-light gardens. It is incredibly heat-tolerant and blooms its heart out all summer long with very little maintenance, as it is self-cleaning.
Growing Tips: Plant browallia in part to full shade in rich, well-drained soil. It appreciates consistent moisture but is more forgiving of occasional dryness than impatiens. It forms a lovely, mounded-to-trailing habit that is perfect for shady containers and baskets.
Varieties to Try: The ‘Endless’ series is aptly named for its non-stop blooming power. ‘Endless Illumination’ is a particularly stunning variety with deep, amethyst-purple flowers that truly shine in the shade.

For a blast of brilliant purple that lasts all summer in your shadiest spots, browallia is an excellent and low-maintenance choice.

5. Verbena

Annual verbena is a tough, versatile, and beautiful plant. The purple varieties are particularly striking, offering everything from deep, royal purples to soft lavenders. They come in both upright and trailing forms, making them useful in all kinds of situations.

Why You’ll Love Them: Verbena is known for its incredible heat and drought tolerance, making it a great choice for hot, sunny spots. It blooms continuously all summer, and the clusters of tiny flowers are very attractive to butterflies.
Growing Tips: Plant verbena in full sun in very well-drained soil. It is susceptible to powdery mildew, so good air circulation is key. Don’t overcrowd your plants. Many modern varieties are bred to be more mildew-resistant.
Varieties to Try: ‘Homestead Purple’ is a famous, incredibly tough, and vigorous trailing verbena with rich purple flowers. The ‘Superbena’ series from Proven Winners offers fantastic disease resistance and a huge range of colors, including ‘Superbena Royal Chambray’ (lavender) and ‘Superbena Violet Ice’ (pale violet).

For a tough, butterfly-attracting, and long-blooming purple annual, verbena is a top-notch choice.

6. Heliotrope (Marine)

Heliotrope is an old-fashioned favorite grown for two main reasons: its large clusters of tiny, deep purple flowers and its incredible fragrance. The flowers have a sweet, intoxicating scent often described as a mix of vanilla, cherry pie, and grape.

Why You’ll Love Them: The fragrance is simply divine. A single heliotrope plant can perfume an entire patio on a warm summer evening. The deep, royal purple color of the flowers is rich and beautiful, and they are very attractive to pollinators.
Growing Tips: Heliotrope loves sun and heat. Plant it in full sun in rich, consistently moist, well-drained soil. It is a heavy feeder, so fertilize it regularly to keep it growing strong and producing its fragrant blooms.
Varieties to Try: The classic ‘Marine’ is the most well-known variety, with deep purple flowers and the strongest fragrance. It forms a wonderful, bushy ‘thriller’ for the center of a container.

For an intoxicatingly fragrant and beautifully colored purple annual flower, heliotrope is a garden treasure.

7. Scaevola (Fan Flower)

Scaevola, or fan flower, is a tough and beautiful trailing annual that gets its name from its unique flowers, which look like a tiny fan with all the petals arranged on one side. The purple and blue varieties are fantastic for adding a cascade of cool color.

Why You’ll Love Them: Scaevola is incredibly heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant, and self-cleaning, making it one of the easiest trailing plants you can grow for a hot, sunny spot. It provides a constant stream of color all summer long with virtually no maintenance.
Growing Tips: Plant scaevola in full sun in well-drained soil. It is an excellent choice for hanging baskets, window boxes, and containers, where its vigorous trailing habit can be shown off. It requires no deadheading to continue blooming.
Varieties to Try: The ‘Whirlwind’ and ‘Surdiva’ series are both excellent, known for their large flowers and vigorous, well-branched growth. Look for varieties labeled ‘Blue’, ‘Purple’, or ‘Violet’ for beautiful cool tones.

For a unique flower shape and incredible toughness in the summer heat, purple scaevola is a top-tier trailing annual.

8. Pansy & Viola

Pansies and violas are the beloved, cheerful faces of the cool seasons. Their rich purple and deep violet varieties are particularly stunning, providing that coveted cool color in early spring and late fall when the garden can be bare.

Why You’ll Love Them: Purple pansies and violas are incredibly versatile. They can be planted on their own for a simple, elegant container, or mixed with other cool-season flowers like daffodils and tulips. Their flowers are also edible and make a beautiful garnish.
Growing Tips: Plant them in a location that gets full sun to partial shade. In warmer climates, planting them where they get afternoon shade can help extend their bloom time into the summer. They must have consistently moist soil.
The Look: The deep, velvety texture of a dark purple pansy is incredibly rich and luxurious. Violas, also known as Johnny-jump-ups, are smaller but more numerous and often have a sweet fragrance.

For reliable cool-season color and charming character, purple pansies and violas are an absolute garden essential.

9. Fuchsia

With their intricate, pendulous flowers that look like tiny, dancing ballerinas, fuchsias are a classic and elegant choice for a shade or partial sun garden. The purple varieties are particularly dramatic and beautiful.

Why You’ll Love Them: The unique, decorative flowers of a fuchsia are simply breathtaking. They are a favorite of hummingbirds and bloom profusely through the cooler parts of summer. The combination of a hot pink or red outer calyx with a deep purple inner corolla is a classic and stunning look.
Growing Tips: Fuchsias thrive in cool, shady locations with rich, moist soil. They do not like intense heat or dry conditions. They are perfect for hanging baskets where their trailing, pendulous flowers can be admired from below.
Varieties to Try: Look for classic trailing varieties for hanging baskets. Some popular purple varieties include ‘Dark Eyes’ and ‘Swingtime’ (which has a red and white combination, but many purple ones exist).

For intricate, decorative flowers that bring a touch of drama and elegance, purple fuchsias are a stunning addition to a shady porch.

10. Gomphrena (Globe Amaranth)

Gomphrena, or globe amaranth, is a tough, heat-loving annual that produces charming, clover-like, papery pom-poms of color. The purple and magenta varieties are incredibly vibrant and long-lasting.

Why You’ll Love Them: The flowers are incredibly durable. They last for a very long time on the plant and are one of the best flowers for cutting and drying, as they hold their color perfectly. Gomphrena thrives in heat and is very drought-tolerant.
Growing Tips: Plant gomphrena in full sun in well-drained soil. It is very low-maintenance and blooms from early summer until frost. It makes a fantastic “filler” flower in a sunny bed or container.
Varieties to Try: ‘Gomphrena globosa’ varieties come in beautiful shades of purple and magenta. The ‘Fireworks’ variety is a taller, more airy plant with hot pink flowers on long stems that look like exploding fireworks.

For a unique texture, great drying flower, and fantastic heat tolerance, purple gomphrena is a wonderful choice.

11. Larkspur (Consolida)

Larkspur is the annual version of the perennial delphinium, offering the same beautiful, dense spikes of flowers in a single growing season. It’s a classic cottage garden flower and a fantastic choice for cutting.

Why You’ll Love Them: Larkspur provides those coveted tall spires of color, and the deep purple and blue-violet shades are particularly beautiful. They have a delicate, airy texture that is lovely in the garden and in bouquets. The flowers can also be easily dried for everlasting arrangements.
Growing Tips: Larkspur is a cool-season annual that performs best when seeds are sown directly in the garden in the fall or very early spring, as it does not like to be transplanted. Plant it in full sun in rich, well-drained soil. It may require staking or netting to support the tall flower spikes.
The Look: A drift of tall purple larkspur at the back of a spring border is a truly beautiful sight, providing height and a soft, spiky texture that complements roses and peonies perfectly.

For elegant, delphinium-like spires in a single season, purple larkspur is a classic and beautiful choice.

12. Lisianthus

Lisianthus are often mistaken for roses or peonies due to their beautiful, multi-petaled, cup-shaped flowers. They are a premier cut flower, and the deep purple varieties are incredibly luxurious and elegant.

Why You’ll Love Them: Lisianthus are exceptionally beautiful and have an incredibly long vase life as a cut flower, often lasting for two weeks or more. They bring a touch of high-end floral design to the home garden.
Growing Tips: Lisianthus can be tricky to grow from seed, so it’s often best for beginners to buy them as plants. They demand full sun and excellent drainage. They do not like to have wet foliage, so watering at the base of the plant is best.
Varieties to Try: Look for varieties in the ‘Echo’ or ‘Arena’ series for beautiful double flowers in shades of deep purple. They are worth the effort for their incredible beauty.

For a truly luxurious and elegant purple annual flower that is second to none for cutting, lisianthus is a showstopper.

Recommended Product Summary

Here is a quick-glance table of the essential supplies that will help you grow a stunning garden filled with purple annual flowers.

Product Name	Brand	Use Case
{Miracle-Gro Plant Food}	Miracle-Gro	An easy-to-use, all-purpose food for promoting abundant, vibrant blooms.
{Black Gold Organic Potting Soil}	Sun Gro Horticulture	A high-quality, nutrient-rich potting mix for containers and hanging baskets.
{Fiskars Ergo Garden Tool Set}	Fiskars	The essential, durable hand tools for planting and cultivating your garden.
{Dramm One-Touch Rain Wand}	Dramm	For providing a gentle, shower-like watering that protects delicate petals.
{Velcro Brand Garden Ties}	Velcro	A soft, adjustable, and reusable tie for safely securing taller plants to stakes.
{Felco F-2 Classic Hand Pruner}	Felco	A high-quality tool for deadheading and harvesting flowers for bouquets.

Add a Touch of Royalty to Your Garden

The color purple brings a unique blend of energy and tranquility to the garden. It’s a color that commands attention while also creating a sense of calm.

These twelve purple annual flowers offer a full season of this magical hue, allowing you to paint your landscape with everything from the softest lavenders to the deepest, most dramatic violets.

So, embrace the elegance of purple. Try a few of these stunning varieties, and get ready to enjoy a garden that feels rich, sophisticated, and fit for royalty.