Blog > 10 Flowering Plants To Increase Your Curb Appeal Year-Round in Florida
Whether it boasts palm trees wafting in the breeze or giant oaks wrapped in Spanish moss, an old Florida landscape is naturally beautiful. Urban development and residential growth have destroyed much of the indigenous charm, but you can give your yard a plush, tropical look with flowering plants and trees.
One of the good things about living in the Sunshine State is the ability to have colorful foliage all year long. From species tolerant of drought and salt to container-filled tropicals that encourage pollination, you’ll find an array of choices. These radiant plants thrive in Florida, and they have beautiful blooms all year long.
Ten Florida Plants That Bloom All Year
- Blanket flower
Blanket flower is a perennial that has daisy-shaped petals with big centers in shades of yellow, red and orange. Salt and drought-tolerant, it grows in containers and makes good borders and ground covers. Butterflies love it, and seeds easily produce new plants in sunny, well-drained soil. It also has a coastal look.
- Hibiscus
A tropical shrub with large blooms in shades of yellow, red, orange, purple, pink or white, the hibiscus can be used as a shrub, planted in a container or pruned into trees for privacy screens. It likes well-drained, fertile soil in partial or full sun.
- Lantana
Lantana is salt and drought-tolerant perennial that’s easy to grow and maintain. Blooms come in solid colors like red, yellow, cream, lavender and pink or in multi-colored hues. The plant grows several feet wide and tall but may also be available in a small, trailing form for containers or flower beds.
- Mexican Heather
A perennial evergreen with little blooms in white, red or purple, Mexican heather is a compact shrub that grows to around 12 inches in height. It’s a good pollinator and works well in containers or for bordering pathways. It thrives in partial to full sun and needs well-drained soil.
- Plumbago
Plumbago is a hardy evergreen shrub with graceful branches covered with clusters of white, light blue or dark blue flowers. Plants grow in mounds from three to 10 feet wide. Plumbago works well for borders, foundation plantings or as a colorful addition to flower beds. It likes well-drained, acidic soil in full sun.
- Blue Daze
Blue Daze is a ground-hugging perennial that thrives in tropical climates. Good for the yard or containers, it has a plentiful display of purple-blue blue flowers. Because it’s sensitive to the cold, blue daze is an annual or container plant in North Florida.
- Firespike
Firespike is an ever-blooming evergreen shrub that butterflies love. A striking specimen with six-foot branches and long clusters of bright reddish flowers, It makes a colorful screen or hedge and likes well-drained soil in partial to full sun. Resistant to drought and salt, it dies back in locations with freezing temperatures but grows back in the spring.
- Penta
An evergreen perennial, Penta, or starflower, has graceful clusters of star-shaped flowers in colors like white, purple and red, and blooms are especially plentiful when temperatures are warm. Penta, which grows from one to three feet tall, is a colorful addition to mass or mixed plantings, in borders or in containers. It grows in well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade and is resistant to salt and drought after it’s well-established.
- Periwinkle
Periwinkle, or vinca, traditionally has vine-like stems and violet-blue blooms, but it may come in cultivars with variegated foliage or with white or burgundy flowers. A spreading plant, it makes good ground covers and is excellent for covering large areas. Although it grows in sun or shade, it prefers shade in intense heat.
- Jungle flame
Jungle flame, or Ixora, has clusters of tubular blooms in shades of red, pink or yellow. A showy perennial that grows from four to six feet tall, Ixora attracts butterflies all year long. It works well as a foundation plant, in mass flower beds and as a border or hedge. It prefers acidic soil in an area that gets sun in the morning and partial shade in the afternoon. Gardeners in North Florida need to protect it from freezing temperatures.
- Gerbera
In most of the U.S., the Gerbera daisy is grown as an annual, but Florida is warm enough for it to grow all year. With hardy flowers that measure up to four inches wide and come in shades of white, pink, red, yellow, orange and purple, the plant needs regular watering, fertile soil and afternoon shade. Perfect for use as a cut flower, it works well in borders, beds, pathways or containers.
Whether you’re having guests, selling your home or just enjoying the great outdoors, curb appeal makes your place more inviting. Planting shrubs and flowers in the right location, fertilizing and watering them regularly, and pruning them correctly will provide beautiful blooms for enjoying by the pool, making cut flower arrangements or attracting butterflies. It will also increase the value of your property.