Best Annuals for Windy Spots
By Chris Edmunds
Here are some of our favorite annuals that are perfect for windy spots!
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Filling the windy spots in your yard with beautiful blooms can be a challenge! You may be fearful that your plants will be ripped apart or blown away, so you avoid planting anything in those spots. However, there are many gorgeous annuals that are well-suited for our windy climate! To help you pick, here’s some of our favorite annuals that are perfect for windy spots!
Lantana
Lantanas are one of our top-performing annuals for our challenging, windy climate. They are best known for their brilliant blooms that cluster together to resemble a ready-made bouquet! You will be blown away by how many butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to their colorful blooms.
Some of our Kaw Valley favorites are Luscious Marmalade, we love the vibrant orange and golden flower clusters covering the tall, mostly-mounded habit, and Lucky Pot of Gold, with its rich golden blooms and perfect, mounded habit. A perfect choice for your container gardens, flower beds or butterfly gardens! Another one of our favorites is Landmark Sunrise Rose, featuring brightly colored pink, orange, and yellow flower clusters on deep green foliage and very large, bushy plants. This variety is ideal for your garden beds or as part of your landscaping masterpiece!
Not only are Lantanas heat and drought tolerant but they are wind resistant! These plants thrive with consistent air flow. So, you can enjoy their bloom and fresh fragrance in any windy and sunny spot of your yard. You’ll want to plant them in well-draining soil, like our “Good Stuff” potting soil, and water when soil on top is dry about an inch or two down.
Visit any of our garden centers to see our large selection of Lantanas.
Grasses
Ornamental grasses are a stunning addition to your landscaping or garden! One of our favorites is the Purple Fountain Grass. The upright, arching habit produces waves of dark purple foliage with soft purple plumes that look fabulous in the wind! You’ll enjoy their dramatic color when planted in large bunches, along slopes or as a centerpiece or specimen plant in beds or very large pots. These easy-to-grow grasses are also pest and disease resistant for less hassle!
Another one of our favorites is Proven Winners ‘Graceful Grasses’ Vertigo Grass. The deep purple-black foliage will make a bold statement in your landscape! ‘Vertigo’ creates a dramatic effect when planted as a backdrop behind brightly blooming annuals such as Petunia ‘Tidal Wave Cherry’, or Lantana ‘Luscious Marmalade’. They grow vigorously and are easy to take care of all summer-long!
You’ll want to plant these ornamental grasses in full sun areas. They perform best in well-draining soil and only need to be watered when completely dry. Not only will you fill those windy spots in your yard, but you’ll have more time to enjoy your beautiful garden with these low-maintenance grasses!
Succulents
Popular for good reasons, succulents are best known for their love of sun & heat, and for being low-maintenance. Their thick, fleshy leaves and strong roots are resistant to a lot of weather conditions, including wind! You can plant succulents in those windy spots of your yard and be as creative as you want. They are great additions to combination planters, but will also work well on their own!
Some of our favorites are Echeveria ‘Blue Atoll’ with its large, beautiful, perfectly shaped blue-green rosettes, and Blue Ice Plant that grows upright and provides a beautiful contrast with other succulents. Sedum Lemon Ball, looks great with both of these for its contrasting chartreuse color and filler/spiller habit. All three of these succulents are easy to grow and perform well in sun or shade. They are very drought resistant, so you only need to water when their soil is quite dry. You can even enjoy your succulents indoors over the winter by bringing them inside and keeping them near a sunny window. The sedum may need cut back a few times during the winter, but it will bounce back in shape once it gets to go outside in the spring again! Be sure to run these vigorous sedums (like ‘Lemon Ball’, ‘Little Missy’ and lineare ‘Variegatum’) very dry if you bring them indoors, as it will help to keep them more compact.
We have all kinds of succulent varieties of varying texture, color and form to choose from at any of our stores. All our selections are trial-tested for two years to qualify as part of our offerings, so you can be sure that any succulent you choose will be well-suited for your area.
Choosing plants that can withstand the wind with strong roots and foliage is an important factor for a long-lasting garden! Our favorite annuals for those unsheltered areas of your yard will flourish with basic care and low supervision. You’ll enjoy a beautiful yard all summer-long with any of these strong plants!
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