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If you are looking for vibrant flowering plants to draw attention to your garden, red-colored flowers can be a stunning choice. Claimed to be the color of extremes, it signifies various powerful emotions such as love, adventure, passion, and anger!
But there are such wide varieties to choose from regarding red flowering plants. And since red flowers can easily dominate other plants, using them as borders is an amazing idea.
Red flowering plants with long-lasting blooms would make for great borders or edging plants. One can consider planting bulbs (hibiscus), annuals (oriental poppy), perennials (salvia), creepers (Bougainvillea), or ground covers (Petunia).
The options are endless, and each of them offers different benefits. Red flowering plants can add to the aesthetic value and improve the overall quality of your garden by attracting wildlife. For instance, it is believed that hummingbirds are sensitive to red hues.
So, if you wish to give your space a splash of color and build a healthy garden, we have some of the best red flowering plants for you.
Roses
We cannot leave out roses when we talk about red flowering plants. And while more than a hundred varieties of roses are available in different shapes and sizes, the red knockout rose is one of the favorites among gardeners.
This is major because these bloom for around nine months in a year. Besides offering long-blooming roses, these are also hardy, making them a great pick for borders. Moreover, these do not even require a lot of care. All they need is full sun and well-drained and moist soil, and they can grow up to 3 feet tall and wide.
Chrysanthemums
With chrysanthemums, you get a wide range of options since they are found in various shapes, colors, and variants. These are usually used as ornamental plants but owing to their comparatively big size, height, and long-lasting blooms, they can also serve as borders.
While different chrysanthemums would have varying blooming times, they are typically autumn-season flowers. They usually prefer direct sunlight, well-drained soil, and frequent watering. And to help them thrive and develop new foliage, you can remove the dead heads regularly.
Daylilies
These deep, red-orange flowers have a vibrant yellow center that can instantly enhance the look of your garden. Moreover, they are known to bloom for years and years and only require little care. Hemerocallis ‘Wineberry Candy’ is one of the longest-blooming daylilies.
It is also one of the first to bloom. Other than this, Hemerocallis ‘Red Magic’ and ‘Autumn Red’ are also great options. Varieties shorter and more compact can be used along the fence and walkway to offer a dense and weed-proof display.
They can also tolerate different soil conditions and have a high immunity against diseases or pests. Although they can adjust to partial shade, it is advised to plant them in an area that gets direct sunlight. Other than this, they prefer frequent watering and well-drained soil.
Bougainvillea
Known for its showy clusters of intensely hued flower-like bracts, bougainvillea is enough to offer your garden a picturesque effect. But other than its aesthetic appeal, it also offers various benefits. Bougainvillea will be a great choice if you have a huge garden that is difficult to maintain.
This is because it can serve as a splendid ground cover while controlling weed growth. Moreover, it can also be trained in several shapes and directions. Whether you wish them to grow over arbors, cascade down a slope, or onto walls, they can do it all. They like frequent watering and occasional pruning or pinching for steady and healthy growth.
Hibiscus
If you reside in a tropical area, hibiscus is your best bet. They thrive when the temperature is soaring high. Hibiscus usually prefers full sun along with moist and rich soil. It is one of the easiest red flowering plants you can grow in your garden. They need enough water to offer you those beautiful, bold, bold, and tropical blooms. And since they are tropical plants, you should consider cutting the stems back to 3 to 4 inches during winter or cooler climates.
Coreopsis
Coreopsis hardy jewels are known for their long blooming periods and are extremely easy to grow. They are available in vibrant colors like red, pink, and yellow with dark brown or maroon centers. You can go with the hardy jewel ‘Ruby Frost’ with white edges around ruby-colored petals or consider planting the hardy jewel ‘Desert Coral,’ with peach or coral-hued edges.
And to give your garden a nice splash of red, you should go for ‘Limerock Ruby.’ Planting coreopsis is also great for attracting pollinators to your gardens, like butterflies and bees. They usually prefer fun sun and dry to medium moisture.
Hybrid Peonies
Peonies can be split into three different categories. There are tree peonies with woody stems and herbaceous peonies with leaves that die back during autumn and re-emerge wonderfully during spring. And a relatively new category is the Itoh or Intersectional peonies that emerge during the spring and die down completely during winter.
Hybrid peonies produce some of the most spectacular late-spring flowers. They also offer various colors ranging from vibrant poppy red to a spectacular pink shade and even the purest white. Some red hybrids you can consider are ‘Jean Ericksen,’ ‘Red Charm,’ ‘Early Scout,’ and ‘Fairy Princess.’ Peonies usually like full sun to partial shade and thrive in medium moisture, rich, and well-drained soil.
Oriental Poppies
Oriental poppies have been almost every gardener’s favorite for a long time. It is majorly because once planted, they do not require special care and will easily last you years. Not to mention, their vibrant, red-orange-colored variant is the most popular among all other varieties.
However, it must be noted that these thrive in cooler climates. So, you can also consider tucking some other perennials around them. This will help you avoid bare spots when they go dormant during summer. Oriental poppies usually like full sun along with rich and medium moisture soil. Also, they are quite fussy about drainage, so it is important to pay proper attention to it.
Tulips
These showy, vibrant, bulbous flowers, along with elegant stems, are popular among gardeners. Tulips are cup-shaped flowers, each having three petals, three sepals, and a stem. Tulips come in around 75 variants and a wide range of red, violet, and pink. While they look stunning in bouquets, they will also look amazing in your garden as borders.
They need well-drained soils to grow and full sun to thrive, and they usually prefer the spring season. The great thing about tulips is that there is one for every setting. Whether you wish to grow them as garden plantings or borders, tulips can cater to all your needs and preferences.
Azaleas
Often referred to as ‘the royalty of the garden,’ it is a flowering shrub that is part of the rhododendron genus. And while there are some colors, you should consider growing the bright red azaleas ‘Stewartstonian’. Other than this, azaleas also vary greatly in size. While there are dwarf varieties that grow around 3 to 4 feet tall, variants can grow as long as 15 feet.
So, if you like privacy, the azalea is one of the best options. Azaleas should be planted preferably within cool and partially shaded sites. This is one of the only aspects in which they are quite sensitive. While too much direct sunlight can burn the leaves, heavy shade can lack oxygen, leading to weaker growth.
Bleeding Hearts
The bleeding heart is a part of the poppy family and is native to China, Japan, and Korea. Luckily, it has now been naturalized worldwide, and if you wish to add some drama to your garden, this can be a great choice. However, there are a few things that you should consider if you are planning on growing bleeding hearts in your garden.
First, it should be noted that bleeding hearts prefer to be right in the middle of conditions. For instance, they like when the soil is neither too dry nor too moist and prefer not to receive too much or too little sunlight. They also like moderate temperatures. If all these demands are fulfilled, they will give your garden some gorgeous heart-shaped blossoms.
Gerbera Daisies
Known for their showy and vibrant daisy-like flowers, gerbera daisies are originally from South Africa. They are also a common choice for bouquets, as they come in various sizes and colors. But we have to admit that the reds are one of the most spectacular of them all. With ray-like petals surrounding the golden-brown center, they are not just beautiful but also quite soothing.
Gerbera daisies prefer full sun and like to be grown in sandy soil. One can consider adding some compost, and with newly sown seeds, they would need bright indirect light and a well-draining propagation mix. While growing gerberas can be a little challenging, the stunning blooms are worth the toil.
Red Sunflowers
This can be considered an unconventional addition, but red sunflowers can be a good choice if you like unique and eccentric blossoms in your garden. These large, daisy-like blossoms are quite similar to the typical sunflowers.
However, the boldness and richness of its red hue are a head-turner. Another amazing thing about these is that they require minimum maintenance and are quite hardy. Give them full and direct sunlight along with well-drained soil, and watch them thrive.
Freesias
Freesias can be hard to resist, with up to eight trumpet-shaped and upward-pointing blossoms on leafless stems. They make for wonderful cut flowers that last quite a long time, even in a vase. But growing them in your garden is an entirely new experience.
And with proper care, you can relish its beauty year after year. This starts by picking up a site that offers full sun or light morning shade and well-drained soil. They come in a wide range of vibrant hues, such as apricot, red, pink, purple, and burgundy and are great for attracting bees and butterflies.
Petunias
Known for their pastel shades, growing petunias can provide long-lasting color in the summer landscape and even enhance those dull, dreary borders. Often referred to as summer additions, petunias are quite easy to grow.
With full, direct sunlight and regular watering, you will be sorted. However, ground-cover petunias are quite picky when it comes to watering. They require weekly watering, but since they offer a long season of stunning blooms and a neat ground cover, all the effort is well paid off.
Conclusion on 15 best red flowering plants
If you are looking for vibrant flowering plants to draw attention to your garden, red-colored flowers can be a stunning choice. Claimed to be the color of extremes, it signifies various powerful emotions such as love, adventure, passion, and anger!
But there are such wide varieties to choose from regarding red flowering plants. And since red flowers can easily dominate other plants, using them as borders is an amazing idea.
While all these plants bring different shapes, sizes, and other interesting details to the garden, they are still united by their red blossoms!
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