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Our Favorite Flower Bed Ideas for Full Sun

You can have a beautiful garden without a lot of work. As proof, here are 10 flower bed ideas for full sun.

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GoldenPres Panayotov/Shutterstock

Golden Treasure

Golden rudbeckia pairs well with bright yellow marigolds, silver dusty miller, red and white geraniums, and variegated dracaena. The key to mixing all these colors: planting in swaths to avoid a spotty effect.

Want more flowers to brighten your landscape? Check out these beauties.

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Colorful Tatiana Zinchenko/Shutterstock

Spring Fling

Sunny garden beds aren’t just for summer stalwarts. Spring sunshine is less intense, making it suitable for a host of plants, including these tulips, grape hyacinths and pansies, which are thriving in the full sun. Want something like this next year? Here’s how to plant spring-blooming bulbs.

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FlowerAnukool Manoton/Shutterstock

Snap to, Snapdragons!

Snapdragons are an underutilized annual that deserve to see more “action” in the garden, especially since they bring a circus of color in unusual flower forms. Here they’re joined by purple and white petunias, another sun-loving annual, making this another one of our favorite flower bed ideas for full sun. Meet some other low-maintenance flowers you’ll love.

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pink roses on white fenceJorge Salcedo/Shutterstock

Fence Sitters

The pink flowers of these climbing roses are joined by purple-flowering veronica and chartreuse-leaved euphorbia in a tri-tone arrangement that just says “fresh.” And, they all do well in full sun. If the fence is facing west or southwest, you can use the other side for plants that like a little afternoon shade, opening up even more plant possibilities. Read up on 10 flower bed fencing ideas to spruce up your landscape.

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Wheelbarrow PlanterBrent Wong/Shutterstock

Portable Planter

Flowers for full sun? Who says they can’t be portable? In the hottest days of the summer, or when you’re away on vacation, wheel them to the shade temporarily to save on maintenance and watering. Then bring them back to full sun when the time is right. This planter features marigolds, petunias, angelonia, sweet alyssum and sanvitalia. Want other planter ideas? Check out these simple planter boxes you can build in a day.

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gardenGuitarM/Shutterstock

A Ribbon Runs Through It

Colorful ribbons of flowers make an artistic statement in this sun-loving flower garden bed. Flowers include red, gold, orange and pink celosia, pink and white vinca, purple and white petunias, and blue torenia and salvia. These are tough plants.

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flower bedAlinaMD/Shutterstock

Simple Beauty

Sometimes less is more. In this case, less variety in flowers and less variety in color add up to more visual oomph. Orange tithonia, also called Mexican sunflower, backs up a stream of yellow marigolds and pockets of purple verbena. Read up on 10 wildflowers that do well in the suburbs.

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zinniasRogatnykh/Shutterstock

Dependable Color

Just two species and three colors here. Swatches of orange and deep pink double-flowered zinnias back up violet-colored ageratum. These low-maintenance, drought-tolerant annuals are perfect for sunny landscapes. See 12 more pretty and easy plant combinations.

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orangeAlfredo Maiquez/Shutterstock

Island of Distinction

Three different cultivars of marigolds join with blue lobelia, sunpatiens, dwarf daisies and dusty miller on this island-like raised bed. If you’d like to build a raised bed for your flowers, we can help! Complete instructions here.

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flowers garden bloomdvoevnore/Shutterstock

Short and Sassy

Not much height to the sun-loving flowers in this bed, but they’re certainly not lacking firepower. Flowers include yellow marigolds, blue salvia and dwarf white dahlia. Marigolds are also good in the vegetable garden. Find out why.

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Luke Miller
Luke Miller is an award-winning garden editor with 25 years' experience in horticultural communications, including editing a national magazine and creating print and online gardening content for a national retailer. He grew up across the street from a park arboretum and has a lifelong passion for gardening in general and trees in particular. In addition to his journalism degree, he has studied horticulture and is a Master Gardener.