What are the Best All-Year Flowers

Alstroemeria one of the longest flowering plants

What are the Best All-Year Flowers

What Are The Best All-Year Flowers?

While no plant flowers continuously throughout the entire year, Alstroemeria (as per image) - often known as the Peruvian Lily - stands out for its exceptionally long flowering period and suitability as a picking flower. Available in a wide range of colours, including white, cream, red, pink, apricot, yellow, and orange, it adds vibrant colour to the garden for months. Dwarf varieties can form a low-growing ground cover, while taller types reach 60–70cm, making them ideal for cut flowers. Alstroemeria is easy to grow, thriving in full sun and well-drained soil, and it also performs well in containers.

Another excellent option are roses, with Iceberg being a standout variety. Often the first rose to bloom in spring, it continues flowering well into late autumn and even early winter. This reliable performer is also highly disease-resistant, making it a favourite in many gardens.

A few other plants with longer flowering periods are:

Perennials and Shrubs

  • Dahlia – Flowers from summer into autumn, providing months of colour. With regular deadheading, these stunning blooms keep coming.
  • Salvia – A hardy, long-flowering plant available in a range of colours, from deep blues and purples to reds and pinks. Great for attracting bees and butterflies.
  • Echinacea (Coneflower) – A reliable summer-to-autumn bloomer with bold, daisy-like flowers in shades of pink, white, and orange.
  • Geranium (Cranesbill) – Not to be confused with pelargoniums, these perennials flower for months and are excellent ground covers.
  • Penstemon – With tubular flowers in a variety of colours, this plant blooms from late spring to autumn and is easy to grow.

Shrubs & Roses

  • Lavender – Produces fragrant purple flowers from late spring through summer and is a magnet for bees.
  • Camellia (Sasanqua varieties) – Blooms from autumn into early spring, adding colour when few other plants are flowering.
  • Hebe – A New Zealand native that flowers for extended periods, especially in warmer regions.
  • Flower Carpet Roses – A low-maintenance rose that blooms from spring until the first frosts.

Annuals & Bedding Plants

  • Petunia – A summer favourite with non-stop flowering if regularly deadheaded.
  • Begonia – Thrives in both sun and shade with blooms lasting from spring to autumn.
  • Osteospermum (African Daisy) – Produces masses of colourful daisy-like flowers over a long season.
     
Guides
All Gardening Guides
Topic

More like this

What Every New Gardener Should Know
What’s the most important thing for a gardening newbie to know?
What Is Eating My Carrot Seedlings?
Something is attacking my young carrots. The foliage (leaves) wilts and, when I pull them up, the roots look cut off or eaten almost at the base, with only a few millimetres left. What could be causing this?
What other plants can you feed monarch butterfly caterpillars?
What other plants can you feed monarch butterfly caterpillars?
What Products Do I Use?
What is the best Daltons product for tomatoes?
What to Grow with Kids
How can I make gardening a more fun experience for my children? What are some good summer plants for them to grow?
Best Time to Plant Basil in Dunedin
What is the best time, and condition, to plant Basil in Dunedin to maximise the crop? To achieve this what is the best condition of the state of soil and what is the best position/situation of the planned new Basil bed, should it be fully sunny or partly shaded? In addition to this, what is the best fertiliser to use? Can the seedlings be planted in succession to achieve the most continuous use of the herb?
Growing Strawberries and Vegetables
I am new to growing fruit and veges. For strawberries what soil preparation is required and what type of area do they grow well in? How close do I plant veggies seedlings and what depth in the soil?
Strawberry Soil Preparation and Vegetable Planting
I am new to growing fruit and vegetables. For strawberries, what soil preparation is required and what type of area do they grow well in? How close do I plant vegetable seedlings and what depth in the soil?
Lichen on Fruit Trees
Does moss and lichen on fruit trees cause any problems and what product should I use to remove it? Also, what fertiliser should I use for pip and stone fruit trees?
First Vege Patch: Getting Soil Ready and What to Plant
I’m new to gardening and wanting to start a veggie patch. How do I get the soil ready and what plants do you recommend for a beginner?
Citrus Leaves Curling in NZ? Common Causes & What to Do
Why are the leaves on my citrus tree curling?
Vegetable Seed Sowing for Weekly Family Meals
What’s the best way to work out how many seeds to sow, and how to stagger planting, so you grow enough vegetables to help feed your family each week or month?