Sow These 5 Fast-Growing Flower Seeds in July to Refresh Your Garden With a Renewed Burst of Beautiful Blooms

Early summer is peak flowering season with borders packed full of blooms – and if you sow these fast-to-flower plants in July, you can keep it that way until the first frost. All gardens look fabulous right now, but come late August and September, most backyards will be starting to run out of steam as flowers fade and border gaps appear. Except, of course, those gardens owned by savvy gardeners who know what seeds to sow in July for a fresh burst of flowers just as most plants are reaching the end of their blooming cycle.

Those gardens will have borders bright with renewed late summer color and a plentiful profusion of petals, signing the sunny season off with aplomb and continuing far into fall. And all for the price of a few packets of seed!

These breakneck blooms all thrive in pots as well as in the ground, so you can use them to refresh your patio display, too: as quick and clever container gardening ideas go, it's such an easy win. All these plants are sun lovers, so while you’ll need to keep them watered while they germinate and grow their roots deep enough to find their own moisture supply, they’ll cope with midsummer heat, even through that vulnerable seedling stage. Super-tolerant, these easy to grow flowers can also be direct-sown straight into the soil where they’re to bloom.

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And oh, the colors they’ll bring to your garden! These are annual plants, completing their lifecycle in a year, which is why they produce their flowers so speedily. That swift journey from sowing to flowering to seed production also means these plants are pretty easy to breed from, so there's a wealth of varieties with ever-more beautiful blooms. So whether you want a bright pop of fiery color to enhance the golden tones of your late-summer ornamental grasses, or a cooling mix of pastel shades to offset the intense heat of late September, you'll have a great choice of glorious cultivars.

Alongside late-blooming perennials such as rudbeckia and asters, these fast-flowering annuals are the secret to full borders through fall. Now you're in the know, sow these blooming beauties, pronto, and make summer last for longer in your garden.

1. ProCut Sunflowers

• Flowers in 50-60 days
• Full sun
• 5-6 feet tall
• Zones 2-11

Imagine your front yard in September, full of these fabulous five-inch flowers atop five-foot stems… a sight to make the neighbors stop and sigh! Sunflowers have come a long way since we all grew them as kids, poking plump seeds into the soil and watering earnestly before the excitement of fresh green sprouts and yellow flowers far above our heads. These days, there’s still plenty of joy to be had with these easy to grow flowers, but now it’s all about the fabulous colors, from lemon yellow to lusciously dark reds.

Most annual sunflowers are fast growers but, in July, choose the extra-speedy ProCut series. These grow one flower on a sturdy stem, so are far faster than varieties that grow multiple blooms on a branching stem.

Bred for the cut flower industry, ProCut sunflowers are incredibly reliable, too, and have beautiful, often bronzed tones with a vintage vibe just perfect for lazy end-of-summer days. Eden Brothers stocks a super selection of seeds: ‘ProCut White Lite’ is the palest; ‘ProCut White Nite’ has the same creamy white petals but a wonderfully dark center; ‘Procut Red’ is a rich burgundy; ‘ProCut Red Lemon Bicolor’ has red petals dipped in yellow; and ‘ProCut Plum’ (pictured) is a divine blend of cream and soft maroon.

Can’t decide? Eden Brothers also offers a ProCut Sunflower Bundle of five varieties.

Because this series was originally intended for floristry, these sunflowers are pollenless. They do produce nectar, however, so are still of some use to pollinators. The up-side is that the lack of pollen means these flowers aren’t in a rush to produce seeds so last incredibly well on the stem and in a vase. Still, if you want a yard full of fall flowers, too, it's a smart move to sow a few seeds every two weeks.

2. Sweet Alyssum

• Flowers in 45-60 days
• Full sun
• 3-6 inches tall
• Zones 2-11

At the opposite end of the size spectrum is sweet alyssum and, while these pretty blooms may be small, they’ll bring so much storybook charm to your late-summer garden, right up to the first frost. Lobularia maritima evolved to grow in harsh coastal conditions so it laughs in the face of midsummer heat, quickly covering bare soil left by wilting, less-tough plants. Because it’s so tiny, it won’t crowd out bigger plants, so you can use it to add gently spreading pools of groundcover color around other plants in a border, and to refresh patio pots of fading perennials.

Growing incredibly quickly from seed to flower in as few as 45 days, this little lovely is a great choice to sow in July as it’s super-quick to germinate and spreads to 10 inches, filling gaps fast. You’ll soon discover that sweet alyssum has a glorious honeyed fragrance, too, adding sweet scent to your late-summer outdoor space.

Whatever your plant palette, white ‘Carpet of Snow’ acts as a fantastic foil in a border to show off bigger plants, and is available from Burpee. ‘Rosie O’Day’, available from Eden Brothers, has rose-colored flowers that are fabulous in a cottage garden; also available from Eden Brothers, ‘Royal Carpet’ is a bright violet purple, while ‘Oriental Nights’ brings deeper shades.

For a wonderful multi-toned carpet of tiny flowers, choose a blended mix of all these tones. As its name suggests, ‘Allure Pastel Blend’ has a romantic blend of appealing pale petals, and is available from Botanical Interests; ‘Paletta Mix’ has stronger tones and is available from Eden Brothers.

While sweet alyssum is a short-lived perennial in zones 9-11, it’s grown as an annual in other zones.

3. Calendula

• Flowers in 60-90 days
• Full sun
• 12-24 inches high
• Zones 3-10

If you think Calendula officinalis is all about orange daisies, think again. There are now striking calendula varieties in sunset tones from the palest yellow to petals backed in mahogany red, but the prettiest are the ombre cultivars with a mix of shades. ‘Zeolights’ has bronzy-orange petals that fade to a dusky pink, and seeds are available from Botanical Interests. ‘Strawberry Blonde’, available from Eden Brothers, adds a golden yellow to its peachy tones, its petals backed in maroon. ‘Sunset Buff’ (pictured) also has a contrasting reverse shade, the rusty red backing of its petals highlighting their creamy apricot front (also available from Eden Brothers).

There are surprising shapes now, too, such as ‘Calexis Orange’, available from Burpee, whose rolled petals create a cactus-like flower. Calendula is also one of the easiest edible flowers to grow, and their petals make a pretty sprinkle on salads, pasta, pancakes and – the best! – avocado toast.

These sunset tones are especially beautiful as a garden transitions from summer into fall, ushering in a new seasonal palette. Calendula, also known as pot marigold, is super-easy to grow from seed, and will keep flowering till the first frost. It self-seeds readily, too, so you’ll probably be treated to another show of pretty petals next summer, and every summer forever after, for free.

4. Zinnias

• Flowers in 60-80 days
• Full sun
• 12-30 inches high
• Zones 2-10

Not only do zinnias flower for a long time, each bloom lasts for up a week on the plant so one packet of seeds will bring an explosion of color to your garden. The time zinnias take to grow from seed to flower is pretty predictable, with smaller varieties or those with simpler single flowers taking around two months and more complex, double flowers another few weeks to develop.

This means it’s easy to choose whether to prioritise speed over shape, depending on your zone, or vice versa – or why not sow two varieties to enjoy the best of both worlds?

The Profusion series is especially good to sow in July because it’s fast to flower and has excellent disease resistance. Traditional zinnias can sometimes struggle with powdery mildew, so opting for a variety with strong resistance will keep your plants looking good and performing well all through fall to the first frost. Profusion zinnias are also self-cleaning, which means they don’t need deadheading, as new blooms continuously replace old ones. They work well in a pot as well as a bed, as the plants naturally grow into a neat mound.

Glorious color choices for late summer include 'Profusion Apricot', available from Eden Brothers, with a fabulous range of soft, warm tones. 'Profusion Red-Yellow Bicolor', also available from Eden Brothers, offers stronger shades, or if you really want to power your garden from late summer into fall, there’s vibrant orange 'Profusion Double Fire' and rich red and pink 'Profusion Double Hot Cherry' (pictured), both also available from Eden Brothers.

Another super way to use zinnias to add late-season sparkle to your garden is to choose a zesty-toned fast-growing variety such as ‘Tequila Lime’, available from Burpee. The striking lime-green color will freshen up your yard in late summer, then provide a contrast to make warm fall tones appear more fiery.

Zinnia petals are edible, too, and look so beautiful frozen into ice cubes (use boiled water to get clear ice cubes so you can appreciate the petals) for late-summer sundowners on the patio.

5. Nasturtiums

• Flowers in 45-80 days
• Sun or partial shade
• Tropaeolum minus 8-14 inches high; Tropaeolum majus 1-10 feet tall
• Zones 2-10

So quick and easy to grow from seed, nasturtiums will bring a kaleidoscope of color to your garden in late summer, and just look at those fresh green leaves! There are two types of nasturtium, which matters for a July sowing.

Tropaeolum majus is a climbing nasturtium but can also be grown in a hanging basket or tall container so its stems trail downwards, or as groundcover. Some have stems that only grow to a foot long, and these don’t take long to flower so are a good choice for a July sowing; others can reach up to 10 feet, and they’re better sown earlier in spring. Tropaeolum minus is a dwarf, bushy nasturtium, so all varieties are fine to sow in July.

While nasturtiums will happily grow in full sun to partial shade, it’s better to give them a little respite from the sun when sowing in July. As long as they have 6 hours of sunshine, they’ll flower well. Indeed, the best way to get your nasturtiums to bloom well is to give them poor soil, as too many nutrients will encourage them to prioritise foliage over flowers. Get these right and your nasturtiums will keep flowering to the first frost.

Botanical Interests stocks a fabulous range of nasturtiums in a wide range of colors, from the sunny yellows of ‘Butterscotch’ to the spicy mix of oranges in ‘Fiesta Blend’ and the rich reds of ‘Cherry Rose Jewel’. All these are Tropaeolum majus but only reach a foot high so are perfect for a July sowing. For a pot-friendly Tropaeolum minus, then the deep ruby of ‘Black Velvet’, also from Botanical Interests, would be a divinely dramatic choice.

If you’re looking for more subtle shades, then Burpee stocks ‘Sweethearts Mix’ in a pastel mix of lemon, rose and apricot.

And yes, you can eat nasturtium seeds – and those lovely leaves – too!