Awesome Perennials for Zone 10

While many gardeners think it would be great fun to garden in zone 10, other gardeners know the struggle of gardening where average temperatures usually stay above 40 degrees Fahrenheit year-round.

Gardeners who live in this area must spend extra time watering, and some flowers are almost impossible to grow here because they need a cool dormancy period.

If this struggle is real for you, then consider these flowers. When you pick the right ones for your landscaping needs, you can grow drool-worthy flowers in zone 10.

Cosmos

Cosmos

Add some color to your landscaping with cosmos flowers, especially if you have poor soil conditions. Growing to about 12-inches tall, these flowers that are available in a wide variety of colors produce cup-shaped flowers with approximately a 2-inch diameter. Blooming from late summer to early fall, the flowers on this plant have a yellow center surrounded by colorful rays.

Mexican Heather

Mexican-Heather

This favorite of many Southern gardeners, it produces small, trumpet-shaped flowers with six lavender petals and green tubes. This flower will start blooming mid-summer and bloom for many weeks. The plant that grows up to 2-feet tall has many glossy green, lance-shaped leaves. You can find it in many different colors with pink and white being the most common.

Lantana

Lantana

A sun-loving plant, lantana can grow up to 6-feet tall. Choose an area where you do not mind this flower prolifically spreading and enjoy the white, yellow, orange, red and purple five-lobe flowers that often appear on the same plant in the fall. While the original plant is upright, you can find trailing and dwarf options.

Pavonia

Pavonia

A member of the mallow family, this plant that loves the sun, often grows to be about 12-inches tall. This plant puts on five-petaled pink flowers that are about 2.5-inches across in the late spring and summer. Its gray-green leaves can also add visual interest to your garden.

Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea

Depending on the variety chosen, this plant can grow from 12-inches to 30-feet tall. The more sun this plant gets, the more it will reward you with richly colored bracts that appear in mid-spring. These bracts usually hide the small white flowers. Many also love this plant for its pointed green leaves. Be sure to choose the right place for this plant as it has 1-inch thorns.

Verbena

Growing up to 4-feet tall, this plant usually has four-angled stems. It produces tiny rose-violet flowers in the summer on the end of each stem in a cluster that can be 2-inches wide. The sparse dark-green leaves on this plant also make it an excellent choice to plant behind shorter flowers.

Bulbine

Bulbine

Bulbine plants have unique orange and yellow blooms in the spring and the fall, and some will bloom all year long. Six-petaled, orange and yellow flowers in the shape of a star surround a central yellow stamen giving this plant a beautifully unusual look. After the flowers fade, a round seed pod will appear with small black seeds, so be sure to deadhead this flower if you do not want it to spread.

Gaillardia

Gaillardia

Often called the blanket flower, this plant loves full sun and sandy soil. This plant that grows to be about 15-inches tall has daisy-like, 2-inch flower heads that appear in late summer and early fall. Usually, the dark purple center is surrounded by red, yellow, or red and yellow rays. When it is left to go to seed, this plant will spread, but you can stop that if you want by deadheading the flowers.

Ginger Lily

Ginger-Lily

If you are looking for a sun-loving plant, this choice that grows to be about 5-feet tall may be perfect for you. This plant loves humidity. The lance-shaped, medium-green leaves often grow to be 2-feet long. This plant puts on white flowers, whose petals may remind you of a butterfly, on elliptical stalks in late summer and early fall that are very aromatic.

Columbine

This clump-forming plant often grows to be over 2-feet tall. You can find many color choices in this spring-blooming flower, including pinks, blues and violets. You can also find single varieties and double varieties. Each flower has spreading sepals at the top of the stem and short-hooked tubular corollas. Often, the stamen is a different color than the rest of the flower, giving this plant its beautiful appearance.

Rex begonia

Rex-Begonias

Grown for their showy foliage, rex begonias require lots of humidity. Therefore, they are often grown as houseplants in other growing zones, but they can be grown outside in zone 10. Leaves that can grow to be 12-inches long and 8-inches wide are covered in delicate hair-like structures. These leaves have a dark green center and outside edge and are silvery in the middle. The underside of the blade is red. In ideal conditions, white and pink flowers appear on this plant in the winter.

Scaevola aemula (Fan Flower)

Scaevola-aemula-(Fan-Flower)

It cannot get too hot or dry for fan flowers. They exhibit trailing and cascading habits, so many gardeners find them perfect for outdoor hanging baskets. Prolific bloomers, you can find this flower in a variety of colors, including blue, purple, white, and pink. The rays of each flower usually surround a center that is a coordinating color.