We know you’re ready to rock the spring planting season and stock up on the best garden annuals on Long Island. Now’s the time to dazzle your neighbors with a spectacular show of frilly and vibrant blooms and set Oceanside abuzz with local pollinators, too! So…how do you know what the best garden annuals are for 2023? Pull up a chair and let The Dees’ guide your gardening this year. 

The Best Garden Annuals for Your Oceanside Garden

Between your garden beds, hanging baskets, and patio containers—you have tons of room to pack a punch with our best garden annuals this year. No matter what your style—cottage, wildflower, jewel, or ‘anything goes’—you’ll find loads of blooms to fill every nook and cranny and create an explosion of color for a true garden paradise. Here are some of our favorite annual flowers this year that we think you should experience for yourself!

Lantana

We openly admit that The Dees’ is completely biased toward this annual and consider it an insider favorite! A sweet little clustering flower, lantana blooms non-stop from spring until the first frost, making it one of the best annuals you can plant in Oceanside. This carefree member of the verbena family comes in a wide variety of colors and attracts all of your favorite pollinators like hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees! It is, however, quite a toxic plant to have around, so be careful when planning your garden and keep lantana out of reach of curious little fur babies or small children. 

New Guinea Impatiens

This species of impatiens is fairly similar to its siblings, with a couple of small exceptions. The New Guinea variety offers the same bright and colorful blooms for a continuous summer show, but the flowers on this species tend to be a bit larger. They also tolerate more sunlight than other impatiens, so feel free to plant them in areas that get a bit more sun throughout the day. The large flower heads are also super attractive to butterflies and other helpful pollinators, so why not fill a hanging basket or a window box or pack up a garden bed with this delightful annual this year?  

Flowering Vinca 

Another sun-loving stunner, the vinca (or Madagascar periwinkle), is one of the best flowering annuals to grow! Their bright blooms resemble impatiens in style and color, and have dark green, leathery foliage for a sharp contrast in the garden. Wait until temperatures are on the warmer side before putting these out, preferably around the time you plan to transplant tomatoes. Flowering vinca makes a great addition to any container garden or window box and is totally going to entice the butterflies, too!

Geraniums

This old-fashioned South African beauty is still (and always will be,) a garden annual top-pick for beds and containers alike. Sun-loving, cheery, and downright irresistible, the frilly blooms of geraniums fill gardens every year with a fragrant bliss all summer long. 

Hanging baskets

Because we love playing with our flowers so much, we spend a ton of time handcrafting the best annual hanging baskets you’ll find on Long Island. If you’re not too savvy with pot design, or you want to treat a fellow gardener to something they’ll never forget, come by and see our selection of pre-made hanging baskets (deck and patio ready!) to kickstart a fiesta of color. 

Our baskets are stuffed to the brim with summer favorites like verbena, calibrachoa, and petunias! We’ve also got some great advice on how to keep your hanging basket in tip-top shape all season to make the most of those gorgeous blooms.

Now that you’re ready to binge-shop all of the best garden annuals in Oceanside, we’ll make sure we keep the shopping carts ready for your visit! Remember to grab some other garden essentials while you’re here, like some container soil to keep those annuals happy and healthy, oh, and toss in some all-purpose fertilizer, too! *Chefs kiss 🤌*