10 Best Plants for Planter Boxes in Full Sun

If you have the perfect spot for a planter box but it’s in full sun, then you may be wondering what works best in a location that gets lots of sun throughout the day.

When choosing plants for your box, consider placing plants together with similar water, humidity, and temperature requirements.

It is also vital that you select plants that will grow well in your growing zone. You also need to be honest about the amount of work that you are willing to do to take care of your planter.

You can find many different choices for your planters when growing in full sun. Start planning your next single or multi-plant containers today.

Here are some plants to consider.

Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine

You can grow ornamental sweet potato vines in zones 8b through 11 throughout the year. The vine is much more colorful than that of the edible sweet potato. It will quickly grow outside your planter and trail along the space adding visual interest. This plant can easily be pruned. Use the prunings used to start a new vine.

Lantana

Lantana grows in zones 11 and 12. This shrub-type plant can grow up to 6-feet tall. Most people wanting to plant it in a planter will wish to consider dwarf or trailing hybrids. It produces white, yellow, red and purple five-lobed small flowers in clusters in clusters that can be up to 2-inches in diameter.

Salvia

This plant that is often called sage grows up to 2-feet tall in zones 5 to 9, and it can spread to be as wide as it is tall. Those living in warmer climates may need to provide this plant with some afternoon shade. Two-lipped, pale-yellow flowers bloom in the late summer and early fall.

Canna Lily

The Canna lily grows in zones 8 to 10. It can grow up to 3-feet tall and can spread about 2 feet. The flowers and leaves of this cousin of the jack-in-the-pulpit grow directly from the rhizomes. It will put on a whitish-yellow spadix surrounded by bright white spathes in June that lasts for about eight weeks.

Firecracker Plant

Growing in zones 8 to 11, the firecracker plant usually grows to be about 4-feet tall. Its fine-textured leaves make a beautiful contrast when placed in a planter next to options with broader leaves. This plant has a drooping form, and it blooms throughout the year. Most commonly, you will see red options, but yellow and other colors are available.

Phlox

The phlox grows to be about 4-feet tall on stiff stems in zones 4 to 8. Its dark-green leaves can be up to 6-inches long. In the summer to early fall, it produces 6-to-8-inch terminal clusters of flowers. Each flower has a long corolla tube and five flat petal-like lobes. The flowers can range from pinkish-purple to off-white.

Sedum

There are over 400 species of sedum, and most will grow in zones 4 to 9. Therefore, it is vital to make the right choice for your planter because some stay shorter, like a groundcover, while other options grow much taller. ‘Autumn Joy’, ‘Matrona’ and ‘Frosty Morn’ are some taller varieties that you may want to consider for planters. These plants bloom in the late summer and fall when many items in your garden may be starting to fade.

Calibrachoa

Calibrachoa is a trailing vine that grows in zones 9 to 11. It can produce vines up to 2-feet long. These plants are often called a million bells because of their prolific blooming habit that continues from spring through fall. You can find calibrachoa in a variety of colors, including violet, blue, pink, red, magenta, yellow, bronze, and white.

Gomphrena

Gomphrena grows from zones 2 to 11. This plant that grows to be about 2-feet tall produces multi-branching stems. While it does put on inconspicuous flowers in the spring, the reason that many gardeners love this plant is its clover-like flowerhead that has a papery texture. The flower heads appear in early summer and last through the first hard frost.

Verbena

There are about 250 verbena choices available, with most growing well in zones 7 to 9. You can find options that will stay as short as 6 inches and others grow over 3-feet tall. Most bloom abundantly in the summer and fall. Many have multi-colored, six-petal flowers that surround a sunken, contrasting-color, central disc.