Annual Plants Beginning With C

Annual plants have a short life span which last for a single growing season. Annuals are started from seed or bulbs and grow quickly to produce flowers which mature and go to seed. You can create a whimsical garden bed or border with annuals that start with the letter C. In a large planting area you can use the annuals to form a letter C for your family initial in the center of a sloped flower bed.

Tall and Stately

Tall and climbing annuals are a strong background or stand alone plant. They work very well in large displays, planters, flower beds and borders. Canna will grow to 6 feet tall with colorful foliage and a tall spire of flowers. Cleome has a cluster of colorful continuous blossoms that appear in a loose ball at the top of a leafy 4 foot stalk. Cardinal Climber grows 10 to 30 feet high and is a form of Morning glory, with blossoms that have a span of 5 inches.

Short and Sweet

Cupnea is a perennial plant that is grown as an annual and is known as the Hummingbird plant. Campanula or Bellflower plants range from small compact 6 inch border flowers to a 6 foot tall climber; there are over 300 varieties of this annual. Calibrachoa, a new annual on the market that has the look of a dainty petunia, is a 6 inch tall plant that grows quickly in containers or at the front of a flower bed. Cosmos are a widely popular wispy, flowering garden annual that have feathery foliage and grows 2 to 3 feet tall. Calendula is a multi-petaled, edible flower in yellow, tan and cream colors that grows on a 21 inch plant.

Dramatic Foliage

Colocasia Black Magic or (Taro) Elephant Ear is an annual in zones 1 to 7; it grows from to 2 to 5 feet tall with dramatic black leaves and can be used for borders, background and pots. Centaura Cineria, the silver colored leaf known as Dusty Miller, is a compact filler in pots, urns and window boxes, which also works well in borders mixed with flowering plant annuals. Coleus and Caladium are two annual colorful plants with leaves that are impressive alone in pots or interspersed with flowering plants.