12 Powerful Flowers That Start with P for You to Grow This Year
Pretty as a picture and pleasingly precious. Picking the perfect plant each season is a profound pleasure of mine. Perhaps you’re looking to pull pollinators into your garden for their principal occupation, or possibly you prefer to preview a list of flowers starting with P.
I’m proceeding along through my favorite flowering plants to add to the garden this year, letter by letter. Predictably, I’ve stumbled along to the letter ‘p.’
Table of Contents
1. Painted daisy (Tanacetum coccineum)
Also known as the pyrethrum daisy, painted daisies are one of the most useful sweeties to plant in your garden.
Painted daisies produce a natural insecticide in their tissue that dissuades pests, while their bright pink, white, or red flowers attract bees and other beneficial insects. It’s an all-around champion and a delight to behold, too.
| Botanical Name: | Tanacetum coccineum |
| Growth Rate: | Medium |
| Native Range: | Western and Central Asia |
| Hardiness Zones: | 3 to 7 |
| Dangers: | Sap may cause dermatitis |
| Soil Needs: | Sandy, loamy soil. Requires good drainage |
| Exposure: | Full sun to partial shade |
| Ease of Care: | Easy |
| Diseases: | Disease resistant |
| Propagation: | Seed, cutting, division |
| Fertilizer: | Fertilize seasonally with balanced slow release fertilizer |
| Pests: | Pest resistant, some risk of aphids |
| Blooming Period: | Summer |
| Pruning: | Deadhead to encourage more blooms |
| Water needs: | Moderate |
2. Pansy (Viola × wittrockiana)
Pansies evoke a classic cottage garden, with pert round blossoms in a variety of colors and patterns. They’re a hybrid first developed from Viola flowers at some point in the 18th century, and they’ve been a popular choice for short-season gardens and annual displays ever since.
| Botanical Name: | Viola × wittrockiana |
| Growth Rate: | Moderate |
| Native Range: | Man made hybrid |
| Hardiness Zones: | 6 to 10 |
| Dangers: | Man-made hybrid |
| Soil Needs: | Organically rich, loamy soil |
| Exposure: | Full sun to partial shade |
| Ease of Care: | Moderate |
| Diseases: | Fungal leaf diseases |
| Propagation: | Seed |
| Fertilizer: | Not required |
| Pests: | Slugs and snails |
| Blooming Period: | Late spring to summer |
| Pruning: | Deadhead to encourage new blooms |
| Water needs: | Moderate |
3. Paraguay Nightshade (Lycianthes rantonnetii)
Paraguay nightshade is a sizable, easy-to-grow warm climate shrub. It can be trained into elegant hedges speckled with delicate purple flowers that mature into bright red berries. Be warned, however!
This plant is nightshade by name and nightshade by nature, and every part is poisonous to humans. Plant with care.
| Botanical Name: | Lycianthes rantonnetii, formerly Solanum rantonnetii |
| Growth Rate: | Fast |
| Native Range: | South America |
| Hardiness Zones: | 8 to 11 |
| Dangers: | Poisonous |
| Soil Needs: | Sandy, loamy soil. Requires good drainage |
| Exposure: | Full sun to partial shade |
| Ease of Care: | Easy |
| Diseases: | Prone leaf diseases and damping off. |
| Propagation: | Seed, cuttings |
| Fertilizer: | Fertilize in spring with slow-release granules |
| Pests: | Some risk of aphids, thrips and caterpillars |
| Blooming Period: | Late spring to fall |
| Pruning: | Prune to maintain shape |
| Water needs: | Moderate to high |
4. Pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris)
This fuzzy alpine wildflower is a type of buttercup, though it’s hard to see the similarities. Pasque flowers are regal purple, star-shaped, and covered in a light layer of soft down. They grow naturally in dry mountain meadows throughout northern Europe, kept warm by their cover of fuzz.
| Botanical Name: | Pulsatilla vulgaris |
| Growth Rate: | Fast |
| Native Range: | Northern Europe and Great Britain |
| Hardiness Zones: | 4 to 8 |
| Dangers: | Poisonous |
| Soil Needs: | Chalk, Loam, Sand |
| Exposure: | Full sun |
| Ease of Care: | Low |
| Diseases: | Disease resistant |
| Propagation: | Seed, cuttings, division |
| Fertilizer: | Do not overfeed |
| Pests: | Deer, aphids, slugs and snails |
| Blooming Period: | Early spring |
| Pruning: | Remove seasonal die-back |
| Water needs: | Low |
5. Peony (Paeonia japonica)
Peonies are long-lived, compact shrub known for fast seasonal growth that dies back entirely each winter. They produce spectacular white flowers, strongly fragrant and blowsy. So powerfully and wonderfully perfumed are peony blossoms that it’s possible to perfume your whole garden with a single planting.
| Botanical Name: | Paeonia japonica |
| Growth Rate: | Fast |
| Native Range: | Japan |
| Hardiness Zones: | 5-9 |
| Dangers: | None recorded |
| Soil Needs: | Organically rich, moderately moist soil |
| Exposure: | Partial shade |
| Ease of Care: | Moderate |
| Diseases: | Disease resistant |
| Propagation: | Division |
| Fertilizer: | Use a high potassium fertilizer in spring |
| Pests: | Flowers attract ants but are not a concern to the flower |
| Blooming Period: | Spring |
| Pruning: | Cut back to ground level before first frost, mulch heavily |
| Water needs: | Moderate |
6. Petunia (Calibrachoa)
Sometimes called a Million Bells for their astonishing profusion of blooms, these dainty dwarf Petunias are best grown in hanging baskets and small containers.
They don’t ask for much, but keep them happy and they’ll deliver a dazzling abundance of flowers in a wide range of colors, including yellow, red, orange, and even purple, burgundy, and magenta.
| Botanical Name: | Calibrachoa |
| Growth Rate: | Fast |
| Native Range: | Free-draining, fertile soils |
| Hardiness Zones: | 9 to 11 |
| Dangers: | None recorded |
| Soil Needs: | Slightly acidic soil |
| Exposure: | Full sun |
| Ease of Care: | Easy |
| Diseases: | Disease resistant |
| Propagation: | Cuttings |
| Fertilizer: | Fertilize regularly with water soluble liquid fertilizer |
| Pests: | Mites, thrips |
| Blooming Period: | Spring to fall |
| Pruning: | Not required, can be cut for shape |
| Water needs: | High |
7. Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa atropurpurea)
The pincushion flower lives up to its name, sporting sweet round flowers that resemble a small mauve cushion speckled with pins.
Blossoms are long-lasting, produce abundant nectar, and attract bees butterflies and hummingbirds. They also make excellent cut flowers, and many fans keep them in dried flower arrangements for a truly enduring display.
| Botanical Name: | Scabiosa atropurpurea |
| Growth Rate: | Moderate |
| Native Range: | Native to Northern Africa |
| Hardiness Zones: | 4a to 11b |
| Dangers: | May become invasive |
| Soil Needs: | Rich, alkaline soil high in organic matter |
| Exposure: | Full sun |
| Ease of Care: | Easy |
| Diseases: | Some root issues if drainage is poor |
| Propagation: | Self seeds readily |
| Fertilizer: | Low |
| Pests: | Some risk of aphids or mites |
| Blooming Period: | Late spring to fall |
| Pruning: | Deadhead to encourage new blooms |
| Water needs: | Low to moderate; drought resistant |
8. Prairie poppy mallow (Callirhoe alcaeoides)
Prairie poppy mallow is a ghostly flower, a single white bloom that rises from a low-growing sprawl of simple leaves. They’re an American native wildflower, common in the plains from Illinois to the Great Plains. It sneaks its way into barren grounds and the disturbed land at roadsides, a whisper of lost prairies long forgotten.
| Botanical Name: | Callirhoe Alcaeoides |
| Growth Rate: | Fast |
| Native Range: | South central and Eastern United States |
| Hardiness Zones: | Well-draining rocky or sandy soils |
| Dangers: | None recorded |
| Soil Needs: | Well draining rocky or sandy soils |
| Exposure: | Full sun |
| Ease of Care: | Easy |
| Diseases: | Some risk of crown rot if drainage is poor |
| Propagation: | Seed |
| Fertilizer: | Not required |
| Pests: | Pest resistant |
| Blooming Period: | Summer |
| Pruning: | Deadhead as desired |
| Water needs: | Low to moderate, drought resistant |
9. Poppy (Papaver alpinum)
A cold-weather flower, this form of poppy is also known as the alpine or dwarf poppy. They produce compact flowers no less lovely than their larger cousins, in similar shades of white, yellow, orange, or red. They’re an ideal choice for cottage gardens in cooler areas, or at elevation.
| Botanical Name: | Papaver alpinum |
| Growth Rate: | Fast |
| Native Range: | Alpine regions of Europe |
| Hardiness Zones: | 4 to 6 |
| Dangers: | None recorded |
| Soil Needs: | Some risks of aphids |
| Exposure: | Full sun |
| Ease of Care: | Moderate |
| Diseases: | Downy mildew if drainage is poor |
| Propagation: | Seed or division |
| Fertilizer: | Not required |
| Pests: | Some risk of aphids |
| Blooming Period: | Summer |
| Pruning: | Not required |
| Water needs: | Moderate |
10. Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya)
With splashy bright leaves and dainty purple blooms, the polka dot plant grows equally well as an indoor plant as it does out in the garden. While it’s mostly grown for its dark leaves dappled with pink, it produces elegant spears that hold tiny purple blooms. It’s a swan song, as the polka dot plant is short-lived and will die off once its flowering is complete.
| Botanical Name: | Hypoestes phyllostachya |
| Growth Rate: | Slow |
| Native Range: | Madagascar |
| Hardiness Zones: | 10a to 11b |
| Dangers: | None recorded |
| Soil Needs: | Rich in organic material and freely draining |
| Exposure: | Partial shade |
| Ease of Care: | Easy |
| Diseases: | Root rot and mildew if drainage is poor |
| Propagation: | Seed, cuttings |
| Fertilizer: | Dilute liquid fertilizer when grown indoors |
| Pests: | Some risk of aphids, mealybugs and whiteflies |
| Blooming Period: | Summer to fall |
| Pruning: | Prune to prevent legginess |
| Water needs: | Moderate |
11. Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus)
For year-round flowers, it’s hard to go past the periwinkle. They’re a great choice for water saver gardens as they require very little irrigation. Even when dry they grow in profusion, producing as if by magic thick beds of glossy green leaves and pert, simple flowers in bright pink, purple, or white.
Periwinkle has a long history of use as a medicinal plant which continues to this day, forming a key part of modern cancer treatments.
| Botanical Name: | Catharanthus roseus |
| Growth Rate: | Moderate |
| Native Range: | Madagascar |
| Hardiness Zones: | 9b to 11 |
| Dangers: | Contains alkaloids that can cause poisoning if ingested by humans, dogs, cats, or horses |
| Soil Needs: | All types with sufficient drainage |
| Exposure: | Partial shade |
| Ease of Care: | Easy |
| Diseases: | Prone to root disease in wet conditions, some leaf issues |
| Propagation: | Seed, cuttings |
| Fertilizer: | Year-round |
| Pests: | Pest resistant |
| Blooming Period: | Year round |
| Pruning: | As desired for shape |
| Water needs: | Low, drought tolerant |
12. Perennial Phlox (Phlox paniculata)
Hummingbirds and butterflies find the tall, swaying blooms of perennial phlox to be simply irresistible. In good conditions, it will reach four feet tall without breaking a sweat, with dense fragrant clusters of simple flowers in pink, lavender, or white.
It’s an excellent addition to any wildflower garden, where its long blooming period will ensure your local pollinators are fed well through the year.
| Botanical Name: | Phlox paniculata |
| Growth Rate: | Medium |
| Native Range: | Eastern United States |
| Hardiness Zones: | 4a to 8b |
| Dangers: | None recorded |
| Soil Needs: | Moist, organically rich loam, tolerates clay |
| Exposure: | Prefers full-sun to very light shade |
| Ease of Care: | Easy |
| Diseases: | Prone to mildew if crowded or too damp |
| Propagation: | Seed, cuttings, division |
| Fertilizer: | Fertilize seasonally with a balanced slow-release granular fertilizer |
| Pests: | Phlox bugs, spider mites |
| Blooming Period: | Summer through fall |
| Pruning: | Deadhead to promote new blooms, cut back at the end of the season to prevent disease |
| Water needs: | Moderate |
Final thoughts
Proud and pleasing, placing pert and perky flowers promote peace and pleasure in any plot or patch. Protecting pollinators is a profound payoff, a prize for painstaking planting. Perfect!
