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Plant library  ·  Spacing charts

Annual flower spacing chart

Center-to-center spacing for 50 annual flowers, with mature height and spread, bloom season, and sun needs — spacing for plants that get one season to fill their space.

Spacing across this chart runs from 6 inches (15 cm) to 2.5 ft (75 cm). Click any column heading to sort.

Annual Flowers — 50 plants, center-to-center spacing
Plant Spacing Mature size USDA zones Sun
African DaisyOsteospermum ecklonis 12 inches30 cm 1 ft tall, 1 ft wide 9–11 Full Sun
African MarigoldTagetes erecta 18 inches45 cm 3 ft tall, 2 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
AgeratumAgeratum houstonianum 9 inches23 cm 1 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
AngeloniaAngelonia angustifolia 12 inches30 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1 ft wide 9–11 Full Sun
Annual Geranium (Zonal Geranium)Pelargonium x hortorum 12 inches30 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
BacopaSutera cordata 12 inches30 cm 0.5 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 9–11 Full Sun
BidensBidens ferulifolia 12 inches30 cm 1 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 9–11 Full Sun
CalendulaCalendula officinalis 12 inches30 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
CalibrachoaCalibrachoa spp. 12 inches30 cm 0.75 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
CelosiaCelosia argentea 12 inches30 cm 2 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
China AsterCallistephus chinensis 12 inches30 cm 2 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
CleomeCleome hassleriana 18 inches45 cm 4 ft tall, 2 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
ColeusSolenostemon scutellarioides 18 inches45 cm 2 ft tall, 2 ft wide 2–11 Partial Shade
CosmosCosmos bipinnatus 18 inches45 cm 4 ft tall, 2 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
CupheaCuphea ignea 12 inches30 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 10–11 Full Sun
Dusty MillerJacobaea maritima 12 inches30 cm 1 ft tall, 1 ft wide 7–11 Full Sun
Fan FlowerScaevola aemula 12 inches30 cm 0.75 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 10–11 Full Sun
Flowering TobaccoNicotiana alata 12 inches30 cm 3 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
Four O'ClockMirabilis jalapa 2 ft60 cm 3 ft tall, 2.5 ft wide 7–11 Full Sun
French MarigoldTagetes patula 9 inches23 cm 1 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
FuchsiaFuchsia spp. 18 inches45 cm 2 ft tall, 2 ft wide 9–11 Partial Shade
Garden PansyViola x wittrockiana 9 inches23 cm 0.75 ft tall, 0.75 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
GazaniaGazania rigens 9 inches23 cm 0.75 ft tall, 1 ft wide 9–11 Full Sun
GomphrenaGomphrena globosa 12 inches30 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
HeliotropeHeliotropium arborescens 15 inches40 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
ImpatiensImpatiens walleriana 12 inches30 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Shade
LantanaLantana camara 2.5 ft75 cm 3 ft tall, 3 ft wide 7–11 Full Sun
LisianthusEustoma grandiflorum 9 inches23 cm 2 ft tall, 0.75 ft wide 8–11 Full Sun
LobeliaLobelia erinus 9 inches23 cm 0.5 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Partial Sun
Love-in-a-MistNigella damascena 9 inches23 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
Marguerite DaisyArgyranthemum frutescens 18 inches45 cm 2 ft tall, 2 ft wide 9–11 Full Sun
Morning GloryIpomoea purpurea 18 inches45 cm 10 ft tall, 3 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
Moss RosePortulaca grandiflora 12 inches30 cm 0.5 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
NasturtiumTropaeolum majus 12 inches30 cm 1 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
NemesiaNemesia strumosa 6 inches15 cm 1 ft tall, 0.75 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
New Guinea ImpatiensImpatiens hawkeri 15 inches40 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Partial Shade
PentasPentas lanceolata 18 inches45 cm 2 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 10–11 Full Sun
PetuniaPetunia x hybrida 12 inches30 cm 1 ft tall, 2 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
SnapdragonAntirrhinum majus 12 inches30 cm 2.5 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
StaticeLimonium sinuatum 12 inches30 cm 1.5 ft tall, 1 ft wide 8–11 Full Sun
StockMatthiola incana 9 inches23 cm 2 ft tall, 1 ft wide 7–11 Full Sun
StrawflowerXerochrysum bracteatum 12 inches30 cm 3 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
SunflowerHelianthus annuus 18 inches45 cm 8 ft tall, 3 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
Sweet AlyssumLobularia maritima 9 inches23 cm 0.5 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
Sweet PeaLathyrus odoratus 6 inches15 cm 6 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
VerbenaVerbena x hybrida 18 inches45 cm 1 ft tall, 2 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
VincaCatharanthus roseus 12 inches30 cm 1.25 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun
Wax BegoniaBegonia x semperflorens-cultorum 9 inches23 cm 1 ft tall, 1 ft wide 2–11 Partial Shade
Wishbone FlowerTorenia fournieri 9 inches23 cm 0.75 ft tall, 0.75 ft wide 2–11 Partial Shade
ZinniaZinnia elegans 12 inches30 cm 2.5 ft tall, 1.5 ft wide 2–11 Full Sun

Spacing is center to center — measure between planting holes, not between the edges of the plants. Mature size and hardiness ranges are catalog values and shift with cultivar and local conditions.

How to use this chart

Annuals are spaced to close the gap within a single season, so they go in tighter than perennials of the same mature size. There is no year three to plan for and no root competition to worry about past autumn.

Mass bedding displays — petunias, marigolds, alyssum in a solid block — are planted at the close end of the range so the colour reads as one sheet with no soil showing. The same plant used as a single accent in a mixed border wants the full spacing here so its shape stays visible.

Containers are the exception to all of it. Pots are watered and fed far more heavily than beds, and annuals in them are routinely planted at half these distances to look full immediately — accepting that the planting is spent by the end of the season.

Spacing charts by category