Tall Flowering Plants

Tall Annuals

• The sunflower Helianthus annuus "Sungold" is an annual growing to 7 feet tall, making it a candidate as a background plant or for planting in groups. Sungold blooms during July and August, producing a 10-inch wide, yellow flowerhead that follows the sun travel across the sky during daylight hours. Morning glories Ipomoea purpurea grow to 10 feet as annuals, but these twining vines need support from a trellis, deck or other structure. They bloom from June to frost in magenta, white and purple, depending upon the cultivar. Sweet peas lathyrus odoratus require a support structure to attain heights of between 6 to 10 feet in full sun settings.

Tall Perennials

• Use the queen of the prairie Filipendula rubra in cottage gardens and the rear of perennial borders from U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zones 3 through 8. Growing to 8 feet, this perennial is stout enough not to require staking for support, and it generates aromatic, light-pink flowers from June into August. Plant swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata in a butterfly garden from USDA zone 3 through 6. It grows to 5 feet tall, giving you a head-high view of the butterflies visiting its mauve, white and pink summer flowers. Hollyhock Alcea rosea and everlasting pea Lathyrus latifolia are tall perennials -- more than 6 feet high -- with wide growing ranges across North America.

Tall Flowering Deciduous Shrubs

• Plant gray dogwood Cornus racemosa along borders or in a bird garden. Birds eat the white fruit it generates. It survives into the warmer sections of USDA zone 3, notes the University of Connecticut Plant Database, growing to between 10 and 15 feet as a deciduous shrub. Gray dogwood's white flowers emerge in clusters in June. American hazelnut Corylus Americana is a tall deciduous bush, growing to 15 feet and particularly useful for dry sites. The yellow-brown flowers of early spring yield edible nuts. Eastern wahoo Euonymus atropurpureus and pearlbush Exochorda racemosa are two more tall flowering shrub options.

Tall Flowering Trees

• Although not a native species, tall flowering ash Fraxinus ornus grows in the United States from USDA zone 5 into warmer zones. The tree matures to 50 feet high, producing what the Missouri Botanical Garden calls a "spectacular display" of cream white flowers each May. The tulip tree Liriodendron tulipferas grows to 90 feet all, while black cherry Prunus sertina sometimes approaches 80 feet. Both trees produce attractive flowers.