I'm trying to plan out a year round annual flower box/boxes(with seed sewing and planning, this could take more than a year) I live in a climate that very infrequently gets snow or gets cold year round.

What would be some good annuals for the autumn and also winter? Can I grow just about anything during fall and winter?

@borealisocelot I just came across your post. I'm also in Zone 9b, but I'm in San Jose. There are a ton of options for you and many of what are considered annuals in other places, will actually be perennials in our zone.

My new favorite plant that I'm going to us in a pot as a creeper is aptenia or baby sun rose. It's a tiny ice plant succulent with little hot pink reddish flowers that open and close when it's light/dark/cloudy/sunny. Really easy to grow. People use it instead of lawns for ground covers here. If you can get some cuttings, just stick them in soil and they'll grow.

You can also grow morning glories, which will bloom in winter, same for trumpet vines - if you want something that will vine and drape down.

If you have bigger containers, and a spot that is not too hot in summer (not in full sun), camelias bloom in winter and they're gorgeous. Also, bougainvillea will bloom all year round for you. Again, a bigger plant and it has thorns. But, you can keep pruning it to keep it smaller.

What you could do is go to a local nursery now and see what is blooming to see what looks good to you. As far as whether or not you can grow anything all year round in zone 9b and have flowers - no. Some plants just don't like the nighttime low temps even in zone 9b and they will either die or they sort of go dormant - like lavender. They just don't bloom much unless it stays warmer here.

Not sure if any of that was very helpful. But, if you like succulents, I think you'd like the aptenia. It will spread and hang down over the edges of a pot. I'm going to plant mine as a ground cover in the big pot I have my Zuni crepe myrtle in on my balcony. The cuttings are growing in a south facing window inside right now, and will get transplanted outside when it warms up some more.

The morning glories and trumpet vines will take over the world if you don't keep cutting them back - just a word of warning there.

Zuni said:The morning glories and trumpet vines will take over the world if you don't keep cutting them back - just a word of warning there.

Even if you do keep cutting morning glories back, they will self-seed profusely and "take over your world". Morning glories are actually illegal in the state of Arizona for that very reason -- they are considered to be an "invasive species" there.

For me, here in Kansas, they are just a weed, but a weed nonetheless. Their seeds don't all come up the next year. Some wait two or three or more years to germinate -- they are like little "time bombs" in that respect. That makes it almost impossible to wipe them out. Pretty, though.

ZM

ZenMan said:

Even if you do keep cutting morning glories back, they will self-seed profusely and "take over your world". Morning glories are actually illegal in the state of Arizona for that very reason -- they are considered to be an "invasive species" there.

For me, here in Kansas, they are just a weed, but a weed nonetheless. Their seeds don't all come up the next year. Some wait two or three or more years to germinate -- they are like little "time bombs" in that respect. That makes it almost impossible to wipe them out. Pretty, though.

ZM

Yep. I took some cuttings from a morning glory that grows over a fence in a parking lot at a local grocery story recently. I thought about putting it on my apartment balcony, then thought about how it was grown over the telephone poles where it lives (where I took the cutting). It has grown up about 40 feet on a pole and all over their backyard and over a shed in their backyard.

So, I am going to try just growing it inside my apartment. I'm just too afraid of getting in trouble with my landlord for the plant growing up into the roof, etc.

But, if you keep on top of pruning them, they'd be fine. But, there is no room for laziness with these guys. Even if they were in a container and you simply killed it at the roots - you'd have a bunch of dead foliage to deal with.

So, moral to the story is - if you grow them outside, be ready to monitor and control their growth.

They are awfully pretty, though, as you say.

Ipomoea nil is not nearly as invasive as purpurea, which I believe you guys are talking about. There are a ton of different kind and colors of all sorts from blue to speckles. Heck there is even a blue speckled one!
Here is a link to an article I did on them https://garden.org/ideas/view/...