9 beautiful flowers for a small budget

Looking to add some colour to your garden without spending a ton? Here are some flower options to colour your garden and save you some money at the same time.

With their wide range of colours, spectacular flowers and sweet fragrance, lilies are a longtime garden favourite. They need full sun to partial shade and bloom from spring through fall, depending on species. They can grow from 60 to 210 centimetres (two to seven feet) tall, and 30 to 60 centimetres (one to two feet) wide. They come in a variety of shades and some two-tone options.

Growing advice: Plant bulbs 20 to 45 centimetres (eight to 18 inches) apart in well-draining, slightly acidic soil.

Recommendations: Dizzy, an Oriental lily, offers vibrant crimson markings and spots on white petals; Cancun Asiatic lily features yellow-tipped orange petals.

Easy-to-grow, catmints provide silvery-grey foliage and a long season of blooms. Needing full sun to partial shade, catmint blooms from early summer to early fall. They can grow 30 to 60 centimetres (one to two feet) tall and wide. They're lavender, with blue or white spikes, and can really add some colour to your garden.

Growing advice: Plant in neutral, well-draining soil.

Recommendations: For a compact plant with white flowers, try Snowflake; Walker's Low is a blue-flowered beauty named the 2007 Perennial Plant of the Year.

Roses guarantee beautiful colour all summer — often matched by a delicious scent. They are roughly 30 to 150 centimetres (one to five feet) tall and wide. They're also available in nearly every colour (except blue), and also come in a variety of blends.

Growing advice: Plant in rich, well-draining soil.

Recommendations: Consider the single and double Knockout rose, with vibrant cherry-red flowers, or the Golden Celebration English rose, which produces deep-yellow, fragrant flowers.

These fiery-coloured favourites thrive in hot weather. They need full sun to light shade, and usually bloom all summer long. They're about 15 centimetres (six inches) to one metre (three feet) high. They come in various shades of yellow, red, orange and pink, so they can make your garden colourful all season.

Growing advice: Plant in well-draining soil; will tolerate drought conditions once established.

Recommendations: Apricot Brandy yields orange flowers. Grow the Century Series for red, rose-pink or yellow blooms.

This large, bushy plant delivers exuberant colour and is a favourite for attracting butterflies and can be invasive in some areas. It needs full sun and blooms from summer to fall. The flowers are purple, red, pink and white.

Growing advice: Fertile, well-draining soil.

Recommendations: Harlequin offers variegated foliage and dark red-purple flowers; English Butterfly Peacock produces rich-pink blooms.

In the ground or in a big pot, canna's attractive foliage and flowers provide colour from summer through fall. Needing full to partial sun, canna blooms midsummer to early fall and can grow to 0.3 to 1.8 metres (one to six feet) tall or more. Varieties are red, yellow, orange, pink and bi-colour.

Growing advice: Requires fertile soil.

Recommendations: Choose King Midas for golden-yellow blooms and Wyoming for frilled orange. Durban is good in containers.

Fantastic colour with little effort in the garden; blanketflower is also a good cut flower. It requires full sun and blooms all summer long. It is available in red and yellow.

Growing advice: Requires well-draining soil.

Recommendations: Dazzler offers orange florets with yellow tips; for a deep-red flower, choose Burgundy.

Bright, cheery cultivars with multicoloured leaves deliver long-term colour in mild weather, crotons need full sun to partial shade. They can grow from one to 1.8 metres (three to six feet) tall, and 0.6 to 1.2 metres (two to four feet) wide. They are grown for their colourful foliage.

Growing advice: Needs moist, well-draining soil.

Recommendations: Tortile's leaves are narrow with a spiral twist; Evening Embers features bluish-black leaves touched with red and green.

This plant's distinctive wooly, grey-green foliage is fragrant and handsome all summer long — even in heat. It requires full sun to partial shade and blooms in summer. It can grow from 0.5 to 0.6 metres (1.5 to 2 feet) tall and wide. The flowers are purple, pink or white.

Growing advice: Set plants or thin seedlings about 60 centimetres (two feet) apart in well-draining soil.

Recommendations: For grey leaves marked with cream and pink, plant Tricolour sage. Icterina produces variegated, yellow and green leaves.