• Plants in the chrysanthemum family come in many colors.flowers image by Blu-Mu from Fotolia.com
  
  Annuals and perennials in combination make the best choice for sunny flowerbeds in most areas of the United States. Match the flowers you choose with the temperature, light, water and soil, recommends the University of Illinois Extension Service. Whether you live in the Northern states or a Southern climate, flowers will thrive in a sunny bed.
  
  

Yarrow

• Soft leaves like ferns make yarrow an attractive foliage plant, but it develops a tall stalk with a flower that blooms for a month or more in most climates. The flowers commonly bloom in white or yellow. The plants die out in the winter, and new ones return in the spring.
  
  

Dianthus

• Sweet William, or pink, is a common name for dianthus. This plant blooms in autumn and spring in most climates and does not do well in the hottest Southern summer sun. It is hardy, requires little water and care, and comes in an array of colors. Common colors are white and shades of pink and purple.
  
  

Butterfly Weed

• Butterfly weed, or Asclepias tuberosa, is a flower best placed in the back of the flower bed as it grows tall and produces clusters of flowers. This sun-loving perennial blooms from June to September and may take two years to establish from seed, notes Texas A&M University.
  
  

Coreopsis

• Tickseed, also known as Coreopsis grandiflora, and Threadleaf coreopsis, or Coreopsis verticillata, is another member of the family that thrives in the sun. The U.S. Department of Agriculture shows the lanceolata, or Lanceleaf coreopsis, is native to all but seven states. This plant grows well in sunny beds and has several single yellow flowers like daisies or asters on each leggy stalk.
  
  

Chrysanthemum and Tansy

• This plant group has many varieties, and the nursery "mum" is one to cultivate in the sun after the blooms are gone. Trim the chrysanthemum and plant to see it flower again. The chrysanthemum can bloom twice in warm climates like Texas, both in spring and in fall. Tansy grows in all but the Southern states and is so common in Colorado and some Western states that it has gained noxious weed status, reports the USDA.
  
  

Verbena

• The verbena, or vervian, family of plants grows in most of the United States, and canadensis, or mock vervian, grows in all but the Western states. An Arizona vervian, Glandularia gooddingii, grows in Western states. This low-growing, sun-loving plant produces clusters of flowers in a colorful array most of the summer.
  
  

Herbs

• Many herbs are successful in cultivated sunny beds. Plants like wild basil grow in most areas of the country and have splendid pink to purple single bells. Rosemary mint grows only in the Southwestern states, but forms of calamint grow in the Eastern states. Calamint has the same kind of bell flower, but more of them than wild basil. Thyme has a spotty existence from Canada to Texas, but it will grow as a cultivated herb in most sunny beds, reports Botanical.com. These herbs are all related plants (clinopodium) with similar flowers.