If you plan on growing a flower garden, there is no better choice to fill your containers or raised beds than perennials – particularly if you want to take a more low-maintenance approach.
Perennials, unlike annuals, do not have to be replanted every year. Instead, you’ll enjoy recurring blooms each and every year, with very little work or hassle on your part.
Here are several perennial species to consider if your goal is to create a garden with something in bloom at all times.
1. Russian Sage
For a tall plant, Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) has rather small blossoms. But what it lacks in bloom size, it makes up for in bloom numbers, creating an attractive wispy look in the garden. This long-blooming perennial is showy, but in the most tasteful way possible.
2. Lavender
Lavender brings gorgeous blooms – along with heavenly fragrances – to your garden all season long. English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) blooms from June through August on plants that grow 2 to 3 feet in height.
3. “Popsicle Mix” Lupine
Spikes of pink, purple, red, yellow and bicolor blooms stand above a mound of fan-shaped leaves. Flowers start opening in late spring and linger through early summer, yielding at least three weeks of color. Lupine makes a good addition to a cottage garden. Hardy in Zones 3 to 6.
4. Butterfly Bush
The elegant butterfly bush is a perennial that dies back to ground level in a cold climate. However, it will report each and every spring. This plant can grow quite tall – sometimes to eight feet or more! – but there are more compact cultivars available if a towering specimen is not what you have in mind.
5. Garden Phlox
Come July, garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) is a staple of the garden. This long-blooming perennial flowers from mid-summer well into the fall. Phlox does best in mild summer temperatures in a location that gets good air circulation.
6. Coneflower
Coneflowers come in almost every shade of the rainbow! They need full sun and range in height from 12 to 36 inches tall, so read the tag so you plant them accordingly in your mixed border.
7. Becky Shasta Daisy
Becky Shasta Daisy is an easy-to-grow classic that blooms from mid-summer to fall, with white petals around a golden-yellow center. Despite its delicate appearance, it can handle most growing conditions and can reach up to four feet in height. This plant is hardy in zones 5 to 9.
8. Peach-Leaved Bellflower
Peach-leaved bellflower (Campanula persicifolia) is a popular, fast-growing, leggy perennial that does well in containers and is a wonderful addition in lightly shaded woodland or cottage gardens.
9. Ice Plant
The ice plant is a low-lying perennial that blooms from early spring all the way until late September. Growing only 3 to 6 inches high, it blooms from June through September.
10. Yarrow
Yarrow is an herb plant that blooms all summer, June through September, on stems growing 2 to 3 feet in height. It reproduces rapidly, so you may need to divide your plants once every four years or so.
11. Catmint
Catmint is an attractive, hardy and easy-to-grow flowering perennial, renowned for its aromatic foliage. While catnip is grown for its effect on cats, catmint is prized for its landscape uses. This plant grows up to a foot tall and is generally used as a ground cover.
12. Red Hot Poker
Red hot pokers are herbaceous perennials prized for their tall, showstopping flower spikes in bright red, orange, yellow, and other colors. These flowers produce blooms up to two feet tall, each of which lasts all throughout the spring and summer.
13. Lenten Rose
Lenten Roses are stellar additions to any garden. Cultivation Lenten roses are easily grown in well-drained, humus-rich and fertile garden soil. It looks great in perennial beds and is hardy in zones 4 to 9.
14. Yellow Corydalis
The yellow corydalis is a plant that produces lovely lemon-yellow flowers for five months or more at a time! These plants self-sow, too – so much so that you should carefully consider where you plant the flower to prevent it from overtaking your other plantings.