Perennials I've Known and Loved
Here are plants my neighbors and I have grown and loved for many years. What's not to love about plants that look great with almost no help from the gardener? Most are quite common and relatively inexpensive (especially the free divisions from your neighbors). If you've grown any of these plants, send me your comments and tell me where you garden.
- Amsonia hubrichtii/Willow Blue Star
- Anemone x hybrida/Japanese Anemone
- Aquilegia/Columbine
- Aster novae-angliae or New England aster
- Baptisia australis or Blue False Indigo
- Begonia grandis - hardy begonia
- Carex/Sedge is an underused evergreen ornamental grass for shade.
- Ceratostigma/Plumbago
- Chelone glabra/Turtlehead
- Chrysogonum virginia/Green and Gold
- Coreopsis verticillata/Threadleaf coreopsis
- Dicentra spectabilis/Bleeding Heart
- Echinacea purpurea/Purple Coneflower
- Epimedium/Barrenwort
- Euphorbia amydaloides/ Wood Spurge
- Hemerocallis/Daylilies
- Heuchera/Coral Bells
- Miscanthus sinensis/Chinese Silver Grass
- Oenothera /Evening Primrose
- Perovskia /Russian Sage
- Polygonatum/Solomon's Seal
- Pulmonaria/Lungwort
- Rudbeckia fulgida /Black-Eyed Susan
- Solidago/Goldenrod
Perennials for Shade
Japanese Anemone, Aquilegia/Columbine, Astilbe, Begonia grandis - hardy begonia, Carex/Sedge, Dicentra spectabilis/Bleeding Heart, Epimedium/Barrenwort, Euphorbia amydaloides/ Wood Spurge, Hakonechloa grass, Hellebore, Heuchera, Hostas, Polygonatum/Solomon's Seal, Pulmonaria/Lungwort
Got Deer?
Do the research and save your money on plants they'll love. Here's the best site I've found for good, detailed information on the subject. I'm new to the deer problem myself but at the end of one season these perennials survived the grazing deer in my garden: Euphorbia, Aster, ferns, purple coneflower, and astilbe.
Perennials I've Killed
Really, it's more like Perennials I've Given Up On and Ripped Out. That's because I hadn't yet learned this little ditty about them:
- First year sleep.
- Second year creep.
- Third year leap.
You see that ditty everywhere and it's usually right-on and SUCH bad news for the impatient gardener, which I naturally am.
So I've given up on plenty of perennials before giving them enough time to show me their stuff. Others have honestly underperformed for me:
- Monarda up and died after 3 years.
- Euphorbia 'Martinii' - they're dying one by one.
- Foxglove - famously short-lived in much of the U.S.
- Geranium 'Johnson's Blue,' which seem to do well for everyone else, so it's an unsolved mystery.
- Stipa tenissma - a gorgeous short ornamental grass that I had high hopes for.
- Artemesia 'Powis Castle' and others. They hate humidity.
- Plants I started from seed which never had much impact in the garden: Campanula carpatica, Veronica spicata and Catananche carentea and Linum perene (Blue flax).
Good Information in Print
- The Well Tended Perennial Garden
by Tracy DiSabato-Aust is the best-selling book on how to make your perennials healthier and better-looking.
- Encyclopedia of Perennials
- Designing with Perennials
- The Complete Flower Gardener