Colorful Perennials Gaining Popularity With Gardeners

Discovering perennials is one of the great sporting events in gardening.

Even though perennials were grown in Colonial times and by many gardeners since the creation of the cottage-garden style by English gardener Gertrude Jekyll between 1900 and 1920, annual beds of geraniums, marigolds, Dusty Miller, cockscomb and others, with their bright flashes of constant color, have been the name of the game for a majority of American gardeners.

Along with people buying flats of annual asters at garden centers, you now find people buying pots of perennial asters that produce bright purple or red flowers on tall stems late in summer.

Along with people buying hanging baskets of trailing geraniums at garden centers, you now find people carrying guide books to perennials, looking at the plant, the plant marker, the book, and trying to pronounce botanical names for plants that really don’t have vernacular names at all.

A lot of people buy perennials thinking since they come back each year, they are going to be easier to grow. Well, yes and no. Once you get a perennial bed established, the plants do come back each year. And it is one of the tiny joys of gardening life to see these seemingly tender little plants emerging from the spring soil each year.

But perennials tend to grow large, and they spread and take over more of the garden. In a few years, most perennial plants benefit from being dug up, divided and replanted.

Perennials are less revealing in their beauty than annuals. First of all, most bloom only for a short period of time, some as little as one to two weeks. So they have to rely more on leaf texture, size and height to show off their more refined beauty. But if you are ready to discover the infinite beauty of perennials this year, now is a good time to begin.

Start with the site and soil. A bed 6 to 8 feet wide and 20 feet long is more than enough garden for you to handle and still enjoy your summer.

If you want to plant sun-loving perennials, such as liatris, peony, roses, artemisia and others, be sure your site receives at least six hours of direct sunlight between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. A southern or eastern exposure is best. Late-day sun from the west is a little bit too hot and drying for many perennials.

Clear the area of any debris. Spread a 2- to 4-inch-thick layer of compost, composted or dehydrated manure, or other favorite organic material over the area. Till the area to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Rake the area smooth and you are ready to plant.

The backbone of any first sun-loving perennial garden should include asters, day lilies, garden phlox, campanula, chrysanthemum, daffodils and tulips, peony, butterfly bush, purple cone flower, yellow daisy, iris and coreopsis.

The backbone of any first shade-loving perennial garden should include dicentra bleeding heart, coral bells, columbine, primrose, monkshood, cranesbill, hosta and of course astilbe.

To have a successful perennial garden, you need to bear in mind that they don’t all bloom at once and for a long time. You have to learn their bloom periods. The idea is to have something in bloom at all times.

You also have to think about size in a perennial bed. In general tall plants go to the back of the border, medium sized plants in the middle and tiny plants toward the front.

So, you need to know the blooming periods, the size of the plants and whether they are suitable for sun or shade in order to design your garden. Color combinations are important, as well. Blues and yellows look nice together. For instance, yellow coreopsis and blue salvia look great together and they tend to bloom at the same time.

The best way to water this garden is to snake a soaker hose through the garden in some sort of S-curve. Cover the entire garden, including the soaker hose, with a 4-inch-thick layer of compost, shredded cedar or pine, natural organic mulch, or better yet, a combination.

Be patient. Not all of these plants will flower like the pictures in the coffee table books the very first year. A peony could take up to three years to bloom.

Many catalogs do offer special perennials for fall sales that are quite good. Most of the better nurseries will carry a fairly complete line of perennials.

Other good sources of perennials are church, library or civic group plant sales. You can get many of your basic plants this way and you will certainly get a lot of free garden advice.