Perennials for your flower garden

Perennials will be the backbone of your flower garden because they have staying power.

Their leaves die back as winter approaches, but with luck, they'll come back each year. Some plants are short-lived, but old favorites like daylilies, hostas and peonies can thrive for decades.

The charm of a flower garden is the fact that it changes month by month, giving you new blooms to enjoy all season.

When you begin your flower garden, it's easy to think that all you have to do is get your plants into the ground, and with the exception of weeding, watering and cutting your plants back each season, your garden will be done.

But here's what really happens in the garden:

Lush perennial garden
with purple coneflowers
Photo: ©Y.Cunnington

The first year your new plants are underwhelming – the clumps small, the flowers sparse.

By the second year, you'll see more flowers and better growth. But in the third season – watch out – your plants look like they're on steroids, and you look like an accomplished gardener.

After that, many plants get bigger each season, while the odd one does a disappearing act.

Responding to inevitable change is the challenge - and that's why veteran gardeners often say that no flower garden is ever really finished.

The right plants for your garden

Flower gardening
how-to tips:

Planting - step-by-step instructions

Mulching - benefits and how-to

Deadheading tips

Watering effectively

Weed control

Getting your garden ready for winter

How, when and why to divide plants

Effective edging for flower beds

When designing your flower garden, there are many choices to make with regard to planting.

Some are purely aesthetic - such as match-making plant combinations and colors - and others, horticultural - what grows best in your conditions.

The more closely you base decisions on meeting the needs of your plants - light requirements, soil and moisture levels - and on which plants look good together, the more successful your flower garden will be.

In the links below, you'll find information and growing tips for many flower garden favorites:

PERENNIAL PLANTS
FOR SUNNY GARDENS:

Bearded iris - Modern cultivars with better color, more blooms