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Long
Blooming Perennials
For Summer
By choosing
long-blooming perennial plants, you can capitalize on the best of
both worlds - plants that persist, or come back from growing season
to growing season, and those that bloom for an extended length of
time. This also means that you'll have more time to appreciate the
gardens that you create!
Here is just
a sampling of long-blooming perennial plants for the sunny garden:
Achillea,
or Yarrow, are very drought and heat resistant plants,
once established. The flower heads are long lasting and many colors
are available from yellow, gold, pink, pastels in apricot, lilac,
salmon, cream and white. Plants grow from 8" to 3' tall, depending
on variety. The flat-topped flower heads grow up to several inches
across, and make excellent cut and dried flowers, especially yellow.
The fern-like, gray to gray-green foliage is somewhat aromatic and
attractive even when the plant is not in bloom.
Coreopsis,
Tickseed, is one of the easiest and most rewarding garden
flowers. The thread leaf varieties are usually the longest blooming,
typically from June through fall. The pale yellow, bright yellow
or rosy-pink daisy flowers smother the slender stems and thread-like
leaves. Plant height, from 15 - 24", is variety dependent.
A mid-summer shearing of the seed heads will keep these plants blooming
for many more weeks.
Echinacea
purpurea, Purple Coneflower, is a sturdy, bold-textured,
dark green foliaged favorite that grows to 2 - 3' tall and wide.
The flowers are large, daisy-like with unique standings of dark-rose
purple and lighter in color.
Rudbeckia,
Black-eyed Susan, is an old-fashioned garden favorite.
It is hardy, reliable, insect and disease free, and an exceptionally
long-blooming plant - typically from July through fall. This medium-green,
bold-foliaged plant grows to about 3' tall and bears golden yellow,
daisy flowers with dark brown centers. Both Echinacea and Rudbeckia
flowers make excellent cut flowers and a wonderful place for butterflies
to sit and eat.
Gallardia
or Blanket Flower is an American native plant which thrives
in the hot sun and has beautiful yellow-orange flowers, marked with
red. Height varies according to variety. Some favorites include
"Baby Cole" which is a dwarf only 8" high, "Goblin,"
a 12”-15” grower, and "Burgundy," which reaches
18”-24” and whose flowers are a gorgeous shade of burgundy
red.
For intense
blue flowers from mid-summer to September, plant Plumbago
(Ceratostigma plumbaginoides). Plumbago spreads quickly
to form a neat groundcover and as an added bonus, leaves turn a
brilliant red in the fall before dropping. This excellent perennial
grows well in light shade also.
Veronica,
Speedwell, has neat, attractive foliage and abundant flowers
in densely packed spikes. Look for the cultivars 'Goodness Grows'
and taller 'Sunny Border Blue' for a beautiful addition of blue
to your summer garden.
Remember, this
is just a brief glimpse of the long-blooming perennials available
to choose from. Stop by to see our wide selection of perennials
so we can help you determine the plants best suited to your garden.
Daylilies…Easy
to Grow,
Fun to Collect!
Few perennials can match the daylily for versatility and durability.
One of the most popular perennials, daylilies have become a ‘collector
plant’ for the novice and experienced gardener. Thousands
of named cultivars are trouble-free to grow and adaptable which
makes daylily collecting fun and easy. Although each lily-like flower
lasts only one day, there are always more buds to open which provide
summer color for many weeks. Plant them individually, in a mixed
border, naturalize in a grassy area or group in a mass as a groundcover.
Daylilies tolerate dry, poor soil, but perform best in rich well-drained
beds.
Some
tried-and-true selections:
Hyperion
– 40” tall, space 18-24” apart. Delightfully fragrant,
large, 5” primrose-yellow flowers with a green throat in mid
to late summer. Full
sun or
Part Shade.
Mary
Todd – 26” tall, space 24-30” apart.
Gold buff 6-7” flowers on a semi-evergreen foliage. Blooms
midseason. Full sun.
Stella
De’Oro – 12-18” tall, space 18-24”
apart. Golden yellow 2-3” flowers with a green throat on a
compact plant. Reblooms all summer. Full sun.
Joan
Senior – 25” tall, space 24-30” apart.
Near-white 6” flowers with a green throat on an evergreen
plant. Blooms midseason. Full sun.
Becky
Lynn – 20” tall, space 24” apart. Large,
6” rose-blend flowers with a green throat on a semi-evergreen
plant. Blooms midseason, then reblooms. Full sun.
Rocket
City – 36” tall, space 18-24” apart.
Eye-catching, two-tone orange blossoms are up to 6” across.
Blooms midseason. Full sun or part shade.
Daylily
Fun Fact:
The American
Hemerocallis Society has classified daylilies by flower size. A
miniature has flowers less than 3” in diameter, small-flowered
cultivars have flowers from 3-4 1⁄2” and large-flowered
cultivars have flowers 4 1⁄2” or larger.
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