Care & Guidance
Whilst you enjoy your perennials for their fantastic foliage or beautiful blooms, it's really the roots you're buying - because the roots allow the plants to come back every year. Use these tips to make sure your perennials get off to the right start.
Container grown perennials are easy to plant and commonly available. Start digging a hole that's a little wider but no deeper than the pot your new perennial came in. Loosen the roots, and spread them out if the plant has become rootbound* (*when roots start to grow in circles around the edge of the pot). Then firm the soil in around the roots and water well.
Planting Tips: water your perennials well after you plant them. Then lay a 2-3 inch deep layer of mulch over the soil around your new plants. The mulch will help the soil hold moisture and prevent weeds from growing. Give taller perennials such as delphiniums, holihocks and peonies support by staking them. Anchor single stems by inserting a rod or sturdy stick into the ground and tying the stem to it. Keep clump forming plants with multiple stems standing, by growing through a hoop. Regularly deadhead and divide your perennials to keep them healthy and looking beautiful.
Deadheading: simply means cutting the faded flowers off your plants. It makes your plants look better and it prevents them from setting seed so you don't have a mass of seedlings popping up in your garden.
Dividing: One of the best things about perennials is that they grow bigger and better each year. But many start to crowd themselves out if they get too big. Keep them performing well by digging them out of the ground and splitting them into smaller chunks every 3 or 4 years. Early spring and autumn are the best times to divide most perennials. A couple of exceptions include bearded iris and hosta: split these perennials in summer.
Watering: There's no one-size fits all rule for watering perennials. Some varieties stand up to drought and others need to be kept moist all the time. Keep your plants healthier and make watering a breeze by grouping plants in acccordance with their watering needs. No matter what perennials you're growing, be sure to keep them all well watered in the first year - that allows them to become well established.
Feeding: If you have rich soil or improve it with garden compost or other forms of organic matter on a regular basis, you probably won't need to feed your plants, But if you're burdened with poor soil, fertilising can be helpful. Take care not to over fertilise - this may make your plants flower less, suffer root injury, or even kill your perennials.
Winter Care: Perennials that are reliably cold hardy in your region shouldn't need any special winter care. But spreading a layer of mulch over them after the soil freezes can help prevent winter damage during an especially cold season. Many gardeners like to leave the dead stems of their perennials standing all winter, providing food for birds. Perennials can help to catch snow, which is one of the best winter mulches.
Massive foliage plant with very large (wide and long) keelless greyish leaves (keeled when young) and stumpy coral and cream pokers April - June, 1.3m x 1m, evergreen.
A poker with a twist! 'Papaya Popsicle' is an all-summer bloomer which has a very short compact habit. A prolific bloomer with spikes of flowers the color of ripe papayas. Charming, grass-like foliage looks neat all summer! Great for small gardens or in a container. Loved by hummingbirds!
An evergreen herbaceous perennial reaching approximately 50cm in height when in flower with green, linear grass-like leaves and spikes of tubular, red-orange flowers appearing from early to late summer.
This late-flowering South African red hot poker rooperi boasts a broad, squatty head. Each flower head is exquisitely patterned yellow at the bottom and bright orange all the way to the top.
Lovely heads of bronzy-green, aging to golden yellow. August-September. [3'+] 91cm.
Yellow Archangel. A vigorous creeping perennial with green leaves often marked silver with yellow flowers in summer. Height 60cm. Spread Indefinite. Flowers from June to August. Semi-evergreen. Silver. Hardy.
A clump-forming perennial with green leaves. heavily veined. produces pinkish purple flowers from late spring to summer. Height 45cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from April to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Spring Vetchling. A dense clump-forming perennial with upright stems. Purplish blue to pink flowers in spring. Height 50cm. Spread 50cm. Flowers from March to May. Attractive to bees and other pollinators. Herbaceous.
Masses of deep, dark blue flowers sit atop compact mounds of scented, silvery foliage and burst into life during July, continuing until October. Prefers full sun, or partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
A shrub about 35cm high, with a compact habit, evergreen, aromatic, linear leaves which are green becoming grey-green with age, and flowering stems topped by spikes of fragrant white flowers in late summer.
Lavender. Compact and uniform Lavandula with intense blue flowers and narrow silvery grey leaves from mid to late summer. Height 60cm. Spread 75cm. Flowers from July to August. Evergreen.
Lavender. A compact bushy shrub with narrow silvery grey leaves and spikes of dark purple flowers from mid to late summer. Height 60cm. Spread 75cm. Flowers from July to August. Evergreen. Hardy. Plant 30cm apart for dwarf hedging. Dead head in November and cut back in April.
A compact, bushy, evergreen shrub with linear, aromatic, grey-green leaves, and slender, upright stems bearing dense, terminal spikes of fragrant, dark purple flowers from summer into early autumn.
Lavender. A compact bushy shrub with narrow variegated leaves and spikes of purple-blue flowers from mid to late summer. Height 75cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from July to August. Evergreen. Hardy.
Lavender. An aromatic evergreen shrub with narrow, grey leaves. Large rounded, purple flowerheads with conspicuous bracts are borne through summer. Height 70cm. Needs well drained soil in sun.
A prolific flowering variety ideal for containers, raised beds and borders. This variety with large flower heads that flourish above mounds of wonderfully scented silvery-green foliage. Prefers full sun, or partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
A French lavender with large and seemingly unlimited blush-pink flowers that will look superb on any patio or border setting. Silvery-green aromatic mounds of foliage. Prefers full sun, or partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
Compact Lavender producing dense towers of very fragrant white flowers and exceptionally aromatic evergreen silver grey foliage. Superb as specimen plants in planters, around the edge of seating areas and patios, or as a low hedge.
Violet-blue, fragrant flowers appearing in late spring, A compact, evergreen shrub with narrow grey-green leaves and uniform habit. Noted for its larger than average flowers and strong stems.
Leontipodrum Alpinum is a perennial to 20cm in height, with narrow, grey-green leaves and starry white-felted flowering heads in late spring and early summer.
Produces large amounts of medium semi-double, white daisy flowers. Height 10-14 inches. Spread 17 inches.
Clump-forming herbaceous perennial with dark green, toothed, lance shaped leaves. Double, pompom, pale creamy-yellow flowers with bright yellow centres, flowering for a long period in the summer if dead-headed regularly.
Marguerite. Ox-eye Daisy. A half-standard variable perennial with dark green leaves and large daisy-like white flowers with yellow centres. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy.
'Shortstop' will provide classic Shasta Daisy flowers with full, bright white petals surrounding a rich yellow centre on a compact plant that naturally maintains a tight, low habit.
A clump-forming perennial with deeply cut leaves, purple-green stems bear slender racemes of yellow flowers. Height 90cm. Spread 1m. Flowers from July to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Large deeply indented and lobed palmate leaves and corymbs of large daisy-like flowers from May-Aug. Height 1.5m. Best suited to moist soil in full-part shade.
A deep pink/purple lily outlined in white and hold a green star in the centre that is lightly scented. Each bloom will grow to 14cm in diameter and over 2m high once fully established.
A hybrid of Lilium henryi, this spectacular lily blends from green to apricot to white with a wonderful fragrance. This ornamental plant has small, downward-facing flowers with textured, recurving petals. Lady Alice is also known as a Turk's Cap Lily.
A superb Oriental-Trumpet hybrid with large, sunset-red flowers that are sweetly fragrant. A strong grower, typically reaching 150cm-183cm (5 to 6 feet) tall and each stem can produce as many as 20 flowers.
Lilyturf. An evergreen perennial with narrow dark green leaves, dense spikes of lilac blue flowers in autumn. Height 25cm. Spread 45cm. Evergreen.
A free flowering selection with plenty of blue-purple spikes in late summer-autumn. Evergreen grassy foliage makes neat clumps for shade.
Tufted, grass-like perennial that typically grows to 10-15” tall and features strap-like, arching leaves that emerge an unusual but attractive white in spring. Leaves acquire green speckles as the growing season progresses, eventually becoming totally green by autumn.
Lilyturf. An evergreen perennial with narrow dark green leaves striped white, dense spikes of bright lavender flowers in autumn. Height 30cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from September to November. Evergreen. Hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds.
A perennial with deep purple-red stems and leaves. Scarlet flowers from late summer to mid-autumn. Height 90cm. Spread 30cm. Flower colour Scarlet. Flowers from August to October. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Clump-forming perennial with attractive foliage and large flower spikes of a good mix of colours. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Hardy. Harmful if eaten.
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