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.
Dark green foliage and striking blue and white flowers that bloom from early summer to early autumn. Ideal for cultivation in full sun or part shade, this variety is hardy, but it’s advisable to provide protection in the event of severe frost.
Lush dark green foliage and striking salmon yellow flowers that bloom from early summer to early autumn. Full sun or part shade. Generally hardy, protect from severe frost.
An ever popular garden perennial producing spectacular spikes of dense pea-like flowers in Golden to Creamy Yellow. Colourful spike flowers stand out above attractive cut-leaf foliage. Especially effective in borders and for massing. Adapts to most soil types. Blooms from Spring to Summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting.
An ever popular garden perennial producing spectacular spikes of dense pea-like flowers in ivory to pure white. Colourful spike flowers stand out above attractive cut-leaf foliage.
Lupin. A clump-forming perennial with attractive foliage and spikes of bicoloured, deep blue and white flowers in early and mid-summer. Height 90cm. Spread 75cm. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Hardy. Harmful if eaten.
Dusty Miller. Rose Campion. An erect perennial with woolly silver-grey leaves and open blood red flowers in late summer. Height 75cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to August. Semi-evergreen. Hardy.
Loosestrife. A bi-annual with grey, crinkle-edged leaves with pale veins and attractive burgundy flowers. Self-seeds. Height 75cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to August. Biennial. Hardy.
An improvement on the previous 'Snow Candle' form - this has more white flower spikes on compact, green foliage. Prefers full sun, or partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
Loosestrife. An attractive perennial with reddish purple leaves and slightly pendent, star-shaped yellow flowers with a small reddish brown centre. Height 90cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Alexander is a vigorous perennial forming a substantial clump of erect stems with lance-shaped leaves boldly margined with cream and often tinged pink, and bowl-shaped bright yellow flowers 2.5cm wide in the upper leaf axils in mid summer.
Pink Loosestrife. A clump-forming erect perennial with tall spikes of bright pink flowers from mid-summer to early autumn. Height 90cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from July to September. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Upright, bushy biennial or short-lived, woody perennial with rounded to heart-shaped, lobed, dark green leaves and, from summer into autumn, open, funnel-shaped, lavender flowers with prominent dark purple veins.
Perennial flowering April - June. Swooney jade green bracts with an umbrella like head. The bracts turn an attractive pink and persist until autumn. Good for cutting and drying. 1m high.
Himalayan Blue Poppy. A choice perennial with rosettes of light bluish green hairy leaves. Beautiful saucer-shaped bright blue flowers with yellow stamens in early summer. Height 1.2m. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds.
Honey Bush. An architectural plant with deeply cut glaucous blue-grey foliage and brownish crimson to deep brick red flowers. May die down in most winters but shoots again. Height 2-3m. Spread 1-3m. Flowers from May to July. Evergreen. Sheltered site.
A clump-forming native wildflower and member of the mint family, Melittis, or bastard balm, bears sweet scented, mint-like lobed flowers in summer. Leaves are aromatic. Established plants are extremely drought tolerant. Pure white flowers. Grow in a shady part of the garden such as a woodland border, in moist but well-drained soil.
Bergamot. An aromatic clump-forming perennial with rich scarlet-red flowers. Height 90cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from July to September. Herbaceous. Hardy. Protect from winter wet.
A compact, clump-forming, perennial which has ovate, pointed, aromatic, dark green leaves. From July to September erect stems bearing dense, whorled clusters of small, tubular, two-lipped, purple-pink flowers are borne. Grow in moderately fertile, humus rich, moist but well drained soil in full sun or light dappled shade.
Bergamot. A compact, clump-forming perennial growing to 60cm tall. The aromatic, lance-shaped to oval, toothed leaves are mid-green. Dense whorls of scarlet red flowers are borne from summer to autumn.
A mildew-resistant cultivar to 90cm tall, with rather glossy foliage and bright pink flowers above pale green bracts.
This new compact growing Bee Balm has light pink flowers with a dark purple centre cone. It flowers robustly from the first growing season in the ground, ‘Pink Lace’ has aromatic bright green foliage and dark red stems.
Bergamot. Clump-forming, compact perennial to 60cm tall, bearing aromatic, lance-shaped, mid green to dark green leaves, sometimes purple-tinged, and producing tiers of deep pink flowers and bracts on upright stems from midsummer to early autumn.
An aromatic clump-forming perennial with scarlet or pink flowers with red tinged bracts. Height 90cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from July to August. Herbaceous. Hardy. Protect from winter wet.
This hybrid is an amazing combination of dark pink flowers from its Bergenia heritage and jagged leafedges and great fall color from Mukdenia 'Crimson Fans'. A cool and lovely intergeneric cross. The thick, leathery leaves last longer than Mukdenia in the fall before they go down for the winter. Long-lived and good in containers.
Forms a low mound of large, bold maple-shaped leaves, bronze-green in spring, later becoming deep green with stunning crimson tips. Small white bell-shaped flowers appear in spring before the leaves. Must have an evenly moist, rich woodland soil. Deciduous in winter.
Dwarf Cavendish is an evergreen perennial to 3m tall with oblong leaves to 1.2m long, drooping spikes of yellow flowers with purple bracts open sporadically through the year followed by edible yellow fruit.
The Chinese dwarf banana also known as the golden lotus banana, The plant is native to the Yunnan province in China, where it grows high in the mountains up to an altitude of 2500 m. It is known for its yellow erect flower, generally appearing during the second year of cultivation, that can last a few months.
Catmint. A clump-forming perennial with softly hairy, aromatic leaves and soft pink flower spikes in early summer. Height 90cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Catmint. A vigorous perennial with aromatic light grey-green leaves and abundant lavender-blue flower spikes. Height 90cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from June to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Catmint. A clump-forming perennial with aromatic green leaves and mauve-blue flowers in summer. Height 30cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Sun loving herbaceous perennial with large blue flowers with a compact habit. Very free flowering and will re-bloom if old flowers are removed.
Catmint. A clump-forming perennial with aromatic, glossy green leaves and abundant large, bright-purple flowers spikes from mid summer to autumn. Height 60cm. Spread 30cm. Full sun/light shade, free-draining soil. Attracts bees and butterflies. Hardy.
A bulbous perennial with strap-shaped leaves and graceful clusters of funnel-shaped pink flowers with wavy petals. Height 45cm. Spread 8cm. Flowers from September to October. Herbaceous.
Navelwort. An evergreen perennial with lustrous leaves and pretty deep blue flowers in early spring. Height 25cm. Spread 40cm. Flowers from March to April. Evergreen. Hardy.
Scotch Thistle. A basal rosette of grey-green spiny leaves producing branched stems of thistle-like flowers in the second year. Height 3m. Spread 1m. Flowers from July to August. Biennial. Hardy.
Patio plant that flowers all summer in a sunny position.
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