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.
Meadow Phlox. An erect perennial with narrow green leaves and fragrant, lilac-pink flowers in early and mid-summer. Height 90cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Meadow Phlox. An upright herbaceous perennial with narrow foliage and dense panicles of fragrant white flowers with dark eyes in summer.
Meadow Phlox. An erect perennial with narrow green leaves and fragrant. lilac-pink striped white flowers in early and mid-summer. Height 90cm. Spread 45cm. Flower colour Lilac White Pink. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Foliage colour Green. Hardy.
Compact, bushy mound-forming, herbaceous perennial with broadly lance-shaped, dark green leaves and, in summer, upright panicles of fragrant, pink flowers with darker pink eyes.
Summer Phlox is very popular for its midsummer display in the border.
Huge blooms release clouds of beautiful perfume in summer, and as Phlox are excellent as cut flowers this can be brought into the home too. Natural dwarf and disease resistant, they are happy in borders and containers with neat, compact upright foliage. Attractive to butterflies. Prefers well drained soil in sun or partial shade. Height 30cm. Spread 45cm. Hardy perennial.
Perennial Phlox. An erect perennial with narrow green leaves and fragrant clusters of lilac-blue on white flowers in mid-summer and early autumn. Height 90cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from July to September. Herbaceous. Hardy.
White with pink buds & eyes giving the effect of being blush pink. Real beauty, deliciously scented and compact.
Rich lavender pink flowers have a small white halo at the centres. Blooms 2-3 weeks earlier than Tall Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata) and is mildew and disease resistant.
Boasts a long season of colour, with pure white flowers typically appearing from early summer well into midsummer, and with sporadic reblooming into early autumn. These perennials are a favourite of gardeners around the world for beds, borders and containers alike. Prefers full sun, or partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
Perennial Phlox. An erect perennial with narrow green leaves and fragrant clusters of red flowers with a scarlet glow in mid-summer and early autumn. Height 75cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from July to September. Herbaceous.
The tallest of the Funfair series with handsome spikes of light burgundy trumpets emerging in June. Prefers partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
Evergreen dark green leaves and tubular, pale creamy yellow flowers in summer. Upright, suckering shrub. Height 1m. Spread 1.2m. Flowers from June to August. Evergreen. Frost hardy. Sheltered Site.
An upright, suckering shrub with evergreen dark green leaves and tubular, orange flowers in summer. Height 1.2m. Spread 1.5m. Flowers from June to August. Evergreen. Frost hardy. Sheltered Site.
Chinese Lantern. A vigorous spreading perennial with nodding, creamy white flowers followed by orange-scarlet berries surrounded by papery red calyces. Height 60-75cm. Spread 90cm. Flowers from July to August. Fruits from August Herbaceous. Hardy.
This herbaceous perennial has attractive bright orange lantern shaped seed heads that appear in autumn. Ideal plant for a container display, great end of year interest and goes well with Heucheras.
False Dragonhead. An erect perennial with toothed mid-green leaves and spikes of white flowers. Height 60cm. Spread 40cm. Flowers from July to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Endemic to China, Podophyllum delavayi has a 10-20 cm umbrella leaf (rarely two) deeply cut into 6-8 lobes. The juvenile leaves (but not those on flowering plants) are usually spectacularly patterned, marbled, zoned and blotched in shades of green, red, purple, bronze, black and white.
Exotic hybrid related to our native May Apple. Upright stems appear in spring, bearing huge, lobed umbrella-shaped chartreuse leaves boldly marked with rich chocolate-brown spots. Mature plants produce garnet-red flowers and fleshy fruits.
Jacob's Ladder. A clump-forming perennial with divided green and creme variegated foliage and pretty lavender-blue flowers in early summer. Height 30-90cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from June to July. Semi-evergreen. Hardy.
A bushy, clump-forming variegated perennial to around 50cm high, forming a low mound of variegated, pinnate leaves, divided into dark green leaflets with golden yellow margins which do not revert back to green. Clusters of lilac-mauve bell-shaped flowers appear on long, upright stems in spring and early summer.
Forms a ferny mound of green foliage that has deep purple-blue highlights from spring into summer. The foliage grows about 1ft tall and is topped by loose clusters of lightly fragrant, blue flowers in late spring.
Solomon's Seal. A perennial with red tinted stems of narrow leaves. Small tubular creamy white flowers. Height 1m. Spread 30cm. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy. Harmful if eaten.
A perennial with large mid-green leaves with a red midrib. Stout stems with tiers of reddish pink flowers with a yellow eye in early summer. Height 60cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Moist site.
Spectacularly large, double, highly fragrant flowers with lilac-tipped, almost tie-die effect on scalloped white petals. Ideal for containers, edging, and border fronts.
A semi-evergreen perennial to 12cm tall with wrinkled, dark green leaves and, in spring, clusters of double pale pink and cream flowers.
A perennial with large mid-green leaves. Stout stems with tiers of deep orange flowers in early summer. Height 60-90cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Hardy.
A perennial with small rosettes of green leaves covered in white farinose. Small deep violet bell-shaped flowers in rounded flattened heads on short stout stems from mid to late summer. Height 20-30cm. Spread 15-20cm. Flowers from July to August. Semi-evergreen. Hardy.
Drumstick Primula. A perennial with rosettes of mid-green leaves. Stout stems of rounded, rose flowers in spring. Height 45cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from April to May. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Drumstick Primula. A perennial with rosettes of mid-green leaves. Stout stems of rounded. white flowers in spring. Height 45cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from April to May. Herbaceous.
Japanese Primrose. A perennial with large pale green leaves. Stout stems with white flowers in late spring and early summer. Height 45cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Japanese Primrose. A perennial with large pale green leaves. Stout stems with tiers of white tinged pink flowers in late spring and early summer. Height 45cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Japanese Primrose. A perennial with large green leaves. Stout stems with tiers of crimson flowers in late spring and early summer. Height 45-75cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy.
A perennial with rosettes of deep green leaves. Stout stems with tiers of deep red flowers with purple eyes in late spring and early summer. Height 60-90cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy.
A perennial with rosettes of soft downy leaves. Dense heads of small tubular red flowers. Flowers in late spring and early summer. Height 45cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy.
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