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.
Tough and easy to grow, this unusual variety of Primrose makes a neat low clump with a long lasting display of dusky red flowers throughout early and mid spring.
New Variety. Pointed silver gilded apple green leaves, superb for contrasting under-planting. Can be placed in borders, raised beds and containers. Prefers partial shade, with free draining soil or compost. Flowers from April to May. Height 35cm. Spread 30cm.
Lungwort. Jerusalem Cowslip. A clump-forming perennial with bristly. white spotted bright green leaves and pretty pure white flowers opening from pale pink buds in spring. Height 30cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from March to May. Evergreen.
Cream-silver leaf edges add extra interest to this shade garden favourite. Once the showy raspberry-red spring flowers are done blooming, they are covered by newly emerging foliage, providing a tidy look with no effort. Herbaceous perennial.
Lungwort. A clump-forming perennial with velvety pale green leaves with a bold cream margin and pretty coral-red flowers from late winter to mid-spring. Height 30cm. Spread 80cm. Flowers from February to April. Evergreen. Hardy.
The darkest foliage of any Rodgersia to date, 'Bronze Peacock' emerges with huge bronze fans of colour in the spring. The metallic-looking leaves have a thick, shiny texture, and add great sculptural interest to any planting situation. Ideal Conditions: Prefers partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
Rodgersia pinnata is a large deciduous perennial forming a spreading clump of large, more or less pinnately divided leaves, with erect, conical sprays of cream or pink flowers in summer. Height 1.2m Spread 75cm.
Black-eyed Susan. A clump-forming perennial with mid-green leaves. Bright golden yellow daisy-like flowers with a blackish brown centre from late summer to mid-autumn. Height 60cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from August to October. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Compact, floriferous Rudbeckia, bearing bright yellow, black-eyed blooms from midsummer through to autumn. Best in moist but well-drainged soil or compost, in full sun. Divide congested clumps from autumn to spring.
A biennial or short-lived perennial, typically grown as an annual, with a compact, upright, bushy habit and a rapid growth rate. Black-eyed Susan is shown to best effect when massed. It is a classic bedding and border plant but also works well in decorative patio pots.
An erect biennial with bristly stems and leaves, and classic daisy-shaped flowerheads, 60-80 cm, from high summer through to autumn. Flowerheads have a green centre surrounded by a warm gold ring and yellow-tipped petals.
Attractive, fiery red flowers with bright yellow edges and a unique V-shaped habit. Branches well and flowers very early, and it will look great far beyond your summer.
Large perennial with large grey leaves and yellow daisy-like flowers 7cm across. Deeply divided lobed leaves surround the stems which flower from summer to autumn. Height 1.5m.
A more compact selection of the popular, and taller, Henry Eilers with usual bright yellow flowers but whose petals are rolled so as to give a striking quill like appearance. Sunny open spot. Height; 90cm - 1.2m.
Masses of attractive rich flowers which blooms from early summer to autumn. Hardy perennial and easy to grow. Bushy habit. Prefers a moist well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. Height: 50 - 60 cm. Spread: 40 - 50 cm.
Full, rounded habit is covered with large, thick petaled golden blossoms with a deep chocolate eye. Inner and outer flower edge shows red tones with age that only adds to the attractive cut texture. Blooms June through October.
A majestic beauty that rises to a meter in height for a wonderful cottage-style border. 'Blackjack Gold' holds aloft rounded golden flowers with black cones on richly branched flowering stems, perfect for flower cutting and highly pollinator friendly.
A valuable late season bloomer to brighten borders during July to October. Numerous long stemmed, golden yellow tipped flowers which are typically darker towards the centre. Colours fade from orange-red to bronze. Prefers full sun with free-draining soil or compost.
The flower colour of this glorious perennial is quite simply breath-taking. From late summer to late autumn, 30cm long upright spikes carry sumptuously coloured purple-blue flowers, which are held at their bases by near-black calyces This is a vigorous plant, but it is not fully hardy, so it will need some protection in winter. Therefore, it is ideally suited to grow near a sheltered, south facing wall.
A shrubby perennial or evergreen shrub with deep green leaves. Spikes of deep blue flowers from late summer to early autumn. Height 90-120cm. Spread 60-90cm. Flowers from June to September. Evergreen. Not hardy. Protect from winter wet.
A shrubby perennial or evergreen shrub with pale green leaves. Spikes of cerise-pink flowers from mid-summer to autumn. Height 1m. Spread 1m. Flowers from July to October. Evergreen. Frost hardy. Protect from winter wet.
Pale-pink flowers from June - October. The plant is suitable for Tubs and Pots or can be grown amongst perennials in Herbaceous Borders.
This salvia flowers with spikes of violet-blue from June to October and is a magnet for butterflies and bees. The grey-green, aromatic foliage also makes an attractive accent in the summer border.
A dwarf perennial with greyish green leaves. Deep violet-blue flowers from mid-summer to early autumn. Height 45cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from July to September. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Rich purple flowers from mid-summer, flowering for a long period. Pale olive green foliage with an upright growth habit.
Herbaceous perennial, upright, frost-tender, woody-based perennial to 75cm tall with small, aromatic, mid green leaves.
Deep Purple flowers cover these tough plants from early spring to frost.
Long, maroon spikes of small flowers, like bottle-brushes, sit on slender, willowy stems above a clump of deeply divided, grey-green leaves, tinted red. Height 1.5m. Spread 50cm.
Burnet. Mid-sized mound of lacy grey-green leaves, bearing bottlebrush spikes of pink flowers in mid summer. Flowers from July to September. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Mat-forming semi-evergreen perennial, with grey-green foliage reaching a height of 35cm. It displays five-petalled pink blooms throughout summer and autumn on hairy stems.
Pincushion Flower. A clump-forming perennial with grey-green leaves. Pretty large blue flowerheads from mid to late summer. Height 60cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from July to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Pincushion Flower. A clump-forming small variety of this perennial with soft lilac blue flowers from early to late summer. Height 60cm. Spread 40cm. Flowers from July to August. Herbaceous.
Colossal, dazzling white flowers which have a tight ‘button’ effect in the centre and flowers around the outside, form a pleated, lacy edge on long, naked stems from early spring to the middle of summer. Prefers full sun, or partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
Kaffir Lily. A pretty clump-forming perennial with sword-like bright green leaves. Spikes of white flowers in autumn. Height 60cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from September to October. Herbaceous. Frost hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds.
Kaffir Lily. A sturdy variety, shorter than many others with distinctive light pink flowers that display deeper pink hues as the flower matures. Prefers full sun with free-draining soil or compost.
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