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.
A stiff, compact, open clump-forming, herbaceous perennial with erect, branching stems bearing few oblong to lance-shaped, wrinkled, toothed, dark green leaves, hairy beneath, and branched clusters of small salverform, purple flowers from midsummer to early autumn.
A tall erect perennial with pretty clusters of violet flowers. Height 2m. Spread 45cm. Flowers from July to September. Herbaceous. Frost hardy. Shelter from strong winds.
Small purple-pink flowers held on spikes at the tops of tall, elegant stems. The foliage is a lovely purple-green, with an almost metallic sheen.
Dense clusters of deep purple-magenta flowers are held in domed heads and emit a delicate fragrance through the hazy summer months.
Speedwell. A mat-forming perennial with toothed green leaves. Erect spikes of pretty pink flowers in summer. Height 30cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from June to August. Herbaceous.
A mat-forming perennial with toothed green leaves. Erect spikes of bright blue flowers in summer. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Low growing perennial. Excellent for use as ground cover, having a quick growing, spreading habit. Flowers from June through to September. Intense indigo blue colour flower spikes fading to a light emerald. Height 10 - 50cm. Spread 10 - 15cm. Sun/partial shade.
Culver's Root. A tall erect perennial with dark green leaves. Spikes of pink flowers from mid-summer to early autumn. Height 2m. Spread 45cm. Flowers from July to September. Herbaceous.
Lesser Periwinkle. A mat-forming evergreen shrub with trailing stems of dark green leaves. Dark blue flowers produced from mid-spring to autumn. Height 10-20cm. Spread Indefinite. Flowers from April to September. Evergreen. Hardy.
Lesser Periwinkle. A mat-forming evergreen shrub with trailing stems of dark green leaves. Dark plum-purple flowers produced from mid-spring to autumn. Height 10-20cm. Spread Indefinite. Flowers from April to September. Evergreen.
Striking, heart-shaped leaves with a large, burgundy centre and a lime green margin. Contrasting pink flowers appear in spring. Good ground-cover plant and is well suited to growing in containers, hanging baskets and bedding displays at the front of the border. Grow in moist but well-drained soil in partial shade.
Periwinkle. Spreading evergreen perennial. Yellow leaves with green edges with numerous small blue flowers spring, summer and autumn. Grow in any moist or well drained soil in full sun, part shade or full shade. Height 10-20cm. Spread 100-150cm.
'Verino' is a prostrate, mat-forming to trailing, evergreen subshrub bearing glossy, ovate, dark green leaves and reddish-purple to dark purple flowers from mid-spring into summer.
Striking, heart-shaped leaves with a large, burgundy centre and a lime green margin. Contrasting pink flowers appear in spring. Good ground-cover plant and is well suited to growing in containers, hanging baskets and bedding displays at the front of the border. Grow in moist but well-drained soil in partial shade.
Night Scented Phlox. This will give you unsurpassable honey-vanilla scent as the sun goes down. Foliage forms a compact mound. Unique flowers appear crimson-red when closed, and white when open. Prefers full sun, or partial shade. Free-draining, soil or compost.
A short-lived, evergreen herbaceous perennial to about25cmwith small, sticky, grey-green leaves. White flowers up to 2.5cm across with a large, orange eye open from deep red buds throughout the summer. They are strongly scented especially in the evening.
Arum Lily. A clump-forming perennial with semi-erect arrow-shaped glossy green leaves. Produces large, coloured spathes from late spring to mid-summer. Height 90cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from May to July. Herbaceous.
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