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.
Produces pure white, single flowers with yellow stamens from winter and in to spring. Requires moderate to light shade where soil is fertile, moist and free-draining. Excellent for a woodland -type garden, shady beds and borders, or may be grown in containers. Hardy evergreen. Grows to approximately 35 cm x 35 cm.
Semi-evergreen perennial to 30cm, with pedately lobed, leathery, dark green leaves and 1-3 pure white or pink-flushed white, bowl-shaped flowers up to 8cm in width.
Christmas Rose. An evergreen perennial producing leathery dark green. divided leaves. Saucer-shaped flowers. Height 20-30cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from January to April. Evergreen Hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds. Harmful if eaten.
Christmas Rose. Pure white blooms are borne on sturdy stems that can be reddish at higher temperatures and held above dense fresh green leaves. Evergreen Hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds. Harmful if eaten.
Erect stems stand above the green-grey foliage, bearing large outward facing, saucer-like white blooms which age to pink and then green. Flowering from late winter into spring.
Grows into a low mound about two feet tall and wide. The foliage is leathery and dark green with serrated leaflets that are evergreen throughout the winter except in extremely cold locations. Bears heavy clusters of outward-facing two inch five-petaled flowers that are creamy white with lime green centres.
A beautiful Lenten Rose with deep burgundy-red flowers, which a cute central ruffle in the centre. Flowers emerge in early spring on tough, glossy green foliage. Prefers partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
Clump-forming, evergreen or semi-evergreen perennial with leathery, deeply lobed, dark green leaves and upright stems bearing outward-facing, double, black to black-flushed maroon flowers in late winter and early spring.
Clump-forming, evergreen or semi-evergreen perennial with leathery, deeply lobed, dark green leaves and upright stems bearing outward-facing, double, green to green flushed flushed white flowers in late winter and early spring.
Lenten Rose. Evergreen perennial leathery dark green leaves & large saucer-shaped double red flowers. Height 45cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from January to April. Hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds. Harmful if eaten.
Stunningly rich, plum-purple double flowers are held just above the pine-green foliage. This evergreen, deer-resistant plant adds dramatic colour to sunny borders and tree understories as late winter turns to spring.
Christmas Rose. A wonderful new introduction, an evergreen perennial producing leathery dark green, divided leaves. Saucer-shaped creamy white flowers fading to green. Height 20-30cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from December to April. Evergreen Hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds. Harmful if eaten. Dry shade.
Lenten Rose. Cream-coloured flowers as early as December. Flowers into March on strong reddish flower stems. The blooms turn a gorgeous copper shade as they fade. This strong-growing evergreen variety loves both partial shade and sunny spots in the garden.
Lenten Rose. Light pink to pink flowers mature to a deep cranberry. Very dark foliage with dark stems. Strong plant, deer resistant. Grow in good well-drained soil in part shade.
'Ivory Prince' is a clump-forming, evergreen perennial, to 40cm tall, with five-lobed, dark green leaves with silvery veining. The ivory-white, bowl-shaped flowers open from dark pink buds in late winter to mid-spring, developing pale green and pink flushing as they age.
Forms a wide clump of dark evergreen foliage topped, starting in late February, with masses of large creamy flowers with pink flushed backs.
Blooms February to April. Soft pink buds open to cream flushed pink flowers that age to deep rose. This variety flowers heavily above silver veined evergreen glossy foliage. A vigorous selection.
A perennial with an open clump-forming erect habit. It has light-green foliage and stems. In summer in bears a succession of deep-yellow flowers with a greenish tinge to the throat and reflexed petals.
Bushy herbaceous perennial with long narrow mid green leaves. In June and July the Hemerocallis Citrina blooms stunning trumpet shaped yellow flowers which are often lightly scented creating a wonderful lemony aroma, blooming in the evenings held tall above the foliage on stiff, erect stems.
Daylily. A clump-forming perennial with handsome, sword-shaped, arching leaves. Large, gorgeous ribbed and ruffled, creamy blooms with pink edges and yellow-green throat. Height 75cm. Spread 60cm. Herbaceous. Harmful if eaten.
Daylily. A clump-forming perennial with handsome sword-shaped arching leaves. Creamy yellow flowers with dark purple halos and a green throat. Height 75cm. Spread 60cm. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Daylily. Clump-forming, semi-evergreen perennial. Narrow, strap-like, dark green leaves. In summer double, coral-pink flowers with ruffled, recurved petals and yellow-green throats. Herbaceous. Harmful if eaten.
Daylily. Large 6-in, lavender-purple, ruffled flowers with dark purple centres and green-yellow eye zones. Blooms in midsummer and again from late summer to early fall. Grows 18-24 in. tall with a 24 in. Herbaceous. Harmful if eaten.
A Daylily with medium stature profuse flowers of soft salmon pink. Increases rapidly July/August. Very floriferous.
A profusion of vibrant tangerine blossoms with slightly ruffled, recurved petals and soft green throats. Wow! Each flower, up to 7.5 in. Blooming in mid-late summer, this clump-forming deciduous perennial grows up to 34 in.
Wonderful deep bright red flowers with yellow highlights to shine in the dullest coldest conditions Jul-Aug, 95cm. Nice old-fashioned narrowish petals and the flowers self-clean.
Daylily. Large orange-gold trumpets with bright yellow throats. Height 45-60cm. Spread 60cm. Herbaceous. Deadhead for long lasting performance. Harmful if eaten.
Daylily. Light orange persimmon with great dark red purple eye and edge. Tetraploid (Heemskerk, 2012). 6 in.(15 cm) Bloom diameter. 27 in. Herbaceous. Harmful if eaten.
A bright red leaved form that flares up to scarlet flashes from Autumn through to Spring, stunning contrast. Cherry red in Summer.
This is the first red to black Heuchera. Fabulous foliage which changes with the season's, red in Spring, black in Summer, and maroon in Autumn. Beautiful white flowers on dark stems hovering just above the foliage. Easy to grow. Loved by the bees.
Coral young leaves mature to a lovely apricot colour and provide colour almost all year round. Grow in full sun in neutral, moist but well-drained soil.
Coral Flower. Caramel coloured undulating leaves small white flowers in cylindrical heads late July-Sept. Height 25cm. Spread 50cm. Hardy.
Coral Flower. A mound of glossy red-purple leaves with pewter markings. Evergreen 55cm.
The heuchera 'Cinnabar Silver' has interesting, silvery foliage with dark veins. Heuchera are versatile. Besides the flowers themselves, heuchera leaves impress with an intense shape and colour. They are a valuable source of nectar. Violet, loose clusters of inflorescences stand above a silvery foliage.
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