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 clump-forming perennial with green leaves. heavily veined. produces pinkish purple flowers from late spring to summer. Height 45cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from April to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Spring Vetchling. A dense clump-forming perennial with upright stems. Purplish blue to pink flowers in spring. Height 50cm. Spread 50cm. Flowers from March to May. Attractive to bees and other pollinators. Herbaceous.
Lavender. A compact bushy shrub with narrow variegated leaves and spikes of purple-blue flowers from mid to late summer. Height 75cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from July to August. Evergreen. Hardy.
Leontipodrum Alpinum is a perennial to 20cm in height, with narrow, grey-green leaves and starry white-felted flowering heads in late spring and early summer.
Produces large amounts of medium semi-double, white daisy flowers. Height 10-14 inches. Spread 17 inches.
'Shortstop' will provide classic Shasta Daisy flowers with full, bright white petals surrounding a rich yellow centre on a compact plant that naturally maintains a tight, low habit.
A clump-forming perennial with deeply cut leaves, purple-green stems bear slender racemes of yellow flowers. Height 90cm. Spread 1m. Flowers from July to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Large deeply indented and lobed palmate leaves and corymbs of large daisy-like flowers from May-Aug. Height 1.5m. Best suited to moist soil in full-part shade.
A free flowering selection with plenty of blue-purple spikes in late summer-autumn. Evergreen grassy foliage makes neat clumps for shade.
Lilyturf. An evergreen perennial with narrow dark green leaves striped white, dense spikes of bright lavender flowers in autumn. Height 30cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from September to November. Evergreen. Hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds.
A perennial with deep purple-red stems and leaves. Scarlet flowers from late summer to mid-autumn. Height 90cm. Spread 30cm. Flower colour Scarlet. Flowers from August to October. Herbaceous. Hardy.
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.
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.
Mon - Fri 8:00am - 5:00pm
Sat & Sun 9:00am - 5:00pm
Any questions? Email us or give us a call on 01904 400092.
