Gardening Bytes

Posts Tagged ‘Perennials’

Deer will eat just about anything if they are hungry enough, so be prepared to see nibbles on your plants if food is scare. Here are some plants and shrubs that will help keep the deer from being interested in eating them. Low growing heathers are a good choice because they always look good with only a trim of old flowers off the stems, they tend to be strong growing shrubs. Kramer’s Rote is a beautiful green leaf heather with abundant pink and cream flowers that looks good all year long and grows about a foot tall and twice as wide. Catnip may float cat’s boats but deer do not like the aroma of this plant. Blue Wonder is a dwarf catnip that grows about a foot tall. Periwinkle (Vinca minor) is another choice for planting that deters deer and always looks good in the garden. Lilyturf (Liriope spicata) is an ornamental grass that grows only 1 inch high and produces a spikey flower when blooming. Low growing herbs such as Thyme are a good choice for gardens and less appealing to Deer. Wooley Thyme (creeping thyme) is a good choice for a thicker version of thyme with a wooley texture that forms a wide mat when growing, keeping weeds down and looking attractive beneath the base of other plants. Lambs Ear Silver Carpet is a perfect low growing ground cover, give it a lot of room to grow. This non-flowering Lambs Ear creates a thick carpet of silvery shaped leaves that crowds out weeds and makes a great easy care groundcover for hard to plant areas.

Italian Arum (Arum italicum) is a sturdy, easy to grow perennial garden plant with striking marbled green leaves and bright orange red berries in winter. Arum resembles the Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant. Italian Arum grows in partial to full shade and prefers moist but well-drained soil. These corms are easy to grow and do best in woodland areas, often forming colonies over time. In may green spathes grow one to one and a half feet tall, hosting modest but unusual flowers that appear in May, then the leaves die back in summer to reappear in fall. The real show stopper is the foot tall stems that features bright red 3-inch clusters of berries in winter. Italian Arum works well surrounding the shady base of trees or in shady parts of your yard, and is a deer-resistant plant. Italian Arum is a Mediterranean plant that is hardy in winter through most of zone 6. Italian Arum is poisonous when eaten, it is best to monitor children around these plants. To propogate from the Italian Arum colony divide corms in the summer.

Ground covers for your garden are an important part of your garden structure. Ground covers work well between plants and underneath plants to help keep weeds down and become a natural mulch around other plants. You want ground cover not invasive plants that will cover up your other plants so ask for advice at your local nursery and choose wisely. Lithodora is a steady grower with evergreen leaves covered in bright blue tubular flowers. I’ve found using low growing heathers a great ground cover, for example Kramer’s Rote has small evergreen leaves with brilliant pink and cream blooms that smother the plant in fall and winter months.

Achillea
Alyssum
Anemone
Artemisia
Aster
Aubrieta
Bergenia
Calamintha
Campanula
Cerastium
Ceratostigma
Chrysanthemum
Clematis
Coreopsis
Delosperma
Dianthus
Dryas
Erigeron
Euonymus
Euphorbia
Fragaria
Geranium
Geum
Gypsophila
Hedera
Helianthemum
Hemerocallis
Heuchera
Hypericum
Iberis
Lathyrus
Leptinella
Liriope
Lithodora
Lonicera
Nepeta
Oenothera
Origanum
Oxalis
Phlox
Potentilla
Pulmonaria
Ranunculus
Rubus
Sagina
Saponaria
Sedum
Sempervivum
Stachys
Teucrium
Thymus
Trifolium
Verbena
Veronica
Viola

Perennial flowers are an excellent choice to help structure your garden and fill in spaces all year long. This list of perennial flowers are good choices for minimal care and hardiness of the plant. Give perennials plenty of time to become established in the garden. Choose plants suited to your area, local nurseries generally carry plants that adapt well to your hardiness zone.

Easy Care Perennials

Long lived, growing and thriving over five years
Division is only needed every four or five years
Good tolerance of hot summers
Good tolerance of cold winters
Non invasive
Little to no staking
Good resistance to disease and insects
Long lasting blooms
Attractive foliage all season
Able to grow in a wide range of conditions

Perennials

Astilbe
Avens (Geum)
Bergenia (Bergenia cordifolia)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’)
Blazing Star (Liatris)
Butterfly flower (Asclepias tuberosa)
Candytuft (Iberis)
Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea)
Coral bells (Heuchera)
Cranesbill (Geranium – try Johnson’s Blue Geranium)
Daylilies (Hemerocallis)
Fringed bleeding heart (Dicentra)
Pinks (Dianthus)
Gas plant (Dictamnus albus)
Globe thistle (Echinops)
Globe-flower (Trollius)
Heathers (Calluna vulgaris)
Hosta (Hostaceae or Funkiaceae)
Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla)
Leopard’s bane (Doronicum)
Monkshood (Aconitum)
Ornamental grasses
Peony (Paeonia – single-flowered varieties)
Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Sea thrift (Armeria)
Stonecrop (Sedum)
Siberian iris (Iris siberica)
Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum)
Speedwell (Veronica)
Yarrow (Achillea)

Perennial plants are a wonderful choice to give structure to your garden, once planted they grow until full sized and fill in spaces in your garden with leaves and blooms. Perennials should be carefully planted since once they are planted, unlike annuals, they will grow where you put them for many years. Perennials need space between plants and shrubs, follow the directions on planting labels to give your perennials plenty of room to grow in the garden. If you are concerned about planting space for perennials take advantage of your local garden center and seek out nursery personnel who can provide local planting information for plants and advice on planting space for specific plants. Perennials generally need 18–24 inches space for growth. Planting perennials closer than this provides a fuller garden but you will need to divide the plants sooner. As a general rule perennials need division after three to five years in the garden.

Perennials are one of the great additions to a garden. There are many perennials that provide blooms and evergreen foliage as well as shape and structure throughout the year. Study up on the behavior of each perennial before planting to understand the flowering times for plants, whether plants die back for winter, and if leaves drop during fall or winter months. The plant behaviors may factor into when you plant and where you plant in your garden.

Achillea
Agapanthus
Ajuga
Bee Balm
Black-eyed Susan
Bleeding heart
Clematis
Columbine
Coneflower
Daisy
Daylilies
Delphinium
Euphorbia
Ferns
Forget-me-not
Four o’clock
Fuchsia
Gaillardia
Hollyhock
Hostas
Irises
Lamb’s ears
Lantana
Lobelia
Peony
Penstemon
Periwinkle
Salvia
Sedum
Sweet pea
Verbena
Veronica
Violet
Wallflower
Yarrow