Perennial Plants - Info on Growing and Using Popular Perennial Plants
10 Perennial Flowers to Start from Seed
Starting perennial flowers from seed is no more difficult than any seed starting . True, they often take a year to become established, before blooming. But there are ways around that. And starting perennial flowers from seed is a great way to fill out your garden without breaking your budget. Here are 10 perennials that are easily grown from...
Achillea - Growing Yarrow in the Perennial Garden
Achillea often get taken for granted because they are such a dependable, low maintenance perennial plant. There are many varieties of Yarrow and there is sure to be one or two suited to growing in your garden.
Aeonium
Aeoniums are popular succulent plants with striking waxy leaves. They look a bit like Echeveria, but on steroids.
Agave
Agave plants are as tough as they look. Most are only hardy in warmer climates, but they make great houseplants, too.
Amsonia (Blue Star) Brings True Blue Flowers to Your Garden
Amsonia, or Blue Star, has clear, true blue flowers, attractive seed pods and glowing gold fall foliage. Amsonia plants are virtually pest and maintenance free. Here are tips for growing Blue star in your garden.
Aguilegia - How to Grow and Care for Columbines
Aquilegia (Columbines) are delicate flowers that are held above their lacy foliate on long, stems. They bloom mid-spring, between early bulbs and peak summer season.
Astilbe 'Color Flash Lime' - A Perfect Plant Made Even Better
Astilbes offer every benefit to the gardener: long bloom period, great color, attractive foliage and low, low maintenance. Plant breeders have been working overtime to add even more features to these wonderful plants. 'Color Flash Lime' Astilbe brings chartreuse leaves to a plant that was already able to brighten a shady spot. Now it dazzles.
Growing Astilbe Plants
Astilbe plants are star attraction for shade or partially sunny gardens. They have fern-like foliage and tall plumes of fluffy flowers that last for several weeks. Astilbe are also very low maintenance.
Bamboo - Growing Bamboo in the Home Garden
Does the idea of bamboo growing in your garden spark fear or longing in you? How bad can bamboo be if all the garden magazines are touting it? Bamboo can be grown successfully and safetly in home gardens, but you need to know what kind of bamboo you are getting and you need to take care that it doesn't take over.
Baptisia australis - How to Grow and Care for False or Wild B…
Baptisia australis, false or wild blue indigo, is a native plant with stunning blue flowers and pea-like foliage. Baptisia is easy to grow in the garden and requires little maintenance. Growing tips and advice for Baptisia australis.
Blanket Flowers Bloom Long Enough to Blanket Your Garden
With their concentric circles of color, Gaillardia look like festive daisies. They're also drought tolerant, tough plants that bloom non-stop in shades of gold, red and 2-tones.
Bleeding Heart Plants (Dicentra) - Growing Flowering Bleeding Heart in the Garde
Bleeding Heart plants (Dicentra) are spring blooming flowers for a shady part of the garden. Bleeding Hearts are perennial plants with heart shaped pink or white flowers with a tear shaped drop at the bottom. Bleeding Heart can be grown in many areas and will self-sow in cooler climates. Bleeding Heart plants combine beautifully with other spring blooming flowers.
Brunnera - Growing and Caring for False Forget-Me-Not
Neither Brunnera nor Siberian Bugloss seem a fitting name for this lovely shade plant. With heart-shaped variegated leaves and striking blue flowers, Brunnera is a splash of light in the shade garden. It's also very easy to grow.
Caladiums - Tropical Perennials to Light Up Every Shade Garden
Caladiums are tropical perennials grown for their spectacularly colorful foliage. Who needs flowers when the leaves are splotched and speckled with rose, cream, burgundy and flame red? Caladiums are heat lovers, but they can easily grow in cooler climates in summer and even make great houseplants. Learn the in and outs for caring for your...
Catmint: Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’ has been named Perennial Plant of the Year©
The 2007 Perennial Plant of the Year© is a catmint, Nepeta racemosa 'Walker's Low'. A catmint makes a wonderful choice for Perennial Plant of the Year©: catmint is extremely hardy, drought tolerant and virtually maintenance free. All this and nepeta repeat blooms sporadically throughout the summer. Here’s a closer look at the award winning catmint Nepeta 'Walker's Low'.
Catmints (Nepeta) are Easy Growing, Drought Hardy Garden Performers
Catmint (Nepeta) is extremely hardy, drought tolerant and virtually maintenance free. All this and nepeta repeat blooms sporadically throughout the summer. Such a wonderful garden plant should be more widely appreciated and used by gardeners. Take another look here, at the pleasure of growing nepeta and its usefulness in any garden design.
Chinese Foxgloves (Rehmannia elata)
The common name of the perennial flower Rehmannia is Chinese Foxgloves, because the tubular flowers bear a resemblance to Digitalis. They do well in shade, even dry shade. And these foxgloves, although not as hardy as digitalis, are repeat blooming throughout the growing season.
Clematis - When to Prune Which Clematis
Clematis vines need to be pruned to encourage new growth, which results in more flowers. Pruning clematis comes down to a question of when your clematis blooms. Here are some tips.
Coral Bells No Longer Sums Up the Heuchera Varieties You Can Grow
Heuchera plants have come a long way from the traditional Coral Bells. Heuchera are wonderful foliage plants that grow in a wide range of hardiness zones. Here are some tips to keep your Heuchera growing.
Coreopsis - Choosing a Coreopsis for Your Garden
Coreopsis, or Tickseed, is an extremely adaptable and easy growing perennial flower. Most gardeners are familiar with the sunny yellow blooms of Coreopsis. There is actually a good amount of variety among Coreopsis. There are tall, fluffy Coreopsis, Red and pink Coreopsis. Even annual and perennial Coreopsis. Here's some help choosing the right Coreopsis for your garden.
Coreopsis Plants
There are many species of Coreopsis flowers and not all of them are perennial plants - or perennial in all growing zones - but with so many to choose from, there is sure to be one perfect for your garden.
Echinacea - Coneflowers are Garden Favorites
Echinacea profile. Echinacea or coneflower is an old fashioned prairie plant. Echinacea are hardy, adaptable and reliable repeat bloomers and are expecially popular with gardeners for good reason.
Crasslua
The succulent plants in the Crassula genus offer something for everyone, whether you're looking for a shrub, a container plant, a ground cover or a houseplant.
Echeveria
Echevaria are beautiful succulent rosettes - some thick and smooth, some fuzzy, some ruffled - all great in containers, although they are only hardy to USDA Zone 9.
Euphorbia
Euphorbia is a large and varied genus. Here are growing tips for the succulent Euphorbia plants, that are hardy in warmer climates.
Euphorbia hypericifolia - Frothy and Delicate Plants
You might mistake Euphorbia hypericifolia, like Diamond Frost and Breathless Blush, for Baby's Breath, but these wispy, mounding plants are not babies. Their delicate looks belie their hardy temperaments. Euphorbia hypericifolia is drought tolerant, needs no deadheading, is deer resistant and blooms pretty much continually.
Fleece Flower - Growing Giant Fleece Flower (Persicaria polymorpha)
Giant Fleece Flower (Persicaria polymorpha) is a showy perennial with large white plumes that grows up to 6' tall and almost as wide. Giant Fleece Flower is widely adaptable and easy to grow. Here are some tips for growing Persicaria polymorpha.
Tips for Growing Fern Plants
Most ferns are easy growing plants, whether in the garden or indoors. Although there are thousands of ferns, the most popular varieties tend to be shade plants that prefer moist conditions. Here are more tips for growing fern.
Geranium 'Rozanne' 2008 Perennial Plant of the Year©
'Rozanne' is an extremely hard perennial geranium, with vivid violet-blue flowers that repeat bloom all summer. Tips for growing perennial geraniums.
Geraniums - How to Grow True, Hardy, Perennial Geraniums
The 1st geranium most gardeners encounter is not a geranium at all, but Pelargonium, a relative of the true geranium. True or hardy or perennial geraniums belong to the genus Geranium. You will sometimes see them called cranesbill geraniums, because their seed pods do somewhat resemble a crane’s bill. The flowers, in shades of white, pink,...
Gerber Daisies
If you think Gerber daisies only come in shocking colors or that they are only florist cut flowers, you'll be surprised at the diversity of colors and especially by how easy they will grow in your garden or home.
Hakonechloa -Growing Tips from Gardeners
How Do You Use Japanese Forest Grass in Your Garden Design?
Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ - Growing Golden Japanese Forest Grass
With arching gold leaves, striped with bright green, Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' is a unique ornamental grass. But it's a clump forming grass that grows excruciatingly slowly. It will just sit there for a couple of years and only come into its own after about 5 years. It’s worth the expense to get a slightly larger plant. Here's how to get yours growing.
Hardy Christmas Rose - Hellebore niger
The Christmas Rose, Hellebore niger, has the frustrating tendency of not blooming until Easter - making it all the more confusing to tell it apart from the Lenten Rose, Hellebore orientalis. Hellebore flowers are often the first signs of spring in the garden and the plants are becoming more widely available and easier to grow.
Hellebores - Growing Perennial Hellebores in the Garden
More and more species of Hellebores are available in garden centers and catalogs. The Christmas Rose, the Lenten Rose and the Stinking Rose are all relatively easy care perennials for your winter and spring garden.
Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum tectorum) - Low Growing, Evergre…
Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum tectorum) are low growing evergreen succulent plants that look a little like rubbery roses. They are considered alpine or rock garden plants, because of their hardiness and drought resistance. The original rosette, the ‘Hen’ produces tiny rosette offsets that are known as the ‘Chicks’. Hens and chicks are perfect for rocky areas and very easy to grow.
Ice Plants
Ice Plants are actually drought tolerant succulents with vivid colored flowers that bloom all season. Great for a ground cover or containers.
Jacob's Ladder - Growing Purple Flowering Polemonium
Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium) plants bloom in mid to late spring. The clusters of Jacob's Ladder's purple flowers will repeat bloom, if deadheaded and make a colorful accent in a shade garden.
Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum) - Growing a Tall, Late Se…
Eupatorium, joe pye, joe-pye weed, joe pie, late summer flowers
Lady’s Mantle - Growing Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)…
Lady’s Mantle is an old-fashioned flower still popular today for it’s fuzzy, cupped leaves that hold water droplets after a rain and the frothy sprays of dainty yellow flowers that bloom in late spring and early summer. Lady’s Mantle is also used in making lotions and soaps. Lady’s Mantle is a long-lived perennial flower that is fairly low...
Lamb's Ears - Growing These Soft, Fuzzy Garden Favorites
Lamb's Ears are popular in gardens because of their soft, inviting texture. They are very easy to grow almost anywhere. This profile of Lamb's Ears, Stachys byzantina, gives you their preferences and recommends varieties for your garden.
Lavender - Growing Lavender in the Garden
There's a lavender variety for just about every climate. Choose the right lavender plants for your garden and care for them with these tips.
Mums - Chrysanthemums to Take Your Garden Out in Style
Mums are grown in just about every fall garden. Chrysanthemums can actually be hardy perennials in most gardening zones, if planted early enough to become established. Mums are easy growing plants that will bloom as other plants fade, if pinched during the growing season. There are many more varieties of mums than you’ve probably seen, all worth taking a look.
Obedient Plant
Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana) is a nice addition to fall borders, if you can keep it under control. Despite its name, obedient plant can spread aggressively. It's called obedient because you can bend the individual flowers in any direction you like - a nice feature for floral displays.
Peonies - How to Plant Peonies
Peonies can live and thrive for decades, with minimal care. Peonies bloom in the late spring, but they do best when planted or transplanted in the fall. For the most part, planting peonies is pretty straight forward. However there are a few special needs peonies have, that are best accommodated at planting time.
Peonies - Old Fashioned, Fragrant Perennials
Peonies are prennial stars of the spring garden. Grown in a mass planting, they can be a garden anchor. Peonies are beautiful, often fragrant, clump forming perennials with large cupped or ruffled showy flowers.
Persian Shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus)
Purple iridescent leaves make this plant an eye-catcher, even without flowers.
Perovskia - Growing Russian Sage
Perovskia, or Russian Sage, is a widely popular perennial garden favorite. The foliage is finely cut gray-green leaves that are slightly scented. When fully in bloom it looks like a purple haze. As you can see here, these plants are very easy to grow.
Phormium - Growing the Spiky, Spectacular New Zealand Flax
Phormium is a spiky, sword-leafed evergreen perennial that is used as a garden focal point or specimen plant. Some are small enough to use in containers, others can reach several feet in diameter and 7+ feet tall. Phormium aren’t hardy in any areas, but can be brought indoors for the winter. Growing Phormium is easy, if you give the plants what they want.
Prickly Pear - Growing the Hardy Cactus Opuntia compressa - Eastern Prickly Pear
WhatÂ’s more surprising, that a cactus is hardy enough to grow in USDA Zone 4 or that it should have such a pretty flower? Eastern prickly pear doesnÂ’t have the stature of itÂ’s dessert cousin, the larger prickly pear, Opuntia ficus-indica, which can top 15'. Bbut this smaller prickly pear adds a touch of the mid-west to cooler climates and...
Primula - Using Primroses in the Spring Garden
Primroses are unusually vivid spring blooming perennial flower. Unlike the subtle pastels associated with spring, primroses shout out in bold yellows, reds, pinks and blues, making them ideal for brightening the spring garden. These easy care perennials are profiled here.
Geranium 'Rozanne' 2008 Perennial Plant of the Year©
'Rozanne' is an extremely hard perennial geranium, with vivid violet-blue flowers that repeat bloom all summer. Tips for growing perennial geraniums.
Pulmonaria - Springtime Charmers in the Perennial Flower Border
Pulmonaria, or Lungwort, is far more charming than its name would imply. Blooming when few other perennials have even emerged after winter, Pulmoniaria offers distintive speckled and splashed foliage and small, but profuse and vivid flowers in blues, pinks, corals and whites. There is a Pulmonaria for almost any garden and they are profiled here.
Rudbeckia - Choosing and Growing Black-Eyed Susans
Rudbeckia are easy to establish, naturalize well and require little maintenance other than deadheading. Black-eyed Susan's come in a rich array of yellows, golds, oranges and russets. For a dependable, long season bloomer that brings a smile to faces, you can’t go wrong with Rudbeckia. Here are some tips for choosing and growing Black-eyed...
Growing, Caring for and Using Scented Geraniums
Tips for growing scented geranium plants. Caring for and using scented geraniums (Pelargonium).
Sedum - Growing Showy Stonecrop is an Easy, Carefree Perennial Performer
Border Sedum or Showy Stonecrop is a must for every perennial garden. The sturdy stems, succulent leaves and clusters of flower buds are attractive all season and light up a fall garden. Growing Sedum is easy; almost mistake proof. There are Sedum varieties to blend with every color scheme and trailing Sedum to fill container gardens. Here...
Senecio Plants
Looking for some fascinating, easy care succulent plants? Take a look at Senecio. They're like nothing you've ever seen.
Solomon’s Seal - Growing the Elegant Shade Perennial Polygonatum
Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum) is an elegant Native American woodland plant. The small, tubular white flowers of Polygonatum dangle underneath the leaves. But it's the plant form that makes Solomon's Seal such an interesting plant. Once established, Polygonatum slowly spreads out and creates a nodding blanket of foliage that turns a golden yellow in autumn. Here are some tips on getting Solomon’s Seal to grow in your garden.
Trilliums - Fascinating Flowers for a Woodland Garden
Trilliums are fascinating, unique woodland plants. Trilliums are not hard to grow, but they can take awhile to become established. Here's how to grow trilliums - with 3 leaves, 3 petals and 3 sepals, trilliums draw attention in any garden.