The Timeless Charm of Perennial Borders

A Garden That Rewards Year After Year

No scheme of garden building is at once so effective and so easily maintained as the hardy perennial border. These steadfast plants seldom need renewal – in fact, it often becomes necessary to find an outlet for their abundance rather than to set in new specimens.

This overflow, particularly of choice named varieties, can have commercial value. There is, however, a fuller satisfaction in sharing your garden’s bounty with friends and neighbors.

Year-Round Interest and Seasonal Joy

In the herbaceous planting, there is scarcely a dull moment. Growth starts with the earliest hint of warm weather and continues almost until snow flies. The first few weeks bring the excitement of rapidly developing plants, followed by a succession of blooms from April or May until fall.

The garden lover anticipates these recurring seasons like visits from old friends. Associations hover about them, similar to the comfort of familiar books and beloved places. For those with a more analytical mind, there is the scientific interest in comparing growth and performance from year to year.

By all means, keep a notebook to track these annual changes.

Finding the Perfect Location

The most effective placement for a perennial border is along the far edge of the lawn, where it will be viewed primarily from the house. While foundation plantings around the home are possible, this is perhaps the least desirable location as the border cannot be appreciated from the windows.

A backyard makes an excellent situation, particularly if the border can encircle the yard with a bit of green space in the center. Perhaps the most charming arrangement is the double border with a path between – a quintessential English garden feature with endless possibilities that Americans too often neglect.

Design Principles for Success

Remember that the best results come from simple and broad treatment. Like a painter working with a minimal palette, a gardener creates the most striking effects through restraint rather than complexity. We are, after all, crafting a series of living pictures that change throughout the seasons.

Early growth shows a variety of light, delicate greens and reddish browns, beautiful in themselves with diverse growth habits, textures, and leaf shapes. As plants mature, consider their placement carefully to maintain balance and harmony through changing bloom times.

A Calendar of Blooms

Spring Beginnings

The perennial border awakens with lupins (Polyphyllus), offering white, pink, and blue flowers of exquisite purity and grace. These fair-sized plants reach 2-3 feet tall with about a dozen stalks each.

Late Spring

As lupins fade, irises take center stage. Choose self-colored varieties for the best effect in a border planting. Mrs. H. Darwin provides satisfying white blooms of dwarf habit, while Madame Chereau stands tall and stately with elongated white flowers featuring blue-laced edges. Pallida Dalmatica grows luxuriantly with extra-large blooms giving the impression of clear, delicate blue from a distance.

Early Summer

Oriental poppies arrive before the irises have finished, bringing brilliant black and scarlet colors that must be carefully placed to maintain harmony. Recommended varieties include Rose Queen, Perry’s White, Nancy, Goliath, Royal Scarlet, and Beauty of Livermore.

June Splendor

By early June, peonies develop into picturesque mounds of deep, glossy green, followed by spectacular blooms. A dozen standard varieties providing diverse colors and an extended 3-4 week season include Umbellata Rosea, Rubens, Festiva Maxima, Mons. Jules Elie, Courrone d’Or, and Faust.

Midsummer Majesty

As late peonies finish flowering, delphiniums reach impressive heights, their graceful spires of buds beginning to show color. These, together with Madonna lilies and early white phloxes, create an ethereal display. Delphinium colors range from white through countless enchanting combinations of blue and lavender to deep purple.

Summer’s Peak

The phlox era follows, bringing the most brilliant phase of the garden year. The creamy white dwarf Tapis Blanc is unrivaled for the very front of the border, growing 1-1½ feet tall with large flower heads. Frau Anton Buchner, widely acknowledged as the finest white phlox, bears equally large flowers on stems often exceeding 3 feet.

Autumn Finale

Phloxes carry the garden well into September, when fall asters (Michaelmas daisies) begin their show. These come in surprising variety – not just the familiar lavenders, but also pure pinks, whites, deep blues, crimsons, and purples. Many newer varieties grow larger and bear bigger flowers than their wild counterparts.

A Living Legacy

With thoughtful planning and modest maintenance, the perennial border rewards gardeners with beauty that compounds year after year. From the earliest spring shoots to the final autumn blooms, these steadfast plants create not just a display but a relationship – one that deepens with each passing season.