Planning and Planting Your Perfect Perennial Border
The Foundation of Garden Beauty
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 homes for their abundance rather than to set in new specimens.
This overflow of choice named varieties can have commercial value, but many gardeners find deeper satisfaction in sharing their garden’s bounty with friends and neighbors.
Five Essential Rules for Border Success
When building a new border, start with these fundamental principles:
- Select a strategic location in full view from your summer living room, where the display can be enjoyed throughout the season.
- Create a detailed planting plan to scale, showing the precise location of every plant. This not only simplifies the actual planting process but eliminates the need for unsightly labels – simply consult your plan when needed.
- Arrange colors with simplicity in mind. A half-dozen plants each of three or four colors creates far more impact than the same number of plants in different colors.
- Invest in quality plants of named varieties whenever possible. The difference in performance justifies the cost.
- Prepare the soil thoroughly with appropriate labor and fertilizer. Your plants will reward this initial effort many times over.
Year-Round Interest
In the herbaceous planting, there is scarcely a dull moment.
Growth begins with the earliest hint of warm weather and continues until frost. The garden lover anticipates these recurring seasons like visits from old friends, with associations that hover about them similar to the comfort of familiar books and beloved places.
For those with an analytical mind, there’s scientific interest in comparing growth patterns from year to year. Keep a notebook – you’ll treasure these observations as your garden matures.
Finding the Perfect Location
The most effective placement for a perennial border is along the far edge of the lawn, where it can be viewed primarily from the house. 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. These intimate walkways allow you to appreciate individual specimens up close rather than focusing solely on broad effects.
A Calendar of Blooms
Early Spring: The First Ventures
The garden year begins with crocuses, those brave early bloomers that appear in hundreds upon hundreds. Sometimes they emerge singly or in scattered groups; in other areas, they create long-drawn splashes of color against the dark trunks of leafless trees.
Spring Awakening
Next come the lupins (Polyphyllus), offering white, pink, and blue flowers of exquisite purity. These fair-sized plants reach 2-3 feet tall with about a dozen stalks each.
Late Spring Glory
As lupins fade, irises take center stage. Mrs. H. Darwin provides satisfying white blooms of dwarf habit, while Madame Chereau stands tall with white flowers featuring blue-laced edges. Pallida Dalmatica grows luxuriantly with blooms giving the impression of clear, delicate blue from a distance.
Early Summer Drama
Oriental poppies arrive with brilliant black and scarlet colors. Try Rose Queen, Perry’s White, Nancy, Goliath, Royal Scarlet, and Beauty of Livermore for a stunning display.
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 include Umbellata Rosea, Rubens, Festiva Maxima, Mons. Jules Elie, and Courrone d’Or.
Midsummer Majesty
As late peonies finish flowering, delphiniums reach impressive heights, their graceful spires beginning to show color. These, together with Madonna lilies and early white phloxes, create an ethereal display in shades from white through countless enchanting combinations of blue and lavender to deep purple.
Summer’s Peak
The phlox era brings the most brilliant phase of the garden year. The creamy white dwarf Tapis Blanc is unrivaled for the front of the border, while Frau Anton Buchner, widely acknowledged as the finest white phlox, bears large flowers on tall stems. For vibrant colors, try Comte Von Hochberg (deep crimson), G.A. Strohlein (wonderful salmon with red eye), and Europa (white with clear red eye).
Autumn Finale
Phloxes carry the garden well into September, when fall asters (Michaelmas daisies) begin their show. These come in surprising variety—not just familiar lavenders, but also pure pinks, whites, deep blues, crimsons, and purples. Try St. Egwin, Glory of Colwall, Ryecroft Purple, and Ryecroft Pink for an extended fall display.
The Rose Collection
No garden is complete without the queen of flowers. Consider including these rose varieties:
Hybrid Perpetuals (June roses): Baron de Bonstetton and General Jacqueminot (deep velvety reds), Paul Neyron (deep rose), Frau Karl Druschki (white), and Mrs. John Laing (soft pink).
Hybrid Teas: General McArthur (excellent red), Betty (coppery gold overlaid with yellow), Duchess of Wellington (wonderful yellow), Gruss an Teplitz (flame red), and La France (shell pink).
Tea Roses: Harry Kirk (yellow), Marie Van Houtte (pale yellow edged with pink), and William R. Smith (good for late summer bloom).
Bengal Roses: Hermosa (popular for mass bedding) and Countess de Cayla (coppery tone shaded with orange).
Polyantha Roses: Clotilde Soupert (blushing white), Louise Walter (soft rose pink), and Orleans (red as geraniums).
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.
Whether you’re creating your first border or enhancing an established garden, remember that simplicity often yields the most striking effects. Like a painter working with a minimal palette, the gardener creates lasting beauty through thoughtful restraint rather than complexity.
