Best Perennial Flowers For Season-Long Garden Beauty
Creating a Year-Round Display of Beauty
No garden design is at once so effective and so easily maintained as the hardy perennial border.
The carefully selected flowers recommended in our guide will create a magnificent display that evolves throughout the seasons, with minimal maintenance required.
Unlike annuals that need yearly replacement, these steadfast perennials return with increasing vigor – in fact, it often becomes necessary to find homes for their abundance rather than to set in new specimens.
While these choice named varieties can have commercial value, 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.
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.
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
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: The Miracle of Peonies
By early June, peonies develop into picturesque mounds of deep, glossy green, followed by spectacular blooms. The miracle of peonies is a yearly refreshment of soul and a delight to the eye that knows no equal.
For beginners, consider this inexpensive collection:
- Boule de Neige — milk-white guards, center flecked with crimson
- Couronne d’Or — pure white, yellow stamens, tipped carmine
- Duc de Wellington — white guards, sulphur center, fragrant
- Duchess d’Orleans — deep pink, salmon center
- La Coquette — light pink, rose white collar
- Louis Van Houtte — deep carmine rose
- Mme. Calot — pale hydrangea pink
- Delicatissima — pale lilac rose
- Emile Lemoine — red with silver tip
- Dr. Bretouneau — pale lilac rose, center tipped cream-white
- Comte de Paris — guards and collar violet rose, white-crimson crown
- Princess Beatrice — guards and crown light violet rose, collar white
For collectors seeking more unusual varieties:
- James Kelway — rose-white changing to milk-white
- Excelsior — violet-purple, fragrant
- Mireille — milk-white, center petals edged dark crimson
- Livingstone — pale lilac-rose with silver tips
- La Tendresse — milk-white guards, center flecked with crimson
- Marguerite Gerard — very pale hydrangea-pink, fading to white
- Festiva Maxima — white with center marked crimson
Consider including some Japanese and single types, which have a distinct beauty of their own:
- Jupiter — rosy magenta
- Geraldine — deep carmine-violet
- Lemon Queen — pure white with cushion of pale yellow petals
- The Moor — purple-garnet
- Albiflora, The Bride — pure white, tall and free growing
- Dragon’s Head — pale rose petals striped dark crimson
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
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 Queen of Flowers: Roses for Your Garden
No garden is complete without roses. When planning your rose garden, consider the following classes and varieties:
Hybrid Perpetuals (June Roses)
- Baron de Bonstetton and General Jacqueminot — deep velvety reds
- Prince Camille de Rohan — velvety red
- Paul Neyron — deep rose and the largest rose in the world
- Marshall P. Wilder — dark rose
- Frau Karl Druschki and Margaret Dickson — whites
- Marchioness of Londonderry — another excellent white
- Mrs. John Laing — abundant soft pink
Hybrid Teas
- General McArthur — excellent red
- Betty — coppery gold overlaid with yellow
- Duchess of Wellington — wonderful yellow
- Gruss an Teplitz — flame red
- La France — shell pink
Tea Roses
- Harry Kirk — yellow
- Marie Van Houtte — pale yellow edged with pink
- William R. Smith — good for later summer and fall bloom
Bengal Roses
- Hermosa — popular for mass bedding
- Countess de Cayla — coppery tone shaded with orange
Polyantha Roses
- Clotilde Soupert — blushing white
- Louise Walter — soft rose pink
- Orleans — red as geraniums
- Rabier — baby white rambler
For best results, give roses a place by themselves, and where space permits, a special bed for each family. The number of plants of each class should be proportional, with a fair ratio being two Hybrid Teas, one Bengal, one Polyantha, and one Tea to each Hybrid Perpetual.
Climbing Roses for Vertical Interest
Climbing roses add another dimension to the garden. Here are some recommended varieties organized by bloom time:
Early June Blooms
- Miss Helyett — large double, blush with carmine shading
- May Queen — delicate pink with crimped petals
- Neige d’Avril — small pure white flowers, profuse
Mid-June Blooms
- Ghislaine de Feligonde — bud orange, flower cream when open
- Purple East — rosy pink with mauve overlay
- François Guillot — double white, shaded yellow in bud
Late June Blooms
- Paul’s Scarlet Climber — vivid scarlet shaded crimson
- Silver Moon — very large semi-double, pure white
- Christine Wright — rose pink tinged yellow
- Zephirin Drouhin — large single flower, silvery rose color
Early July Blooms
- Alberic Barbier — buds yellow, flowers cream
- Paul Noel — bud carmine; open, deep salmon splashed orange
- Elisa Robichon — delicate rose tinged yellow
- Chatillon Rambler — pale rose
Mid-July Blooms
- Gardenia — bud yellow, flower cream
- Renee Danielle — deep yellow in bud, pale yellow open
- Tausendschon — bright pink to pure white
- Blush Rambler — clear rose
Late July Blooms
- Klondyke — yellow bud, flowers paler
- Source d’Or — buds bright yellow; open, pale yellow
- Dr. F. W. Van Fleet — flesh pink, good form
Annuals for Season-Long Color
While perennials form the backbone of the garden, annuals provide abundant color throughout the growing season. Here are a dozen good annuals to form the basis of your garden:
- Cosmos — Red, pink and white saucer-shaped blossoms on 4′ to 6′ plants with feathery foliage. Excellent for mass effects into autumn and for cutting.
- Asters — Giant Comet, King, Royal and Imperial varieties reach 1′ to 3′ and bloom in various colors during late summer and autumn. Perfect for garden display and cutting.
- Alyssum — Free-flowering and quick-growing edging plant with profuse white flowers forming a thick mat a few inches thick.
- Snapdragons — Excellent for borders and cutting, with a long blooming season and flowers in nearly every color except blue. Grow 1′ to 3′ high.
- Candytuft — Charming hardy flowers in white, pink or red, borne 1′ to 2′ high in large heads or spikes. Ideal for edgings, bedding, and cutting.
- Forget-Me-Not — A traditional garden favorite with its recognizable small blue flowers.
- Annual Larkspur — Available in all colors except yellow, grows 2′ to 3′ high and resembles perennial delphinium. Good for garden masses and cutting.
- Petunias — Brilliant and abundant blooms even under unfavorable conditions. All colors except yellow, growing 1′ to 1½’ high.
- Salpiglossis (Velvet Flower, Painted Tongue) — All colors, 1′ to 2′ high, especially good for garden effects and cutting.
- Annual Phlox — An old favorite in all colors except blue, about 1′ high. Excellent for color masses and cutting.
- Eschscholtzia (California Poppy) — Showy and free-flowering, 1′ to 2′ high, in all colors except blue. Perfect for color masses.
- Sweet Peas — The modern Spencer types offer frilled petals in all the traditional colors plus many new ones. For best results, plant in a richly manured trench prepared to a depth of 2′.
Annuals may be planted in dedicated beds, or used in the perennial border to provide color and flower interest when herbaceous plants are not in bloom.
Year-Round Joy and Observation
In the herbaceous garden, 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 garden notebook – your observations will become increasingly valuable as your garden matures.
With thoughtful planning and modest maintenance, your garden will reward you with beauty that compounds year after year. From the earliest spring crocuses to the final autumn asters, these plants create not just a display but a relationship – one that deepens with each passing season.
