Care & Guidance
Whilst you enjoy your perennials for their fantastic foliage or beautiful blooms, it's really the roots you're buying - because the roots allow the plants to come back every year. Use these tips to make sure your perennials get off to the right start.
Container grown perennials are easy to plant and commonly available. Start digging a hole that's a little wider but no deeper than the pot your new perennial came in. Loosen the roots, and spread them out if the plant has become rootbound* (*when roots start to grow in circles around the edge of the pot). Then firm the soil in around the roots and water well.
Planting Tips: water your perennials well after you plant them. Then lay a 2-3 inch deep layer of mulch over the soil around your new plants. The mulch will help the soil hold moisture and prevent weeds from growing. Give taller perennials such as delphiniums, holihocks and peonies support by staking them. Anchor single stems by inserting a rod or sturdy stick into the ground and tying the stem to it. Keep clump forming plants with multiple stems standing, by growing through a hoop. Regularly deadhead and divide your perennials to keep them healthy and looking beautiful.
Deadheading: simply means cutting the faded flowers off your plants. It makes your plants look better and it prevents them from setting seed so you don't have a mass of seedlings popping up in your garden.
Dividing: One of the best things about perennials is that they grow bigger and better each year. But many start to crowd themselves out if they get too big. Keep them performing well by digging them out of the ground and splitting them into smaller chunks every 3 or 4 years. Early spring and autumn are the best times to divide most perennials. A couple of exceptions include bearded iris and hosta: split these perennials in summer.
Watering: There's no one-size fits all rule for watering perennials. Some varieties stand up to drought and others need to be kept moist all the time. Keep your plants healthier and make watering a breeze by grouping plants in acccordance with their watering needs. No matter what perennials you're growing, be sure to keep them all well watered in the first year - that allows them to become well established.
Feeding: If you have rich soil or improve it with garden compost or other forms of organic matter on a regular basis, you probably won't need to feed your plants, But if you're burdened with poor soil, fertilising can be helpful. Take care not to over fertilise - this may make your plants flower less, suffer root injury, or even kill your perennials.
Winter Care: Perennials that are reliably cold hardy in your region shouldn't need any special winter care. But spreading a layer of mulch over them after the soil freezes can help prevent winter damage during an especially cold season. Many gardeners like to leave the dead stems of their perennials standing all winter, providing food for birds. Perennials can help to catch snow, which is one of the best winter mulches.
Rozanne'is a mound-forming perennial with marbled leaves with a soft velvety texture and large, cupped, blue flowers with white centres and maroon veins in late summer.
Cranesbill. A clump forming perennial with gold-tinged leaves when young. Flowers of an unusual dusky violet-pink with dark veining and a dark centre. Height 20-30cm. Spread 60-90cm. Flowers from July to October. Herbaceous.
Like Geranium Ann Folkard on steroids. Black-eyed purple-magenta flowers 5cm wide. Flowers May-Oct, yellow-green foliage, herbaceous clamberer.
Bloody Cranesbill. A low mat-forming geranium with finely cut foliage with beautiful pale pink shimmering blooms, highlighted by delicate red veins top deeply lobed dark green leaves. Height 20cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from June to September. Herbaceous. Hardy. Great for borders and ground cover.
An abundance of vibrant purple flowers compliment the attractive dark foliage. Vigorous upright grower. Height 90cm. Spread 50cm. Sun or part shade.
This stunning new hardy geranium, or cranesbill, presents ruffled double flowers, pale lilac with yellow tinted centres. It is an ideal specimen for attracting butterflies and bees into the garden. it will perform particularly well in full sun, producing masses of flowers from June to July. Height and spread 60cm.
Spreading perennial to 60cm tall with neat dense lobed foliage and bowl-shaped flowers from early summer to early autumn. Flowers are pink, shading to purple with dark veining and a white centre.
Producing an abundance of eye-catching magenta pink flowers with dark wine-red veining. This Geranium will provide a 50cm sprawl of pronged foliage.Flowers May to June. Height 20-30cm. Spread 50cm.
Vigorous, spreading, deciduous perennial with lobed, dark green leaves. From early summer into autumn, it has veined, bowl-shaped, violet-blue flowers with white eyes.
Compact, herbaceous perennial. Mound-forming, dark green, deeply lobed leaves. Pale pink, cup-shaped flowers with dark veins are borne on short, branching stems. Flowers late spring to early autumn. Height 40cm. Plant in full sun or part shade.
This ground hugging perennial forms a carpet of bronze-flushed foliage that is covered in masses of small vibrant pink flowers throughout the summer. It is ideal for the front of the border, rockeries, pots and the top of retaining walls where it will gently cascade over.
Cranesbill. A low spreading geranium. Grey-green leaves and magenta-pink flowers. Height 30cm, Spread 1m. Flowers from May to October. Herbaceous. Hardy. Protect from winter wet.
Floriferous, hardy, vibrant small and abundant pink blooms all summer long. Attracting bees and butterflies.Cheeky but tough, these hard-working plants are low maintenance.
Perfect for any garden situation, this vivid plant produces up to 100 large, candy red flowers with an attractive yellow eye on glossy, green upright foliage.
Soft pink petals with a touch of white towards the middle, gather around a yellow centre.
Dense clumps broad, leaves make good ground cover. Brilliantly coloured flowers on long wiry stems June/Aug. Sunny moist well drained position.
Red, semi-double flowers with contrasting yellow anthers, above clumps of bright green foliage. Compact and easy to grow, it's perfect for growing at the front of sunny borders. It also makes a very attractive cut flower.
Semi-double, peach flowers in abundance cover this fresh, easy to grow perennial. Amazingly green leaves with a compact habit.
A handsome ground cover plant with lime-green leaves, tinted yellow-gold and vivid orange flowers in early summer.
Early bloomer produces a plethora of dark, rose-pink flowers on short, dark stems. This easy to grow plant has a long bloom time allowing pollinators to enjoy this gem for months.
A clump-forming perennial with hairy leaves and upright stems of semi-double rich yellow flowers. Height 40-60cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from June to August. Herbaceous. Hardy. Great in moist positions.
Bowman's Root. Indian Physic. An erect perennial with bronze-green leaves and star-shaped white to pinkish white narrow petaled flowers. Height 1m. Spread 60cm. Flowers from May to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Dwarf growing gypsophila for borders or pots. Height 30cm. Flowers white from July to August. Semi-evergreen. Hardy. Protect from winter wet.
A loose mat-forming perennial producing small bright white flowers over blue-green foliage.
Ginger Lily. An erect perennial with narrow mid-green leaves and scented flower spike of red, orange, pink or white tubular flowers with red stamens. Height 3m. Spread 1m. Flowers from August to September. Herbaceous. Not hardy. Shelter from cold winds.
Red Ginger Lily. An erect perennial with narrow mid-green leaves and scented flower spike of orange. Tubular flowers with red stamens followed by red fruits. Height 1.5m. Spread 1m. Flowers August to September.
Moerheim Beauty requires full sun and well drained soil. It is drought tolerant once established. Brown-red flowers.
Sneezeweed. An exceptionally long and prolific bloomer, award-winner. Daisy like flowers, with copper red petals surrounding a prominent chocolate brown centre disk June to October. Height 120cm. Spread 60cm. Full sun in moist soils. Attracts butterflies and other pollinators.
Compact, clump-forming perennial. Lance-shaped leaves. Height 45cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers borne from midsummer into early autumn. Dark brown central cone surrounded by orange to golden-yellow rays.
Sunflower. A tall perennial with conspicuously veined, dark green leaves. Pale yellow flowers with a slightly darker centre open in late summer to mid-autumn. Height 1.6m. Spread 1.2m. Flowers from August to October. Herbaceous. Hardy.
A compact, branching annual to 60cm tall with dark green oval leaves. Golden-yellow flowerheads 8-10cm across with a deep reddish-brown ring surrounding the dark central eye are borne in profusion over a long season, this sterile cultivar does not produce seed.
Free flowering perennial with bicoloured blooms appearing from the first year onwards. Almost-black foliage gives the flowers a vivid glowing appearance. Height 90-120cm. Spread 30-45cm. Likes sunny position. Magnificent in mixed beds and borders.
Robust perennial, bearing deep green leaves from which masses of pale yellow, sunflower-like blooms appear in late summer to autumn. Well-drained soil in full sun. Reinvigorate congested colonies by dividing them in February or March.
Has creamy pink flower clusters which are borne nicely erect above the leaves. When the flowers have finished blooming, they fade to a chocolate colour. From the first year, the plants will already produce over 20 blooms. New ones are constantly formed, with a striking contrast emerging between the fading and new blooms.
Christmas Rose. A wonderful new introduction, an evergreen perennial producing leathery dark green. divided leaves. Saucer-shaped creamy white flowers fading to pink and green. Height 20-30cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from December to April. Evergreen Hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds. Harmful if eaten. Dry shade.
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