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.
Dusty Miller. Rose Campion. An erect perennial with woolly silver-grey leaves and open blood red flowers in late summer. Height 75cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to August. Semi-evergreen. Hardy.
A British native wild flower with bluish green leaves and star-shaped pink flowers in late spring and early summer. Height 75cm. Spread 80cm. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy.
An improvement on the previous 'Snow Candle' form - this has more white flower spikes on compact, green foliage. Prefers full sun, or partial shade with free-draining soil or compost.
Alexander is a vigorous perennial forming a substantial clump of erect stems with lance-shaped leaves boldly margined with cream and often tinged pink, and bowl-shaped bright yellow flowers 2.5cm wide in the upper leaf axils in mid summer.
Upright, bushy biennial or short-lived, woody perennial with rounded to heart-shaped, lobed, dark green leaves and, from summer into autumn, open, funnel-shaped, lavender flowers with prominent dark purple veins.
Perennial flowering April - June. Swooney jade green bracts with an umbrella like head. The bracts turn an attractive pink and persist until autumn. Good for cutting and drying. 1m high.
Himalayan Blue Poppy. A choice perennial with rosettes of light bluish green hairy leaves. Beautiful saucer-shaped bright blue flowers with yellow stamens in early summer. Height 1.2m. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to July. Herbaceous. Hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds.
Honey Bush. An architectural plant with deeply cut glaucous blue-grey foliage and brownish crimson to deep brick red flowers. May die down in most winters but shoots again. Height 2-3m. Spread 1-3m. Flowers from May to July. Evergreen. Sheltered site.
A clump-forming native wildflower and member of the mint family, Melittis, or bastard balm, bears sweet scented, mint-like lobed flowers in summer. Leaves are aromatic. Established plants are extremely drought tolerant. Pure white flowers. Grow in a shady part of the garden such as a woodland border, in moist but well-drained soil.
Bastard Balm. Compact, clump-forming perennial. Deciduous fuzzy green. lightly lemon scented foliage. Small orchid like flowers May - August. Full /dappled shade woodland plant. Height 30-45 cm spread 30-45 cm.
Yellow Monkey Flower. Monkey Musk. An upright spreading perennial with mid-green leaves and pretty funnel-shaped yellow flowers spotted purple-red inside. Height 30cm. Spread 60-120cm. Flowers from June to August. Herbaceous. Hardy. Sheltered Site.
'Beauty of Cobham' is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial to 90cm in height, with aromatic, lance-shaped, purplish-green leaves. Terminal whorls of two-lipped, pale purplish-pink flowers 5cm in length have contrasting purple calyxes.
A mildew-resistant cultivar to 90cm tall, with rather glossy foliage and bright pink flowers above pale green bracts.
An aromatic clump-forming perennial with scarlet or pink flowers with red tinged bracts. Height 90cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from July to August. Herbaceous. Hardy. Protect from winter wet.
A prostrate shrub with dark green leaves. Yellow-green flowers followed by glossy black fruit. Height 20cm. Spread 1m. Flowers from June to Septemeber. Fruits from September. Semim-evergreen. Frost hardy. Shelter from cold drying winds.
This hybrid is an amazing combination of dark pink flowers from its Bergenia heritage and jagged leafedges and great fall color from Mukdenia 'Crimson Fans'. A cool and lovely intergeneric cross. The thick, leathery leaves last longer than Mukdenia in the fall before they go down for the winter. Long-lived and good in containers.
Forms a low mound of large, bold maple-shaped leaves, bronze-green in spring, later becoming deep green with stunning crimson tips. Small white bell-shaped flowers appear in spring before the leaves. Must have an evenly moist, rich woodland soil. Deciduous in winter.
Dwarf Cavendish is an evergreen perennial to 3m tall with oblong leaves to 1.2m long, drooping spikes of yellow flowers with purple bracts open sporadically through the year followed by edible yellow fruit.
The Chinese dwarf banana also known as the golden lotus banana. The plant is native to the Yunnan province China, where it grows high in the mountains up to an altitude of 2500m. It is known for its yellow erect flower generally appearing during the second year of cultivation, that can last a few months.
One of the best Nepeta we have ever seen, as it is absolutely smothered in sky blue flowers over silvery green mounds of foliage. Prefers full sun with free draining soil or compost.
Catmint. A vigorous perennial with aromatic light grey-green leaves and abundant lavender-blue flower spikes. Height 90cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from June to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Catmint. A clump-forming perennial with aromatic green leaves and mauve-blue flowers in summer. Height 30cm. Spread 45cm. Flowers from June to August. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Sun loving herbaceous perennial with large blue flowers with a compact habit. Very free flowering and will re-bloom if old flowers are removed.
Catmint. A clump-forming perennial with aromatic, glossy green leaves and abundant large, bright-purple flowers spikes from mid summer to autumn. Height 60cm. Spread 30cm. Full sun/light shade, free-draining soil. Attracts bees and butterflies. Hardy.
Herbaceous perennial with lance-shaped leaves. In summer it bears single, yellow bowl-shaped flowers that open from reddish buds.
Evening Primrose. A spreading perennial with mid-green leaves. Saucer-shaped. very fragrant pink flowers from early summer to early autumn. Height 30cm. Spread 30cm. Flowers from June to September. Herbaceous. Hardy.
Navelwort. An evergreen perennial with lustrous leaves and pretty deep blue flowers in early spring. Height 25cm. Spread 40cm. Flowers from March to April. Evergreen. Hardy.
Dark velvet trefoil foliage, almost black in colour with clean white flowers. Height 25cm. Flowers May to September. Perfect for combinations for early summer through to autumn when the lush foliage looks at its best. Prefers partial shade with free-draining soil or compost. Dies back over winter but may revive in spring if protected from frost.
A compact, spreading evergreen perennial with toothed, dark green leaves, tiny clusters of white flowers. Height 15cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from June to July. Evergreen.
A spreading evergreen perennial with toothed, dark green leaves with attractive white margins, tiny clusters of white flowers. Height 25cm. Spread 60cm. Flowers from June to July. Evergreen. Hardy. Excellent groundcover in shade.
Peony. A clump-forming perennial with mid-green, deeply cut foliage and pretty very large double apple blossom pink flowers tinted and shaded with silver. Height 90cm. Spread 80cm. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy. Sun or shade.
Peony. A clump-forming perennial with deep green foliage and pretty, large double, rose-pink flowers fading to white. Height 80cm. Spread 80cm. Flowers from May to June. Herbaceous. Hardy. Sheltered Site.
Tree Peony. A clump-forming deciduous sparsely branched shrub. Large bright coloured flowers. Flowers from May to June. Mature Height 150 cm. Mature Spread 150 cm. Hardy.
Unusual, rare and highly collectable; tree peonies are highly prized. Shunkoju has an interesting large double flower of petals both light and dark shades of pink. Any fertile, free draining soil in full sun or partial shade in any sheltered position. Mid-late flowing season.
Oriental Poppy. A spreading perennial with bristly, green leaves and single scarlet-crimson flowers, with a black blotch at the base of each petal. Height 90-120cm. Spread 80cm. Flowers from June to August. Herbaceous.
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