With the extensive damage to so many of our woody landscape plants, perennials are doing a great job this year of adding some color and depth to our landscapes.
Very few perennials were damaged by the winter weather, and they are growing well, with blooms on spring-blooming plants now, and more blooms to follow on summer- and fall-blooming plants.
Perennial plants are those that come back for more than one year, based on weather conditions in our state. In a perfect world, they would come back forever, but some are long-lived and others are short-lived.
Some perennials bloom for a few weeks, while others can bloom for months. A few are evergreen, but most plants do die back to the ground in the winter.
The key to picking perennials is to choose plants that like the conditions you have in your yard, and to make sure you have something to bloom in every season. As always, for gardening success, it comes down to the right plant in the right location.
SHADE PERENNIALS
The reigning king of shade perennials is still hostas, with hundreds of varieties to choose from. Hostas are grown primarily for their foliage, but some do have showy, fragrant white flowers.
The size of the mature plant varies from miniatures or teacup hostas, which at maturity would fit in a teacup, to the large Sum and Substance type that can easily be 5 feet across at maturity.
Foliage color can range from solid green to yellows, blues and variegated forms.
The biggest pest of hostas is deer, which consider hostas their salad bar. Slugs can also be an issue.
Hosta plants love a rich site with ample moisture and regular fertilization. They do die back in the winter time.
Heucheras or coral bells are another popular shade perennial. In milder winters. heuchera is evergreen.
While grown more for their foliage than their flowers, they do produce spikes of small blooms in the spring that are a nice addition. Every year, new varieties are released with myriad foliage colors to choose from. From green forms to variegated, to yellows, purples, silver and orange and all colors in between, there is a heuchera that will fit in any shade garden.
In addition to heucheras, there are tiarella plants, commonly called foam flowers, which look somewhat similar. Plant breeders have crossed these two plants and we have a wide range of heucherellas to choose from as well. All are great choices for the shade garden.
Another large group of shade perennials is hardy ferns. Some hardy ferns are evergreen — Christmas, holly and autumn fern all keep their foliage year-round. Chinese painted fern is a nice variegated form, and the cinnamon fern is large with showy foliage.
Ferns like a well amended, rich site with average moisture and will continue to get better with age, and you don't have to vacuum up falling leaves all winter indoors.
Solomon's seal (Polygonatum) are delightful and tough perennial plants for the shade garden. Solomon's seal will slowly form dense colonies of graceful, arching stems in light or deep shade. It produces small, bell-shaped flowers that dangle beneath the stems.
The variegated form really brightens up a shady location and is beautiful all growing season. It can be slow to get established, but is very drought tolerant once it is. It has nice yellow fall foliage as the leaves die down.
A new dwarf form, Tom Thumb can work as a groundcover in shady areas.
Another family of shade perennials is Asarum, commonly called ginger. From ground-hugging plants to some getting a foot tall, they can be used as a shade groundcover or accent plants. Some are evergreen and some deciduous. All thrive in the shade.
Heading into fall, consider toad lilies, chelone (turtlehead) and Japanese anemones.
Also, hellebores are great evergreen perennials for the shade and have flowers in the winter to early spring. They have flowers in shades of pink, purple, red or white. The plants are poisonous and so deter deer. They are readily available at nurseries in late fall through early spring. Once established they are quite drought tolerant.
SUN PERENNIALS
Some really tough native perennials for full sun to partial shade are coreopsis, Echinacea (coneflower), gaillardia (blanket flower), Gaura and Rudbeckia. These plants all have a long blooming period, and with a little dead-heading (cutting off the spent flowers) can bloom from early summer through late summer or beyond.
All of these plants have multiple "new" varieties with many more color options in blooms.
Salvia is another huge family of perennials. Most thrive in full sun to partial shade and can vary in flower color as well as mature height. Flower color runs from purples and blues, to pinks, reds and whites, with even a yellow or two. Mature height can start at 12 inches (Victoria Blue) and be as tall as 5 feet or more (Mexican bush sage, Salvia leucantha).
Mexican bush sage is stunning in late summer, with long spikes of velvety purple blooms, adored by bees and butterflies. They like a well drained site in full sun.
Monarda (bee balm) and Agastache (hyssop) are two other sun loving perennials that are quite attractive to butterflies and bees. Both plants also have many varieties to choose from with a range of sizes and flower and leaf colors.
Hardy hibiscus is a great plant for sunny, moist locations. These perennials like warm weather and can form woody stalks that die back to the soil line after a hard freeze. They normally bloom from June through August in Arkansas and produce dinner-plate-sized flowers in shades of pink, red or white. Mature plant height varies with species but some can grow between 36 inches and 6 feet or more. The flowers that blanket a plant in the right location can stop traffic.
For fall additions of blooms consider goldenrod, asters and Malvaviscus (Turks cap).
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This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to perennial plants. There are so many plants to choose from. In many gardens, perennials are the stars right now, doing a great job of providing interest, color and texture in our landscapes.
While stand-alone perennial gardens can be added to the landscape, for year-round interest it is best to have some evergreen shrubs in the mix so you'll have something to enjoy in the winter as well.
Janet Carson's blog is at arkansasonline.com/planitjanet.