Herbaceous Perennials for Every Season
Their predicatable height and flowering time means herbaceous perennials are great in terms of garden planning. However, it can be quite a feat to ensure interest right throughout the year.
Unlike our seasonal bedding plants, herbaceous perennials remain in our borders all the year round but they don't flower for quite as long as the seasonal bedders, many of them flowering for no more than a month. But that doesn't mean you can't have colour all year round. Here are my favourites for achieving interest throughout the year:
From left to right: Iris unguicularis, Helleborus x hybridus, and for foliage colour Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescens and Carex oshimensis 'Evergold'.
From left to right: Primula denticulata, Pulmonaria angustifolia, Aubrieta 'Blue Velvet' and Primula bulleyana.
From left to right: Geranium cinereum, Aquilegia 'Red Hobbit', Coreopsis lanceolata 'Sterntaler' and the glorious Allium giganteum
From left to right: Echinacea purpurea, Platycodon grandiflorus, Leucanthemum x superbum and one for the bees, Monarda didyma.
From left to right: Verbena bonariensis, Hesperantha cochinea, Anemone hupehensis var. japonica and Liatris spicata.
From left to right: Aster oblongifolius, Kniphofia rooperi, Liriope muscari and Alstromeria 'Saturn'.
Julie Kilpatrick is editor of Gardenzine and author of The plant Listener
All plant images from Wikimedia via Creative Commons