Top Ten Easy Perennials

I know I haven't posted in a while, and for that I apologize. Grieving is hard work, as is the business of coping with life without my beloved. Some days are easier than others. What really works best is for me to work, talking about plants, writing about plants, working on bloominganswers.com, and so on. The hints of spring in the air are helpful also, although the surprise snowstorm we got as an Easter resent was neither helpful nor appreciated. However, we're not going to talk about that any further. We're going to talk about plants.

We all love Top Ten Lists, although I find they work best when there is some explanation to go along with the selections. Thinking about beginners who are nervous about planting, but who want lovely blooms and colourful foliage and tough plants, I looked through a big pile of photos from my gardens, and picked out ten plants I recommend quite regularly. Now, for me to pick ten plants is a challenge--I could do my top ten favourite day lilies, top ten sedums, top ten echinaceas, and so on. But for now, I've selected cultivars in some cases, or simply genus and species in other cases.

Here in no particular order other than they uploaded this way, are my Top Ten Easy Perennials




1. Veronica gentianoides: Gentian speedwell (top photo). Sun to partial shade, ordinary garden soil. Why I like this plant: blooms early, around time of primula and forget me not. Reseeds itself but not rudely. Drawbacks: Only blooms once a season, but if you have a mass of plants in a drift, the show will go on for weeks.

2. Sedum 'Angelina': One of the sedums that shows off all season long. Best in well drained soil, full sun. Why I like this plant: What's not to like? Gold-green summer colour, spectacular shades of copper, pink, red in cold months. Creeping ground cover type of sedum. Spreads quickly but easy to control. Drawbacks: May be a bit too vigourous for a trough garden, doesn't flower.

 3. Astilbes: Though I was slow to embrace astilbes, I made up for that slowness by collecting many of them, dividing them, sharing them with others. Shade gardens or sun with moist soil--tolerant of clay where other plants falter. Why I like this plant: long bloom period, excellent foliage, deer resistant, good for shade, tolerant of sun if in moist soil, excellent pollinator plant. Drawbacks: MUST have moist soil especially in sunlit garden, or will go dormant or die.

 4. Dicentra spectabilis: Old Fashioned bleeding heart. No garden is complete without bleeding hearts, in my opinion; the tall old-fashioned variety makes a statement through to early-midsummer, the fern leafed types are more ground-covering. Shade to some sun, moist, humus rich soil. Why I like this plant: graceful sweeps of white or pink hearth shaped flowers, beloved by hummingbirds; long bloom period, some seedlings. Drawbacks: Goes dormant in hot summer weather, can be tricky to divide.

 5. Echinacea, the coneflowers: I have been happily besotted with these plants since I first started growing them, and they reward every year with a huge show of bloom, now in a rainbow of colours. Sun to light shade, dry to moist but well drained soil. Why I like this plant: good for drier soil, excellent pollinator plant, later season of bloom, reblooms if deadheaded. Drawbacks: MUST have good drainage, especially in winter. Some of the new cultivars can be a bit spleeny to establish, but the old standards are always excellent choices.

 6. Geranium species, cranesbills. The hardy cranesbills are a different genus from zonal pelargoniums, or those annual plants also referred to as geraniums. Why I like this plant: Many different forms, flower and foliage colours, heights and growth habits (this one is Okey Dokey, which has wine-purple foliage and blue-violet flowers). They're also deer and slug resistant, easy to divide and share with others. Drawbacks: Some varieties can be quite weedy, spreading seedlings everywhere, but these are easy to root out or plant in a tough spot.

 7. Helenium or Helen's Flower: It's been terrific seeing this plant take on more popularity in recent years. A later-blooming perennial that loves full sun to light shade, it complements echinacea, sea holly, and other pollinator-attracting perennials, and does well in bouquets. Sun to partial shade, well-drained but compost rich, moist soil. Why I like this plant: Bees and other pollinators relish it, very floriferous, great cut flower, wide range of colours and heights. Drawbacks: Divide every couple of years to keep crown from dying out in the centre, keep it vigourous.

 8. Hemerocallis, the daylily: These aren't your grandmother's 'ditch lilies', those long-stemmed orange flowered plants that spread like crazy. Today's garden day lilies come in a dizzying range of flower colours, some with unique markings, edgings, eyespots and other details in contrasting colours, such as with this variety, 'Destined to See'. Why I like this plant: with over 50,000 NAMED varieties, there is a daylily or two dozen or a hundred for every garden. Tolerant of moist all growing conditions, although you'll get the best bloom number and colour in full sun to light shade. Some are repeat bloomers, some are fragrant, and there are varieties from dwarf to towering giants. Drawbacks: Though the scarlet lily beetle doesn't bother daylilies, deer are quite fond of them.

 9. Miscanthus sinensis, Japanese silver grass. People are sometimes slow to take to perennial grasses because they've had a misadventure with the spreading variegated plant known as Gardeners Garters, (Phalaris arundinacea). These plants, best suited to sun and moist but well-draining soil, are clump formers and mind their manners beautifully, though the clumps can be tough to divide. Why I like these plants--excellent form, colour, and performance through late summer to well into winter, where the seed heads will withstand all but the worst of weather. Drawbacks: Sometimes can be hard to tell one named cultivar from another, as mislabelling can and does occur. Just know that the related Giant silver grass, Miscanthus giganteus is truly huge (easily reaching ten feet or more) and to divide this species can require brute strength, or a backhoe.

10. Pulmonaria, lungwort or Bethlehem sage. This is a fantastic genus of plants, most of which are noticeable for their silver or white spangled foliage, and pink, white or blue flowers. Why I like this plant: barely out of the ground in spring before it's flowering, excellent bee plant, looks great whether in bloom or not. Drawbacks: should have moist but well-draining soil, some older varieties may get powdery mildew and look ratty in hot weather. Cut the foliage back on such plants and they'll flush with fresh new foliage. 

Varieties and cultivars of all of these plants should be available at any good garden centre or nursery. I encourage people as always to support their local nurseries, and resist the urge to buy cheap plants from the asphalt 'garden centres' set up in store parking lots. The better and healthier the plant, the more apt you are to have success in your garden.