Which Perennial Flowers To Choose
Types of Perennials

A Field of Lavender in France

When looking for perennial flowers for your garden, you might be just

However, I have also listed some of my favorite perennial flowers. They are my favorite perennials because of their flower colors. Many are low maintenance and also long blooming.

Who want perennial flowers that look good for a week or two followed by a sick looking plant?

So, here they are. Pictures are of particular varieties of perennial plants and others might be available. The descriptions are loose, based on my own experiences with these plants.

Catmint

I stumbled on the variety 'Walker's Low'. It gets to be about 30 inches in diameter and blooms almost all summer with soft purple flowers. One of the great features is that it is extremely drought resistant.

Because of the delicate foliage, Catmint looks nice with perennial or shrub nearby that has wider leaves. Fountain Grass or Daylilies are good choices.

Pinks, darker purples and whites look nice next to Catmint.

Photo courtesy of Broken Arrow Nursery.

Coneflower

Coneflower comes in many shades of pinks and peaches, along with white. It's one of the more hardy perennial flowers and does not need a lot of water. The flowers are rather large and showy and it is a mid-summer bloomer in the flower garden.

They are also one of the taller perennial flowers, so they look well at the rear or placed between some smaller flowers.


Lavender

I personally like the variety 'Hidcote'. It gets to be larger than 'Munstead'. It's very low maintenance, has a fairly long bloom period and it is also drought resistant. And I love the lavender fragrance.

The grayish foliage is interesting near many other types of perennials.

Lavender looks particularly well with roses in a garden design. You can add it as a lower layer, letting it form a nice color contrast. Or just place tons of Lavender in a field as show at the photo on the top of this page!

Sedum

The variety 'Autumn Joy' is a reliable standby. If you ignore it, it hardly suffers. Just do not over water it. It's a great perennial for late season blooms and the colors are a soft pink.

Sedums typically have thick leaves, which create a nice contrasting texture to other perennials. Working with foliage textures is important to make each individual plant, or group of plants, stand out.

You can get a Butterfly Bush that grows quite large or one that is more contained…about four feet tall and wide. This is more manageable in most perennial gardens, although sometimes the larger ones are more appropriate.

Butterfly Bush is another drought resistant perennial shrub and blooms for a long period. Pinch back the finishing perennial flowers to extend the bloom. Don't be afraid to cur it down in the early spring.

Butterflies flock to this plant!


Daylily

Most Daylilys bloom once for about 3 weeks and there are tons of colors to choose from. Each flower lasts for one day, but there are so may that you hardly notice this. Stella D'Oro is one variety that is a repeat bloomer.

It will flower, then rest, flower, rest, etc., throughout the season. The flower color is yellow.

If you don't care that much about having repeat blooms, you can Daylilys in a huge variety of colors.



Lily

The Lily is different than the Daylily. Each of its large, showy flowers lasts awhile (more than a day). It is more upright, while the Daylily is bushier. Sometime these pretty flowers are beautiful in a perennial garden design, but they are not one of my favorites. When the flowers finish, the plant is not very attractive in flower gardens. I included it due to the loveliness of the flowers.

Salvia

Salvia is available in purples, pinks and whites. Different varieties have different leaves, but the perennial flowers of all of them are beautiful. As with the Butterfly Bush, pinch the spent flowers off to produce additional blooms.

'East Friesland' and 'May Night' are nice purple varieties. 'May Night' has wider leaves. If you are considering a white Salvia, take a look at Snowhill.


Veronica

This perennial is very similar to Salvia…in fact on quick glance it is easy to get them confused. They have the same spiky flowers. Veronica also comes in purples, pinks and white colors.

Sometimes white is needed to break up all the pinks and purples (if that is your color scheme). Veronica 'Icicles" is a nice white perennial to use.

When talking about types of perennials, Gaura is a less common one used in flower garden design. But it's a lovely one. It's about two feet tall and has an open pattern that is delicate. The flowers are delicate also…a very pretty plant. Butterflies like it too.

Baby's Breath

This is the same flower that you might have seen in rose flower arrangements. The plant is open and provides a nice, contrasting texture to many other perennial plants in the garden.


Coreopsis

I am not a yellow lover, but I do like Coreopsis 'Moonbeam'. The small daisy-like flowers are a soft yellow, and this plant is a repeat bloomer throughout the season.

Ahhh, the old-fashioned Delphinium. It's gorgeous!

Its downfall is that it is a little temperamental when it comes to hardiness, so you may find that it doesn't return.

If you love this perennial plant, just know that you might wind up treating it as an annual and re-plant each season.

Lady's Mantle

This is another less common type of perennial. Its perennial flowers are a "puff" of soft, greenish-yellow blooms. Its outstanding feature is its leaves. They are a very pretty shape, rather large, and collect droplets of water when they get wet.

Lady's Mantle is a nice addition to a perennial garden design to add just some pretty greenery and delicate flowers.

Aster

Aster is a late summer/fall blooming perennial. It comes in many colors and mixes well with Sedums and ornamental grasses.

For example place a few Asters near Fountain Grass 'Hamlin' for an outstanding change in leaf textures. In addition they will both be at there best around the same time.

Black Eyed Susan

This perennial has daisy like blooms in a gold color. It flowers late in the season, and therefore is a nice addition in flower garden designs so that you will have color when many other plants have finished flowering.

This picture is of the most well-known Black Eyed Susan. However, there are many other kinds. Some have orange centers and others grow to three feet tall!

Consider using some of this late blooming perennial with others that also flower later, such as Russian Sage and Fountain Grass.

Hibiscus

The perennial Hibiscus has huge, gorgeous flowers that are very eye-catching. I wouldn't use it if you only have a few perennials, since after it flowers it doesn't look that great. However, if you can mix it in with numerous other plants, it's worth considering.

There is also an annual Hibiscus and a shrub Hibiscus, known as Rose of Sharon.

Yarrow

Here is another drought resistant that I have to add to this list of perennial flowers. It comes in many colors and has interesting gray/green foliage.

Pale yellow, bright yellow, pale pink (photo), deep pink, white, and red are Yarrow all flower colors. They are a medium height plant and look nice in a mass.

Campanula

There are many types of Campanula perennials. Some are tall and some are low, so they can be used in many areas of the perennial garden design.

Many come in beautiful shades of blue, which is a flower color that is harder to find. Typically, Campanulas like some shade.

You can have many different varieties of this flowering perennialand create a "blue" garden.


Liatris

This is a nice midsummer blooming plant with spikes of sharp deep pink flowers. It's quite showy when in flower.