Sunny perennial favorites

By def­i­n­i­tion peren­ni­als are plants that con­tinue to bloom year after year. Annual plants only bloom once in a sea­son, and bien­ni­als bloom every other sea­son. Peren­ni­als are by the far the most pop­u­lar of plants for most gar­den­ers due to their ease of care and the col­or­ful rewards. Also, peren­ni­als have many diverse cul­ti­vars, select­ing them can be a chal­lenge. Peren­ni­als begin bloom­ing in the spring and fin­ish as the snow hits the ground in late fall. A well selected peren­nial gar­den will allow you to have depth and vari­ety as well as an abun­dance of color bloom­ing for many of the seasons.

Peren­ni­als can be divided into two cat­e­gories; herba­ceous, whose stems die back to the ground each year and woody, stems that remain through­out the year. Prop­a­ga­tion of most peren­ni­als can be accom­plished by cut­tings or by divi­sion. In gen­eral most of these plants ben­e­fit from divi­sion every 2 to 3 years. This process allows you to reju­ve­nate the flower pro­duc­tion and mul­ti­ply your plants or pass along to your gar­den­ing friends.

The Ohio State Uni­ver­sity fact sheet HYG —1242–98 lists peren­ni­als for spe­cific sites and uses. These plants are hardy in Zone 5 and come in a vari­ety of col­ors and sizes. A lim­ited selec­tion fol­lows that do well in sunny Mid­west Ohio conditions.

• Knock Out Rose — Rosa ‘Radrazz’ — The first Knock Out rose vari­ety with red blooms. It’s dis­ease resis­tant and will bloom con­tin­u­ously if dead­headed, late into the fall. They can grow 2 to 5 feet tall.

• Peony — Paeo­nia lac­t­i­flora ‘Sarah Bern­hardt’ — An old fash­ioned plant that is very fra­grant with large bil­lowy light pink blooms. They aver­age between 2 and 3 feet tall.

• Daylily — Heme­ro­cal­lis minor — These dwarf daylilies are fra­grant and come in a vari­ety of col­ors. They bloom in the spring and sum­mer. Dwarf vari­eties grow 2 to 3 feet or under.

• Hosta — Hosta plan­taginea — Fra­grant Plan­tain Lily has large greens leaves with white fra­grant flow­ers that bloom from June to Sep­tem­ber. Hostas nor­mally pre­fer high fil­tered shade such as an over­head tree. Hostas are avail­able in a vari­ety of sizes rang­ing from 5 inches to 4 feet in a wide range of colors.

• Thread-leaf core­op­sis — Core­op­sis ver­ti­cil­lata — A del­i­cate green fern like foliage with small soft yel­low flow­ers that bloom most of the sum­mer. This species only needs to be pruned twice a year to spur re-blooming. They are deer and drought resis­tant. This vari­ety grows 1 to 2 feet tall.

• Oak­leaf Hydrangea — Hydrangea quer­ci­fo­lia — Large green leafed plant with oak look­ing leaves and white flow­ers in the sum­mer. This shrub blooms in mid June to July and is best used in a nat­ural wooded set­ting. Oak­leafs can grow between 4 and 6 feet tall.

• Pur­ple Cone­flower — Echi­nacea Pur­purea — This vari­ety of cone­flower has a long stalk that can reach 4 feet tall and may need some stak­ing. The blooms are a beau­ti­ful pur­ple with a brown center.

• Coral Bells — Heuchera micran­tha ‘Palace Pur­ple’ — This vari­ety has a deep pur­ple ivy-shaped leaf with tiny white spiked flow­ers. It grows 15 to 18 inches tall. Coral bells come in a vari­ety of col­ors and sizes.

• Shasta daisy — Chrysan­thenum x super­bum — Flow­ers are white and appear in June and July. They can reach 15 to 30 inches tall and like to be in full sun. They should be dead­headed for con­tin­u­ous bloom.

• Phlox — Phlox pan­ic­u­lata — Gar­den phlox pairs well with many plants. Taller vari­eties may need sup­port. These plants self-sow eas­ily and should be pruned once in the fall. They grow 2 to 4 feet tall, flow­er­ing from July to September.

Plan­ning, grow­ing and main­tain­ing a peren­nial gar­den is worth the min­i­mal work it takes to sus­tain. The rewards exceed the expec­ta­tions when you plant peren­ni­als. These are a good choice for the back­bone of your gar­den or as a spec­tac­u­lar dis­play of color splash­ing into your landscape.

In order to help in the selec­tion of peren­ni­als for your gar­den, plan on spend­ing some time in the local nurs­ery or botan­i­cal gar­dens to view the plants while in bloom. Peren­ni­als are well suited for bor­ders, as a hedge or fence, against walls, in con­tain­ers and are a good choice for cut­ting gar­dens. When choos­ing color con­sider the bloom col­ors as well as the shades of foliage for con­trast in your gar­den. The ideas are end­less, lim­ited only by your imagination.

Dianne J. Geli­nas is an OSU Exten­sion Mas­ter Gar­dener volunteer.

Posted by Master Gardener on Aug 5 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.