Spring planting for perennials

Springtime is the preferred time to plant perennials for good reason. All the conditions these plants relish and respond to are in place: warming soil, warm sunshine, longer days, moist ground, and regular rainfall. Roots quest into the ground, taking up water and nutrients to fuel growth, and top growth — foliage, stems, and flowers — surges forth.
When getting ready for spring planting, make sure you do the following:

1. Harden the plants off. Just like you wouldn’t plunk a new goldfish into its tank without letting it adjust to the temperature, you don’t want to give your perennials an environmental shock. Let new plants adjust to life outdoors for a few days or a week by sitting them in a sheltered spot, such as on the porch or against the semi-shady side of the house. Start the plants off for just a few hours, and increase the time until they’re outdoors 24/7. (But bring perennials indoors or cover them if there’s a threat of a late frost.) Cover them with single layer of newspaper to reduce the light intensity and wind exposure.
2. Choose a cool, cloudy, or damp day to plant, or plant in late afternoon. The hottest part of the day (midday to early afternoon) is a bit stressful to both you and the plants!
3. Plant in good soil, create a basin of soil or mulch around each plant, and give a good, soaking watering. Check that the water drains in where you want it.
4. Mulch after planting. Not only does this step hold in soil moisture and moderate the effects of fickle, fluctuating spring temperatures, but it also keeps weeds at bay (they love to grow this time of year, too).

Here are some things perennials find very unpleasant. During spring planting, do not

• Handle the plants roughly.
• Plunk a root-bound plant into the ground. Either tease apart the roots a bit or lightly score the sides with a sharp knife, which inspires new root growth. Then you may place the perennial in its planting hole.
• Plant perennials in waterlogged ground, or drench them right after planting. A moderate dose of water is a needed drink; too much water prohibits oxygen from getting to the roots, and the plants literally drown or rot.

Deciding when to plant perennials

Perennials tend to be rather tough and forgiving plants in terms of picking the right time to plant them, but generally, most people plant perennials in either the spring or the fall.
Perhaps the best way to know when to plant perennials is to know when not
to plant them. For example, avoid planting perennials in stressful conditions,
or you will, as the saying goes, reap what you sow. No-no times include

• Any blazing hot day
• Any time of drought
• Any time when frost is predicted
• Any time when the ground is soggy or still frozen
• Right after a deluging storm or flood Read on for some seasonal planting advice.

Planting Perennials on Clay soil: Soggy soil at its worst

If your yard has clay soil, you already know it. Slick and soggy in wet weather and nearly impenetrable in dry, clay soil is actually composed of lots of densely packed, very tiny particles. Clay leaves little space for air and water to circulate, and the result is heavy ground that drains poorly. Needless to say, many perennials — or rather, their roots — have a hard go of it in such conditions (and so does your shovel or trowel, for that matter). Clay soil does have some advantages, believe it or not. It’s often fairly fertile because it holds nutrients and water so well. And of course, it’s slower to dry out in hot weather, which can help your plants.
At any rate, if clay is your lot in life, you have three options:

• Improve the soil’s structure. Add organic matter. Doing so can help lighten and aerate the area, making it more hospitable to perennials and other plants and allowing water to drain away better. Dig organic matter in often and deeply — compost and/or well-rotted manure are up to the job.
  
• Go with what you have. Plant clay-tolerant perennials, such as beebalm, cardinal flower, chrysogonum, epimedium, many ferns, galax, gunnera, Japanese iris, Japanese primrose, marsh marigold, or myosotis.
• Bypass it. Grow your perennials in raised beds or pots.

Planting perennial on wet soil

Soggy, boggy ground is usually written off as a lost area or liability. But what if that damp side yard, wet back forty, or perpetually muddy roadside ditch were to come alive with handsome leaves and blooming color? It’s certainly possible. A host of plants actually like wet feet; a little research can point you to the ones that are a match for your problem-spot’s conditions. You may have to wade in prior to planting and get the spot ready. Bring your rubber boots and create a hospitable open area with gusto and determination! Yank out most or all the existing vegetation so it doesn’t compete with the desirable incoming perennials. If warranted and practical, dig a drainage trench to route excess water away from the spot. Perhaps dig in some organic matter to improve soil fertility and drainage, if only a little.

After you’ve planted the area with appropriate moisture-loving perennials, not much more should be required. The plants’ basic need — water — is already present. If the plants are happy, they’ll increase over time, reducing the need for weeding or indeed, any intervention on your part. If they grow too lushly, why, you can rip out and discard or give away the extra plants. Cardinal flower, daylilies, forget-me-not, Japanese primrose, marsh marigold, and turtlehead are good plants for wet soil. Don’t apologize for the wet soil:
Go ahead, call it a bog garden! And if you’re ambitious, make the boggy area the entry to a new water garden

Planting perennials on dry soil

If sandy, gritty, or fast-draining soil is your lot, a fabulous perennial garden is still possible. Save yourself a lot of blood, sweat, and tears by working with what you have. Sure, digging in some organic matter at planting time (and on an annual basis) is good advice that you should follow when you can, but your gardening life can be a lot easier if you go native. You don’t have to pour on water you don’t have, and you may be delighted with the easy maintenance and attractive look.
That’s right: Go native. Perennials native to dry ground are your best bet. Before you protest that they aren’t attractive or are probably weeds, take a fresh look. Peruse the offerings at a local nursery that specializes in indigenous plants. Visit a public garden or botanic garden with displays of natives. Your eyes will be opened. Botanists and horticulturists feel your pain and have been working hard over the years to find out which ones adapt best to gardens and which ones are prettiest. There are even selections or cultivated varieties (cultivars) that are significant improvements over their wild parents — new flower colors and bigger, longer-lasting flowers on more-compact, handsome plants. Favorite dry-soil perennials include black-eyed Susan, blanket flower, baptisia, butterflyweed, evening primrose, gaura, penstemon, phormium (a tender perennial in most regions), and yarrow. And don’t overlook cacti and succulents — a well-stocked local or mail-order nursery can convince of their astounding range and beauty.

Planting Perennials in Shady Spots

Judging from many gardening books and magazines, a beautiful garden is full of sunshine and flowers, and those of us with shade are doomed to a dull and boring display. Not so! Many perennials prefer shade, prospering in a range of conditions ranging from deepest woodland gloom to areas of dappled or filtered light to those that get morning sun and afternoon shade. Not only that, but many plants appropriate for shade have beautiful leaves —you can find amazing variety in shape, texture, and even color. And you may be pleasantly surprised to hear that plenty of shade plants produce attractive flowers.
Shade is actually a benefit to many plants. Lack of direct sun means their leaves look healthy and lush, without burned edges or tips, without drying out or wilting. Sunlight also tends to bleach out the beauty of variegated leaves (leaves that are marked or rimmed in white, cream, or gold), whereas in shade, such foliage thrives and lights up the scene. Shelter from the sun’s hot rays also preserves flower color.
Favorite shade perennials include ajuga, astilbe, bergenia, bleeding heart, brunnera, coral bells, corydalis, many ferns, goatsbeard, hellebore, hosta, lady’s mantle, lamium, lily-of-the-valley, lungwort, Solomon’s seal, and sweet woodruff.

Planting Perennials in Sunny Locations

Lots of perennials adore sunshine. They grow more compactly when they get enough sun (as opposed to becoming lanky or leaning towards the light source), and they produce more and better flowers. Full sun means six or more hours per day. If you have to choose between a spot with morning sun and a spot with afternoon sun, most sun-loving perennials seem to do better with the afternoon site. This situation varies somewhat on your climate. If you live in the deep South, a plant that grows best in full sun in a Northern climate may perform better in a spot protected from hot, late afternoon sun.
Because sun can be drying, either choose dryland natives or help out the plants with regular watering and a moisture-conserving mulch around their root systems.
Favorite sun perennials include artemisia, armeria, basket-of-gold, blanket flower, coneflower, coreopsis, delphinium, gaura, lavender, penstemon, peony, sea holly, and yarrow.

Planting Perennials

Perennials are probably the hottest topic these days among garden enthusiasts and plant suppliers. As a result, information about how to select and plant them abounds. Reputable garden centers have knowledgeable salespeople, and universities, garden centers, and public libraries sponsor various workshops and lecture programs about them. If you need more information than you find in the sections ahead, check out these sources and the books in your public library or local bookstore.
Good news — there’s a perennial for almost any growing situation your yard can dish up. Make a match between the conditions you have to offer and the known characteristics of a plant, and you’re halfway there. A little care from you on planting day and beyond, and your perennials are sure to thrive.

Their roots are showing: Dormant, bareroot perennials

Bareroot perennials are the typical mail-order product. Selling perennials this way is simply more practical for some plants for a variety of reasons. For instance, baby’s breath and baptisia have root systems that are sensitive to being moved in and out of the ground and various pots too many times. Other perennials, like daylilies and peonies, have large roots systems that don’t fit well in smaller pots. These bareroot plants are also dormant and lightweight, which makes shipping cheaper and less risky. Like potted mail-order plants, bareroot ones are usually 2-year-old, field harvested plants. They were probably dug up the previous fall, just as they became dormant, and kept in climate-controlled cold storage until spring shipping season. Bareroot plants consist of a hearty root system and some trimmed-down stems; little or no leaf growth should be evident.

Potted plants, ready for action

Some mail-order nurseries ship small perennials in small pots. If you get a live-plant shipment, open it immediately upon arrival, even if you’re not going to plant anything that very day. Inspect the plants as I describe in the preceding section, and quarantine any plants of questionable quality. Call the nursery immediately if you see a problem so you can work out a refund, merchandise credit, or replacement.
Small potted plants aren’t necessarily baby perennials. Such young plants take too long to grow, and mail-order nurseries want you to jump right in and enjoy your garden. So the small plants nurseries ship out tend to be 2-yearold, field-grown plants that have simply had a “haircut” of the top growth prior to shipping. A good, strong root system is just what you want. Don’t worry: Fresh, new top growth will soon follow!