Favorite perennials
Lots of places offer perennials these days. The garden centers in spring and early fall are full of them. Unless the place is especially big or sophisticated, you’ll find mostly common, tried-and-true choices. If you get a taste for the In on the ground floor: Groundcovers
Low-growing perennial plants may be handy in a flower border (near the front where they won’t be blocked from view) or as an edging, but they have another, very practical use: You can plant entire areas with them, and they can form a lowcare carpet. They’re especially nice for shady areas where lawn won’t grow.
Some favorite groundcovers include ajuga, candytuft, creeping phlox, epimedium, ivy, lamium, lily-of-the-valley, pachysandra, sweet woodruff, and verbena. more unusual perennials, or common ones in uncommon colors, turn to mailorder or Internet shopping. What’s out there may astound you — thousands and thousands of fascinating and beautiful plants await!
Here are some favorites:
The life cycle of a perennial depends on various factors, notably the type of plant and whether it’s happy in your garden. But you can certainly expect to get a minimum of two years and a maximum of a decade out of the vast majority of perennials. For best results, of course, take good care of them. Most perennials are slow starters. During their first year in your garden, they tend to invest in developing a good root system. Be patient! After that’s established, they grow and expand, and the flower show gets better with each passing year. You can hurry things along by fertilizing regularly during the height of the growing season and get a head start by planting in the fall.
Considering fall planting
If you shop for perennials in late summer and get them in the ground a good six weeks or more before the first frost, those plants will definitely have a head start over their spring-planted counterparts. In fall, the soil is still warm and welcoming, and drenching fall rains can help water in the new kids. Depending on the severity of your winter, cutting back any new growth and mulching when winter is just around the corner may be good ideas.
Lots of places offer perennials these days. The garden centers in spring and early fall are full of them. Unless the place is especially big or sophisticated, you’ll find mostly common, tried-and-true choices. If you get a taste for the In on the ground floor: Groundcovers
Low-growing perennial plants may be handy in a flower border (near the front where they won’t be blocked from view) or as an edging, but they have another, very practical use: You can plant entire areas with them, and they can form a lowcare carpet. They’re especially nice for shady areas where lawn won’t grow.
Some favorite groundcovers include ajuga, candytuft, creeping phlox, epimedium, ivy, lamium, lily-of-the-valley, pachysandra, sweet woodruff, and verbena. more unusual perennials, or common ones in uncommon colors, turn to mailorder or Internet shopping. What’s out there may astound you — thousands and thousands of fascinating and beautiful plants await!
Here are some favorites:
- Sun perennials: Black-eyed Susan, coneflower, coreopsis, daylily, delphinium, gaura, hardy geranium, iris, penstemon, peony, phlox, pincushion flower, poppy, Russian sage, salvia, sedum, and Shasta daisy
- Shade perennials: Astilbe, bergenia, bleeding heart, brunnera, ferns, foamflower, goatsbeard, hellebore, heuchera, hosta, Solomon’s seal, spiderwort, and violet
The life cycle of a perennial depends on various factors, notably the type of plant and whether it’s happy in your garden. But you can certainly expect to get a minimum of two years and a maximum of a decade out of the vast majority of perennials. For best results, of course, take good care of them. Most perennials are slow starters. During their first year in your garden, they tend to invest in developing a good root system. Be patient! After that’s established, they grow and expand, and the flower show gets better with each passing year. You can hurry things along by fertilizing regularly during the height of the growing season and get a head start by planting in the fall.
Considering fall planting
If you shop for perennials in late summer and get them in the ground a good six weeks or more before the first frost, those plants will definitely have a head start over their spring-planted counterparts. In fall, the soil is still warm and welcoming, and drenching fall rains can help water in the new kids. Depending on the severity of your winter, cutting back any new growth and mulching when winter is just around the corner may be good ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment