Choreography: Timing the perennial blooming

Although some perennials bloom all summer long, just like your favorite annuals, others do not. They have a period of glory that peaks for a week or several weeks, and then the show subsides.
Gardeners have lots of ways to find out in advance when a perennial will bloom and for approximately how long. Look it up in a gardening reference book. Do research on the Internet. Check a print or online gardening catalog (bearing in mind, however, that some merchants may exaggerate!). Look on the tag or label. Ask a garden-center staffer or someone who’s a member of a gardening club. Best of all, ask someone in your area who’s already growing your perennial of choice, because performance varies by climate and even soil conditions.
Nature being as flexible and fickle as it sometimes is, your show may run longer or shorter than you originally planned, or you may end up with some overlap. However, coordinating plants to share the stage at approximately the same time works. You can fine-tune later, after you’ve basked in your early successes.

Long-Term Strategy for Your Perennial Garden

So many great perennials, so much variety is available that one of the great joys — and challenges — of growing them is combining different kinds of perennials in plantings. But because different perennials bloom at different times, and because of the relatively slow growth of perennials (compared to annuals), perennial gardening usually involves some advance planning so you can get the most bang for your buck and get the exciting look you want, when you want it.
Don’t be intimidated. If you’re displeased with a result, you’re still in better shape than a painter. Instead of throwing out the canvas, you can simply pull out or move a plant and even replace it with something else until the result looks great. And while you’re waiting for perennials to take hold, you can fill in the bare spots with some annuals or bulbs. That said, perennial gardening doesn’t have to be a hit-or-miss operation.
You can gather information from others, using their knowledge and ideas. Copy or approximate what you like, or borrow a good idea as a jumping off point. Inspiration is all around you — in books, gardening magazines, and other gardens, both public and private. Above all, have fun! Perennial gardening is a very enjoyable hobby, with a broad and forgiving learning curve.

Tender perennials

Contrary to popular belief, the upper parts of the Northern Hemisphere don’t have the corner on perennials. Lots of plants from milder climes (say, USDA Zones 8, 9, 10, and warmer, right on into the tropics) meet the perennial description. These repeat performers burst forth in warm spring weather, enjoy the summer months, and slow down or die down in the fall, roots still very much alive. They return in glory when the year cycles around to springtime again.

Obviously, you can grow tender perennials with impunity if you’re in a mildclimate area. However, everyone else can enjoy them, too: Gardeners just have to get the tender treasures through winter, because these plants can’t tolerate or survive cold temperatures. Or certainly, you can leave your tender perennials in the garden to perish over the winter — which makes them, essentially, annuals and means you may ending up buying new ones next spring.
Popular examples of tender perennials include angelonia, coleus, gerbera, impatiens, and pentas.

Hardy perennials

The broad group of hardy perennials is justly popular in colder climates (they’re generally appropriate for gardens in USDA Zones 3). These plants emerge each spring, producing foliage and flowers. Come fall, their top growth dies down and the show is over for the year. But the roots live on underground, waiting to revive and do it all again when warm weather returns.
Popular examples of hardy perennials include aster, columbine, coneflower, daylily, delphinium, mums, penstemon, peony, phlox, and Shasta daisy

Looking at Perennials, the Repeat Performers

The broadest definition of a perennial plant simply states that it’s a herbaceous, or non-woody, plant — as opposed to, say, a shrub or tree —that last a couple years or more. Perennials, like lilies and daffodils, can be bulbs. Herbaceous perennials are plants that have foliage that dies back to the ground, and new foliage and shoots sprout from their overwintering roots next spring. Perennial plants are a wonderfully varied group, quite possibly the most varied group a gardener can work with. No matter where you live and what your growing conditions are (climate, soil type, sun or shade), you have plenty of plants to choose from. So which perennials should you include in your garden? Start off by knowing which general group can work best for you: hardy perennials or tender perennials.

Guide for Planting Perennials

Perennials are flowering plants that are meant to last — several years, at least, and sometimes much longer. So ideally, they’re a wise and practical “one-time investment,” unlike the annuals you have to buy and replant every year; therein lies their great appeal and value.
Yes, you may have detected a note of hedging. Perhaps you’ve even heard the old gardener’s joke: “A perennial is a plant that had it lived, would’ve bloomed year after year.” After you go to the effort of acquainting yourself with handsome perennials and bringing them home, you sure don’t want them to totally miss the boat and turn out to be expensive annuals!
Don’t worry. Get your perennials off on the right foot and give them the care they need to thrive (it’s perfectly easy), and you won’t be disappointed; you’ll be thrilled.

Japanese beetles and Spider mites

Japanese beetles
If you live east of the Mississippi, you’ve probably seen Japanese beetles — they’re approximately fingernail-size and copper-colored, with green heads and legs. They eat all plant parts, though chewed-up leaves are their hallmark. Hand-pick Japanese beetles (a great money-making project for your kids!) and drown them in a bucket of soapy water.

Spider mites
You may not spot the actual culprits — spider mites are really tiny reddish, brownish or yellow spider-like pests — but you will see their webs on the leaves of your annuals. These pests are particularly prevalent when the weather is hot and the soil is dry. Combat them by picking off and destroy-ing affected foliage; rinsing or spraying surviving leaves; or spraying with insecticidal soap.