Perennials for Summer
Perennials are a mainstay for a summer garden or border.
Benefits of Perennials
- Well obviously they are perennial and should last several seasons, often many years.
- There are perennials to act as ground cover, add height, shape and texture or provide colour and foliage.
- Careful selection will provide colour shape and form for every season of the year.
- Perennials can be herbaceous and totally die back into the soil in Autumn. Others are more twiggy or shrub like.
- Perennials generally can survive frost and stay in the ground all year round
- You can get more plants by separation of larger clumps or some root cuttings
Selection of Perennials
Hardy geraniums are available in various colours, flower profusely and are seldom bothered with pests. When flowering has finished cut back the leaves and you may get more flowers or fresh leaves. They are good for ground cover.
Oriental Poppies or Papavera orientale have lush flambouyant foliage. They only flower once per year but are vibrant and eye catching.
Penestemon are ‘good doers’ in the flower stakes. The plants only live a few years but can be cut back every year to maintain some shape to the attractive plants.
Red Hot Poker or Kniphofia uvaria are a tough range of perennial plants. The sword shaped leaves produce the taller spires of flower that give the plants their name. Reds and yellows predominate but green flowers are interesting varieties.
Verbascum also have spires of flowers giving height and interest to the back of borders.
Lupins are a favourite of this web site and my garden.
It is not too late to add to your collection of perennials. Pot grown plants will establish good root systems if planted now and watered until established. Then you can hope for many years of fruitful growth.