How perennials add consistent colour to your garden every spring and summer

Imagine stepping into your garden every spring as the days grow longer and the sun gets warmer, greeted by a vibrant display of colour. A display that lasts through late summer, only to return year after year. This is the beauty of hardy perennials reliable plants that flower from early spring to late summer before dying back in winter.

If you haven’t already considered incorporating perennials, now is the perfect time to do so. Spring planting not only brings lasting beauty but also allows you to rethink the overall structure of your garden. Perennials are invaluable in creating a well-balanced and visually appealing space.

Structuring Your Garden with Perennials

A well-planned border should include perennials arranged by height, rising from the front to the back. This layering effect enhances the garden’s aesthetics, ensuring an ever-changing display throughout the seasons. A smart run of timber fence panels can provide a striking backdrop to these blooms while also offering shelter from strong winds an important factor in maintaining the integrity of taller plants. Plant these perennials with trees and evergreen shrubs and you are creating a framework and configuration that feels well-organised and considered.

By combining perennials with trees and evergreen shrubs, you create a structured, organised layout that feels both natural and intentional. This framework helps maintain visual interest even during winter months when many perennials retreat.

Recommended Perennials for Your Borders

Front of the Border:

  • Salvia nemorosa ‘Sensation Rose’
  • Sedum ‘Matrona’
  • Geranium himalayense ‘Gravetye’

 

Middle of your border:

  • Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’
  • Echinacea purpurea
  • Helenium ‘Waltraut’
  • Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’

 

Perennials to consider for the back of your border:

  • Verbena bonariensis
  • Foeniculum vulgare ‘Giant Bronze’
  • Eupatorium maculatum ‘Purple Bush’
  • Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Lavendelturm’

 

Adding Texture with Grasses

To achieve a more naturalistic look, consider integrating ornamental grasses. These provide texture, colour, and movement, enhancing the overall feel of your garden:

  • Stipa tenuissima – this is a wonderfully wispy billowing grass that moves in the slightest breeze
  • Miscanthus sinensis ‘Kleine Fontäne’  - a stunning silver grass that flowers into Autumn and is great for adding winner interest when your perennials fade away
  • Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hameln’ - this deciduous grass has delightful bottle brush flowers 

Spring Gardening Jobs: Maintaining Your Perennials

Next spring, ensure you cut back your perennials to prolong their impact. As the colder months approach, frost-covered cobwebs and skeletal plant forms add a delicate beauty to the winter garden. Regular maintenance ensures your perennials remain strong and ready to flourish again the following year.

Start Planting Now

Spring planting is the key to a thriving, colourful garden. By introducing perennials now, you invest in long-lasting vibrancy that will return season after season. Get planting -you won’t regret it!

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