Designing A Perennial Garden

Published: Fri, 2 Sep 2011 08:41:35

By: CL Fornari

Using A Mix of Sizes, Bloom Times and Foliage Types Will Make A Beautiful Garden.

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If you want a stunning perennial bed, there are a few simple guidelines that will help you succeed.

Know how much sun your garden receives. This is important because it determines which plants will thrive. Good garden design depends on healthy, happy plants, so matching the plants to the available sun is critical. Full sun is six or more hours of direct sun. Part sun is at least four hours including the noon hour. Part shade is at least four hours of sun in the early morning, late afternoon or a combination of these. Full shade is no sun at all or dappled sun through a tree canopy.

Plan to plant all but the largest growing plants in groups of three, five, seven or more. In general, use more smaller plants clustered together to make a better show.

Flower color is important, but if you plant a variety of foliage colors and textures your perennial garden will always be attractive even when nothing is in bloom.

Include varieties of perennials that flower in spring, summer and fall. For example, placing spring flowering creeping phlox or basket-of-gold in front of peonies and poppies that flower in June, and backing those with Russian sage and Phlox ‘David’ will insure that you have something in bloom from spring until fall.

In addition to those plants, adding the following to the mix will provide additional interest: Short, Sun: Sedum ‘Angelina’, Serbian bellflower, ‘Sentimental Blue’ balloon flower, ‘Woods Blue’ aster, Part Sun/Shade: Hakonachloa grass, Epimedium, foam flower.

Medium, Sun: Stoke’s aster, ‘Rozanne’ geranium. Pt Sun/Shade: Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’, “Southern Comfort’, ‘Peach Melba’, ‘Dolce Black Currant’ or ‘Crème Brulee’, Japanese painted fern, white wood aster, lady’s mantle, bleeding heart.

Medium Tall, Sun:daylilies, Eupatorium ‘Chocolate’, Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’, Persicaria ‘Firetail’, Montauk daisies. Shade: Ligularia ‘Othello’ or ‘Britt-Marie Crawford’, Hosta, Astilbe.

Tall, Sun: Joe Pye weed, Persicaria polymorpha, hardy hibiscus, Russian sage. Part Sun/Shade: Yellow wax bells, Persicaria variegata.

Perennial gardens can be made more interesting by occasionally including some taller plants toward the middle or medium-height plants in the front. In addition, leaving spaces for annuals can be a great way to add bridge color and allow for experimentation from year to year.

Finally, remember that perennials can always be moved around if the original location isn’t satisfactory. The process of tending and changing the garden is part of the fun!