there is a danger that the new gardener will over-plant
them as they wait for those already planted to mature. The
secret with perennials is patience, and if you want
something to add color to your garden while you wait, then
plant some annuals for the first year until the perennials
really show their true colors.
A perennial needs at least a year before it flowers
properly and that is when some gardeners get impatient. In
year two, although you get some show of flowers, you will
still not be impressed and might start to wonder why you
chose perennials. That feeling totally changes, however,
with the explosion of color in year three. That is when you
will start to regret the extra plants you put in because
the first ones did not seem to be doing anything.
Once your perennials are established it will seem very easy
just to sit back and admire your work, but you will have no
time for that. Perennials do not last for ever, and the
definition of the term is one that lasts for more than two
years. As some die away you will have to remove and replace
them with fresh plants. You can even move them about the
garden since perennials are ideal for replanting. In fact
many gardeners have a space set aside for starting off new
garden perennials in a variety of colors that they can use
later for filling in gaps as plants die. This avoids them
having to wait until the plants mature.
It is not easy to fill an empty space in a row of flowers
if you have to wait two or three years for a plant to
flower, and a small personal nursery area is a good idea
and quite common with gardeners experienced in growing
perennials. Others fill spaces with annuals, but they never
quite look as though they belong.
Growing perennials takes experience. Perhaps not so much
the growing, but the planning and envisaging what your
garden will look like in three years time. It is not easy
to space your plants correctly since they will spread out a
great deal more than you think as they mature, and some
such as asters, can continue to bloom when others have died
out. The overall plan of a garden should take several
aspects of the plant into consideration, such as height,
spread, color, whether it prefers shade or direct sunlight,
and how long they flower for.
As mentioned, the aster can bloom past September into the
fall, and you don’t want to plant asters together
with summer blooms that die off in August. You will then
be left with some asters all on their own and, while asters
are lovely plants, it might not be as you planned it.
Perennials can bloom right through from April to November,
sometimes even later depending on the climate and the
weather conditions.
Let's face it, there are more to perennials than most
people think, and they include plants as diverse as
rhubarb, daffodils, and other bulbs, corms and rhizomes,
lilac and even dandelions and daisies. You also have the
soft, fleshy stemmed herbaceous perennials such as the
peony. These have fragrant flowers, the smell of which
varies between varieties and come in reds, pinks and whites.
The beautiful blue cornflower, also known as
bachelor’s buttons because they were once worn by
bachelors when they went courting, are excellent flowers
for cutting, and the lovely flower belies the foliage that
can get quite ugly as it ages. For this reason cornflower
is best grown among other flowers with sufficient foliage
to hide that of the cornflower.
Lobelia plants can be either annuals or perennials, and the
delicate purple lobelia is very attractive. Although most
people generally regard lobelia as being a purple plant,
there are over 350 species of lobelia, and the short-lived
perennial lobelia cardinalis has red flowers that appear in
the summer through to the fall. The lobelia siphilitica
(Azure Sage), on the other hand, does not appear till the
fall and has delicate deep blue flowers. These plants
prefer to be planted in clumps where they show their colors
to best advantage.
The geranium is another garden perennial that looks good in
borders, beside ponds or even as ground cover. The true
geranium is a hardy perennial with a fabulous range of red
to blue colors that love well drained soil and shady
conditions. There are over 300 species, and new hybrids
coming along all the time.
In summary, garden perennials have to be understood, and
once the gardener new to them gets past the first two or
three years then he or she will be hooked. They provide a
riot of color to any garden, large or small, and are able
to be easily moved and transplanted to suit your particular
planning needs.
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