Beginner Gardening: Best perennials to plant near purple leaf shrubs, 1 by britbrighton

britbrighton wrote:
My favorites for my garden are also stagger-blooming so there is a lot of variety all season. Also, with the exception of the bulbs, they are long blooming perennials and easy to maintain (yay!)I would go for Peonies (if you don't want to wait a few years for the peonies to grow big enough to bloom there are peony-style tulips that are lovely), Daffodils, Tall Phlox (NOT the low creeping kind) Asters or Dwarf Asters and miniature roses or Tea Roses are nice. Mini roses are one of my favorites because they only grow about 1 1/2 foot high but fill out nicely as the years go by, they bloom all summer and as far as maintenence-I just pluck off the old bloom heads to make more flower growth. I personally cut mine low every fall and they love this, I don't know why! All these plants (except peonies) are inexpensive and won't take away the focal point of your Sand Cherry. They all come in an amazing variety of colors too. I would check out catalogue companies like http://www.springhillnursery.com or http://www.henryfields.com for plant, zone and care info and you can get a great idea of what color choices are out there. I like their sites also because they have a lifetime guarantee on their plants. For beautiful and reasonably priced bulbs like Peony style tulips and daffs go to http://www.johnscheepers.com. They have a lovely catalogue and the best prices I have found! If you need help choosing colors, I have plenty of ideas! Hope all this helps- Brit