Perennial-What couldn't you live without

Hi Everyone,
I'm just curious what bushes, bulbs, perennials etc are the mainstay of your garden. Plants you would always want to grow.
I am a somewhat new gardening and I'm always looking for new ideas of plants to add. I'm especially interested in long blooming perennials and reseeders that would do good in my zone 5 area.

Thanks,
Sue

I will always have peonies and iris. they are interesting no matter the season. there are enough varieties of early, mid and late blooming to have a good show throughout the spring/summer.

Then, there's never enough tulips and daffodils in the garden to suit me, again, these come in early, mid and late blooming to extend the bloom period.

I always make sure there's columbine and canterbury bells.....

The rudebeckia and coreopsis are long blooming in my garden, too.

Happy gardening!

O.k. I'm covered with all of those although I do not have canterbury bells. Is that a perennial?

Sue

canterbury bells are biennial. Quite stunning 'cup & saucer' flower form, and sweet delicate fragrance, in shades of white, pink, blue, mauve and pure white..... teeny tiny seeds, but will reseed itself if happy

Hardy foxgloves, salvias, and geraniums always find a home with me, as they are not fussy about soil type and can do without fertilizer. Good self-seeders are: Digitalis grandiflora, Salvia transsylvanica, Salvia forskaohlei, Geranium phaeum, Geranium sanguineum. I also recommend Digitalis thapsi, Salvia nemorosa hybrids, and Geranium pratense hybrids. All of these except for Geranium phaeum grow well in full sun. I also like to grow a lot of different thymes, but find that Thymus serpyllum varieties seed themselves into gravel a bit too well.

Thanks for all the tips and plant ideas. I have some of these already. Need more for sure :)

I think I look forward to my Paula Faye peony blooming then any other perennial growing here.


early_bloomer

My two favorites have been columbine and lupine for years. Although I can not grow a good lupine here in Indiana this photo is from my Michigan years. I also would have to echo June Ontario on the hardy geranium,I have several and plan to add more.

I have particular favorites
salvia May Night
veronica Crater Lake Blue
coreopsis Moonbeam
campanula glomerata
blue flax
mexican hat Ratibida columnaris
sweet william -any
johnny jump ups
rose - Red Cascade
rose chrisopher marlowe
artemesia Silver Mound
lamium purple dragon
parsley - curly
alpine strawberries ruegens improved
golden hops
mirabilis jalapa - 4 O'Clocks
Japanese Maples - (any I can find cheap)

Hardy Hibiscus.

Too many to name that I couldn't live without! I adore the Knockout Roses and also my Gardenia Bushes and most Hibiscus Bushes! Oh how I wish Japanese Maple's would grow here and I would love to grow Peonies, but alas, those don't grow this far South either!

Oh, and I love my Black Eyed Susan's that come back every year and produce so much seed! And, I love Impatiens ..... and Coleus ..... aaaaah, my list could go on and on. I feel very blessed that we can grow a lot of things almost year round down here, but there are so many lovely plants that grow in the North that I can only enjoy in photo's!

For bed filler that blooms in various colors my mainstay plants are Pentas...I know they are common and cheap, but they can take the heat down here and bloom for a long time. I keep them in most all my beds for lots of bloom color mostly year round.

Last year I discovered a Perrenial (ornamental) peanut for a nice groundcover that can take our heat and sun...

And I couldn't live without Jasmine...Confederate especially...for covering fences and trellises.

I have alot of other plants, but if I could only have a few those would be the ones for sure.

Oh Shellabella ... I Love Pentas! How could I forget them? Even over here on the East Coast of Florida, if we have mild winters they don't die back! I have some Pink and some Red ... Mostly the Red ones - they are my favorite! I think I have a lavender one hiding behind something else in one of the beds, but my very favorite one is the dark red. They are Butterfly magnets!

Mine would have to be Clematis and Bee Balm.

Yep and I need some more...lol!
Here's some of them....

I love the pink pentas with blue/ purple flowers

O.K. those are pretty but what are the blues to the left in the bottom picture?

I am a blue nut!

Sue

Can't live without a million Hosta Blooms

or some Veronica Sunny Boarder Blue

Oh my god! I am drooling over that veronica sunny boarder blue!

Oh Shella ... That is very pretty. I'm gonna search to see if I can find a pic ... it's pouring down rain here now or I would go out and take a fresh photo. I'm not complaining .... we soooo need this rain! Ok .... I ran out between showers and here's a photo of my Red Penta's. They get so tall but I hate to cut them back. Do you know if they would bush out even more if I pruned them?

WHAT!!!!??? Did miss someone mentioning daylillies??? Those are the easiest of plants to grow and spread well. I also love snapdragons, they reseed and the 2nd year they are even better. For a VERY vigorous grower, I like my Sweet Autumn Clematis but be sure to plant it where it has LOTS of room (Like maybe 30 feet!!!). It can cover a chain link fence in a relatively short time.
Pat

More Red Pentas:

My must haves include a number that other people have already mentioned, plus:

o Asiatic and Oriental Lilies - they don't bloom long, but different varieties have different bloom times so overall you can get quite a long bloom period

o Hardy garden Chrysanthemums and Asters - my Mums are rarely finished blooming before the hard frosts cause them to die back

o Yarrow - lots of colour choice, and if you keep these deadheaded I'm sure they would bloom almost forever!

o Crocus - in the gardens and in the lawns - not long bloomers but irresistable harbingers of spring

o Dwarf Korean Lilac - heavenly scent while in bloom, a nice accent shrub when not, and very forgiving of hard pruning (even by hungry bunnies)

o Jacob's Ladder - there are so many different varieties of this now and their finely cut foliage makes a very nice foil for other plants and shrubs

o Various milkweeds (Asclepias) - pink, white, red and orange, plus butterflies and hummers!

o Delphiniums - tall and stately or short and cute, I love them all.

o Ornamental Grasses - graceful movement in the landscape, winter interest, then early spring nesting material for birds

LOL I could go on, but these are the ones I would replace immediately if I lost them somehow.

Plantladylin....its pouring here too! glad for it.
Glamourpuss those vines are Thunbergia......I have 2 the purple/blue and a lavender, getting the white one this week.

I love the -
Coral Honeysuckle: non invasive & hummers and butterflies love it!
Shasta Daisy 'Becky': great cut flower, always in bloom and not floppy.
Purple Coneflower: beloved by butterflies and always blooming, great cut flower.
Corn Poppies: re seeding annual - but set my garden on fire in the Spring!
Penstemmon 'Husker Red': tall dramatic spikes of white with dark foliage

roses

My favorites are heuchera, hosta, daylilies, roses (before black spot gets them), lilacs, gypsophila repens 'Rosea', and rose of sharon because the flower is looks like a small hibiscus, they need no care, and aren't troubled by diseases or insects (for me). Morning glories are big reseeders, as are hollyhocks, so I always have those. This year I tried many new annuals, and will see which ones will reseed themselves. Tamara

For me it would be roses, asiatic lillies and iris. oh daylillies too!

Could not live without Roses...4o'clocks..clivias....gingers.....

Cant have a garden without those big blousey oriental poppy's in red and orange, in front of tall delphiniums, then the stargazer lily with that heavenly perfume would be hard to beat, any perfumed lily's are knock out bulbs for me, tree paeone's are good as they have the foliage long after the flowers have gone, ornamental onions are a good statement in beside the ones above, also good early spring plants are the hellebors (christmas roses) these come in all different colours, to cover a large area and low growing, then go for catmint the brightest blue oyu will find, good ground cover, also lavenders, they can be a bit tender in some areas, but grow in a large pot and you can move it about, like the catmint, when you brush past it, you get the smell, wonderfull, if your going to grow any perennials, plant them in groups of three, five, seven etc for a better show instead of lined up like toy ten pin bowling pins, and a bit closer together than on the tickets, give them a lot of compost at the roots and a handfull of plant food to give them a good start, they will reward you for years and improve with age, good luck, Weenel.

Love the reseeders--echinacea, feverfew, forget-me-nots, tall phlox, husker red penstemon, candy lily, mullein; the travelers--bee balm, gooseneck loosestrife, goldenrod, japanese anemone; and for a bit of stability, hosta. The garden is full of surprises every year as these plants arrange and rearrange themselves. Favorite bushes: summer wine ninebark for its beautiful red foliage and graceful shape, and boxwood, which is pruned into spheres to add structure to all the action and provide winter interest. I am comfortable letting the plants decide where they would like to grow, but also don't let them take over completely (that's what compost piles are for!).