Make Your Own Perennial Flower Garden
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This perennial flower garden design will provide many years of enjoyment and, since perennials come back each year, there’s no replanting required! The key to a perennial flower garden is careful selection of plants, so we’ve given careful consideration to our plant list and plot plan.
Not only do perennial plants keep coming back year after year, they also may produce colorful blooms for two months or longer. Attractive leaves, showy seed heads, and fetching foliage add even more interest. For early color, add daffodils, crocuses, and other spring bulbs.
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This 5x10-foot rectangle suits a path or driveway border and requires well-drained soil and full sun. In longer beds, repeat the pattern.
Perennial Flower Garden Plan
Perennial Garden Plant List
- ‘Blue Ice’ bluestar (perennial): Dense mounds feature starry blue flower clusters in mid- or late spring. Slender, rich-green leaves turn bright yellow in fall. It is about 18 inches tall and grows in Zones 4 to 9. Six plants.
- Purple coneflower (perennial): Large, daisy-form, purple-pink flowers with prominent centers bloom through the summer atop 3- to 5-foot-tall stems. Also look for cultivars with white, orange, or yellow flowers. It grows in Zones 3 to 9. Six plants.
- ‘Miss Manners’ obedient plant (perennial): Sturdy, upright stems are topped with spikes of bright-white blooms from midsummer to early fall. Obedient plant can be a rampant spreader, but this cultivar is fairly well behaved. It is 18 to 24 inches tall and grows in Zones 3 to 9. Six plants.
- ‘Little Bunny’ fountain grass (perennial): Dense clumps of spiky foliage feature brushy, silver seed heads from late summer into winter. It is 12 to 18 inches in bloom and grows in Zones 5 to 9. Nine plants.
- Lady’s mantle (perennial): One-foot-tall mounds of elegantly pleated, velvety, scalloped-edge leaves boast frothy clusters of green-yellow flowers in early to midsummer. It is about 18 inches tall in bloom and grows in Zones 4 to 7. Three plants.
- ‘Zagreb’ coreopsis (perennial): Moderately spreading clumps of slender green leaves bear an abundance of bright-yellow, daisy-like flowers through summer. It is 12 to 18 inches tall in bloom and grows in Zones 4 to 9. Three plants.
- ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (perennial): Clumps of grassy foliage, 2 to 3 feet tall at maturity, feature 5- to 6-foot-tall stalks topped with plumes that are pinkish-gray in summer and tan in winter. It grows in Zones 5 to 9. Five plants.
For a garden that blooms from spring to fall, see our three-season flower garden design.
Nancy J. Ondra
Getting Started with Flower Gardening
Building a Raised Flower Bed Garden
Choosing Flowers
Types of Flower Gardens
Flower Gardening for Pollinators
Growing Flowers in Containers
Spring and Fall Bulbs
Caring for Flowers
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I have been wanting to start growing Coneflowers all around my property. However, everything I read says they need to go in the ground spring, early summer. However, all my local retail flower stores are just starting to sell them. (Late summer/early fall) Can I put them in the ground now? Why are hey just starting to sell them now? PS I live in East TN
Have you considered winter sowing coneflower seeds? This is a way to get hundreds of plants cheap. Or scratch in seeds around your property.
have a partial shaded area
Hi Susan, While many perennials enjoy sun, there are certainly some great plants that prefer partial shade. Perennials that come to mind are: phlox, lungwort, hosta, astilbe, bleeding heart, heuchera. At your garden center, stroll around and the perennials for shade are usually separated from the perennials for sun. Each plant will have a tag telling you their preferences. You can also browse online. For example, this flower company has collections for shade which may provide inspiration: https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com
I'd love to see a garden plan for wet in winter/dry in summer. I also have clay soil but that can be amended.
Me too! I have an L shaped front yard part of which gets sun all day. Rosemary is fast growing and hard to kill. I neglect it often but it thrives in hot/dry, tolerates rainy/cold and puts out beautiful purple flowers in fall and remains green year around. Lavender and sage are similar. Crepe myrtle works well in cold/rain/heat. A eucalyptus kept under control is a nice addition. That's my usual for the perennial hot and cold. The long part of the L gets partial sun, and foxglove, lupine are striking and return year after year. Roses love the heat and the variety is amazing. I have a bee bush I put in this year that takes partial sun/full sun. I'll see how this goes... I have replaced my over neglected rosemary and put in refreshed lavender and added two rose bushes. I couldn't find foxglove or lupine this time of year so am planting speedwell. Blac eyed Susan come around august, purple coneflower around late June and daisies early in spring. Because they self seed they need to be divided periodically but they add to the beds. I am putting in woolly thyme for border accents and we'll see how this goes. The long part of the L looks run down in the winter and I may put some rosemary in that area as well. Lots of reseeding crocuses pop up in spring but not a lot of color over the winter that can handle a lot of pooling rain (bane of my existence). Buckwheat is great for amending soil and flowers, bees like it but dig it in before it goes to seed then plant another crop of it and repeat. Snap peas flower and potatoes which can be a pleasant change. Summer squash is nice for big showy yellow flowers early and stay green until end of season. I'm still rotating and trying new stuff to spice up my cottage garden :) these are the usual but seem to work well with the weather. Oh also oregano stays green and greet to throw in if you don't want decorative grasses. And great with spaghetti :)
Will all of these plants do well in zone 7?
See our page on zone 7 plants here: http://www.almanac.com/plants/hardiness/7
how many do i need to buy of these for a 7 foot by 7 foot flower bed let me know thank you
How does this plan compare to the 3 season flower bed plan? Aren't both perennials? I am trying to decide which one should I go with for the upcoming season. I guess it's too late to plant now
