Long Blooming Perennials
For Summer

By choosing long-blooming perennial plants, you can capitalize on the best of both worlds - plants that persist, or come back from growing season to growing season, and those that bloom for an extended length of time. This also means that you'll have more time to appreciate the gardens that you create!

Here is just a sampling of long-blooming perennial plants for the sunny garden:

Achillea, or Yarrow, are very drought and heat resistant plants, once established. The flower heads are long lasting and many colors are available from yellow, gold, pink, pastels in apricot, lilac, salmon, cream and white. Plants grow from 8" to 3' tall, depending on variety. The flat-topped flower heads grow up to several inches across, and make excellent cut and dried flowers, especially yellow. The fern-like, gray to gray-green foliage is somewhat aromatic and attractive even when the plant is not in bloom.

Coreopsis, Tickseed, is one of the easiest and most rewarding garden flowers. The thread leaf varieties are usually the longest blooming, typically from June through fall. The pale yellow, bright yellow or rosy-pink daisy flowers smother the slender stems and thread-like leaves. Plant height, from 15 - 24", is variety dependent. A mid-summer shearing of the seed heads will keep these plants blooming for many more weeks.

Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower, is a sturdy, bold-textured, dark green foliaged favorite that grows to 2 - 3' tall and wide. The flowers are large, daisy-like with unique standings of dark-rose purple and lighter in color. There are many exciting new varieties in new colors ranging from white to yellow to deep orange.

Rudbeckia, Black-eyed Susan, is an old-fashioned garden favorite. It is hardy, reliable, insect and disease free, and an exceptionally long-blooming plant - typically from July through fall. This medium-green, bold-foliaged plant grows to about 3' tall and bears golden yellow, daisy flowers with dark brown centers. Both Echinacea and Rudbeckia flowers make excellent cut flowers and a wonderful place for butterflies to sit and eat. Leave the seed heads on in the late summer and fall, and you will be rewarded with goldfinches.

Gallardia or Blanket Flower is an American native plant which thrives in the hot sun and has beautiful yellow-orange flowers, marked with red. Height varies according to variety. Some favorites include "Baby Cole" which is a dwarf only 8" high, "Goblin," a 12”-15” grower, and "Burgundy," which reaches 18”-24” and whose flowers are a gorgeous shade of burgundy red.

For intense blue flowers from mid-summer to September, plant Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides). Plumbago spreads quickly to form a neat groundcover and as an added bonus, leaves turn a brilliant red in the fall before dropping. This excellent perennial grows well in light shade also.

Veronica, Speedwell, has neat, attractive foliage and abundant flowers in densely packed spikes. Look for the cultivars 'Goodness Grows' and taller 'Royal Candles' for a beautiful addition of blue to your summer garden.

Remember, this is just a brief glimpse of the long-blooming perennials available from which to choose. Stop by to see our wide selection of perennials so we can help you determine the plants best suited to your garden.

Daylilies… Easy to Grow,
Fun to Collect!

Few perennials can match the daylily for versatility and durability. One of the most popular perennials, daylilies have become a ‘collector plant’ for the novice and experienced gardener. Thousands of named cultivars are trouble-free to grow and adaptable which makes daylily collecting fun and easy. Although each lily-like flower lasts only one day, there are always more buds to open which provide summer color for many weeks. Plant them individually, in a mixed border, naturalize in a grassy area or group in a mass as a groundcover. Daylilies tolerate dry, poor soil, but perform best in rich well-drained beds.

Some tried-and-true selections:

Hyperion – 40” tall, space 18-24” apart. Delightfully fragrant, large, 5” primrose-yellow flowers with a green throat in mid to late summer. Full sun or
Part Shade.

Mary Todd – 26” tall, space 24-30” apart. Gold buff 6-7” flowers on a semi-evergreen foliage. Blooms midseason. Full sun.

Stella De’Oro – 12-18” tall, space 18-24” apart. Golden yellow 2-3” flowers with a green throat on a compact plant. Reblooms all summer. Full sun.

Joan Senior – 25” tall, space 24-30” apart. Near-white 6” flowers with a green throat on an evergreen plant. Blooms midseason. Full sun.

Becky Lynn – 20” tall, space 24” apart. Large, 6” rose-blend flowers with a green throat on a semi-evergreen plant. Blooms midseason, then reblooms. Full sun.

Rocket City – 36” tall, space 18-24” apart. Eye-catching, two-tone orange blossoms are up to 6” across. Blooms midseason. Full sun or part shade.

We have over 450 different varieties
of daylilies. Stop by and see
what’s blooming today.

Daylily Fun Fact:

The American Hemerocallis Society has classified daylilies by flower size. A miniature has flowers less than 3” in diameter, small-flowered cultivars have flowers from 3-4 1⁄2” and large-flowered cultivars have flowers 4 1⁄2” or larger.