Perennials just keep on blooming
June is Perennial and Rose Month
By Susan Nienow CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Perennials like Pink Evening Primrose add color to the garden.

You don't have to talk to them - perennials keep delivering year after year. No longer just for avid gardeners, perennials are widely available and commonly seen in local gardens. Breeders have come up with many repeat blooming perennials that are easy care.

"Ten years ago perennials appealed to the plant connoisseur," said Candy Lindenzweig, nursery manager for The Great Big Greenhouse. When people asked for a perennial they were specific. "Today people come in and ask for peach daylilies."

Perennials are non-woody plants that live for two or more years. A few are evergreen like hellebores, but most are herbaceous and die back in autumn. They can be used in mailbox plantings, perennial or mixed beds, as accents to shrub and tree borders, or in containers.

They can be less than an inch or more than six feet high, and add color or texture to the garden. Many will rebloom if the spent flowers are removed.

Location, location, location doesn't just apply to real estate. A happy plant is the right plant in the right place. A shade-loving perennial planted where it receives the hot, afternoon sun will never do well even if it survives. Take note of the moisture level of the location. Plants that are stressed are more susceptible to pests and disease.

Prepare the site

Add at least an inch and a half of compost and till the soil to a depth of at least three inches - five to seven is better, recommended Mark McAuliffe, vice president of nursery and landscaping operations for Cross Creek Nursery. He added that if the conditions are good, there will be less maintenance later.

"If plants are cultivated properly, the list of diseases and pests is greatly reduced," observed Claudia C. Swanson, owner of Dirty Hands Garden Center.

Consider the watering options. Lindenzweig recommends soaker hoses that don't wet the foliage but deliver water to the base of the plants.

Choose the right plants

For full sun and low maintenance, McAuliffe recommends the sedum Autumn Joy, Shasta daisies, salvia like May Night, coneflower, red hot poker, Homestead verbena and black-eyed Susans.

Swanson would add Russian sage, stokesia, gaillardia and daylilies to the list she calls "perennials for dummies" because the plants are relatively trouble-free. They are all drought tolerant and add both color and texture to gardens.

Lindenzweig would add Amsonia (bluestar), yarrow, peonies and coreopsis to the sun list and added that peonies are one of the longest living perennials and may tolerate part-shade. Yarrows are drought tolerant once established. Salvias and coreopsis will bloom again if cut back after the first bloom.

Swanson likes astilbe, heuchera (coral bells), ferns, tiarella, chelone and woodland phlox for shady spots. They are deer resistant also. Hosta is a favorite of hers but also of voles and deer. Lindenzweig would add tassel and autumn ferns and Solomon's Seal. She grows Euphorbia robbiae under her oak trees with no irrigation.

In general, deer do not prefer herbs which include yarrow and sage, fuzzy plants like lamb's ear, or ferns. Day lilies and hosta are delicacies, however. If you have a problem with deer, you might want to select plants that are deer resistant.

Maintenance

Mulch lightly taking care not to put it against the stems or on top of plants. Fertilize with an organic or a slow release fertilizer. Deadheading, or removing the old blossoms, keeps plants blooming. Before treating plants for insects or disease, read the labels and follow the instructions.

Consider not treating the plants at all. Healthy plants can easily survive a few insects, and Lindenzweig recommends that gardeners learn to live with imperfection. Chemicals kill off the good insects as well as the bad, disturbing the balance of the garden.

Swanson even recommends letting the Japanese beetles have their way in particularly bad years; then cut the plants back and let them grow back out.

For further information on any of these topics, contact the Chesterfield Extension office at 751-4401.