Five Low-Maintenance Perennials
December 10, 2008 by Doug
Filed under Featured, Perennials, Plants
Let’s look at some good no-work perennial plants. The main criteria for getting onto this list is that the plant is rock-hardy, flowers for a long time, doesn’t need a lot of effort to grow it, really doesn’t require pruning, training or any other care than weeding. And fragrance, if possible, delivers bonus points. So how am I doing so far? The following plants are sunlovers; we’ll get to shade loving no-work perennials in another column.
Daylilies
Heading up the list has to be daylilies. But not just any old daylily but the modern new hybrids bred for extended blooming. This plant lives in full to part sun and thrives in almost any kind of soil you can deliver to it. You can’t give it too much heat or cold and it will bounce back like the true champion it is. The amazing thing about this plant is that it now comes in a bewildering array of flower shapes, sizes and even fragrances. You can get tall varieties, short varieties and you really need to look for the reblooming varieties. Just stay away from anything listed as “evergreen” because those are Southern varieties and really not hardy enough here. Luckily the only place you’ll find those is via mail order but just watch those. And yes, I know the modern reblooming hybrids are more expensive than the old-fashioned or short blooming plants but you get to pick here. Both are no-work and no-brainer choices for the no-work garden but one gives you three times the amount of blooms.
Geraniums
A second plant that really deserves a place in any garden is the Geranium. I’m not talking about the annual plant (really a Pelargonium), I’m talking about the true, bone-tough perennial Geranium. Again, this plant will thrive in the part to full sunshine garden, is rock-hardy and will, if you pick a modern hybrid, bloom literally all summer. While I note that old varieties will often rebloom if you shear them back after the first bloom, modern plants such as the award-winning Rozanne, will bloom all summer with no pruning, no deadheading and no disease. This is the real definition of a no-work plant for my garden. It is so easy to grow that you can also plant it in almost any soil in any light condition other than full shade and it will thrive. There’s not as much as a price differential in Geraniums as there is in other modern plants so either look for this variety or pick ones that have extended or long-blooming on their label. The only real drawback is that the flowers aren’t fragrant; the leaves have a mint-fragrance if crushed though.
Echninacea
A third plant that fits almost all of our criteria is the coneflower or Echinacea. This plant for the back of the border really prefers full hot sun but will grow almost equally well in a light-shade garden. It prefers a soil that is well-drained because too much water around the roots in the late fall and early spring are going to rot it out. My apologies to those of you with clay soils, this plant isn’t going to like your garden. For the rest of us, it blooms nicely from mid-summer to mid-fall and again with no work. Plant it and forget it. ‘Fragrant angel’ a white flowering variety advertises itself with fragrance but you have to stick your nose into it (or darn close) to get a whiff. The wonderful thing about this plant is of course all the new colours the breeders are giving us. And by using the entire colour range, you can create a garden of multiple colours that is magnificent from mid-summer through mid-fall. I’ve experimented with simply leaving the seedpods in place rather than pruning them down. The birds get most of the seeds and the odd seedling that pops up can be quickly removed in the spring. So this plant qualifies as a no-work perennial as well.
Peonies
What about peonies? I include them here because once properly planted by making sure the growing points are a single centimeter below the soil surface, this plant is good for decades in one spot of the garden. While other plants require a digging and dividing every 3 years or so, this one simply sits and blooms with no attention. It’s fragrant as all get out and you can lose yourself in this full sun charmer’s delight. It will take a light shade and keep on blooming but you might find a tad more leaf fungal problems in shade. I can hear you complaining that you have to stake peonies and that’s work. I never do. I either grow the singes with their much-lighter blooms or I grow them next to plants such as Coneflower that are stiff enough and upright enough to support them so they don’t flop over. And I only feed them compost so they don’t get tall and lanky and floppy. Again, those single blossoms come in a wide colour range and will blow your mind with the fragrance in early to mid-summer.
Veronica
Try one of the new Veronica plants. The long-blooming, no-work style of this plant started with the old ‘Sunny Border Blue’ and has continued to the much newer hybrids. Look for those that advertise themselves as “upright” and “long blooming”. These plants love full hot sun but also do well enough in part shade that I grow them there as well. They throw blooms in a range of blue-violets, pinks and whites from mid-summer to late-fall and have been pretty much insect and disease resistant in my garden. If you can bear to cut them, they make great cut-flowers but that never happens in my own garden.
There are five no-work and no-hassle perennials that will make a perennial garden bloom most of the summer. What more do you want?
Another great perennial for me has been the Balloon Flower (Platycodon grandiflorus), or Chinese Bellflower. They get their name from the way they bloom…looks just like a balloon and then the petals unfold to a star shape. They’re early bloomers and with deadheading will continue to bloom all summer long until frost here in the South. You don’t have to deadhead, but I do it quickly and easily with a pair of scissors. They’re also fairly drought-tolerant, but like a long deep drink when the soil gets too dry.
The plants can grow up to 24” tall, but pretty much stay in a compact mound. Balloon flowers come in shades of blue, pink and white. I have my bluish-purple Balloon Flowers planted around a Japanese Red Maple Tree…what a striking contrast!
These cold hardy plants like full sun and do best in well-drained soil in zones 3-8. Some light shade in the afternoon in the South (zones 7-8) would be good for them.
In the spring, give it some compost, compost tea, or a slow-release fertilizer. They aren’t bothered by insects although the bees love them. Not sure about diseases, but mine haven’t had any problems.
It’s easy to start new plants from seeds in spring, just after the last winter frost, or summer, up to 2 months before the first fall frost. No need to cover the seeds, they need light to germinate so just press into the soil. They may not bloom the first year. Mature plants can be difficult to divide, but can be done at the rootball, or cuttings can be taken in late spring. For collecting seeds, just allow the seed pods to dry on the plants and when you see the pod starting to open up at the top, just snip the seed head off the stem. Generally, the seeds will fall out easily, but sometimes to get them started I’ll roll the pod between my thumb and index finger. The seeds are round, black and about the size of a pinhead. From about 12 plants around my tree I have collected almost a full cup of seeds!
ohhh, yummm – peonies! Just the thought of their fragrance makes me feel like it’s summer again. Good list.
Hi Doug: My own favorite “no work” perennials are ornamental grasses. All you have to do is cut ‘em down in late winter or early spring – that’s it. Some people divide them, but I don’t unless I need a few more. The big ones need strong back to move, so I tend to leave them where they are.
Veronica is a new one for me. It did fairly well this summer, after planting this spring. Look forward to next year. The others are old friends of mine. Am glad my Echinacea hasn’t heard that it doesn’t like clay soil. And I’ll not tell it.
Thanks Doug.
I would like to add ‘Becky’ daisy. This year it bloomed from mid-summer through several light frosts. It is very upright and the blooms are so classic daisy. They also stand out in moon light.
I agree with your 5 picks, Doug. Does anyone know the name of the Veronica variety that gets real tall? I have ‘speedwell’ which is pink and sort of a ground cover, and ‘icicles’ (white) which gets about 2 feet max for me. I’ve seen some really tall ones in other gardens that look just like my ‘icicles’ and wondered what it was.
Jan
@prairiepetunia -
Most of the V. longifolias tend to be the taller ones. ‘Eveline’, ‘Sonja’, ‘High Five’ are three recent introductions. The V. spicata plants are bushier and tend to be dense and upright – ‘Royal Candles’ is one of my favorites in this line.
Lorra-
Echinacea is a surprisingly robust plant. I tend to be a little hesitant to recommend prairie plants for clay soils but I’m glad to hear I can think about this one that way. (and no, don’t tell it)
@Yvonne Cunnington -
I know a lot of folks go nuts about these and I know they look lovely in your garden but while I appreciate them, I could never really warm up to them. I have some big areas out in the front of our place that I’m tempted to turn into grass beds and let them rip. I think my bias comes from too many years in the nursery trying to dig some of the darn roots and force them into one-gallon pots for retail.
I just *knew* somebody was going to say “grass!”
@JoAnn -
Good thought on the Platycodon. You’re right they’re easy to grow but I often found they aren’t as long blooming as some of the other plants in my garden so they never wind up as backbone no-work first stringers. Easily in the second rung of the garden choices though in my garden. (And the delightful thing is that because you love ‘em, you get to put them in *your* first rung of choices and ignore curmudgeons like me)
Had to bring up the Peonies, didn’t you? Why not pour some lemon juice on my paper cut too. It’s going to be a balmy 76 today in Savannah. Fa-la-la-la-la-lala-la-la!
@Christine Lucas -
Yeah – well, I *can* grow peonies and I get to dig out after a whomping big snowstorm – I don’t have to have people make snow so I can play in it. 8 days.
I wanted to try planting some perennials in the garden of my new house and I am going to try some of these this year. I am going to try Echinacea and maybe Veronica this spring.
pays to live greens last blog post..Happy New Years