We know that the word perennial means lasting through the year or possibly many years. Of course, that is what is so desirable about planting perennial flowers in your garden. All you have to do is plant them once and they come back every year without you having to spend lots of time caring for them. Did you know that perennials are also considered a weed? Indeed, and this is one weed I don’t mind having in my garden. The best part about gardening with perennials is that you can plant them anywhere in your garden. They are ideal as borders, against walls, along a fence or even around some evergreens or shrubs.

Perennial flowers are usually local flowers that don’t require much care and are very strong. One of the things I like is that during their off season, perennial flowers and stems die back but you can’t really tell that the plant is there. Somehow, perennials are not like other plants when they die because they don’t leave a huge brown clump of dead plants in your garden. Just leave them alone and when it is time for them to bloom, new flowers will come up where the old ones were.

Before you plant perennials, make sure that the soil has proper drainage and if the area gets saturated for long periods of time you should build a raised bed. Once this is done, it is time to start selecting your perennial plants. Your goal should be to have the perennials flowering as much as possible through the whole year. The best way to do this is to research the types of flowers you want in your garden and create a list of when these perennials bloom. If you plan this right, you can have blooming perennials all through the year. Keep in mind that getting the right mixture of plants will give your garden a constantly changing array of colors all year long.

Some gardeners start their perennials using seeds but I prefer to go to my local nursery and buying established plants. I also prefer plants that are already flowering so that I can see the color of each plant and figure out the color scheme that will blend in my garden. When visiting your local garden shop or nursery, be sure to ask the employees how well the perennials will do in the area that you live. As an example, when I buy perennials I always ask if they will survive in the ever changing climate that we have here in central Florida.

Use mulch when planting perennials. It will save you lots of time and work by reducing the amount of weeds and increasing water retention. We have lots of pine trees in my backyard so I collect all the pine needles and use them as mulch. This saves me lots of money and it works great as mulch. Be careful with fertilizers on perennials. Use it sparingly once your plants start to come up. Make sure you read the directions that come with your perennials and plant them accordingly.

Some perennials tend to spread out while others just grow tall and if they are planted too close together they might end up choking each other out. What I normally do is plant tall perennials at the back of a wall or you can plant them in the middle of an island bed. You can also plant shorter ones towards the outside so that they look like a border in your garden. Most perennials are easy to grow and require little maintenance. Just water them and watch them grow beautifully. Plan your perennial garden carefully and remember that you don’t have to be an expert gardener to have an awesome display of flowering perennials in your garden.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Flower Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.