Perennial flowers are the backbone of any garden. These wonderful plants are strong and hardy and once you plant them, they faithfully come back every year. While most gardeners, including me, love the bright robust colors of annual plants, we all agree that perennials do save us money and lots of work in the garden.

As I stated before, perennials are strong and even survive in inclement weather conditions or in areas where you have cold regions. During their off season, the flowers and stems will die back and you can hardly tell the plant is event there. This is actually a good thing because your garden will not look like it has hideous brown clumps of dead plants. And when time comes for perennials to bloom, new leaves and flowers shoot up where the old ones were.

Like all other plants in your garden, before planting perennials make sure that your soil has good drainage. If the water stays saturated for long periods of time, you should consider building a raised bed. You can do a quick test to check the drainage by digging a hole and filling it with water. Wait a day or so and then fill it with water again. In about eight hours, all traces of water should be gone and if the hole is not completely dry, you will need to build a raised bed.

When buying your perennial flowers, be sure to get them so that they flower as much as possible during the year. Do some research on the types of flowers you want and create a timeline of flowering so that you can have a different type of flower blooming at any point of the blooming season. Getting the right mixture of plants can give your yard or existing garden a constantly changing array of colors and look.

One tip to keep in mind is to use mulch when planting perennials. This will save you some time by reducing the amount of weeds and increasing the water retention for your plants. Lucky for me that I have lots of pine trees and I use pine needles as mulch in my gardens but you can also use any other type of mulch like bark. Use fertilizer sparingly on perennials because these are hardy and don’t need much of it.

When you start planting your perennials, follow the instructions given carefully as some perennials grow tall while others do not. Plan your design so that you plant taller ones in the back and shorter ones in the front. Also keep in mind that perennials tend to spread out so don’t plant them too close to each other. Give them plenty of space for them to branch out in your garden. If you plant them too close to each other, they will end up choking each other. When you plant them, use a bit of fertilizer and add some compost to the soil to promote proper drainage.

Here are some other flower gardening sites that I found for you to browse. Thanks for visiting Best Flower Gardening!

Easy flower gardening for an apartment complex? - Yahoo! Answers
Garden: Information from Answers.com
Flower Gardening - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
How to Plant a Flower Garden - YouTube
Ornamental plant - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Flower Gardening Tips : How to Grow Cosmos - YouTube

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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.

Here are some other flower gardening sites that I found for you to browse. Thanks for visiting Best Flower Gardening!

Purdue University Garden Publications
Gallatin County MT - Horticulture
Climbing Vines | Reference.com Answers
BBC - Chelsea Flower Show 2011 - The Daily Telegraph Garden ...
Flower Gardening : How to Grow Peonies From Seed - YouTube
English garden | Define English garden at Dictionary.com

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