Perennial Garden

Over the years I have been drawn to what is simply called the perennial garden and this is true whether I’m at a botanical garden or a theme park.

Some of the theme parks do an absolutely beautiful job of designing and installing colorful flower gardens while others seem to have no idea where or how to start.

Perennial flower gardens have the ability with proper care to return year after year and reward us with fantastic displays of color.

Therefore...

It is so very important in the beginning that we research our ornamental perennials in order to understand their shade or sun requirements and determine their flowering period.

Flowering period is vital for us to know as it will enable us to select various cultivars that will reward us with color all through the season.

Sometimes overlooked is a varieties cold hardiness zone and if you are not aware of your zone then please check out our cold hardiness map.

Zones have a tendency to change a little and sometimes a great deal from year to year so use the map as a guide only.

As your gardening knowledge increases you will have a much better understanding of your particular zone and what you can and cannot grow.

To make matters better or worse depending on your point of view there is also a heat hardiness map which experienced gardeners may find useful as a zone six in Oklahoma is vastly different from zone six in Oregon.

Or to say it in another way one will soon discover that numerous plants that perform quite well in Oregon may fail in the same zone in the upper Sunbelt.

Consider experimenting with various plants regardless of either of the zone maps as you may find that a certain specimen will do well for you even if the zone maps say otherwise.