Perennial Gardening

Perennial gardening is a broad field but can be, if so desired, reduced to the simple explanation that it is gardening by using hardy plants that return each year to reward us for our efforts.

A perennial garden may contain only a few selections or may in the case of advanced hobbyists be a collection of numerous perennial plants.

I am of the opinion that a good flower garden even one that has a basic annual theme must be populated with, at the very least, a sprinkling of perennial flowers.

It is true that many perennials will not produce as many blooms or enjoy the extended flowering season of their annual counterparts.

However, flowering perennials have the unique ability to offer us some of the most unusual forms of both flowers and foliage available in the plant kingdom.

Therefore perennials should always be considered as important selections when shopping for landscape plants.

The planting or transplanting of perennials is not unlike other forms of gardening but remember that it is always advisable to install a five dollar plant in a fifty dollar hole.

The previous sentence refers to not only planting pocket size but to the use of soil conditioners as not many of us have ideal soil properties to work with.

The planting pocket or hole should be at least two times wider and deeper than the container or root ball if you want to be blessed with good results and the crown of the perennial will be planted, depending on the variety, from several inches below grade, to grade level and sometimes slightly above the landscape bed.

For an explanation of what a plants crown means please refer to our section entitled parts of a plant.

You will also find valuable information in our list of plant names which states a perennials common name or names and then supplies the botanical name.

Knowing a plant botanical name is important for many reasons. Probably the most critical reason would be that common names vary drastically from one part of the country to another.

Therefore perennials should be ordered by botanical name only which in most cases will insure that you receive exactly the item that you had in mind.

Please read on as we will do our best to entertain and inform you.