Gardening Monthly - Perennials

‘First year sleeps, second year creeps, and third year leaps.’ Ever heard this saying? it relates to Perennials.

Perennial comes from the Latin for the word ‘perpetual’. Perennials are to a great extent just that in that they are long lasting and with the correct care and attention will go on forever.

Perennials are hardy plants and truly will live fairly easily from 10 to 12 years. Most flowers will be in bloom for at least one part of any given season. Knowing this, a range of perennials can be chosen to take full advantage of flowers throughout the year.

Asters, Daylilies, Foxgloves, Columbine and Hostas are just a few of the many popular perennials you will come across. There are simply too many varieties to detail here. The ranges available are always being added to some you'll often come across a new perennial to enhance your garden.

When buying Perennials seeds are one of your options. Planting your Perennials from seed is, of course, a cheap and easy way to get them in the garden quickly. Unfortunately the plants will more likely sleep for two years instead of the usual one. It takes a perennial plant a little longer to get going that most plants!

Other options include a trip to the nursery, and of course nursery cataloges or the internet suppliers. Both are more expensive, but allow the luxury of having a ready plant straight away. Whether you choose from a catalogue or nursery for your plants is a matter of choice, and depends entirely upon your personal preference.

Having now bought your perennials, it’s time to get them into the garden. You will of course have checked the full grown heights of your new plants. Some can grow tall so you obviously want them to the rear of the garden. They're great along walls. Keeping the tall ones to the back and shorter ones to the from will allow you to enjoy all of them.

Taking care of your Perennials isn’t hard, but uprooting mature plants is a sure fire way of upsetting the nice stable balance they’ve achieved through the years, and will most likely lead to a fast decline of your gorgeous plants.

Most mature Perennials die off from the centre outwards so they start to grow like dougnuts. This is normal and when this happens then you have to start to divide the plants and replant them.

Pruning the dead flower heads will encourage more blooms. You should also stake the taller plants if they require them to avoid damage to the stalks.

Perennials are a lovely way to maintain flowers garden throughout the year or certainly for most of it.