After a long, cold Winter, seeing these familiar perennial flowers bursting out is so comforting, heralding the start of longer days and warmer weather.
Perennial plants are the reliable bases from which so many UK gardens are built around. Coming back year after year to brighten our spaces, injecting colour and life into borders, pots and hangers. What would we do without them?
There is so much choice when it comes to perennial plants as well - herbaceous perennials, woody perennial plants, hardy perennials, tender perennials, evergreen perennials, available in all manner of different colours, shapes and sizes. It's no wonder they're so popular - there are options for every garden.
What we want to go over in this blog is all the essential information that you need to help you understand these amazing plants, covering what they are, why they are so great, plenty of examples of perennial plants, some tips on picking the right ones for your garden as well as plenty of information on perennial plant care.
What are Perennial Plants?
If you are wondering what plants grow back every year, you've come to the right place - it's perennial plants. While annual plants will die off when the temperature drops, perennial plants will go dormant for those cold Winters, and then grow back for the next growing season, usually in the Spring. They can keep doing this for years - springing back to life again and again.
Most perennials will fall into one of two categories:
Evergreen Perennial Plants
Evergreen perennials will keep their leaves all year round (semi-evergreen perennials will keep their leaves for most of the year). This means you'll get the benefit of wonderful green colour, even when they are not flowering. Some evergreen perennial plants examples include Bergenia, Heuchera, Helleborus and Dianthus.
Herbaceous Perennials
When the weather begins to get colder in the Autumn, herbaceous plants will start to die back. However, their root systems will stay healthy underground, ready to grow back again the following Spring. Some herbaceous perennial plant examples include Delphiniums, Alstroemeria, Verbena and Geraniums.
What are the benefits of Perennial Plants?
We think perennial flowers are the perfect way to liven up your garden, but the fact that they look incredible is just one of the many benefits to having plenty of perennials. Here are some of the others:
- Low maintenance: Once you have planted your perennial flowers, all you really need to do is water them during dry spells from the early Summer. That's it. They'll keep coming back, year after year, with very little effort on your part. You can focus your attention on other garden plants.
- Seasonal blooms: Having blooms that appear as the seasons change always brings a bit of joy. After a long, cold Winter, seeing these familiar perennial flowers bursting out is so comforting, heralding the start of longer days and warmer weather.
- Cost-effective: It doesn't take Martin Lewis to work out that buying plants that will come back every year is much more cost-effective than buying new plants every Spring. Don't get us wrong, it's great to have some new plants every year, but having a nice collection of perennial flowers is a great way to make those pennies stetch for much longer.
- Better soil health: Perennials tend to have much deeper root systems, which help them survive for so long. In turn, these root systems will help prevent soil erosion, and improve drought tolerance.
Which Perennials are right for your garden?
There are quite a few factors to consider when choosing the right plant for your garden. The first one is the most obvious - the aesthetics. What look are you going for in your garden, and which perennials will help to create that?
There is a bit more to think about though, like soil type, the amount of light and shade you have, wind exposure and moisture retention. Different plants will have different requirements, and therefore be suited to different gardens. The good news is that there is such a huge range of perennials available, that you will be able to find the perfect ones for your look and conditions. no matter where you want to plant perennials. You can read up about all of our perennial plants on our listing page.
Some of the best Perennial flowers
We're going to highlight some of our favourite perennials now. This is by no means a complete list - there are plenty of other plants available, as well as trees and shrubs, that will keep coming back, year after year. But we just wanted to give you some of our favourite examples of perennial plants:
Lavender
A wonderful evergreen plant, famed for it's wonderful fragrance that accompanies the delightful little purple flowers from Spring and Summer long, as well as their woody stems. Part of their appeal is how versatile they are - great for beds, borders, pots, hangers - wherever you want them! They thrive in full sun, and they are relatively drought tolerant.
Top tip: Plant lavender near a vegetable garden - great for attracting pollinators and confusing pests.
Echinacea
These happy little sun seekers are a great addition to any garden. Similar to daisies in their looks, these herbaceous perennials will brighten your borders with gorgeous blooms. They grow well in full sun or partial shade, just make sure they are in moist, well drained soil and they'll be fine.
Hellebores
These hardy perennials can grow up to around 40 cm tall, and are one of the earlier flowering plants that we'll look at. You can expect some flowers from mid-Winter, a welcome flash of colour just when you need it most! They are happy in the shade, but can tolerate full sun.
Hostas
Beautiful foliage and beautiful flowers - that's what you get with Hostas. They will usually flower in Summer, before losing its leaves in the Autumn, and then returning with fresh new foliage in the Spring. Thrives in full sun and well drained soil.
Creating your perfect garden
Whatever you want to get out of your garden, we think perennial plants can play a huge part. Reliable, adaptable and low-maintenance, these can for the basis for your display, which you can then add to with something different every year.
There is huge range of perennials (seed, pot grown and bare root plants) so have a look through our collection and find out the best ones for your garden. We have so many outdoor plants available, that we're sure you will be able to create your dream display with our help.
