Perennials that Bloom All Summer
Spring is coming!  Now is a great time to start thinking about your garden and all the wonderful new plants you are going to try this year.  My favourite perennials are those that have a very long bloom season. I am always on the look out for varieties that flower 8-12 weeks, or even longer, and love to use these in various dynamite combinations. 

There is an old myth that perennials have a short flowering season and annuals bloom all summer.  There are in fact hundreds of perennials with an extended flowering season and more are being developed every year.  With careful selection gardeners can have their cake and eat it too – you can grow perennials that come back year after year and also have plants that bloom for weeks, even months.

Following are some of my favourite perennials that bloom virtually all summer.

Persicaria polymorpha also known as Japanese Fleece Flower is a gorgeous, big upright plant that never needs staking.  It can be grown in sun or shade, in almost any kind of soil.  This Persicaria grows to 5-6’ tall with a very upright, vase shape.  It is a clumping, non-spreading perennial.  Beginning around the end of May it produces large, stiff plumes of white flowers --- and then it keeps right on blooming until August, at which time the blooms begin to fade becoming a soft pink colour and are eventually replaced by golden seed heads.  This perennial adorns my garden for over 3 months.   It is a tough thing hardy from Zone 5 – 9.

Looking for a great plant combination for shade?  Try combining Corydalis lutea, Dicentra luxuriant and some Lamium.  This grouping will be in flower from mid-to-late May until well into the fall.  Corydalis lutea (Yellow Fumitory) is a low growing, mounding perennial 10-12” tall with beautiful blue-green ferny foliage.  It is covered with dainty, yellow, tubular flowers continuously from spring to frost. 

Yellow Fumitory is a wonderful companion for the dwarf bleeding heart Dicentra luxuriant.  This perennial has similar fern-like foliage and produces dangling, cherry-red blooms for 4 months or more.  Plant these two dwarfs in big drifts near the front of the border and edge them with a bit of Lamium. 

 Lamium is one of the most popular plants at our nursery.  It is an exceptionally versatile groundcover that can be grown in sun or shade and blooms from spring to frost.  Several different varieties are available with blooms ranging in colour from pure white to soft pink to purple.  The foliage is generally some variation of silver and green, however there are also some lovely golden leafed varieties.

If you want to add a dash of blue to this combination try Campanula ‘Blue Waterfall’.  This recently introduced variety has a trailing form ideal for spilling over rocks, along a pathway, down a wall or out of a container.  It also can be grown in sun or shade however I have found that it has a better form and produces more blooms if it is out of the hot afternoon sun.  ‘Blue Waterfall’ produces masses (and I do mean masses) of starry, lavender-blue flowers from spring to fall.  If it slows down just sheer it back hard and it will re-bloom.

Looking for more blue flowering perennials? Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’ blooms non-stop from late May until freeze-up producing soft blue, pin-cushion flowers with a frilly collar.  This former Perennial Plant of the Year is a clump forming dwarf, 15-18” tall, that prefers a sunny, well-drained location.  Its close relative Scabiosa ‘Pink Mist’ is just as floriferous but is set with masses of soft pink blooms.  Try these two in combination with Coreopsis ‘Crème Brulee’ a recent introduction that also blooms all summer.

Coreopsis ‘Crème Brulee’ is a dwarf, mounding plant with thread-leafed foliage covered with small, creamy yellow, daisy-like flowers all summer until frost.  This plant is an improved version of ‘Moonbeam’ with bigger blooms over a longer period of time.  It prefers a sunny, well-drained location.  At 20” in height it is perfect for the border or rock garden.

I like pastel colour combinations but in the summer when it’s really hot I like to see colours that sizzle.  For this reason Gaillardia has become one of my favourites in the garden.  There are many excellent old fashioned varieties of Gaillardia such as ‘Goblin’ and ‘Royal Monarch’.  However there have been some recent introductions with stunning blooms.  ‘Fanfare’ was introduced in 2004 and it continues to be one of the hottest plants.  And for good reason.  This prolific, all summer bloomer produces brilliant yellow and orange-red, upward-facing flowers with petals that are curved into a long narrow flute shape.  Planted in a large group ‘Fanfare’ will make you gasp!  Make sure you plant it in a sunny, well-drained location where it will reward you with blooms for 3 months or more.

This is just a short introduction to perennials that bloom all summer.  A few others that you can check-out in our extensive on-line catalogue are:
Agastache ‘Red Fortune’
Geranium ‘Tiny Monster’
Geranium ‘Rozanne’
Knautia macedonica
Salvia ‘Royal Distinction’
Hemerocallis ‘Rosy Return’
Hemerocallis ‘Stella d’oro’

  
‘Old gardeners never die,
They just spade away.’
-- Muriel Cox

   
Gardening Tip
In my huge garden it isn’t weeding that takes the most time in the summer.  Deadheading is by far the most consuming task but well worth the effort.  Why deadhead?
Well, many perennials will re-bloom if deadheaded and the garden looks so much nicer when spent blooms are removed.  Unless you plan to harvest the seeds there is little point in the plant putting all its energy into seed production.  Far better that the plant focus its energies on more blooms or maintaining its strength and vigour.   Some perennials are rampant self-seeders.  The easiest way to control these plants and prevent them from becoming weeds is to deadhead.   I like to keep a very clean garden as this prevents the development of disease and insect problems.  Deadheading is part of this preventative practice.

   
Feature Plant  - Delphinium
A few years back I was saddened to find that my tall Pacific Giant Delphinium were blooming poorly and only limping through the winter, some not even making it.  Many of my fellow gardeners reported the same problem.  Air pollution, the thinning ozone, climate change are effecting our plants just like these changes are impacting us.  I was sorry to give up my big Delphinium.

However in recent years a new hybrid has been introduced from New Zealand.  Called New Millennium Hybrids these Delphiniums have been developed to produce stronger stalks and larger, more intensely coloured blooms.  I have tried them in my garden and found that they are longer lived and more tolerant of heat and humidity.  They are a tougher, stronger breed than the old Pacific Giant varieties however, growing 6-8’ or more, they definitely still need staking.  New Millennium Delphiniums are available in a great collection of colours such as ‘Blushing Brides’ which is a rich mulberry-pink and ‘Royal Aspirations’ a range of blue-purple shades.  You can check-out this new Delphinium in more detail in our catalogue.

   
Great Combination
Looking for a big, beautiful combination for the back of the border?  I love this combination in my garden:
Eupatorium ‘Little Joe’
Calamgrostis ‘Karl Foerster’
Veroniciastrum ‘Fascination’
This group of plants will bring loads of architectural presence to your mid-to-late summer garden.