When we design our perennial gardens, our aim, of course, is to always have something in bloom. Perennial garden plants, in their turn, should bloom sequentially. Plants also have bloom times that overlap, hopefully, so there can be a series of different plants in bloom across an entire season.
For example, flowering spring bulbs include early-, mid-, and late-flowering daffodils, and these are followed by different types of Iris (Siberian, German, Japanese, and Louisiana one after another) then peonies, and a succession of a variety of summer and fall bloomers until the last chrysanthemums and asters are subjected to fall frosts.
It takes time to develop this kind of series of blooming flowers in a home garden. Fortunately, while most perennials bloom for only about three weeks, there are some that bloom longer. Take the early-blooming hellebores, for example. If you plant enough different varieties, they can bloom from December to May some years.
Some other over-achievers in the perennial world include: Achillea 'moonshine', Armeria 'maritima', Aster 'frikartii', Coreopsis, Echinacea 'purpura', Gaillardia, Stella d'Oro daylily, Monarda, Nepeta, Russian Sage, Black-eyed Susan, Tradescantia, Veronica, Allium, and Salvia.
This is Moya Andrews, and today we focused on long bloom.
