The Use of Perennials is an Excellent Way to Enhance the Beauty of the Home Garden
Everyone loves to have colorful flowers in their home gardens. The beauty can be magnificent and increases the value of the home landscape. Often, annuals flower plants are planted to provide this color in the garden. However, they must be replanted every year, and often require extra care such as higher water, fertilizer, and maintenance requirements. Perennials are another option in providing color. They grow during the warm weather months and then dieback when the winter comes. In spring they sprout back to life for another season. Perennials are fairly easy to establish, and a majority have lower maintenance needs as compared to annuals, and also many have a high tolerance to drought stress.
Perennials come in many sizes, shapes, flowering color and form, time of flowering, and growth habit. Some perennials, such as ferns and Hosta lilies, are grown for their colorful foliage. Perennials can be planted as groundcovers, used in containers, mixed with annuals and shrubs, and used as accents and border plants. Some perennials prefer full sun, others shade. Some like wet areas and others thrive on hot, dry places.
Perennials need to have proper bed preparation in order to survive and thrive in the garden. The beds should be tilled up or deeply spaded to a depth of ten inches. Most soils, particular ones that are heavy with clay, require the addition of organic matter, such as peat moss, topsoil, or compost. Good drainage is important to most perennials. Have the soil tested. Most perennials thrive in a soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.5. Incorporate a complete balanced fertilizer such as 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 to the soil and mix it in.
Many perennials can be propagated by seed, but the preferred method of planting is to use established plants. The best time to plant them is in the fall or spring. Plant the crown of the plant at the soil line and break up and spread out the roots. Do not plant too deeply or the plant may suffer rot and will perish.
Perennials require some maintenance to keep them thriving. Cut back dead blooms during the growing season and remove any dead branches. They require periodic applications of a well balanced fertilizer like the ones mentioned above. Periodically many perennials require division due to the plants increasing in number and growing compactly together. Mature clumps can be removed and pulled apart. Replant the individual plants where they have additional space, or give away those that you do not have room for. Discard weak and dying plants.
There are many excellent perennials for the garden. Here are some low maintenance perennials that are a favorite among gardeners in our area:
Purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) have beautiful purple flowers and grow two to three feet tall. Sedums (Sedum spp.) are some of the most drought hardy plants available. There are many varieties of sedums and they come in many different colors, shapes, and sizes, and is a very low maintenance plant. Blue salvia (Salvia farinacea)has blue spikes two to three feet tall, and blooms throughout the summer to the first frost. Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) is one of the showiest of the perennials, and an easy one to get established and grow. It can grow up to five feet tall and comes in yellow, orange, and white colors. Bee balm (Monarda didyma) produces beautiful, paintbrush like flowers that range from red to orange to pink. It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies, but sometimes powdery mildew can be a problem. There are many types of verbena (Verbena spp.) available. They are low growing, spreading, drought tolerant, and produce an abundance of flowers during the growing season.
These are but a handful of the many perennials available to the home gardener. For more information on perennials, please visit the website of the Georgia Perennial Plant Association at www.georgiaperennial.org . You can visit any garden center to get ideas, or a botanical garden, such as the Vines Botanic garden in Loganville, The Atlanta Botanical garden in Atlanta, or visit the State Botanical gardens in Athens. Another place with a large variety of perennials and other plants being grown is the campus of Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville.
If you have any questions on growing perennials or need more information, please contact the Gwinnett County Extension Office.
Timothy Daly is the Agricultural and Natural Resources Extension Agent with Gwinnett County Extension office. He can be contacted at 678-377-4010 or timothy.daly@gwinnettcounty.com
