Garden design with perennials

Low maintenance perennials will grow and beautify the garden without much care. Planting plants that differ in height, leaf size and different flowering period will provide a picturesque view in the garden throughout the growing season.

Perennial flowers in the garden are unpretentious and long-flowering. Perennial plants in garden design

Bright flower beds set the tone for the garden. The design of flower beds with perennials is one of the most important tasks when planning a garden. These herbaceous plants should be matched for both color and flowering time.

In addition, they must be suitable for the soil in the conditions of the area and ideal companion plants. Annual flowers are beautiful and there is a wide choice of them, but they have one drawback: they decorate the garden only in summer, and they need to be planted again every year.

Perennials also come in a variety of species and cultivars, with colorful flowers and ornamental foliage – but they’re planted once and bloom again every year.

Beds planted with perennial flowers can look good all year round without much effort.

Properly selected perennials

The art is to collect perennial plants that bloom at different times of the year in such a way that they always give a beautiful and harmonious picture until the end of the garden season.

How to care for perennials

The main thing in caring for perennials is the right choice of species and varieties for the appropriate location. Plants have different lighting requirements. It is appropriate to supplement the formed garden with flowers and shrubs that prefer a shady area. Basically, they are shade-loving, but with proper care they can grow in the scorching sun.

The soil also plays a role, so plants are chosen according to its conditions. Many garden plants are better suited to sandy, well-drained soil than humus-rich soil. And only a few perennials can fully or partially grow in wetlands.

planting time for perennials

The main time for planting perennials is autumn and spring.

Additional Information! Perennials sold in pots or containers can be planted throughout the summer, it is important to remember to water them after planting.

Garden perennials, if grown in the right place and cared for according to their needs, become more beautiful every year. Design is often difficult, especially for beginners. If you choose the right varieties, then perennials will bloom continuously.

They can be divided into two categories according to their degree.

Compact perennials only slightly spread. These include peonies, daylilies, astilbes, hostas, delphiniums, phloxes, etc.

Creeping plants form ground and underground shoots that eventually cover large areas.

Сreeping perennials

In flower beds, such plants behave aggressively, drowning out other species. Typical examples are classic ground cover plants such as wallflower, iris, periwinkle, lily of the valley, sapling.

Overgrown perennials – what to do?

Perennials lose their above-ground part for the winter period and retain only underground roots, which usually give new shoots every spring.

Additional information ! A feature of perennials is their longevity. They can grow for quite a long time in one place without an annual transplant. They are relatively undemanding. Sometimes they need to be dug up and divided so that they grow better and do not interfere with new developing shoots.

The correct arrangement of perennials in the flower garden

There are countless species and varieties of perennials available for garden design.

Combine perennials with annual flowers such as snapdragons, marigolds, cornflowers or ornamental grasses. Openwork ornamental grasses create a beautiful contrast.

Landing: quantity per square meter

Plants are planted in a flower garden so that they create a general impression, given the size of the plants, the nature of their growth. Usually, 1-2 plants of vigorous species are planted per 1 square m, 3-4 – medium-sized, 6-12 low, 15-35 – undersized. Rarely planted, they develop better, bloom more abundantly and grow longer in one place. In a thickened planting, they begin to stretch, weaken and do not give normal flowering.

To create beautiful flower beds, you must adhere to the following rules:

  • you need to plant 3-5 plants and arrange them in a checkerboard pattern – an odd number looks much better;
  • the color scheme is chosen not too colorful and complex, it is better to limit yourself to two or three shades;
  • timely pruning, watering and feeding plants;
  • regularly loosen the soil, weed weeds;
  • cut wilted flowers;
  • tall ones tie up and strengthen.

Note! The flowering time of perennial plants can be extended if faded buds are cut off in time. Sick or wilted shoots and leaves are also regularly removed.

Various heights of perennials

Different plant heights create a harmonious picture. Perennials should be staggered in height and width. Height is critical to the good appearance of flower beds. In the foreground, greens are planted that do not reach 40 cm in height, plants up to 60 cm high fill the middle lane, flowers and shrubs growing up to 1 m or more flaunt in the background. You can also plant tall ones in the central part, gradually changing to the edge with undersized plants.

You should pay attention to the correct distance between plantings to quickly obtain a dense carpet, depending on the type of perennial.