There are lots of great reasons to start any sort of flower garden: to add beauty to your yard, to enjoy months of colorful flowers, to attract birds and butterflies, to indulge your creative side, and to have a fun reason to get outside for fresh air and exercise. So, why choose to plant a perennial garden? Well, once you know the difference between an “annual” and a “perennial,” it’s easy to see the advantages.
Annual plants last through just one growing season. “True” annuals die once they complete their life cycle by flowering and producing seeds. Some true annuals include common flowers such as marigolds and zinnias. There are also plants sold as annuals that live for years in very warm climates but die when touched by frost or freezing temperatures, which are a yearly occurrence in most parts of the country. Examples here include begonias, coleus, and bedding geraniums (Pelargonium). Either way, most of us have to start over every year with annuals by sowing new seeds or buying new plants each spring.
Perennial plants sprout from their roots in spring, flower at some point, die back to their roots at the end of the growing season, and then repeat the cycle the following year. Many perennials can live for 3 to 5 years with hardly any attention, and some can last much longer. That means less work and worry on your part, and often less expense, too, because you don’t need to deal with seeds or purchase new transplants and find time to get them planted every year.
That’s not to say that annuals are bad, of course: they’re just as pretty as perennials, and they give you the chance to experiment with new kinds and colors each year. But when life gets hectic, you can depend on a perennial garden to do its thing year after year with little help from you — and that’s a big plus in anyone’s book!
So, you know you want a perennial garden; now, where’s it going to go? Instead of grabbing a shovel and randomly digging up part of your lawn, consider playing off an existing feature in your yard. How about planting a small bed of perennials by your front door, or perhaps a border along the main path to your home, to add curb appeal and a welcoming touch? A border of perennials also makes a great alternative to boring shrubs in the strip of ground along the front of the house, or along the wall of a garage or shed. Consider surrounding your deck or patio with a planting of lush leaves and bountiful blooms. A garden could also be a good solution for a problem area, such as a hard-to-mow slope or a soggy spot in the yard.
Another option is to first think about what kind of garden you want, and then try to find the perfect spot for it. Maybe you’d like a garden filled with flowers in your favorite color, or one that’s at its best during your favorite season. If you enjoy watching wild critters in your yard, a garden filled with perennials that attract seed- and bug-eating birds, hummingbirds, or butterflies can be a real delight.
This book includes 52 plans for simple perennial gardens in a variety of shapes and themes, about half for sites that are sunny to partly shady (with about 5 hours or more of direct sun a day) and half for those in partial to full shade (less than 5 hours of direct sun a day). Flip through the plans that suit your site, and you’ll find dozens of ideas for inspiration.
There’s an old saying to the effect of “Admire large gardens but plant small ones,” and that’s excellent advice. When you’re excited by the idea of a new garden, it’s easy to get carried away with grand plans and dig up way too much space. That translates into a big expense in buying enough perennials to fill the garden, and a lot of time spent on planting and caring for the garden, especially the first year.
Starting small makes your garden project way more manageable cost- and time-wise, and the success you’ll enjoy with a reasonably sized starter garden will give you a more realistic idea of how much more garden you can handle. The plans in this book are large enough to make a good show of color for months but small enough to dig and plant over the course of a weekend and maintain with a few hours a year. As time and money (and available space) allow, you can easily expand an existing small garden or add a new perennial planting in another part of your yard.
Each plan in this book includes a shopping list that tells you which perennials to buy and how many of each to get. The suggested quantities are based on plants growing in 2-quart pots (about 5 inches wide and deep) or 1-gallon pots (these are usually 6 to 7 inches wide and deep). Perennials of these sizes are usually reasonably priced and large enough to look nice the first year, though they may not fill the area completely until the second or third year.
To double check the plant quantities before you buy, try arranging the pots according to your chosen plan while you’re still at the garden center. You might decide that you need a few more or a few less pots, depending on how large the actual plants are and how much you can afford to spend.
If you really want an “instant garden” effect, feel free to buy more of each plant and set them close together at planting time so they’ll fill the area within a few weeks after planting. Keep in mind, however, that the garden might look overcrowded and messy in two or three months, and you’ll probably have to take out some of the extra plants by the end of the first growing season. (You could use those extras to start a new garden, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing.)
If you’re working with a very limited budget, buy as many of the perennials as you can, then add some inexpensive annuals as fillers until you can afford the rest of the perennials. Or, wait for end-of-the-season sales and start your new garden in fall instead of spring.
Don’t worry if you can’t find the exact perennials specified for each plan; that’s why each of the five plants in the shopping list comes with suggestions of other perennials that could work as replacements.
You’ve got a plan; you’ve got the plants. Now it’s time to dig in and get this garden started! If you’re completely new to gardening, the prospect may seem a little daunting, but really, it isn’t very complicated. And if you’ve had any sort of flower garden before, the basics of planting and caring for perennials will be easy for you.
In the shopping list for each plan in this book, you’ll notice a USDA Hardiness Zone rating for each of the five recommended perennials. This rating relates to the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which you can find here. This map divides North America into 11 numbered zones based on each area’s average minimum winter temperature. Once you know which zone you live in, you can use the zone rating to figure out if a particular perennial is likely to survive the winters in your area. If a perennial recommended in the shopping list isn’t rated for your hardiness zone (if it’s rated for USDA Hardiness Zones 5 to 8, for instance, and you live in Zone 4), then consider the suggested alternates instead.
Starting with the soil. When you’re ready to start your garden, use stakes and string to mark the outline of the shape and size you’ve chosen. Use a sharp shovel or spade to cut around the outline. To remove existing grass and weeds, slip the blade of the tool into the soil as close to horizontal as you can to cut off the grass roots just below the soil surface. Use the chunks of sod you remove to patch holes in other parts of your lawn or to fill in low spots, or pile them in an out-of-the-way spot to decompose.
Once the grass is gone, spread a 1-inch-thick layer of chopped leaves, compost, or dehydrated manure over the area, and use a shovel or spading fork to loosen the top 8 inches or so of soil. Lift one shovelful or forkful at a time, turn the chunk of soil onto its side or flip it over completely as you drop it, and then use the blade of the tool to chop the chunk into smaller pieces. Pick out larger rocks; it’s fine to leave small ones (those about 2 inches across or smaller). Once you’ve dug up the whole area, go over it once more to break up any remaining soil chunks, and then use a rake to level the surface. Avoid stepping on the loose soil; you don’t want to pack it down again.
Planting your perennials. You can plant pretty much any time the ground isn’t frozen or muddy-wet, though spring is generally prime time for planting, especially for perennials that bloom in summer and fall. Early to mid fall, when temperatures are mild and rainfall is fairly reliable, is another ideal planting time, particularly for perennials that bloom in spring to early summer.
To make sure the rootballs (the mass of roots and potting soil) of your perennials are thoroughly moist, lower each plant — pot and all — into a bucket of water and hold it down so the water covers the surface of the potting soil. Once bubbles stop rising to the top of the water (anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes, depending on how dry the soil is), remove the pot from the water and set it down somewhere to drain for a few minutes.
Set the watered pots out on the prepared soil according to the plan. Once you’re happy with how they’re arranged, plant them one at a time. Dig a hole that’s about as deep as the rootball and a few inches wider, and remove the plant from its pot. If the pot is thin, you may only need to squeeze the sides with your fingers or hands. If that doesn’t help to loosen the pot from the roots, lay the plant on its side and gently tap or roll the pot with your foot to help release the rootball. You should be able to slip off the pot by cradling the base of the plant and the top of the rootball with one hand and sliding off the pot with your other hand. If that doesn’t work, don’t tug on the leaves to get the plant out; instead, carefully slit the sides of the pot with a knife to get it off.
With your fingers, tickle all sides of the rootball to loosen any circling roots and knock off any loose growing medium. Set the rootball in the planting hole, and add or remove soil under the rootball so that the plant’s crown (the point where the top joins the roots) is about even with the soil surface. Push the soil back around the roots to fill the hole, crumbling any remaining lumps with your hands and using moderate pressure to get good contact between the soil and the rootball. Unless you’re expecting a steady rain right after you finish planting, water your new garden as soon as you get all of the plants in the ground.
Watering wisely. Water a newly planted perennial garden regularly (about once or twice a week, unless you get a soaking rain) through the rest of that growing season. After the first year, the garden should be fine for at least 2 weeks after a soaking rain, unless the weather is exceptionally hot or windy.
Instead of watering on a set schedule, let the plants or soil tell you when your garden needs water. If the plants wilt a bit in the afternoon but perk up in the evening, they can probably wait a day or so for water. If they’re still wilted the next morning, though, water them as soon as possible. An even more reliable approach is to dig down 3 to 4 inches in one spot with a trowel. If the soil is dry down that far, it’s a good idea to water as soon as possible. If only the top 1 to 2 inches are dry, replace the soil and check again in another spot in 2 or 3 days if no rain is due.
When you do water, the key is to water deeply: enough to soak the top 4 to 5 inches of soil. That sounds like a lot, but in small areas like these starter gardens, that’ll probably take less than an hour. If you’re using a sprinkler instead of watering by hand with a hose, check every 10 minutes or so to make sure that the water is soaking into the soil. If water is puddling on the soil surface or running off, turn off the sprinkler until the water soaks in, then turn it on again until the area has gotten a good soaking.
Managing mulches. Covering the soil between your perennials with some kind of mulch will go a long way in reducing watering chores. Mulches also help to insulate the soil from rapid temperature changes, which can interfere with root growth. They discourage weed seeds that are already in the soil from sprouting, and they make it easier to pull out any weeds that do poke through. Organic mulches — those derived from plants — such as chopped leaves, grass clippings, pine straw (needles), or shredded bark, have the extra benefit of adding organic matter to the soil as they decompose, building the fertility of your garden’s soil over time.
Two inches is about the right thickness for an effective mulch layer. Mulch new gardens soon after planting. Organic mulches break down over time, so you’ll probably need to add more each spring to keep the layer at the ideal thickness. Do your spring garden cleanup chores first; then spread the mulch. It’s all right if the mulch touches the leaves and stems a little, but avoid piling it right against the leaves and stems.
Grooming your garden. A bit of attention every now and then through the season helps to keep your perennial garden looking great. Grooming is mostly a matter of removing the dead flowers (a process called deadheading), either individually or all at once. This makes the plants look tidier, prevents them from producing seed (which can lead to unwanted seedlings), and may encourage them to produce new flowers later in the season. Some perennials, though, produce seed heads that are very interesting, especially in fall and winter, so sometimes you may decide to skip summer deadheading. You’ll find specific tips for what to cut and what to leave in place in the care calendar for each starter garden plan. Also, take a few minutes every few weeks to pull or dig out any weeds that pop up between your perennials.
After a few years, you may notice that some of your perennials are starting to crowd out their companions, or that they are gradually producing fewer flowers than they used to. In either case, it’s a good idea to dig up those plants and divide them (ideally in early to mid spring, or in early fall). Use an old knife or a sharp spade or trowel to cut the clump into three or four pieces, making sure that each piece has some roots and some buds or top growth. Replant one of the pieces where the original clump was growing. Use the leftovers to start new gardens, or share them with friends.
At the end of the growing season, when frosts or freezes have nipped your plants and turned them brown, you have a choice to make: cut down the dead tops in mid to late fall or leave them in place for the winter. Both options have advantages and disadvantages. Fall cleanup gives the garden a very tidy look for winter, and spring cleanup will take practically no time at all. If you leave the dead tops on through the winter, though, they help to protect the buds and roots from excessive cold and damaging freeze-and-thaw cycles. Dried stems and seed heads give you something to look at through the winter, and they provide a source of winter shelter and food for birds, too. The care calendar for each starter garden plan gives you some suggestions about how to handle fall cleanup for that particular garden, but really, the choice is yours. Perennials tend to be pretty sturdy plants, so chances are good that yours will be fine either way!
Ready to expand your perennial plantings? Repeat your favorite plan, using the same plants each time or mixing in some of the alternate suggestions for variety, or combine two or more plans into one larger garden. Here are some ways to build bigger beds and borders out of the simple starter-plan shapes.
Square or small rectangle: Plant on one side of a bench, arbor, or set of steps, then repeat the plan on the other side of the feature. Repeat the squares or rectangles side to side to create longer borders, or leave space between each part for a path. To fill even more space, add additional sets of beds and paths to create a grid pattern.
Large rectangle: Repeat the plan end to end to create a longer border along a driveway, house wall, fence, or property line.
Long, narrow rectangle: Repeat the plan end to end to create an even longer edging border for a sidewalk or walkway. Set two rectangles side by side with space in between for a path, or join their ends at a right angle to fit the planting into an inside corner or wrap it around an outside corner.
Two short rectangles: Start with a single set to flank a gate, arch, bench, or walkway. Repeat each of the rectangles end to end to create a longer narrow border, or set them side by side to make a longer and wider border.
Half-circle: Flip the plan along the flat side to create a mirror image of the original. Set the two parts right next to each other to make a complete circle, or leave 2 to 3 feet between the two halves to create a walk-through planting.
Triangle: Flip the plan along one of the shorter sides, or along the longer side. Set the mirror image right next to the original plan, or leave some space between the two parts for a path.
A Double Border: Flank a path with a long rectangle or a half circle and its mirror image for an elegant walk-through garden. This layout is ideal for a long, narrow space, such as a side yard.
A Grid Garden: Multiple squares or small rectangles set in a grid pattern create a charming formal-garden effect. The paths make it easy to reach all parts of each bed, so maintenance is a breeze.
A U-Shaped Garden: Use a half-circle, short rectangle, or triangle for the base of the U, with two short or long rectangles as the sides. The inside creates a perfect nook for a garden bench.
A Wrap-Around Border: Dress up the corner of a deck, patio, or paved area with short or long rectangles along the sides, with a triangle or square plan tucked into the area where they meet.
