Super June Perennials

Color RULES at the garden center! In the past, annual flowers have stolen the show every year with their flashy colors of neon orange, screaming reds, and rich purples, but the times they are a-changing. Because perennials are endowed with colors that come back bigger and better every year, they've hooked many gardeners. Increasingly, perennials are appearing in more landscapes and gardens, the yearly investment in annuals becoming smaller and smaller.

Although I like the color anchor that my pockets of annuals give my garden, I blend them in with lots of perennials. Perennials provide a permanent but ever-changing character to landscapes and gardens. Because a towering lilac bush is as much a source of perennial color as a robust coneflower or a hardy gaillardia, to my mind, shrubs are super-sized perennials on steroids!

If you incorporate any of these plants into your landscape, you're in for a better-blooming summer garden year after year. I've been gardening for years with perennials and have compiled a list of my favorite performers. They are the hardiest of the blooming perennials and, fortunately, seem to be of little interest to nibbling animals. When planted in clay soils I've found that watering them about twice a week is plenty. Pinching back the spent blossoms generates continuous blooms beginning in June and continuing through fall.

Favorite #1 - Commotion Frenzy Gaillardia. The many different gaillardias all love heat and are really drought hardy. Commotion Frenzy is so hardy that it's used in hydromulch at the end of road construction projects, like that on Iron Springs Road. I fell in love with this particular variety because instead of petals it has tubular flowers coming off the center to form its striking orange and red 4-inch blooms, and because “my” birds love the seed this plant produces. It's a must-see the next time you're at the garden center.
Favorite #2 - Daylily. This dependable beauty has tropical-like foliage and sports large lily-shaped flowers that bloom from now through Thanksgiving. Best choices are the evergreen varieties with blooms that range in shades from red and purple to orange and yellow. This plant is a distinctive favorite for its lush look that is mile-high hardy.
Favorite #3 - Pincushion Flower. Purple, purple, and more shades of purple. This is one of my favorites of the low-growing flowers that love sun and heat. I like to plant it towards the front of the garden and watch as each plant produces dozens of flowers all summer. Expect butterflies; they love these pincushions.
Favorite #4 - Big Sky Echinacea. The entire family of coneflowers does great at this altitude, but this one is a newcomer to our neck of the woods. Its spectacular bright pink, orange, and gold flowers stand a foot above the clump of dark green foliage. Watch out, 'cause this one is going to reseed like crazy!
Favorite #5 - 'Flying Saucers' Coreopsis. This orange perennial is a good substitute for annual marigolds; it’s the same color and of similar shape. It’s the choice for ‘wanna be’ gardeners with black thumbs because it is tough as nails and reseeds for a natural wildflower look. Oh, and yes, the flowers do look like flying saucers.
Favorite #6 - Petite Indigo Butterfly Bush. Known as the summer blooming lilac because its spectacular, fragrant, cone-shaped flowers resemble lilac blossoms. Scores of butterflies frequent the nectar-filled flowers. Easy to grow in tight spaces, this 5-footer is perfect as an accent or border planting and can be grown in containers.
Favorite#7 - Mexican Primrose - Actually, this is a weed with profuse pink flowers the size of silver dollars. Just don't put it in the middle of your garden or this low ground cover will take over and choke out any other plants. I put this one out in the dry edges of my gardens, and abuse it. The worse treatment it gets, the better a primrose blooms. Tromp on it, mow it, and forget to water this perennial for summer-long color. Tough, tough, tough.
Favorite #8 - Snowmound Spirea. This 3-foot tall shrub is easy to grow. Its graceful, spreading branches show off spectacular clusters of white flowers. Come fall, the blossoms have a special gold color. But, regardless the season, the flowers are excellent in cut flower arrangements. One of the nicest crops I've seen is in full bloom at the garden center now.

June is the start of perennial month at the garden centers and the selection changes as the different varieties come into bloom. Stop in often at your favorite center and enjoy the changing parade put on by these beautiful, dependable plants. Put them in your garden this season and enjoy them for years to come.
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My favorite way to communicate with fellow gardeners is an old-fashioned visit right here at Watters. But you also can contact me on my website at wattersonline.com; just click on the 'Questions for the Garden Center' button. You also can get answers to your gardening questions and hear what's on the minds of local gardeners by tuning in to my radio show, The Mountain Gardener, every Saturday from 10 to 11 AM on our National Public Radio stations KJZA 89.5 and 90.1FM. In Prescott and Flagstaff I can be heard on 1130AM and 99.9FM every Saturday from 11:00 to noon.

Until next week, I'll see you in the garden center.