Perennials Rule!
By Ken Lain, The Garden Guy

Color RULES at the garden center! In the past, annual flowers have taken 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 of my customers. Increasingly, gardeners are planting exclusively with perennials, their yearly investment in annuals becoming smaller and smaller.

Although I like the color anchor that my pockets of annuals give my garden, I blend in lots of perennials. They provide the permanent but ever-changing character that is created only with perennial flowers and shrubs. 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!

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

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 bloom. It's a must-see the next time you're at the garden center. Birds love the seed this plant produces.

Favorite #2 - Daylily. This dependable beauty has tropical-looking foliage and sports large lily-shaped flowers that bloom from now through Thanksgiving. Make sure to choose the evergreen varieties with blooms that range in shades from red and purple to orange and yellow. This plant is distinctive 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 his one is a newcomer to our neck of the woods. Its spectacular bright pink, orange, and gold flowers stand a foot above its 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. Same color, similar shape, and created especially for those of you with black thumbs. Hardy as nails and reseeds for a natural wildflower look. Oh, and yes, the flowers 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 - 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. One of the nicest crops I've seen is in full bloom at the garden center now. Come fall, the blossoms have a special gold color. But, regardless their seasonal color, the flowers are excellent in cut flower arrangements.

June is the start of perennial month at most 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.

My favorite way to communicate with fellow gardeners is an old-fashioned visit right here at Watters. But you also can contact me through my website at wattersonline.com, by clicking on the 'Questions for the Garden Center' button. You can get answers to your gardening questions and hear what's on the minds of local gardeners by tuning in to my radio show, Gardening in Granite, Saturdays from 7 to 8 AM on KYCA 1490AM.

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

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