10 Top Perennials For Summer – Anywhere!
Try these 10 top perennials in your garden for non stop color.
Having lived in Zimbabwe with its warm days and cool nights, summer rain and winter drought, and now living in Northern California with cool days and cooler nights, winter rains and summer droughts, I can confidently say that these 10 top perennials will flower lavishly in summer in either place and all over the more temperate world. They form the base of any garden, providing long summer color and returning year after year. This list is in no particular order as the plants are all fabulous and all grow well.
1. Roses. There is such a huge variety of roses, from miniatures to climbing and every type in between, and they’re incredibly durable! I like them best in a general garden bed. I love the scented, cabbage roses best but they’re all okay by me. Here, near the sea, they need remarkably little water but inland they need to be watered regularly.
2. Agapanthus. I have tall ones, short ones, white, pale blue and indigo ones. Some disappear here in winter but they all come back with friends the next season. Water wise. Definitely a top perennial in my book.
3. Gauras, or Butterfly Bushes. Produce butterfly like blooms on long, wiry red stems out of neat green mounds. Can get them in white, pale pink or vivid pink, like mine. Water wise but bloom better with regular watering.
4. Salvias. They come in all sizes, all colors and butterflies and bees love them all. Did you know that sage is a variety of salvia?
5. Yarrow. Tough but pretty plants that tolerate drought, they come in white, yellow, lavender, red and apricot. The yellow ones grow on cliffs above the ocean. I particularly love the red but they’re all eye catching, and they stop nosebleeds if you stuff the leaves up your nostrils!
6. Fuchsias. I have had a long love affair with fuchsias, and why wouldn’t I? They are quite stunning, their ballet skirts trembling in the wind. Give them some afternoon shade though, or their leaves burn. They’re more sun tolerant near the coast.
7. Shasta daisies. These sun loving perennials have really come into their own this year, putting them among my 10 top perennial must haves. They’re full of the joys of summer and are really putting on a great show. Mine are white but you can also get them in cream. Some have big, frilly flowers and others are smaller but more abundant. They’re all lovely and have a long blooming season.
8. Lilies. Of course, no perennial list would be complete without lilies. Stunning, scented and always making more, lilies are a must have in any garden or pot. They die back in winter but keep them a little moist because they’re just waiting for spring again.
9. Alstroemerias. You can’t have enough of these beauties. I’m building up my collection and now have half a dozen different colors. Plant them in large pots and they’ll do well, but put them in a flower bed and they’ll just take off, giving you two long and lovely shows during the growing season.
10. Hydrangeas. Give them the right conditions (not full sun and plenty of water) and hydrangeas will reward you with their delightful flowers for weeks in summer. These days, there are so many different kinds to choose from that it’s quite bewildering, but be the flowers ball shaped, open or elongated, white pink or blue, they are all fabulous in pots or in the garden.
Of course, these 10 top perennials are just some of the wonderful array of summer perennials, but they’re all easy to grow and flourish in my garden.
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