Gardening
Perennials
How to plan a gorgeous perennial flower garden layout
By
Peg Aloi
Peg Aloi
Peg Aloi is a gardening expert and former garden designer with 13 years experience working as a professional gardener in the Boston and upstate New York areas. She received her certificate in horticulture from the Berkshire Botanical Garden in 2018.
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Updated on 06/18/24
Reviewed by
Kathleen Miller
Reviewed byKathleen Miller
Kathleen Miller is a highly-regarded Master Gardener and horticulturist with over 30 years of experience in organic gardening, farming, and landscape design. She founded Gaia's Farm and Gardens,aworking sustainable permaculture farm, and writes for Gaia Grows, a local newspaper column.
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In This Article
How to Design
Ideas
Maintenance
Tips
FAQ
Some of the most luscious perennial gardens look as if they evolved over time, with flowers and color bursting from the landscape. But lush cottage-style flower beds are often the result of well-designed perennial garden ideas, taking into equal consideration where and what to plant.
Read on to find suggestions and ideas on how to layout, design, and plant a perennial garden that is visually appealing and becomes low maintenance as the years go by and the flowers return season-after-season.
What Is a Perennial?
A perennial is a plant that comes back after its first year. Often, these are flowers that pop up every spring, die back in the fall, then reappear again the next year.
How to Design a Perennial Flower Garden
There are a few broad steps to consider when choosing a plant and deciding where it will go in your garden.
- Step 1, Zones: Learn your planting zone so you can then begin to choose appropriate perennial plants.
- Step 2, Sizes: Know how tall the plants you choose will grow and spread over time. What is the mature size of the plant? It helps to know this information so you can choose plants of differing heights to group together in your garden design.
- Step 3, Blooms: Learn about each plant's bloom time and how long it will flower. You want to include plants that flower throughout the season so you will always have color. Choose plants with flowers that can stand up to your area's weather because some plants might be too vulnerable to damage from wind, rain, or heat. Also, consider fragrance—some plants have surprising malodorous scents, such as the yellow alyssum, which does not smell sweet like its cousin.
- Step 4, Colors: Know whether the flowers you choose will have blooms and foliage that change color over time. If they change, when and what colors should you expect? Check the plant's cultivars for different colors you'd prefer in your design.
- Step 5, Habitats: Does the plant you want have specific light, soil, or water needs that differ from surrounding plants? For example, black cohosh and bleeding heart do best in perennial shade gardens, but not in full sun. Group plants with similar watering needs. For example, if you are planning a xeriscape garden, don't include a perennial plant like astilbe which needs the type of moist soil that drought-resistant types do not. Learn what pests and diseases may afflict the plant or any adjacent plants.
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Perennial Garden Ideas
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Get the Big Picture
Look at your garden from a distance and see how the plantings work together. When we work in the garden, we're often "up close and personal" with plants, but designing requires stepping back to get a more comprehensive perspective of your space. This is especially important if you have trees and large shrubs in your landscape—consider the entire impact of your design. Step back to take in the big picture and see how your plantings balance and flow into one another.
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Plant Bulbs for Early Spring Color
You can't beat spring bulbs for low-effort color in spring. But, they only bloom for a few weeks. By planting your spring bulbs (crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips) by your hostas and daylilies, the bulb foliage will be dying back once the foliage from these later season plants starts to emerge. This makes for great use of space and fills in the gaps between seasons of bloom.
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Arrange Plants By Height
Most of the time, you will want to put taller plants in the back of the bed and shorter ones in front. Exceptions can be plants with very delicate sprays of flowers, or tall slender stems with flowers at the very top, which can go in front even if their stems are taller than the plants they're in front of (like alliums, salvias, coral bells/heucheras, veronica, columbines, bluebells, or forget-me-nots).
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Create Visual Patterns with Color
Planting to create a pattern of color to draw the eye is a well-known landscape designer's trick. See how the purple foliage of these heucheras creates a dynamic pattern that leads the eye across the garden and connects them to the purple tones of the Japanese maples. The purple-toned foliage of these heucheras and Japanese maples creates a dynamic pattern that leads the eye.
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Strive for Interesting Shapes and Textures
Plant strategically to create a lively combination of shapes and textures. Even a simple shade garden can balance the sturdy rounded or pointed leaves of hostas with the delicate textures of heuchera leaves and flowers, airy astilbes, and spiky ferns. Consider also how a plant's texture may change as the season progresses. The delicate airy texture of heuchera flowers (coral bells) is a perfect contrast to the heavier shapes and textures of hostas in this shade garden.
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Try Color Blocking
Some gardeners like to have a large variety of plants in their mixed perennial beds. But there is something to be said for the dramatic impact of a large area blooming with vibrant color, making your garden into a seasonal show-stopper. This is especially effective with long-blooming perennial flowers like columbines, echinacea, hydrangeas, dianthus, chrysanthemums, etc.
Plant other flowering plants nearby that will add color when these show-stoppers are done; try chrysanthemums or perennial snapdragons in front of your echinacea.
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Design with Foliage
Perennial flowers don't always have long seasons of bloom, so learning which plants have colorful or interesting foliage can help you design a garden that stays rich and interesting through the seasons.
Heucheras come in a rainbow of colors with differently-shaped leaves and do well in sun or shade. Hostas and daphne come in variegated varieties that add visual depth and interest. Silvery tones can come from artemisia or brunnera. The beautifully-shaped leaves of oakleaf hydrangeas and amsonia provide brilliant autumn color.
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Create Colorful Shade Beds
Many perennials will happily bloom in partial shade, so your shade beds needn't be all hostas and astilbes! Perennial geraniums weave in and out among plants in search of dappled sun, and other colorful part-shade lovers include foxgloves, alliums, irises, heucheras, and primroses. See how the purple tones and lacy texture of the Japanese painted fern complement the 'Rozanne' geraniums and 'Millennium' alliums here.
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Time Your Blooms Right
One of the biggest challenges in garden design is finding ways to have flowers blooming consistently throughout the season. But, consider how certain plants may have a more dramatic impact than others.
Maybe you want your roses to take the starring role. Maybe your peonies are the pride of the neighborhood. Let those pink David Austin roses shine by keeping other early summer blooming perennials to a minimum nearby, unless you want an all-pink garden, in which case, go for it! With a bit of practice and research, you can plant strategically to showcase certain plants at the height of their bloom season.
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Plant Flowering Groundcovers
Ground covers can be a wonderful way to fill in empty spots and add low-growing beauty to your beds. Some bloom in spring (like sweet woodruff, epimedium, or creeping phlox), some in summer (spreading dianthus), and some in fall (like creeping sedums which come in many colors, or peacock plumbago with its bright cobalt blue flowers). Depending on your climate, there are a great many to choose from.
Tip
Be careful with ground covers like vinca that grow matted roots, as these can spread and crowd out the roots of other perennials. But, planting these evergreen plants beneath a tree where not much else will grow adds year-round color. For example, the vivid blue flowers on peacock plumbago make it a gorgeous choice for ground cover.
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Experiment with Contrasting Colors
Opposites on the color wheel create vibrant, dramatic contrasts in the garden. Pair purples and yellows, oranges and blues, or reds and greens, including variations like magenta and chartreuse for dynamic color combinations.
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Balance Warm and Cool Colors
Many gardeners love having a garden that is all cool colors (blues, purples, pinks) while some enjoy vibrant warm colors like reds, yellows, and oranges. Having a mix of warm and cool palettes makes for maximum visual appeal. You can mix them in one bed, or have one section that's cool next to one that's warm. The possibilities are endless and can include both flowers and foliage.
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Choose Easy-to-Divide Perennials
Perennial dividing is usually a yearly task for the avid gardener. Some perennials will tend to show decreased vitality in their blooming if left undivided, as the roots or tubers may get crowded. Most types of irises need dividing every three years, as do daylilies and hostas; all three are very easy to divide. Some plants benefit from once yearly division, such as artemisia 'Silver Mound.' Once you divide them (mid to late autumn is the best time) you can replant the divisions immediately.
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Go For Late-Season Blooms
Many gardeners find it challenging to keep a vibrant palette of blooms happening through three seasons. Don't neglect to plant late-blooming perennials, especially in spots where other perennials will have stopped blooming for the season. Anemones are a lovely sight in autumn with their delicate pinks and whites fluttering above the flower bed like fairies. The deep blues of monkshood add dramatic color too.
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Add Winter Interest
Why stop at three seasons of beauty? Winter can be a beautiful time in the garden, even if you're looking at it from inside a warm room, standing by the window with a cup of hot chocolate. Many evergreen shrubs and trees hold up to the weight of heavy wet snow and create sculptural shapes and a bit of color in the winter landscape.
Consider leaving some plants intact for winter, like tall sedums, that create a lovely shape, then cut back in spring as new growth appears. Think about adding perennial ornamental grasses into your garden design for winter texture. This snowy garden has beautiful forms and textures from its evergreen and tree plantings.
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Plant in Containers
Containers are an easy way to add height, shape, and balance to your garden and give you flexibility in terms of placement and adding plants throughout the season. A solid clay pot can offer an earthy feel next to airy, delicate blooms or the spreading branches of shrubs. You can also choose brightly colored pots to add to your garden's colorways.
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Incorporate Frost-Hardy Color
Many perennials will keep blooming after a light frost, including late-season chrysanthemums and perennial snapdragons. Such plants can provide much-needed color and form later in the season. These football mums keep their form and color even after a light frost in November.
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Add Flowering Shrubs
Flowering shrubs can be colorful centerpieces in your perennial beds. They bloom at different points in the season, so plant them where you want seasonal impact. Azaleas and rhododendrons in spring, weigelas and hydrangeas in summer, Rose of Sharon through fall, for example.
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Plant for Autumn Color
Plant perennials that flower in autumn (chrysanthemums, snapdragons, sedums) but also plan for foliage shifting to rich autumn color and plant accordingly. Many plants provide bright and earthy colors in autumn. Japanese maples, ferns, amsonia, hydrangeas, heuchera, ninebark, and fothergilla are but a few.
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Don't Forget Deadheading
Deadheading is vital in the busy summer season. Some plants that offer thrilling blooms need frequent deadheading to stay fresh-looking. One good example is the day lily (hemerocallis): the blooms only last one day but there are always new ones about to open; plucking off the dead/drooping flowers makes the most of the blooming time.
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Choose Long-Lasting Blooms
You don't have to sacrifice planting your favorite short-blooming flowers for the sake of having a lush perennial garden. Plant the briefest blooms between long-lasting perennials like purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) and catmint.
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Plant Annuals that Act Like Perennials
Annuals like zinnias, cornflowers, and cosmos will often reseed every year, becoming a reliable "perennial" flower. Many of these colorful annuals are heavy with nectar and beloved by pollinators. You can collect the seeds to plant in spring (direct sow after the last frost date), or just let early annuals like cornflowers reseed themselves.
Tip
The great thing about perennials is that if they're not ideal in one spot, they can be moved to another. And when they grow larger, you can divide them and plant more! Remember to observe how plants do after they're planted: they are the best teachers and will tell you if they're content.
Maintaining Your Perennial Garden
The beauty of a perennial garden is that once it's planted, you'll enjoy flowers that come back every year. Your work goes from planting to maintaining, deadheading, fertilizing, and making sure the garden is ready for the next year.
Assuming that you've planted a garden filled with primarily native plants or those that are intentionally chosen to thrive in the conditions in your yard, your everyday maintenance should be minimal. You can fertilize your plants seasonally and add a layer of compost annually. Deadheading is a matter of preference. It can encourage your flowers to continue bloom, but it's not necessary.
At the end of the season, you can dive perennials that have spread or cut them back when cold weather sets in and they begin to die.
Perennial Garden Tips
When planting a perennial garden, there are a few dos and don'ts that can make your life easier and help your garden thrive.
Do: Plant Perennials According to Their Growing Requirements
Your work will be easier if you plant perennials that will thrive in your yard conditions. If you plant shade-loving plants in the sun, you'll have to water them constantly. However, if you plant sun-loving plants in sun, they'll do just fine.
Don't: Ignore Your Zone
If you plant a perennial that is not hardy for your zone, you may fine that it turns into an annual, meaning it won't come back the next year.
Do: Deadhead for More Blooms
If you want to encourage more blooms, deadhead your perennials. This focuses their energy on producing more blooms rather than pushing out seeds on spent blooms.
Don't: Letting Tall Perennials Flop Over
Tall perennials often have to be staked to keep them from flopping over. For perennials like foxglove, aster, or delphinium, add a tomato cage or stake.
FAQ
Which month is best for planting perennials in your garden?
The best time to plant perennials are spring and fall. This is when the ground is workable, and your plants can settle in before extreme heat or cold.
How do you stagger a flower bed?
To maximize color in your garden, use staggered planting or succession planting. Plant flowering perennials intentionally so you have successive blooming over an extended period. As one group fades, another planting group blooms, and this pattern continues during the growing season.
What’s the best way to lay out perennials in a garden?
In general, you'll want tall plants in the back (or in the center of an island bed), medium height in the middle, and lower plants in the front so each plant gets its moment in the (literal!) sun. Also consider color and how the palette will work together.
How deep should flower beds be?
Generally, plan on a minimum depth of 12 inches, although 6 inches is adequate for many plants. If you add a porous layer of compost or mulch, take into account those extra inches.
Which flowering perennials bloom all summer long?
Coneflowers, shasta daisies, and black eyed susans are pollinator favorites that bloom all summer long.
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