- Red hot poker offer vibrant color for a perennial garden.red hot poker/ kniphofia image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com
A well-drained flower garden located in the sun can be home to many perennial plants that flower. To add bright color to the flower garden, try red hot poker (Kniphofia uvaria), a bushy perennial that produces stalks reaching 3 to 4 feet tall in the spring. Each stalk is topped with a conical-shaped orange bloom. Garden chrysanthemum (Dendrathema x morifolium), which reaches 1 to 2 feet tall, fits any style of garden. Also called mums, this compact plant's fall blooms may be white, yellow, burgundy, gold, rust or purple. - Tiny white bell-shaped blooms of lily of the valley offer a delightful scent.lily of the valley image by Olena Turovtseva from Fotolia.com
Options for a shade garden may include astilbe or false spirea (Astilbe x arendsii) that appears like waves of foam as the springtime blooms sway on thin stems. The blooms are plumlike in pink, white, lavender or red, and can reach up to 3 feet tall from a bushy base. Some varieties of columbine (Aquilegia x hybrida) produce a trumpetlike bloom with spurs extending from the back. The springtime blooms may be white or shades of pink, lavender or yellow bicolors reaching 2 to 3 feet tall. Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis), reaching about 10 inches tall, produces highly fragrant white blooms shaped liked tiny bells. - Butterfly enjoy the bloom of a butterfly bush.butterfly gathering nectar image by Robert Ford from Fotolia.com
Butterfly bush (Buddleja or Buddleia davidii) leads the list of full sun perennials that attract butterflies. This shrub produces canes that arch from the weight of spear-shaped blooms in colors of lavender-blue, white, pink or burgundy, summer to fall. The daisylike blooms of purple coneflower (Echinacea spp) appear on 2 to 4-foot stems. The cone, or center of the bloom, is enjoyed by birds in the late fall and can be dried to collect seeds. - Candytuft is covered with white blooms that are about 1 inch across.white flower cluster image by aberenyi from Fotolia.com
Ground cover may help to reduce soil erosion on a sloping yard. Candytuft (Beris sempervirens), with its white blooms, can reach a height of 10 inches. Candytuft prefers full sun and self seeds. Barrenwort (Epimedium) is a perennial ground cover for shade that can grow 6 to 12 inches tall depending on the variety. Small creamy blooms appear in late spring. Blood-red cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum) reaches about 12 inches tall in full sun or part shade. Look for spring blooms of purple, pink or red.
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