12 Perennials You’ve Never Heard of (But Should Plant), According to a Garden Writer
These beautiful perennials often get overlooked but deserve a spot in your garden!
A garden is loveliest when you plant a combination of annuals for instant impact and perennials for seasonal color. While I adore popular perennials such as lavender, coneflowers, and irises, there are so many other lesser-known perennials that are under-appreciated. Adding a few less common perennials to your garden provides an additional layer of interest and makes your yard uniquely yours.
Many of my less common favorites are old-fashioned plants that aren’t seen as often in nurseries these days, though you can find them online. Some I love simply because of their whimsical common names! Others are new hybrids that are less vulnerable to disease and pest pressure, so they deserve a spot in your garden as low-maintenance plantings.
My picks provide color, texture and fragrance for your garden, as well as supporting native pollinators. And many of these plants are deer and rabbit resistant, which is always a challenge in my own garden where my neighboring wildlife tends to treat new plantings like an all-you-can-eat salad bar!
Just remember when you’re choosing perennials to select those that can survive winters in your USDA Hardiness Zone (find yours here). Then give them the correct sun exposure. Full sun is considered 6 or more hours of direct sunlight per day, while part sun is about half that. Shade is a spot that receives only morning sun, or perhaps a bit of dappled sunlight.
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Ahead, my favorite perennials that you’ve maybe never heard of—but should definitely plant this year:
Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)
Sunlight: Full sun
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 7
Lady’s mantle has the most striking scalloped leaves, covered in hundreds and hundreds of teeny golden flowers in late spring. The most appealing feature is how water droplets glisten on the pretty leaves. I love going out after a rain shower to see the sparkly droplets or dew on the foliage! Best of all, deer and rabbits leave this perennial alone.
Pigsqueak (Bergenia)
Sunlight: Part shade to shade
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 9
You need to grow this old-fashioned plant if only for its adorable name! Clusters of pink or white flowers appear in mid-spring nestled above thick, glossy evergreen leaves. The plant gets its name from the sound it makes when you rub the leaves between your fingers. Deer and rabbits don’t touch this plant in my garden, but early season pollinators love it.
Related: The 25 Best Shade-Loving Perennials
Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium)
Sunlight: Sun to part sun
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 7
This old-fashioned favorite has tons of purple blooms in spring. I love the way the bell-shaped flowers on long stems rise above fern-y ladder-like arrangement of leaves. It also makes a great addition to cutting gardens. Pollinators are attracted to it, but deer don’t bother it.
Related: 10 Nostalgic Flowers Your Grandma Always Grew—and You Should, Too
Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum spp)
Sunlight: Shade to part shade
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 9
This slow-growing perennial eventually forms dense colonies of arching foliage and dangling white bell-like flowers. It can grow from 18 to 36 inches tall, depending on the variety. It’s an old-school cottage garden plant that adds charm to any modern garden. Deer and rabbits avoid it.
Related: 86 Flowers for a Country Garden
Dead Nettle (Lamium maculatum)
Sunlight: Full to part sun
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 8
Okay, so it’s not the most appealing common name. But this perennial has gorgeous silvery-splashed foliage and pink, white, or purple flowers that appear from spring to summer. It’s a fast grower, quickly becoming a handsome ground cover that deer and rabbits won’t eat. In my garden, it’s equally happy in shade or sun. It gets its name because the foliage resembles plants in the nettle family, which have stinging hairs—but this plant lacks these hairs (thus it’s “dead”).
Barrenwort (Epimedium)
Sunlight: Part sun to shade
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 8
Heart-shaped foliage and tiny, delightful flowers in spring make this ground cover a low-maintenance favorite in my garden. It’s one of the few perennials that thrive in dry shade, and deer and rabbits leave it alone. Some varieties also sport coppery fall foliage.
Geum (Geum)
Sunlight: Full sun
UDSA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 9
Blooming in shades of peach, pink, lemony yellow, or red from early spring well into summer, I’ll never understand why this lesser-known perennial isn’t found in every garden. Tall flowers with wiry stems dance above mounded foliage, making it an attractive deer and rabbit resistant ground cover. Butterflies love this flower! Remove spent flowers for repeat blooms.
Goatsbeard (Aruncus)
Sunlight: Sun to part sun
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 8
Feathery flowers top this native perennial that thrives in shade. Butterflies, bees and birds love this plant, so add it to your pollinator garden for maximum impact. The bushy clumps can grow to 6 feet tall, and the blooms do resemble a billy goat's wispy beard!
Calamint (Calamintha nepeta)
Sunlight: Full sun
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 8
This is definitely one of the lesser-known perennials on my list, but it deserves a spot in every garden for its oodles of tiny purple flowers atop minty-scented foliage and easy-care nature. It looks amazing massed in my border plantings, and pollinators love it! Deer and rabbits leave it be.
Milkweed (Asclepius spp)
Sunlight: Full sun
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 7
Maybe you’ve heard of milkweed, but are you planting this under-appreciated native in your garden? Clusters of pink, orange, white, red or mixed flowers attract tons of pollinators, but it’s also host plant for the larvae (caterpillars) of Monarch butterflies.
Cranesbill (Geranium)
Sunlight: Full to part sun
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 8
This perennial geranium gets its name from the delicate flowers atop long stems, which become seedpods that resemble a crane in flight. The minty-scented foliage, which deters deer and rabbits, spreads rapidly. Charming flowers in hot pink, pale pink, purple or white, depending on the variety, appear in late spring to early summer. Native to eastern North America, it's one of my all-time favorite easy-care ground covers.
Keep reading: Perennial Geraniums: Planting, Growing, & Care Tips
Lungwort (Pulmonaria)
Sunlight: Part sun to shade
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 9
It may not have the most attractive name, but this plant was once purported to have medicinal purposes in treating lung diseases. It’s a hardy perennial that can handle even the coldest winters! It has attractive silvery-spotted foliage, covered in tiny pinkish-to-blue flowers in early spring. Best of all, it’s deer and rabbit resistant.
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