Whether you’re starting a garden, filling window boxes, or sprucing up your garden, you need plants that will give you more bang for your buck – both in time and money spent. Smart and savvy gardeners turn to perennials to do just that.
Unlike annuals, once perennials are established, they will come back strong year after year without much extra effort on your part. Some plants, like Shasta daisies and gladiolus, will even multiply on their own.
These plants are some of the toughest ones out there when it comes to different weather and soil conditions. Just as importantly, they are beautiful to look at and will add lovely foliage and plenty of blooms to your outdoor spaces.
1. Daylilies
A beautiful addition to beds or borders, daylilies aren’t picky about their environment and can survive in just about any type of weather. True to their name, the flowers bloom for just a day, but the plants tend to have lots of buds, which means that they’ll provide flowers for much longer. Daylilies also spread easily and multiply, which is great if you need to fill a large space. There are thousands of varieties beyond the common orange and yellow ones you’ll see in most gardens, including deep purple and variegated hues.
2. Shasta Daisies
These cheap and cheerful plants spread happiness wherever they grow. Once established, they will return every spring or early summer, and come back bigger each year. Hardy Shasta daisies grow in clumps, and you can easily dig up and separate dense groupings and move them to other places in your garden. This will also help boost the number of blooms you’ll get.
3. Catmint
This perennial is tough-as-nails, a pollinator magnet, drought-tolerant, and it smells great too. Covered in tiny, silvery-green leaves and clusters of bluish-purple blossoms, catmint is one of the most low-maintenance additions to any landscape. It will return stronger each year, and depending on the variety, it can grow low to the ground or tall and dense.
4. Amsonia
Also called “blue star,” this shrub has tiny, pale blue star-shaped flowers in the spring and summer and long, wispy green leaves that turn vibrant yellow-orange in the fall. Despite its delicate appearance, amsonia thrives in tough soil conditions. Use it to create a striking border or add texture and colour to a cottage-style garden.
5. Black-Eyed Susans
If you’re looking for a plant that needs minimal care, these summertime favourites are as easy as they come. These plants will come back for several years in a row, leaving you with plenty of flowers for cutting well into fall. Because Black-eyed Susans are self-seeding, they tend to spread and take over, which is ideal if you’re filling a large area of your yard, but not if you’re adding them to a small garden with other plants.
6. Hydrangeas
With their fluffy flower heads and abundant foliage, hydrangeas will beautify your garden from spring until fall. These plants come in so many varieties, whether you want to keep them in containers (look for dwarf or compact varieties) or turn them into a wall of shrubbery (try panicle hydrangeas). No matter what kind you choose, they grow quickly and tend to come back bigger each year.
7. Coneflowers
If you think this type of plant only produces pink-purple flowers with domed brown centres, you’re missing out on the colourful world of coneflowers. These easygoing pollinator plants come in hues ranging from snowy white to deep red and have a long blooming season – from spring to autumn in many areas.
8. Gladiolus
Add drama to your garden with these tall, spiky plants covered in showy, ruffled flowers. Ideal for floral arrangements, gladiolus come in a rainbow of eye-popping colours and are extremely easy to maintain. The plants are grown from bulbs, and as they grow, they will produce more tiny bulbs and multiply each year.
9. Sedum
Also known as stonecrop, sedum is a great choice if you want a fuss-free flower that looks good. Its fleshy leaves help it cope with drought, while the late-summer flower heads bring colour as many other blooms are starting to fade. Perfect for pollinators: bees and butterflies love sedum, and the seed heads can bring structure through autumn and winter.
10. Hellebores
Hellebores are a gift for gardeners who want flowers when little else is blooming. Often appearing in late winter or early spring, their nodding blooms come in shades of white, pink, plum, green and speckled varieties. These tough perennials are ideal for shady borders, woodland-style gardens or under deciduous shrubs, where they will slowly bulk up over time. Once settled, hellebores need very little attention, and their leathery evergreen foliage helps keep borders looking full long after the flowers have faded.
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Lisa Cericola (she/her) is a writer and editor who specializes in travel, food, and culture. A South Florida native, Lisa lived in New York City for 15 years and now resides in beautiful Birmingham, Alabama. She has been an editor at Southern Living and Food Network Magazine and writes for numerous publications including Garden & Gun and Late Checkout. When she’s not working on a story, or planning her next trip, Lisa is likely making and selling small-batch olive oil granola at her local farmers market.
