How to Pick The Perfect Perennials for Your Garden
Are you thinking about growing some perennials in your landscaping or even as part of your edible garden? Perennials make a great option for your garden space and can be a wonderful asset for reducing your work for a beautiful garden.
Depending on what you choose to grow, you can even provide your family with a lot of food year after year with very little work by planting perennials now and reaping the benefits of them for years to come.
Consider Your Climate
The first thing to consider when choosing perennials is your climate. Certain perennials will thrive in specific climates, while others may not do as well. Check the hardiness zone for your area and choose perennials that are well-suited for your climate.
For more tropical bulbs, you can grow them in a colder zone, but you will have to dig them up and bring them inside for the winter. A good idea is to plant perennials that need a different climate in large pots, so you can move them indoors in the winter.
This is how many grow dwarf citrus or tropical flowers. If you do not want to do this extra work, stick to perennials that are best suited for your area.
Determine Your Soil Type
Different perennials prefer different types of soil. Before you start planting, determine the type of soil in your garden.
If you have sandy soil, choose perennials that thrive in well-drained soil. If you have clay soil, choose perennials that can handle heavy soil.
Remember that you can amend the soil before planting your perennials, but once they are planted, they will be in the same soil for several years, so you need to choose plants that will thrive in the soil you have.
If your soil nutrition is your only concern and not drainage or other structural issues, keep in mind that you can use fertilizers and compost in your perennial garden beds each year to ensure that your plants have plenty of nutrition to thrive.
Be sure to test the PH of your soil every season to ensure that your soil is well balanced to help your perennials thrive. For some, like hydrangeas, you can even adjust the PH level of your soil to change the look of your plants to help change things up every once in a while without having to put new plants in. Hydrangeas are a very popular perennial for this reason.
Choose Perennials to Have Blooms All Summer
Some perennials only bloom for a short period of time, while others will bloom throughout the growing season. Choose perennials with a long blooming period so you can enjoy their beauty for as long as possible.
Plus, mix in some that will bloom in different seasons to have a cascade of blooms from early spring to the first frost. This will help your perennial garden bed stay stunningly beautiful and satisfying all season long without having to add annuals to the space every year.
Consider The Size of The Plant
Perennials come in all shapes and sizes, so it’s important to choose plants that will fit well in your garden. Consider the height of the plant and choose perennials that will work well with the other plants in your garden.
For growing things like rosemary as a perennial, you will want to place it towards the back where the plant will not shade others at full size, while smaller plants should be placed in the front. Once your perennials are in the ground, you will not be rearranging them for a long time.
Choose Plants That Will Attract Pollinators to Your Space
If you want to attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to your garden, choose perennials that are known to attract them.
Examples include bee balm, coneflower, and salvia. When planting a perennial garden that will benefit you in the long run, adding flowering perennials to attract pollinators will help increase the production of your entire garden, including nearby vegetable garden beds.
Consider The Maintenance Required
One of the best benefits of planting a perennial garden or garden beds is that you can have beautiful landscaping, and even edible gardens, with less overall work in the long term, seeing you do not have to plant them year after year.
Some perennials require more maintenance than others. Choose plants that fit your level of gardening expertise and the amount of time you’re willing to invest in maintaining them.
Having as much of your garden easy to manage as possible can leave more time for higher yield and higher maintenance plants you may want to grow.
Research The Plants You Want to Grow
Before you purchase any perennials, do your research on each one. Read up on the plants you’re considering so you know the needs and maintenance involved. Make sure they’re well-suited for your garden.
Check to see if they have any specific soil or sun requirements, and make sure they’re not invasive so you can make wise choices on where to put each plant.
Consider companion plants for each thing you want to grow to help your plants thrive, prevent pests. and maximizing the space in your garden. Companion planting is one of the best things you can do for your garden, but you need to have a full understanding of each plant ahead of time.
Choose Your Plants Location Wisely
Besides knowing what can be planted near your perennials and where they should go to prevent the shading of your other plants, you need to plan for any annuals that will be mixed into these garden beds.
If you do plan to plant annuals near your perennial plants, be sure to label the areas that have perennials well, you could even use some twine to mark off the section of the bed they are in if you plan to plant before any perennials that die off have started to pop back up.
These tips will help you find the right perennials for your garden this year so you can grow a stunningly beautiful space that you can enjoy year after year.
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