What are the benefits of featuring flowering perennials in your garden?

When planning your garden, it can be hard to choose your plants as there are so many exciting options. All gardens would benefit from the splashes of colour or white highlights provided by flowers.

If you wish to feature flowering plants in your garden, you will need to decide whether those plants should be annuals or perennials.

Annual flowering plants only live for one year while perennials will live for several years. As the plants you choose for your garden will impact its aesthetics, health and maintenance requirements, it is worth taking the time to consider what would work best for both you and your space.

Annuals certainly give you a wonderful array of colours to choose from and are ideal for beds, baskets and containers. But most gardens would benefit from the inclusion of perennials too.

What are primary benefits of perennials?
There are many good reasons to invest in flowering perennials:

• Perennials are generally hardier than annuals.
  Most perennials, especially native species, are hardier than annuals. It is possible to choose perennials that are well-adapted to challenging conditions such as polluted cities, windy coastlines, exposed hillsides and rainy regions.
• There are shade tolerant options
  Most annuals will only thrive in sunlight but with perennials, you will find plants that are suited to shade or partial shade.
• You can minimise fertiliser usage
  Many perennial plants do not require fertiliser. Indeed, some species will produce more flowers when not fertilised as fertiliser tends to promote foliage growth rather than blooms.
• Perennials require less water
  You will discover that perennials, once established, will require watering only once or twice each week. Infrequent watering will encourage the plant’s roots to extend further into the soil to reach groundwater. This will give them a greater ability to endure drought conditions or to survive while you are on holiday.
• Perennials’ roots help to prevent erosion
  Perennials tend to boast deeper and stronger root systems than annuals. These help stabilize the soil and encourage water to filter through it. Erosion and waterlogging are minimised.
• They can help beneficial organisms to thrive
  Perennials play important roles in soil health. As these plants don’t need to be replaced each year, soil disturbance is reduced to optimise carbon retention and to enable organisms to thrive.
• They bring nutrients to the surface
  Perennials have deeper root systems than annual plants and so are able to reach nutrients that are deeper in the soil. They bring those nutrients to the surface where other plants can access them.
• Perennials reduce maintenance
  These plants require a little trimming and deadheading but other than that, need minimal maintenance. You won’t need to replant your beds every year and you won’t spend so much time watering.
• Pollinator-attracting varieties promote biodiversity
  You can select flowering perennials that will bring butterflies, bees and other pollinators to your garden.
• You will save money with perennials
  Perennials tend to be more expensive to purchase than annuals but they will live for several years. You won’t have to spend money on new plants every year and you will use less water and fertiliser. Over the longer term, perennials are cost-effective options.

Downsides of perennials

As with most things in life, there are potential downsides to planting perennials. You will need to weigh these up against the advantages of the plants to decide what’s best for your circumstances.

• Shorter blooming times
  Most perennials boast shorter blooming times than annuals. There are exceptions including salvia, achillea and cranesbill.
• Delayed flowering
  Perennials initially focus their energy on establishing foliage and roots. For this reason, they may not develop as many flowers as you might wish in the first year or two.
• Less vibrancy
  You may find it hard to match the colourful displays that you can achieve with annuals.
• Costly to change your mind
  Perennials are more costly to purchase than annuals but save you money over time. However, if you decide early on that you don’t like your planting scheme, it could prove costly to replace the plants.

Which flowering perennials should you choose?
There are so many excellent flowering perennials that we couldn’t possibly mention all of your choices here. However, we can recommend a few special plants that are definitely worthy of your attention:

Flowering perennials for shady areas

• Hydrangea
• Astilbe
• Astrantia
• Cyclamen
• Bergenia
• Viola

Long-flowering perennials

• Achillea
• Coneflower
• Cranesbill
• Astilbes
• Hylotelephium
• Salvia

Perennials for coastal gardens

• Erigeron
• Limonium latifolium
• Nepeta
• Agapanthus
• Libertia
• Valerian

Flowering perennials for exposed hillsides

• Gorse
• Mahonia
• Rosa Rugosa
• Escallonia
• Stachys byzantine

Perennials for vibrant colour

• Tigridia
• Agapanthus
• Lupinus
• Paeonia
• Armeria
• Aubretia

How do you decide which perennials to feature?

Before investing in your perennials, establish the height of plant that you need for each area of your garden. You should also think about colour schemes as it is important to choose flowers that work well together.

You can then explore your options. Gather information about the plants that you like to ensure that they will grow to suitable heights and that their spreads wouldn’t negatively impact other specimens.

Choose species that are suited to your soil and location. Try to source perennials with flowers that complement both each other and your existing flowers. Think about when the plants will flower and for how long. Do you want all your flowers to bloom at the same time or would you prefer to spread flowering times across the year?

Create a list of suitable plants. It can help to print images of the plants in flower and then experiment with combinations. Try to work on one area of your garden at a time and to complete that space before moving on to another. It is much easier to cope with planting one bed at a time than it is to order your thoughts regarding multiple areas of your garden.

Whichever plants you go for, if you decide that you don’t like the results, you can always move plants and/or invest in new ones. Planting perennials isn’t like laying a patio. It really wouldn’t be that difficult to undo any planting schemes that haven’t worked well for you.

It is worth thinking about engaging the services of a professional gardener who can use their knowledge and experience to evolve a planting scheme that showcases the perfect perennials for your space.