Understated Beauty, Perennially Yours

I’ll admit it. I love perennials. While annuals may be the fashionista’s of the garden, providing the instant wow that we all crave, perennials often lay unappreciated and under used. This is unfortunate. Packed with interesting blooms, and fantastic foliage, perennials are the workhorses of our gardens. Reliably returning every year, keeping my pocket book and my husband very happy!

While flipping through my early spring copy of Proven Beauty^®, I was struck by a moment of kindred spirit. Mixing perennials and annuals? Wow! These people really get me! Here within the bright pages ‘Perennially Beautiful’ offers great ways to intermix these plants in our gardens! They take the fear out of perennials with expert tips, like potting them for the first year. By taking time to learn their habits, we can better understand their growth before committing them to ground.

Take a gorgeous perennial like Veronica ‘Hocus Pocus’, with its tall violet purple wands filled with long lasting flowers. This new hybrid reaches heights of up to 20” and makes a great filler plant for container gardens.  Paired with a dramatic shock of black/purple like Graceful Grasses^® Vertigo^®, and stuffed with fabulous spiller plants like Sunsatia^® Coconut you’ll have a pot full of instant satisfaction for the whole season. 

Or simplify things with a one pot, one plant approach. Veronica ‘Sweet Lullaby’ makes a wonderfully carefree planting. A shorter variety, it reaches 6”, flush with pristine pink spikes of blooms.

When fall finally does arrive, you can transplant the perennial directly into the garden, or leave it as is. Given a couple years growth, you won’t have to choose. Most perennials are easily split, allowing you the opportunity to share your plants within your garden. One of the many joys of growing perennials!

^© Proven Winners, LLC.