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A selection of tough, long-lived perennials – great for your first perennial border

Garden Chat

I remember my first perennial border. I had bought two packets of seed in late winter. That spring I proudly planted about 30 feet of Shasta daisy and Bellis perrenis. The Shasta daisy thrived and soon had seeded itself in the lawn. The Bellis perrenis did not survive. 

Many perennials and 40-some years later, I’ve learned a little through trial and lots of error. If I were to do it all again, here is my selection – based on hardiness, longevity, good behavior and foliage as well as flowers. These perennials should get you off to a good start and then you can begin with your own trials and errors, knowing that the basics are in place. Don’t be afraid of the botanical or Latin names. They ensure you buy what you really want.

Monkshood (Aconitum spp.) is about three to four feet tall with attractive foliage and blue (or bicolour purple and white) flowers. It seldom needs staking. Plant in full sun to partial shade in evenly moist, organic soil.

Goatsbeard (Aruncus diocus) with panicles of creamy flowers (said to resemble the beard of a goat) does well in partial to full shade with evenly moist, organic soil. It reaches about three feet in height.

Canadian ginger (Asarum canadensis) is an excellent ground cover in a moist shady spot. About six inches tall, the attractive foliage is roundish and about two to three inches in diameter. The flowers are usually hidden below the foliage – and not worth seeking out on bended knee. European ginger (Asarum europaeum) is similar, but with glossy leaves.

Basket of Gold, perennial alyssum (Aurinia saxatillis) is easily raised from seed and will soon form a plant about six inches tall and 18 inches across. It produces golden yellow flowers for about four weeks in mid-spring and is excellent for rock gardens or the front of the border. Plant in full sun in well-drained soil

Bergenia (Bergenia cordifolia) has to be one of the most long-lived and adaptable of all perennials. Gertrude Jekyll, a famous British garden designer, included this among her “signature” plants. It does equally well in full sun to full shade, dry to moist soil, rock gardens to bog plantings. Only 12 inches tall, the leaves turn a reddish-purple in fall and pink flowers emerge in early spring. It makes an excellent ground cover but is not unduly aggressive.

Karl Foerster reed grass (Calamagrostis acutifolia) is one of the best, if not the best, of the ornamental grasses suitable for the prairies. It grows four to five tall and forms a good-sized clump without being aggressive or invasive. Green in the summer, it turns a handsome beige in fall and waves gently in the wind and snow through the winter. Plant in full sun in average soil.

Bleeding heart (Dicentra spp.) (up to two by two feet depending on species) is an old-fashioned perennial with lovely foliage that graced the gardens of the Victorians and probably that of your grandparents. The flowers, in pink or white, were thought by the overly romantic Victorians to resemble a broken or bleeding heart of unrequited love. They do best in partial shade in organic soil with plenty of moisture.

Sara will be discussing more of her favourite perennials  in her workshop, “Perennials: The Enduring and the Fleeting” during the University of Saskatchewan Hortweek in July,  2016. For this full program of more than 30 classes and workshops on a wide range of gardening topics (some of them free), go to https://ccde.usask.ca/mastergardener.

— This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (www.saskperennial.ca; hortscene@yahoo.com; www.facebook.com/saskperennial). Check out our Bulletin Board or Calendar for upcoming garden information sessions, workshops and tours.