Tried and True Favorites: Perennials That We’ll Always Love

Famous for padding out bouquets with color, the flowers of evergreen Alstroemeria hybrids resemble orchids and last two to three weeks in a vase. They come in a stunning array of shades, including pink, purple, orange, and golden yellow. The 2-to 3-foot tall plants produce flowering shoots as long as the soil stays cool. To encourage continuous blooms, prune stems near the base.

Hybrids of S. telephium and S.spectabile, Sedums in the Herbstfreude group are prized for their distinct upright form and showy blooms. Growing between 1-2 feet high and 2 feet wide, all send up flower spikes that can be cut for bouquets. With dusty pink flowers and gray-green foliage, Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (pictured) brings masses of color to late summer perennial gardens. If you are planting seeds, sow them in the early spring. If you’re transplanting, do it in the fall.

We’ve all heard the Greek myth about Narcissus right? Super hot guy won’t Netflix and chill with any of the ladies who like him on Bumble, eventually falls in love with his own Insta account and stares at it for the rest of his life. Fortunately, daffodils, members of the genus Narcissus, are far less picky. Easy to grow bulbs, make sure they’ll get enough sun early in the spring when you plant them in the fall. Then step back and admire your gardening prowess. Just don’t get too big a head, or, well, you know.

This 3 foot-tall salvia’s foliage smells like ripe pineapples, but it’s best in fall when it sends up spikes of vivid red flowers, full of nectar to entice hummingbirds. Plant it where it will get sun for a few hours a day, and preferably, where you’ll brush against it as you walk by. This striking herb is another wonderful addition to a tea garden or for creating pollinator-friendly landscaping.

A rose by any other name would be called Mrs. Bradshaw. A member of the rose family, Mrs. Bradshaw has double scarlet blooms, while ‘Lady Stratheden’ has clear yellow flowers. Both have a delicate wildflower look, and produce burrs after blooming is finished. Remove spent blossoms to prevent them, or they’ll mat up your pet’s fur faster than you can say “Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

Beardtongue is bushy a plant that’s fairly short-lived, but to make up for it, it produces lots of trumpet-shaped blooms over a long period. Deep purple ‘Midnight’ and scarlet ‘Firebird’ are standouts for their vivid, south-of-the-border colors. Pink and white ‘Appleblossom’ looks fresh and springlike. These drought-tolerant hummingbird favorites are practically made for rock gardens; pair them with thornless prickly pear (Opuntia ellisiana) and a red-flowering rock rose (we like Helianthemum ‘Fire Dragon’) on rocky, well-drained soils with full sun.

Coreopsis ‘Mango Punch’ grows in a compact mound (12 in. x 18 in.) and drips with flowers in sunny shades. While coreopsis can overwinter in mild climates as a perennial, but in cold climates, you’ll want to wait to plant in the spring.

Rue (Ruta graveolens) may be a bit subtle in the flower department (though some find their dewy, lemon-yellow blooms sweet), but that doesn’t mean you’ll rue the day you planted it; its feathery foliage is a surprisingly fragrant study in cool blue-gray. A classic perennial to plant in the fall, rue’s also a lovely foil to pale green-white or burgundy-brown flowers like nicotiana, trumpet lily, and chrysanthemum. Fun fact: Roman author and naturalist Pliny the Elder recommended mixing rue with famously poisonous white oleander as a drink to cure snake bites, but please don’t take his advice.

By the beach? Mediterannean Spurge (Euphorbia chiracias wulfenii) is a tough little plant and tolerates salt spray well. After blooming is finished, trim off flowering stems near the base to maintain a tidy appearance, but wear gloves! Euphorbias bleed a sticky, white latex when cut, and this can gum up pruning shears and cause skin irritation; wash well with soapy water to remove the sap. 

Give me an A! Give me a B! Give me a G! Who doesn’t love the pompom blooms of Gaillardia x grandiflora? Many varieties are available with tufted single or double flowers in various warm shades of yellow, bronze, and red. We love the ‘Fanfare Blaze,’ with its dark coral-red trumpetlike ray flowers and compact (12-16″ tall) form; peachy-orange ‘Arizona Apricot’ (pictured), which grows to a foot or two in height; and 1-2 feet tall ‘Sunset Popsy’ with deep red flowers bordered in a rim of yellow. Plant seeds in the fall for spring.

Masses of showy velvet flower spikes cover gray-green shrubs from late summer into spring in mild-winter climates (bloom stops with frost in colder regions). Though the tube-shaped flowers are white, the persistent sepals are the most sumptuous shade of purple, so even after the flowers have dropped these plants look a treat. The best time to plant is in early spring. Mexican brush shade reach roughly 4-6 feet tall and wide, and though they prefer full sun and regular watering, they’re drought- and shade-tolerant. Once they’re established, these lookers are low-maintenance but benefit from an annual trim during fall clean-up.

Black-eyed Susan is well-loved for its deep, butterscotch-yellow ray flowers radiating from dark chocolate centers. Grown in full sun, plants reach 3 to 4 feet tall and 1 ½ feet wide. Though the yellow and black flower form (pictured) is a classic, we also love varieties like ‘Cherokee Sunset’ for its amber-brown blooms and fuzzy button-nosed centers; ‘Caramel Mixed’ for its softer autumn colors and rounded form; and ‘Cherry Brandy’ for its dark red rays and black centers. Rudbeckias can be found at pretty much any nursery or garden center for fall planting, or can be grown from seed with ease.

Heuchera comes in a wide variety of colors, and we love them for being colorful shade-tolerant troopers. Their lasting power as a perennial comes from their flexibility in Western gardens — heuchera make great container plants, they’re a natural in rock gardens, and look especially fetching when grouped en masse in different colors and leaf shapes. Sunset garden editors have lots of ideas of plants to pair with heuchera for a modern twist, such as plum-leaved ‘Stormy Seas’ heuchera with blue fescue and variegated Magilla perilla.

One of the most carefree and generous bloomers, and a classic perennial to plant in the fall, yarrow has tight clusters of deep yellow flowers on 2-foot tall gray-green plants and the leaves are feathery and fragrant. It does well in full sun but can take a little dappled shade, and loves a well-drained soil, especially if the soil is poor (we have it growing in a tight soil next to a red maple, where it’s thriving). Here it’s paired with blue flowered catmint; both plants make lovely additions to a homegrown herbal tea.

Jerusalem sage is a staple of a Mediterranean-style garden. Statuesque mint family members bear tall stems (up to about 4 feet in height) set with widely-spaced, hooded yellow flowers on roughly spherical inflorescences. The thick, typically furry, grayish-green leaves can range from lance-shaped to narrow heart-shaped; the velvet coating helps preserve moisture. They pair well with red-hot poker (Kniphofia ‘Bressingham Comet’) and creeping rosemary, both aesthetically and in their requirements: well-drained soils and full sun.

Sea holly is an interesting specimen that belongs in any witchy-looking garden; amethyst flower heads surrounded by 2-inch silvery-blue bracts open atop tall stems in summer, emerging from a rosette of spiny, medium green leaves. The thistle-like blooms resemble 4th of July fireworks and are great for bouquets―just wear gloves when picking! We love it with blue globe thistle (Echinops bannaticus) and lovage (Levisticum officinale) for their collective attractiveness to bees, and their sheer intensity. Give them spare soil and good sun, and these low-maintenance beauties will keep providing.