10 Colorful Perennials

Perennial flowers come in a rainbow of colors. Red, yellow, blue, pink, white, you name it, there’s a perennial that will make your color wishes come true. Here’s a list of colorful perennials that will give you a garden of many colors.

Yellow

Black-Eyed Susan

This classic flower of summer produces armloads of sunny, yellow blooms. ‘Goldsturm’ is one of the best yellow perennial flowers around. Plant it in masses for mounds of color. It’s drought tolerant and will grow in poor soil. 

Daylily

Daylilies come in an endless variety of colors and flower types but if it’s a yellow flower perennial you’re after, try ‘Stella De Oro.’ It will bloom again and again as long as you cut off the spent blooms. 

Blue

Hydrangeas

One of the most popular blue perennial flowers, this medium to large shrub bears big, globe-shaped heads of flowers. ‘Nikko Blue’ is a beloved cultivar that makes rich, gorgeous blue flowers that are fabulous in a vase. Hydrangeas like light shade and need a medium amount of water.

Delphinium

This old-fashioned favorite produces spikes of blue flowers. The biggest of these blue flowering perennials can reach 6 feet tall, but if you don’t have room for a giant, try ‘Blue Butterfly,’ which bears brilliant blue flowers on 12 to 18-inch plants. 

White

Shasta Daisy

A garden favorite, Shastas have daisy-like blooms with white petals around a yellow eye. These white flowering perennials look like the flowers children draw. ‘Becky’ is one of the larger cultivars, reaching heights of 3 to 4 feet tall.

Hardy Hibiscus

Unlike its fragile tropical cousins, hardy hibiscus can survive northern winters. It’s a showy flower that produces dinner-plate sized blooms. ‘Disco Belle White’ has white flowers with pink-tinged petals around a maroon center. And how can you not love a flower with “disco” in its name?

Pink

Hollyhock

Bring old-fashioned beauty to your border with hollyhocks, which produce 6-foot spires of flowers. ‘Crème de Cassis’ bears deep pink perennial flowers that fade to pale pink at the tips of its petals. 

Dianthus

This compact plant makes a good groundcover. Its silvery foliage makes a thick mat and it’s  covered with blooms in the spring. ‘Firewitch’ bears magenta-pink blooms that smell like cloves. 

Red

Canna

Cannas are tropical-looking lilies with big, paddle-shaped leaves and flowers in hot oranges, reds, yellows and bicolors. For really red perennial flowers, try ‘Australia’ which has crimson red flowers on dramatic black foliage.

Red Hot Poker

Hummingbirds love this exotic plant and you will, too. Spikes of tube-shaped flowers grow from grassy, gray-green foliage. It’s striking in groupings or as a single, dramatic specimen plant. ‘Alcazar’ has bright red flower-spikes fringed with yellow.