8 Popular Perennials

Your mind is made up. You want a garden that’s low maintenance, one where you aren’t replanting everything, every spring. You want perennials. Pick a group of easy-to-grow, long-blooming perennials and you’ll wonder why you ever planted annuals. Here’s a list of the best perennials for your garden. Plant them. You’ll be glad you did.

Coneflowers

One of the absolute best perennials is the coneflower. These daisy-like flowers are a garden staple, as tough as they are pretty. Coneflowers bloom all summer, tolerate dry soil and grow in almost any climate. Purple is the most common coneflower color, but there are also white, orange, red and yellow varieties.  

Black-Eyed Susan

This hardy yellow flower is an iconic perennial plant. It produces armloads of blooms from early summer to frost. It’s drought- and heat-tolerant and is unfazed by poor soil. Black-eyed susans grow to about two feet tall, so it’s perfect for the middle of a bed of perennials, or planted around a mailbox. 

Hostas

Also known as plantain lily, hostas are one of the most popular perennials. They’re prized for their large, tropical-looking leaves that come in an array of sizes, shapes and colors ranging from chartreuse to blue-green to bicolor. They also send up spikes of pink, white or pale purple flowers in late summer. 

Hydrangeas

One of the most popular types of perennials, hydrangea produces big, showy round flowers on a medium to large shrub. They like light shade and need a medium amount of water. Hydrangea blooms in white, pink, blue and purple, but ‘Nikko Blue” is a beloved variety that produces classic, rich blue blooms that will make lovers of this classic flower sigh.

Daylily

Daylilies come in every shape, size and color imaginable. The standby is Original Orange, also known as a Ditch Lily because it’s often seen growing along roadsides. It’s no hybrid diva, Original Orange lilies are vigorous perennials and tough as nails.  

Bee Balm

Hummingbirds, butterflies and bees love this old-fashioned perennial plant and you will too. It produces flowers in jewel tones of pink, red and lavender all summer. Try ‘Jacob Kline,’ a mildew-resistant variety with scarlet flowers.

Peonies

These romantic, old-fashioned perennials will live as long as you. They produce outrageously gorgeous blooms that can grow as large as 10 inches, depending on the variety. Flowers look like cabbage roses and can be white, red, purple, peach and all shades of pink. Use them in mixed borders or to line a walkway. 

Daffodils

No list of perennials is complete without daffodils. These cheerful yellow flowers are one of the first to appear in early spring. Plant bulbs in the fall and you’ll have color for many springs to come. There are hundreds of types of daffodils that bloom in shades of yellow, orange, white and bicolors, so you can find one to suit your taste.