Wouldn't it be grand if gardeners could exchange their spades and other tools for magic wands? One wave of a wand in spring and presto!--a magnificent flower garden magically rises out of the earth. This garden is like a kaleidoscope, always beautiful yet ever changing. Just when some blossoms fade, other flowers burst into bloom. The colorful display continues without interruption until autumn, when the garden finally recedes back into the earth.
Actually, the above is not so farfetched. To perform the magic, all you have to know is a few tricks.
The most important secret is a wonderful array of plants called flowering perennials. To botanists, perennials are any plants that live three or more years--as opposed to biennials, which live only two years, and annuals, which complete their life cycle in just one year.
When gardeners speak of perennials, however, the reference is to a select group of flowering plants whose soft stems die to the ground before winter and then reappear from the same roots in spring. What makes these plants so special is their extraordinarily beautiful blooms. Think of bleeding heart, with its deep pink blossoms that drip from each arched stem like gems from a necklace, or black-eyed Susan, the familiar golden daisy with a glistening blackish-brown center. These and dozens of other perennials can be a magic potion for your garden.
If the names seem old-fashioned, it is because perennials were more popular in our grandmother's day than in our own. Modern gardeners opt for the immediate satisfaction provided by marigolds, petunias, impatiens, and other flowering annuals. These plants provide instant color that lasts all summer--but only a single summer. Perennials require a little patience, an old-fashioned virtue that is rewarded by glorious garden displays for years on end. While young perennials may flower their first year in the garden, they do not reach full size for two or three years. However, perennials, unlike annuals, must not be planted anew each spring, saving time, effort, and money.
Perennials flourish in a variety of climates, although different perennials do best under different conditions. In the United States, for example, bleeding heart will live indefinitely throughout New England where summers are relatively cool. Along the hot and humid Gulf Coast, where false indigo, lavender cotton, and coreopsis luxuriate, bleeding heart falters. The dry and windy Plains States, which are inhospitable to delicate primrose, are havens for garden phlox, oriental poppies, and chrysanthemums. Check local garden centers for your area. You will find young, ready-to-plant perennials on display in convenient "pop-out" cell packs or individual pots. Mature perennials in large containers are also available. These are more expensive but give the garden a finished look rather quickly.
The versatility of perennials makes them an asset throughout the landscape. Spreading plants, such as baby's breath and dianthus, soften straight edges along pathways and steps; veronica and primrose are naturals for rock gardens; globe thistle, day lilies, and other tall perennials stand alone as superb specimen plants or serve as dazzling garden accents.
For a concentrated show of spectacular blooms, nothing surpasses a
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