Perennial Favorites

Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)

Nevermind the calendar, spring is already here this year. Did someone say that General Beauregard Lee (Georgia’s favorite groundhog) predicted 6 more weeks of winter? Perhaps he was just being safe after being wrong several times. Anyway, early spring or not, many of us are thinking about what we’d like to add to the garden this year. Spring plant sales will be along soon enough, so here are some previous blogs of mine to get the ideas flowing. All posts are linked by underlined words (hotlinks); just click on them.

This post about favorite native spring perennials is mostly about spring ephemerals which bloom before the trees finish leafing out. Other posts about ephemerals include one on bluets, spring beauties, and bloodroot and another one about Georgia trilliums.  

A broader selection of spring perennials can be found in this post and there are several posts that focus on specific groups of plants:

Blue-flowering spring perennials

Native gingers

Violets in a range of colors

Tiny spring anemones

Virginia bluebells

Toothwort and its relatives in the mustard family

And the one that started it all for me: orange butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Can you see the Phlox paniculata under this butterfly?

We might as well think ahead to summer perennials too. They are usually found at the same sales. I've got a lot of posts about them, including a broad (but largely inadequate) post labeled 'summer perennials' - one post is never enough! I've since followed that up with a bunch of plant-specific posts:

Coreopsis

Helianthus (Sunflowers)

Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susans)

Silphium (Rosinweeds)

Joe-pye weed

Hibiscus

Phlox paniculata 'Jeana'

Mountain mint (Pycnanthemum)

Lobelia

Goldenrods can behave and they are so good for late
summer and migrating butterflies

I also have blue-flowered summer perennials, hot flowers for hot days, and late summer yellow flowers.

That about brings us to fall. While you might not find fall flowers at this year's spring sales, you really should leave some room for them. So, stay with me here, and I'll give you a few more ideas:

Late season native flowers

Fall colors (flowers) in the native garden

Goldenrod - learn about the nice goldenrods and the late butterflies will thank you!

Finally, I have a few 'mixed' posts about perennials that might be of interests. These post may span all the seasons but have a common purpose in mind.

Native plants in containers

Native cottage garden ideas

Native plants for butterfly and pollinator support (with printable lists for the 3 seasons)

Native lilies

Awesome easy native perennials (great for beginners)

You should have a nice big list by now. Happy shopping!