My Favorite Perennials

My favorite perennials probably change from year to year and maybe even from season to season because there are so many, but there are some that continue to rank at the top of my favorite perennials.

One of my favorite perennials is the balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus).  I love this perennial for several reasons.  First of all, it blooms in shades of blue and purple, which happen to be my favorite colors.  It behaves itself, hardly ever needs dividing, and is very reliable from year to year. 

I also love the way the blossoms open, looking like a hot air balloon in bud and gradually opening its petals to form a delightful cup.

If deadheaded, balloon flowers will bloom most of the month of July and even into August, and if you sheer it when blooming is over, it will quickly shoot out new growth and a second flush of flowers.

Some of my other favorite perennials are not as reliable as the balloon flower, but I love them for different reasons. Delphiniums, foxglove, and roses all rank as some of my favorite perennials, but I can’t say that I have huge success with any of them.

My grandmother supposedly had gorgeous delphiniums and so did I once in a former home.  I loved my delphiniums and took it for granted that I was a great gardener.

I did not know until I moved away from that house that the success of the delphiniums had little to do with me, and a lot to do with either the soil composition or the climate.  I have never been able to figure it out, but for the first time in 30 years I have two delphiniums that have survived the winter and are blooming right now. 

I love delphiniums because they are so beautiful and because I have found out that without the right conditions they just will not grow and thrive.

I have the same issue with foxglove and roses.  For some reason the care I give these plants isn’t adequate for them to thrive in my garden.  I love them because they are beautiful and a challenge to me, and I treasure the times when one of these ornery perennials actually thrives and blooms for me.

One of my Foxglove successes

Garden Phlox, Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria), and Bee-balm (Monarda didyma) are three of my favorite perennials that are nearly as fussy as the ones above.

Garden phlox

Bee-balm (also known as Oswego tea)

I love phlox because it comes in all my favorite colors (pinks, purples and blues), and bees and butterflies love them.  Bee balm is a favorite because of its ability to naturalize, its ease of growing and because it smells like tea, and I love rose campion because it self seeds, it has such interesting grey  fuzzy stems and the rose colored blossoms are exquisite (well to me anyway!).

I also love coneflowers.  They are native, grow reliably with out a lot of fuss and are also favorites of bees and butterflies.

Coneflowers and Black eyed Susans

Mixed Hosta Garden

Hosta variety

Over the years,  I have also become a great fan of hostas.  This is in great part because of the amount of shade that I have in several parts of my yard. 

 I am not good at remembering all their names but I love the huge variety of colors and size and texture that they come in and when several varieties are planted in close proximity of each other it eventually becomes a gorgeous vista.


So for today anyway, these are a few of my favorite perennials. 
Thanks for enjoying my garden journal,
Just Julie