Herbaceous perennials have foliage that dies to the ground during dormancy and roots that persist during the dormancy period. One of the many advantages to growing herbaceous perennials is they come back year after year.
See also: Ferns
Akebia quinata, commonly known as five-leaf akebia or chocolate vine, is considered invasive by many environmental groups. There are …
Garlic chives, a bulb, is a fantastic perennial in the landscape. Garlic chives blooms late summer into early …
A stalwart of the perennial garden, golden marguerite (Anthemis tinctoria, syn. Cota tinctoria) bears beautiful golden flowers in …
Pure white flowers are a premium in the garden. Long-flowering, easy to grow perennials are especially beloved by …
Mrs. Scott Elliot columbine is a hybrid of Aquilegia caerulea, Rocky Mountain columbine. You tend to see Mrs. Scott Elliot …
One of the all time greats for the shade garden (can tolerate sun with good moisture), Aquilegia canadensis …
Golden columbine gets bigger and bushier than the more graceful and delicate American columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). Like American …
Yellow columbine, Aquilegia flavescens, is native to the mountainous regions of the western United States and Canada. The color …
European columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) is also known as common columbine, European crowfoot, and granny’s bonnet. If you are …
Georgia rockcress is rare and endangered, with less than an estimated 5,000 plants in existence. The known plants …
Himalayan cobra lily, Arisaema consanguineum, is mysterious, brooding, lovely. It’s tall, Himalayan cobra lily, sending up leaf stalks up to …
Arisaema triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit) is a classic native perennial of North America. It is a solid choice for gardeners …
Wild ginger, Asarum splendens, is a superb, albeit slow-spreading, groundcover for the shade garden. Asarum splendens looks native, …
Native to South America, tropical milkweed has showy scarlet and yellow flowers. Asclepias curassavica is longer flowering than …
Before covering butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, I pass on the best butterfly weed tip I know: it emerges …
Heath aster, Aster ericoides, starts flowering in September. When the asters and ironweed arrive, we know fall is coming. Summer …
Relatively drought tolerant, tough as nails, and ethereal in a way few plants can muster, Japanese Painted Fern …
Twilite Prairieblues false indigo (Baptisia x variicolor ‘Twilite’) is tough and robust in the mid-spring garden. The name is …
Yellow false indigo Carolina Moonlight’s flowers are as close to the color of butter as I have seen. …
Finally, I took a good photograph of blue false indigo by taking a picture of a bee for …
I included Bletilla striata, common name hardy orchid or Chinese ground orchid, in for those who might enjoy growing …
Butterfly weed in early spring is….nowhere to be found. Asclepias tuberosa, also known as milkweed, comes up very …
Camassia leichtlinii ‘Sacajawea’, variegated camas, is native to the western United States and British Columbia. Camassia leichtlinii is …
It is a survivor, bachelor’s button. Centaurea cyanus is easy to grow in even terrible soil. The photographs …
I was wandering around the Georgia Botanical Garden when I was first introduced to Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’. Cestrum ‘Orange …
Ryan Gainey at some point shared a most excellent Chrysanthemum with Goodness Grows, and it was named in his …
I was introduced to the long-flowering native perennial for the shade Chrysogonum virginianum, green and gold, by the …
Many large-flowered clematises have flowers that are more beautiful after the petals fall. Nelly Moser and Will Goodwin are …
Sporting impressive 6″-8″ lavender-pink flowers, the large-flowered hybrid clematis Nelly Moser is an old garden favorite. There are …
Romantika clematis bears flowers so dark, so lush. It is the closest thing to a black flower I …
Will Goodwin is another of the classic large-flowered clematis familiar to many gardeners. It is one of my …
I do not believe there is a more photogenic perennial than columbine. Pictured below are golden columbine and …
Coreopsis auriculata Nana has the common name ‘ear-leaved tickseed’, but I sometimes refer to it as Coreopsis Nana …
Queen Anne’s Lace, Daucus carota, was one of my mother’s favorite flowers. For this alone, I can love …
Every year more often than not I spot Delphinium at the local nurseries in early spring. Delphinium I …
Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythosora) is called autumn fern due to the new growth of spring, tinted red that …
Echinacea pallida, pale purple coneflower, is of the prairies and the hardscrabble, as tough and beautiful as a Dorothea …
From childhood onward we know purple coneflower in the American landscape.
We are planting white coneflower White Swan in the garden. Coneflowers are among the easiest of sun-loving perennials to …
Rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) is a native perennial with the coolest name in gardening. As the name implies, …
Many gardeners know the orange flowers of the California poppy, one of the great native plants of North …
I didn’t steal any of the Euphorbia, but the Mariana ferns over at the Institute of Ecology were in constant …
I chose to write more about false indigo due to liking some photos of the post-flower seed pods. …
Ghost plant, Graptopetalum paraguayense, is a remarkably easy plant to grow. It is happiest in containers left undisturbed. Because …
Hakonechloa macra Aureola (Hakone grass or Japanese forest grass) is the stuff of myth in the garden world. …
False sunflower Sunstruck (Heliopsis helianthoides ‘Sunstruck’) is notable for the large flowers and variegated foliage. With the exception …
I was always cool towards Hellebores (lenten rose) but my wife Angela has gradually won me over to …
Stella de Oro daylily was ubiquitous in American gardens for a decade or so. It has a beautiful …
Hemerocallis fulva, tawny or orange daylily, has been planted in American gardens forever it seems. As you drive …
I only plant two cultivars of hosta in my and others gardens. One is Hosta sieboldiana ‘Elegans’ and …
Hosta Sum and Substance will visually dominate any space in the garden. Because of the major impact of …
I see lots of big hostas in the landscape. My own weakness is Sum and Substance hosta. The …
Familiar to brewmasters, hops is a bine, not a vine. The difference is that vines use tendrils and …
Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis, is a native perennial under duress due to loss of habitat and illegal harvesting. I’ve …
Traub’s spider lily prefers consistently moist soil. It was growing in full sun where I photographed it. You …
Blackberry lily is also called leopard lily. It’s because of the spots on the flowers. Iris domestica is …
Iris x pseudata ‘Lemony Snicket’ bears soft, lemon-yellow flowers. Pseudata irises are the result of crossbreeding Iris pseudacorus (yellow …
Iris ‘Gerald Darby’ is my favorite iris and I’ve only seen it flower for one season. It is …
The yellow torch lily Minister Verschuur, Kniphofia uvaria, is a cultivar of red hot poker, beloved for the …
I like Lamium…I really do. Sometimes we have space to cover and need a tough plant for the …
Lamprocapnos spectabilis Alba, white bleeding heart, is similar to the pink-flowered version of bleeding heart we are all …
Bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis) is an easy to grow perennial that has been grown in American gardens for …
Oxeye daisy’s golden disc surrounded by white rays is a flower form familiar to us all.
Native to the eastern U.S., Liatris spicata, common name ‘blazing star’, tends to be a short-lived perennial. In …
Scheherazade’ is spectacular. Bred by Judith Freeman, ‘Scheherazade’ is considered an Orienpet hybrid, a cross between a trumpet …
Lilies are about the flowers, bold and illuminating the landscape the way few other perennials can. They do …
Tiger lily, Lilium lancifolium, is a bulb that blooms mid to late summer, later than most lilies. The dramatic …
Linum perenne, perennial flax, is a long-flowering garden perennial that is easy to grow and blooms from spring …
Nigella damascena has the common names ‘ragged lady’ and ‘love in a mist’. Both names are superbly descriptive …
Lunaria annua, money plant, is a biennial that looks to my eyes like a woodland plant native to …
Monarda didyma ‘Jacob Cline’, scarlet bee balm, rivals cardinal flower as one of the truest and deepest red …
Wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, is an ecologically important native perennial. Native to large swaths of the United States, Canada, …
Catmint (Nepeta × faassenii) ‘Walker’s Low’ is a very fine perennial, notable for a longish flowering season. Growing …
Surprising to many, pink evening primrose, Oenothera speciosa, is native to much of the United States. It is also …
Onoclea sensibilis was originally given the common name sensitive fern because the fronds are highly sensitive to frost. …
Scotch thistle, like foxglove, is a biennial. The rosette is formed the first year, and it flowers during the …
Osmunda regalis spectabilis, royal fern, is a large fern that can grow to six feet tall and survive …
The name pink wood sorrel just sounds so woodsy and native. We can be forgiven for thinking it …
White wood sorrel, Oxalis crassipes alba, is a garden favorite in the South, flowering from March through September. …
Small’s ragwort, Packera anonyma, is native to the eastern United States and wonderful in the meadow garden. Small’s ragwort can …
The flowers of native perennial Parthenium integrifolium (wild quinine, American feverfew) look like miniature cauliflower, or perhaps cotton. …
I’ve wanted to grow Virginia creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, for a long time. I asked my favorite nurseryman where I …
Husker Red is a selected cultivar of Penstemon digitalis, an adaptable and easy to grow garden perennial native …
Peony ‘Bowl of Beauty’ (Paeonia lactiflora ‘Bowl of Beauty’) is an old garden favorite, introduced in 1949. Light …
I find peonies such as Pillow Talk beautiful to look at and very difficult to photograph. Lots of …
I remember seeing variegated Solomon’s seal, Polygonatum odoratum Variegatum, massed for the first time. It seemed to me to be the …
The eastern prickly pear cactus (Opuntia humifusa) is native to various parts of the United States. The flowers …
A scrappy and scruffy native perennial for the wildflower garden, Ratibida columnifera is reliable, easy to grow, and …
Black-eyed Susan ‘Goldsturm’ was discovered in Czechoslovakia in 1937 by Heinrich Hagemann, who was employed by the legendary plantsman Karl …
Introduced in 1995, and often sold to gardeners as an annual, black-eyed Susan ‘Indian Summer’ is a short-lived …
Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ (anise-scented sage) is a hummingbird magnet, hardy zones 8-10 and worth growing as …
Sarracenia leucophylla, white-topped pitcher plant, is a beautiful and valuable native perennial found in the lower parts of …
Hoary skullcap, Scutellaria incana, is also known as downy skullcap. It a native perennial widely adaptable in the …
Many perennials, especially ferns, look ragged as winter wears on. I’m often asked if ferns need to be …
Clients are sometimes surprised by how sparse a newly planted garden is. A properly planted garden IS sparse, …
Lavender has traditionally not faired well in my gardens, the humidity and clay of the Deep South being …
Spigelia ‘Ragin Cajun’, a sport of indian pink, Spigelia marilandica, may be the rarest of the plants I’ve written about.
Spigelia marilandica, Indian pink or woodland pinkroot, is irresistible to hummingbirds and is a long-flowering native perennial perfectly at home …
Lamb’s ears, Stachys byzantina, is a perennial herb that is an excellent choice for children’s or sensory gardens. …
Betony, Stachys officinalis, is in the same genus as the well-known garden perennial lamb’s ears, Stachys byzantina. It …
Mariana fern, Thelypteris torresiana, got its name because it is native to the Mariana Islands. It’s not often seen for …
Creeping thyme is a classic ground cover, useful in many situations, especially for the clever. At home in …
My mother loved foam flower, Tiarella cordifolia. My wife Angela likes it too. I was always cool towards …
Virginia spiderwort, Tradescantia virginiana, is a perennial native to the deciduous forests of the eastern United States. It is …
Salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius, is a biennial grown for the edible roots. It takes three to four months for …
The ephemerals are intriguing plants; the great white trillium is the most iconic of the North American spring …
Trillium luteum, common name yellow trillium or yellow wakerobin, is native to the forests of the Great Smoky …
False Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’) is a valuable addition to any shade garden, asking very little and …
Verbena bonariensis, tall verbena, is a long-flowering perennial native to South America. It has become a favorite of …
Known as tall ironweed or giant ironweed, perennial Vernonia gigantea is big, purple, and native. A member of …
Most if not all of the people denying climate change exists really don’t know, yet they plant the …
Rarely seen in the landscape, Atamasco lily, Zephyranthes atamasca, is a native perennial also known as rain lily. Not …
Rain lily is often a surprise in the garden. We plant the bulbs and move on to more …