Now that summer is coming to an end; it’s time to start planning for the seasons to come. Perennials are like the backbone to your entire garden—you can depend on them to come back year after year, and you can add in annuals around the base of them to have a beautiful, lush landscape. To ensure that your yard is thriving all year long, we put together a guide with the best perennials for each season!
Best Perennials for Fall Color
These fall bloomers step up to the plate just as other flowers start to fade.
Aster
Blooming from late summer to late fall, Asters are easy-to-grow perennials that provide a food source for visiting pollinators. Daisy-like blooms last right up until frost and come in a range of colors, including shades of blue, purple, pink, and white. Depending on the variety, this mounding habit plant can grow from one to eight feet tall.
Hardy Chrysanthemum
While some Chrysanthemums are grown as annuals here in Bismarck, Hardy Mums can withstand even the harshest of winters, coming back year after year to ensure you have blooms in the fall. To encourage new growth throughout the season, cut back the plants mid to late summer, and deadhead any faded flowers.
Stiff Goldenrod
Add a splash of summer sunshine into your fall landscape with Goldenrod, which blooms golden-yellow flowers from late summer to fall. Native to North Dakota, this plant grows up to four feet tall, spreading about two feet. Goldenrod is often incorrectly blamed for hay fever, but the plant most likely at fault for that is ragweed.
Best Perennials for Winter Interest
Besides adding beautiful shapes and colors to your yard during winter, many plants also provide shelter and food for birds!
Autumn Joy Stonecrop
This large perennial from the sedum family has succulent leaves and a strong stem. Autumn Joy Stonecrop has large broccoli-like flowers from late summer to late fall that change from pink to red. The dried flower heads and tall stems add beautiful texture during the winter and appeal to the birds.
Purple Coneflowers
To attract birds during the winter, refrain from cutting back your Purple Coneflowers after they’re done blooming in late summer or early fall. Plus, the contrast of the dry, rounded seed heads against the white snow is simply eye-catching.
Switchgrass
Besides its attractive colors in shades of orange and red in the fall, Switchgrass looks stunning under a layer of frost in the winter. Growing up to eight feet tall, this ornamental grass also provides a dense cover for sheltering winter birds.
Best Perennials for Spring Color
When picking which perennials to grow for spring color, choose ones with different bloom times from early to late spring, so you have beautiful blooms all season.
Bleeding Hearts
In early spring, this plant’s dangling, heart-shaped flowers appear and stay in bloom for several weeks. Bleeding Hearts is ephemeral, meaning the plant goes dormant shortly after it flowers, but it will be ready to bloom again come the following spring!
Creeping Phlox
This low-growing perennial has star-shaped flowers available in just about any shade you want. While garden pests tend to leave it alone, butterflies and other beneficial insects will flock to this spring-bloomer. Creeping Phlox is drought-tolerant.
Iris
Available in a wide range of colors and bloom times, Irises are popular spring-blooming perennials. Most grow from rhizomes (stem-like roots), though the Dutch Iris grows from a bulb. Irises are good for naturalizing, meaning they will naturally spread throughout your yard over the years.
Best Perennials for Summer Color
Perennials are a staple for low-maintenance gardening since they come back year after year, and these ones perform best during the hot summer months!
Bee Balm
Attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds during the summer, Bee Balm has spiky globes of flowers in a range of colors, from deep red to pale pink. Also called Monarda, this perennial looks beautiful in cut flower arrangements.
Shasta Daisy
Blooming from July into fall, Shasta Daisies add a classic touch to flower gardens with their white petals around a yellow center. These low-maintenance perennials can reach up to four feet tall.
Yarrow
Growing up to three feet tall, Yarrow has soft fern-like foliage and clusters of brightly colored flowers in pink, red, yellow, or orange. This perennial naturalizes quite efficiently, and it attracts pollinators like butterflies and bees.
By considering when certain perennials perform best, you can plan to have an attractive landscape through all four seasons! Pick plants with a range of bloom times, colors, heights, and shapes to provide the most interest.