To add a touch of color to their spring and summer landscape, some people can’t wait to rush out to local greenhouses or home improvement stores for blooming plants on the first sunny day.
From the pansies that bloom early, to those that fill yards with color all summer long like the marigolds, zinnias, impatiens and petunias, are just some of the annuals that even though most are excited to plant, some are also lukewarm to the idea. Annuals, no matter how much they add to your landscape, are only there for a season before dying. And they can’t be expected to produce the same variety that you planted even though some of these annuals are actually capable of reseeding.
Your home can take advantage of perennial plantings if you don’t enjoy a lot of gardening but nevertheless wish you had flowers in your garden. If you choose plants suited for your locality and plant them where they receive the optimum light and moisture for their type, you can plant once and forget them.
Different from annuals, perennials actually return yearly. Many plants will become larger and more attractive. So that a single plant can, over time, become many that fill up flower beds without additional work, they will spread through rhizomes, creating new bulbs, or through seeds.
Some of the most well known plants are the hardest working of these self-propagating variety. And for this summer you can still buy bagged or potted varieties to add to your lawn even if spring plants would need to be set in the fall.
Before buying, evaluate your planting areas. While most areas are sunny in the early spring before trees leaf out, when looking for summer plants you’ll have to consider foliage and the difference it makes.
When you find an area is going to be mostly sunny, then one of the easiest plants to consider is day lilies. While the original stock was tall, orange and only bloomed once, newer varieties offer a lot of options with the hardiness of the original. Today you can find day lilies in virtually any color from nearly black to the palest pinks and yellows. You can choose plants that are much shorter and those that will re-bloom as well. Their soil demands are not high, so you don’t have to do a lot of digging and cultivating to get an area ready for them. Looking like ornamental grasses, they will extend their rhizomes and spread and can quickly fill in beds with their foliage then cover themselves in blooms by mid summer if left with room to grow.
Hostas in all their varieties are an easy choice for shady areas. They rely on their foliage for their beauty, as their blooms are generally small, but the leaves come in many sizes and color combinations. Variations of greens from yellowish to blue-tinted, or variegated with white or multi-tones are the shades you usually find these clumps of leaves in. The sizes also vary from smaller leaves to ones the size of a plate. They will make larger clumps of leaves each year and can periodically be dug and broken apart for new plants as desired.
You can morph your garden into a sight of summer beauty with little work and just two types of plants, without having to dig out your gardening tools every time spring comes.
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