Boy, I think I've had enough plant hate from the other post. Whew!
So what perennials do you all love?
Here's some of my favorites.
Butterfly weed because the color when it's blooming just glows.
Phlox Robert Poore because the fuschia/dark pink color is so pretty and the fragrance is wonderful
Foxgloves - I just love them.
Rudbeckia maxima - giant rudbeckia because it's such a striking plant. Those of you who want well behaved should know it was planted two years ago and I don't think it's spread an inch. Never seen any self sown seedlings either.
I think helenium Moorstein is going to be a new favorite. The color is gorgeous, it has bloomed for weeks now and the heat and lack of rain hasn't affected it at all.
I have one daylily that's my absolute favorite. Dragon King has been blooming continuously now for about two months - it has far outbloomed the Stella d'oros, and has large, ruffled red blooms with yellow/green eyes.
What do you love
Actually I don't have any plants I hate because they are all gone.
I like my Henry Eilers's rudbeckia
Chelsey helenium I really like
Gaillardia are always amongst my favorites
Fragrant Angel echinacea is just great
I like the Gaillardia, too. The constant flowers are a rarety for perennials.
Hardy Hibiscus for the BIG splash.
Agastache for the variety of fascinating insects that visit and Gold Finches, too.
The dwarf Balloon Flower is high on the list, too.
My Disco Bell Hibiscus.
Andy P
I'm a hardy Salvia addict. There's a mat-forming one in my rock garden, S. caespitosa, with grey leaves and pale flowers. Salvia nemorosa 'Marcus' is there also, as it's low-growing, but bushy, with violet-blue flowers. I went a little crazy over the nemorosa types and have planted 'Blue Hill', 'Ostfriesland', 'Caradonna', 'Mainacht', and a white that is probably 'White Hill' but I bought it unlabelled. Two species Salvias that I love are S. transsylvanica (tall, violet-blue, flowers all summer, and the hummingbirds like it) and S. forskaohlei (shorter, light purple & cream bicolor). The two species seed themselves around, but not too much. I'm pushing the Zone envelope by growing the ornamental-leaved culinary sages, S. officinalis 'Icterina', 'Purpurascens', and 'Tricolor', which suffer horribly in winter unless the snow buries them deeply. There's nothing about them not to love: the flowers come in beautiful blue and violet shades, they stand up to adverse weather, if you dead-head they bloom again, and rabbits and deer don't eat them.
Wow, this is a tough one. short list...
Wiegela 'French Lace' - gorgeous in the spring and still blooming sporadically
shasta daisy 'Highland White Dream' - right height, long-lasting, perfect large blooms
these 3 are just a spectacular bloom, not an overall good plant-
daylily 'Strawberry Candy'
oriental lily 'Stargazer'
German iris 'Swingtown'
and roses, roses, roses (can't help myself, I love 'em)
Roses, more roses, and roses here also. Things that go WITH roses are also fine. Agastache and salvias are my maintstays, but I have to say the Valerian (centranthus ruber) I put in this year has my undying affection for the hummers and other interesting critters it has attracted this year.
My other fave, which I did not grow this year, is Tithonia. It makes such an outstanding late summer display, but this year I did not have an area large enough to make a really fine mass planting. Next year I'm mixing it with a tall flame-colored agastache and my as yet unidentified Super Red Rose. Look out!
Greenjay, I grew the Centranthus Alba for years. I always kicked myself for not planting the Ruber in stead. I bought the seed in my 'white' phase.
Andy P
My very favorite is a Marchesa Boccella rose that I planted 2 years ago. For some reason it reminds me of my grandmother. It is an old fashioned rose with light pink blooms and such a beautiful fragrance you can smell it as far away as my next door neighbor's house. It has never had any diseases or major bug damage.
After that, I love any and all types of coneflowers. Not only are they beautiful but they seem to like it here and grow with very little care. Ironically, I never wanted them when I first started gardening because I had seen them everywhere (popular here) and didn't want to be like everyone else. My dad gave me some when I first bought my house so I planted them and loved them because they were one of my first gardening successes. Then I found out there were many different kinds so I didn't have to necessarily stick to the one popular variety.
Perennial Favorites:
Heliopsis Loraine Sunshine
blooms all summer long
New England Aster
just starting
Echinacea Sunset
another all season bloomer
I like Al's answer. For me its seasonal. In the spring I like Daff Tete-a-tete with orange polyanthus primroses and - in a separate location - Pieris Valley Valentine
In the summer I like all the lilies the best but I have an unknown pale peach Asiatic that I wait for every year - and some years the deer have beat me to it so maybe its the absence makes the heart grow fonder theory. Monarda Jacob Kline - love the smell and the flower color. ditto Hart on the foxgloves I finally planted mertonensis this year and hope to see the giant Alba next year - have had the Foxy strain reseeding for 6 years at will.
In the fall some of my favorite plants come out - Aconitum, chelone and all the Tricyrtis - Shirohotogisu is the best. I would have to add Lobelia cardinalis to the list too - I put it in 3 places last year and if in good garden soil it has that wonderful clear ruby red color and has lasted for a really long time.
Well wait there's blue Platycodon and my favorite Pulmonaria Reginald Kaye. Carex Evergold - now that is a very cool plant. It sparks up things almost anywhere you put it.
Perennials that grow well for me in my garden and that are not invasive are:
Foxglove
All Spiderworts. This one is "Sweet Kate".
Trillium
Brunnera. This one is "Jack Frost"
Cimicifuga. This is "Brunette".
I'm absolutely in love with Tricyrtis hirta!
I really like the Tricyrtis.
Andy P
Thanks so much, Andy.
What a great idea for a thread--
I love
Daylily "Dublin Elaine" -- is a beautiful double daylily that has bloomed all summer on tall stalks with nice foliage near my Oakleaf Hydrangeas and lavender clematis.
and
Rudbeckia "Prairie Sun" -- so elegant and bright for a common 'daisy type' and we have had some of it blooming all summer. (I 'winter sowed' it.)
The rudbeckia is in the foreground...
And this is DL 'Dublin Elaine'--
probably not the most spectacular and interesting daylily for the daylily fancier, but I am impressed with her garden habit and number of days in bloom, and she is lovely planted near purple leaved shrubs and trees and oakleaf hydrangeas.
Here's a shot of the Carex Evergold I mentioned above. The European Ginger around seeded itself very heavily last year and so did the hellebores. When I get around to it I've got a lot of babies to transplant - happy dance
I love all my very colorful coleus plants. They are so easy. I especially love my Angelonia and my Bill Warriner rose.
Thank you all so much for posting all the pictures. Such pretty plants. Dancey, have you seen the Kong coleus? They're like coleus on steriods - huge, huge leaves. I got a fairly large one at WalMart for around $3 earlier this summer.
Jmorth, I've been drooling over that heliopsis in some of the catalogs. The foliage is so pretty. Shirley, that foxglove is gorgeous. I love my brunnera too - they're surprisingly tolerant of the dry soil once established so long as I give them lots of shade. Mine are just the regular old green-leaved ones. The Jack Frost is stunning.
Hart I have seen pictures of the King Coleus. They are very pretty. I don't have one yet.
I LOVE Lavender and Lily of the Valley :-)
Marilynne
This is a tough one. I keep coming back with no answer except everything I grow. I've decided to name the top ten I would always plant, in random order.
Bleeding Heart - spectabilis
Balloon Flower - Komach
Fragrant Lilies
Daylilies
Cardinal Flower
Tall Phlox
Penstemon
Agastache
Peony
Iris
Another flower I have grown to love this year are my solid white zinnias. I have them planted in a garden with other plants but no other colored zinnias, just the white. They really stand out.
I adore foxglove and balloon flower, but again, I have so many favorites!!!
I love my Knockout roses. They have bloomed all summer long even in this severe heat and drought.
How does the Knockout Roses handle blackspot? Any problems with this fungal disease in your area, DanceyTx?
Beautiful flowers everyone!
What I like? That's a tough one - I like so many plants! In the spring it's the daffodils (Narcissus 'Jetfire' and 'Pink Charm' especially) and rhododendrons. Then the aquilegias, primulas, hardy geraniums, delphiniums and my Dicentra spectabilis. At fall the gentians, especially Gentiana sino-ornata. I also love irises but for some reason they won't flower for me :-( Oh, and in my rock garden well, I love them all, but I guess that the dianthus, campanulas and hardy geraniums (again!) are at the top of my list, and the Linaria alpina. And Saponaria ocymoides is so pretty! Oh and how could I forget the roses ? - I'm like a kid in a candy store - I can't pick one!!! Oh and lilies - I love lilies! OK I'll stop now I think I could go on forever ...... Oh just one more - Verbascums too!. Especially my new one 'Copper Rose'.
A photo of Penstemon pinifolia and Campanula cochlearifolia in the background - yeah - I like Penstemons too - this one is new and if it lives it might become one of my favorites!
Of the ones I don't have - Paraquilegia anemonoides - is the one I dream of growing some day..... And some blue corydalis.... OK enough ! I'll stop now! Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos everyone!
Shirley, my Knockout roses do real well. Very little if any blackspot at all and no fungal diseases. What little blackspot I've seen just disappears. My roses have not had a lot of leaf drop due to blackspot like some roses. I've seen some roses completely defoliate due to blackspot. They are almost in constant bloom. Sure nice to have roses like that. ;)
Lin
That's VERY encouraging to hear that the Knockout Roses are so highly disease resistant and are not affected by Blackspot or other fungal disases!
My Hybrid Teas & Bourbon Roses are SO prone to Blackspot that they will completely defoliate. I plan to rip them out of my garden and replace them with the Knockout series.
Do you know of any on-line nursery that has a large selection of Knockouts?
Shirley, before you throw away those roses, why don't you see if anyone in a less humid (i.e. less fungus prone) climate might like them.
Great idea greenjay! Are you interested? If so, please D-mail me.