What are your favorite perennial flowers?

[Dahlia]

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What are some of your favorite perennials? I need some ideas for my flower garden! (I will also count plants that are technically annuals but re-seed well)

I love peonies, phlox, and coneflowers to name a few!

 

[Branching Out]

Another perennial that I have started from seed recently is Compact Golden Flax. I only managed to get three plants to grow and they haven't bloomed for me yet, but I suspect that they will do well come spring. Perennials from seed cost a fraction of what it would cost to purchase potted plants at the nursery. https://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/perennials/flax/compact-golden-flax-seeds.html

 

[flowerbug]

@R2elk , I have grown Purple Malva from seed before. They only reseeded one season afterwards, but Very easy to grow and no maintenance.

it must have been some place where the horses, deer, etc. could get at them because they've been a consistent issue for me in any location they've been allowed to drop seeds. years later i'm still pulling hundreds of them from gardens each year. the groundhogs do like to eat them... any fenced gardens they've tried to take over. unfenced gardens they're many fewer but can still be pests. lovely flowers, lovely plants, just not suited for more formal spaces or vegetable gardens where you don't want to attract even more problems (aka groundhogs, rabbits ...).

 

[flowerbug]

...
They aren't a true hollyhock. They are a Malva (Malva zebrina). Unlike true hollyhocks they come up and bloom the first year. The bees love them. They are supposed to be a perennial but it's too cold here. They are more than prolific reseeders. I have to be careful to prevent them from taking over the garden.

the cold doesn't seem to take them out here and it certainly doesn't kill off the seeds.

The Blue Flax are a somewhat xeric plant and don't do well if over watered. There is a Scarlet Flax but it acts as an annual for me and also has not come back from its own seeds. The Blue Flax is a true perennial and reseeds very well.

i've grown two kinds of flax here (both with the blue flowers). the blue you mention is what i'm most familiar with (if it is black seeded) and i found out that while it really can cover an area it does not grow thickly enough to crowd out much of anything else so it is really hard to keep weeds from getting into it and then being hard to remove. the plants themselves seemed to fade after a few seasons so i would not quite consider them perennial as much as a shorter lived type. i loved the flowers and we had a lot of them growing across the entire back part of the yard here but it was just too difficult to keep the weeds out... i still have a few plants around but i don't cultivate or harvest the seeds specifically any more.

the other blue flax i've grown was a brown/golden seed color and was an annual. very nice plant for a uniform stand. done fairly early too if i remember right. some animals seemed to go after it so i stopped planting it. i think i still have some seeds on-hand but have not done a germination test on them to know how viable they might still be...

 

[Marie2020]

I broadcast Malva zebrina seeds in a corner of the garden eight years ago. Each individual plant produces thousands of seeds and they have tried to take over the whole garden. Over the last couple of years they have started spreading to other parts of the property wherever there is sufficient water for them.

Crikey, that sounds like the triffids to me

 

[Marie2020]

Favorite Favorite ... oh, okay

Sentimental. Well, aren't we looking for an emotional response from growing flowers? Iris. Early in the season and sorta signaling that we are leaving the  bouncy, changeable springtime weather behind. If they don't have a subtle, pleasant fragrance – I may be disappointed, however .

Foxglove. Because they remind me of being 3 years old and being in my grandmother's garden. Foxglove are usually biennial , but reseed. We have so many along the northside of the greenhouse and have just gone through those subzero days. The plants are flat on the ground; I have never seen them like that. Snow is falling on them now, a little late for that, Mother Nature. I have never thought about a need to cover foxglove.

Steve

Foxgloves are all over the countryside in UK

 

[Marie2020]

the cold doesn't seem to take them out here and it certainly doesn't kill off the seeds.




i've grown two kinds of flax here (both with the blue flowers). the blue you mention is what i'm most familiar with (if it is black seeded) and i found out that while it really can cover an area it does not grow thickly enough to crowd out much of anything else so it is really hard to keep weeds from getting into it and then being hard to remove. the plants themselves seemed to fade after a few seasons so i would not quite consider them perennial as much as a shorter lived type.

Now you all know that I am the world's most knowledgeable gardener, but I have to ask one more of my dumb questions .
Are these the edible flaxseeds?
No laughter or I will sulk

i loved the flowers and we had a lot of them growing across the entire back part of the yard here but it was just too difficult to keep the weeds out... i still have a few plants around but i don't cultivate or harvest the seeds specifically any more.

the other blue flax i've grown was a brown/golden seed color and was an annual. very nice plant for a uniform stand. done fairly early too if i remember right. some animals seemed to go after it so i stopped planting it. i think i still have some seeds on-hand but have not done a germination test on them to know how viable they might still be...

 

[Branching Out]

Now you all know that I am the world's most knowledgeable gardener, but I have to ask one more of my dumb questions .
Are these the edible flaxseeds?
No laughter or I will sulk

Good question! I have edibles seeds from annual Golden Flax; I hope to add some to my baking, or my yogurt. The Scarlet Flax that I grow is considered ornamental, and it's seeds are not edible.

 

[R2elk]

I have some of this. Very pretty, and the flowers have a very long blooming season. I've not had cats on it, but the bees like it!

Catmint is the only plant that I have found that is truly deer resistant.. The deer here will not eat it.

 

[Zeedman]

Foxglove. Because they remind me of being 3 years old and being in my grandmother's garden. Foxglove are usually biennial , but reseed.

I love digitalis too. Didn't realize they were biennial when I bought them - so mourned when they died. But 4 healthy seedlings popped up last year, so I'm looking forward to a good show. I've got to plant another clump in the off year, so they (hopefully) alternate continuously.

Peonies, perennial poppies, iris, roses, tiger lilies, purple aster, sweet William, and daylilies for perennials (even though the daylilies are just deer salad). Wish I could grow more hosta (there's a row on the North side of the house) but they too are just deer salad.

Marigolds self-seed generously every year in the rose bed, and in a couple pots. The combination is stunning when in bloom. I love that something my DW planted continues to return every year.

Zebrina mallow self-seeds in the vegetable gardens, and I allow them to grow wherever something didn't come up, or anywhere they are out of the way. A lot of benefits to having them interspersed among the vegetables, and allowing a little beautiful chaos somewhat offsets my tendency toward mathematically perfect rows. Those roots really go deep, bring up nutrients, and leave holes for other plants to use when they decay. It's only a weed if you don't want it. Those flowers survive the first few frosts too, and are one of the last pollen-rich food sources for honeybees.