Our Favourite Perennials

Here in the prairies it never ceases to amaze me that after a long winter with harsh temperatures there are still plants that show up in spring and flourish. It really is a miracle in my opinion. It's also then not surprising when some things that are supposed to be hardy in our location don't make it through a winter. Many plants that thrive in climates just one zone warmer than us sadly don't ever survive here. All of our favourites thrive in our climate with the right amount of care. Keep in mind that just because something is a perennial does not mean it's no maintenance, but you will save yourself the task of planting every spring if you choose varieties that do well in our climate and take care of them. I recently read an article listing the author's favourite perennials, and to be honest for a variety of reasons not a single one made my list. That’s why I understand if none of the plants I'm going to write about make your list. It’s simply a collection of the perennials that we love, ans have thirved for us.

Before we were Flower Farmers we were gardeners, and we have always had a large perennial garden where we try not to cut from (although this is sometimes very difficult). This is the section of our garden that we enjoy throughout the summer that is just for us. It's where my love of gardening started. There are so many incredible perennials, and as our farm has grown, we've taken over more and more sections of garden that were once reserved for annuals and have planted more perennials. Often (but not always) perennials require a larger initial investment but with the right care they bloom and grow year after year which annuals just won't do for you. The majority of perennials bloom for a a few weeks (not all season) which is why in our perennial gardens we like to sprinkle in a few annuals to make sure theres always a bit of colour. It's always important to consider your location when choosing new plants and it's important to remember that perennials will change with time. The first season your plant may be small or short and you might not get any blooms but that doesn't mean next summer the plant won't have lots of blooms! Often you'll need to give your perennials time and space. Don't expect too much out of them the first or second year. Also keep in mind that they will often need more space or grow taller over time so you may need to move them (be careful when doing that... might be a good future blog post).

Ok now for our favourites. Let's start with our favourite cut flower perennials. Please note that the majority of these are also great for enjoying in the garden. Not all flowers that are great for enjoying in the garden are good cut flowers, but the reverse is almost always true. The most dominant perennial in our garden are Lilies. Upward facing lilies make incredible cut flowers and they produce showy blooms in a variety of colours for most of July. They are the star of our early summer bouquets and one of our favourite flowers to work with. They are long lasting, popular, and beautiful; what more could you ask for from a flower!? Some of our other early summer favourites include; Yarrow (you can even start yarrow from seed and get stunning blooms your first season), Veronica (comes in Pink, white, and most commonly blue, and are one of our favourite bouquet additions), Daisies (a classic flower that will always have a place in our garden), Trollius(also known as globe flower), Irises, Peonies (Everyone's favourite, we keep a section for picking and a section just for us to enjoy because they're just so amazing), Allium(or as I like to call them pretty onions), and Astilbe and Goats Beard (which give bouquets amazing texture). Summer brings about other favourite perennials including Globe thistle (which are as great a dried flower as they are fresh), Baby's Breath (garden BB is different than the variety you get from a florist, trust us it's better), Coreopsis (long lasting yellow blooms that continue to produce till fall), Centurea (really fun fluffy yellow balls),and Hostas (we use the flowers in bouquets their scent is amazing, and their leaves make great greenery!). Fall has fewer blooming perennials but Hydrangeas (both as a fresh and cut flower), Sedum, Echinacea, and October daisies are a few cut flower staples for us. What is especially great about fall perennials is that you get to enjoy them all summer before it's time to pick them!

When it comes to our favourite garden perennials, many of them are the same as listed above. We do have some perennials that don't make great cut flowers for us, but we keep them around because they add something special or beautidul to the garden. Keep in mind that for us and our clients we like perennials that have lasting blooms and although all these flowers can be cut, most don't have a particularly long vase life so they don't make our cut flower list. Some of those are Irises, Muscari, Columbine, Maltese Cross, Lily of the valley, Bleeding Heart, and flowering trees like mock orange, Double Flowering Plum, and Lilacs in spring. Summer brings it's stunning downward facing or giant Lilies, Roses, Flowering vines, flowering shrubs such as Spirea and Weigela, Delphiniums (Many love these as cut flowers, but I find they are best as event flowers rather than cut flowers because of their short vase life), Day Lilies, Flocks, Sweet Williams, Poppies, and Hollyhocks.

There are many perennials out there and we'll probably never get to trying all of them, but most years we add something new. Sometimes those new plants stick around and other times they don't make the cut. There is a lot of trial and error goes into the process, but it's always fun to see what we can grow here, and often we find new favourites that we don't know how we ever did without. I hope our list helps you try new perennials this year, and with any luck a new favourite.

M