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Perennial Plants

There are no immaculate matching perennial borders here at Mooseys, though I must admit I've been very tempted to try. My perennials are planted here, there, and everywhere - squashed in with flaxes and grasses and roses, used to fill space and provide summer and autumn colour.

Possibly my all-round favourite perennial plant.

Daylily

My love of perennials goes back further than this garden - my first experience with them was as the owner of a frothy row of catmint and a patch of summer flowering phlox. I had no idea what perennials were, and was amazed when (after cutting) the Nepeta just grew back and flowered again.

Gradually I read more and more about the famous perennial gardens in England. The pictures of famous borders in Waterperry and other open gardens were quite inspiring - though I did wonder if this style would transplant well into my garden, with its resident New Zealand wind. All the photos looked - well - windless!

My early experiments with perennials were confined to frothy summer flowers, as I discovered gauras and penstemons. Then my friend Astrid gave me some daylilies to try out in the country spaces. My introduction to these brilliant plants has been a turning point in my concept of perennials. Now I'd never be without them.

You'll find perennials all over the place at Mooseys now - and yes, I do have a row of catmint, and several patches of that original lilac phlox (which I have a love-hate relationship with). And I do have my favourites - though they mightn't get to be stars in a traditional herbaceous perennial border.

Perennials

Echinacea - Coneflowers... Tue 10th Feb 2009: Echinacea might be a well-known and much-grown perennial for some gardeners, but not for me. We've only just met face to face. This could be the start of a long and rich relationship...
Peonies... Tue 30th Dec 2008: Over the last few years I've collected up most of my peonies and planted them together in one place - in the Birthday Rose Garden. What a great idea - and what a beautiful flowering display they've put on this spring.
Blue Corydalis... Fri 3rd Oct 2008: Back in the old days when I read gardening magazines and took notice of what they said, a must-have perennial kept popping up in the pages. It was a blue flowering Corydalis - and I still enjoy its appearance each spring.
Blue Primrose... Tue 12th Sep 2006: Barnhaven Primroses - the very name evokes all that is peaceful and pretty about the English countryside and English gardening. This spring I've bought some to provide much-needed colour in the house and patio garden.
Shasta Daisy... Sun 23rd Jul 2006: White daisies are simply beautiful. The colour white is the greatest garden gift, and the daisy flower shape is delightful. With a petal pattern we can all draw, daisies are cute, childlike, and gently romantic - timeless floral friends.
Alchemilla Mollis... Sun 28th May 2006: In my first perennial gardening phase I was inspired by photographs of well-watered English herbaceous borders. And so I fell hopelessly, romantically in love with the edging plant Alchemilla Mollis.
Asters... Tue 11th Apr 2006: In Autumn my perennial asters bring beautiful colour into the flower garden. I grow only two different varieties, and really must get some more. Where did I put that mail order nursery catalogue?
Blue Convolvulus... Sun 27th Mar 2005: Convolvulus Mauritanicus is an easy to grow trailing perennial. In my garden it drapes itself over the edge of a low wooden retaining wall by the house patio. I love its delicate blue flowers.
Aconitum... Sat 26th Mar 2005: The late summer perennial Aconitum gets a pretty bad write-up in most gardening books. Of course, its sap is poisonous, and it has been used throughout the ages for what my book of garden perennials describes as 'deliberate poisoning'. Eeek!
Rudbeckia... Sat 26th Mar 2005: My favourite early autumn yellow daisies are in fact perennial Rudbeckia, a relative of the popular annual daisies called Black-eyed Susan. The flowers have clear yellow petals and dark centres.
Pink Summer Phloxes... Mon 7th Feb 2005: Hurray for summer, and these pink perennial phloxes flowering brightly near the Pergola! I do so appreciate their rich pink shades.
Verbascums... Thu 30th Dec 2004: I've always loved the ordinary yellow Verbascums I've seen in pictures of English gardens - like foxgloves, they make beautiful vertical accents. So when a rogue Verbascum 'arrived' on the edge of my water race, it was given a grand Moosey welcome.
Catmint... Mon 13th Dec 2004: Catmint, or Nepeta, is a lovely perennial - scruffy, scented, much loved by cats and gardeners. It's easy to propagate and equally easy to rip out if you get sick of it. And if you remember to trim it back you'll get a second flowering.
Phlomis... Sun 21st Nov 2004: Phlomis is a beautiful perennial with subtle yellow flowers, useful for leaving uncut through winter - the stalks and seed-heads are quite sculptural.
Primroses... Sat 16th Oct 2004: Primroses are beautiful little flowering spring perennials - perfect to grow right near the edge of a garden bed, as long as there's some shade. I only have two colours at the moment in my garden - soft yellow and cherry red.
Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla)... Wed 13th Oct 2004: Several years ago I bought some Pulsatillas, commonly called Pasque Flowers, from a roadside stall. They were planted and promptly forgotten - until this spring.
Polyanthus... Sat 11th Sep 2004: Some polyanthus colours are subtle, while others are as gaudy as the colours of felt pens. I grow a few select polyanthus to brighten up the house gardens in early spring.
Hellebore... Tue 17th Aug 2004: My perennial book calls Hellebores 'useful' winter flowering plants for cooler climates. I disagree with this word - Hellebores have beautiful flowers and foliage, and are easy to become obsessed with (in winter, anyway)...
Clary Sage... Tue 29th Jun 2004: Salvias are a very varied and useful group of herbaceous perennials. Clary Sage, particularly the white variety, is one of my favourites. The colours of the bracts are subtle - creamy white and light green.
Daylilies... Wed 12th May 2004: When I first started the garden here in the country I was given some huge clumps of species daylilies to plant. The terracotta colours of the first plants were very beautiful, but there seemed to be a lot of untidiness in the off season.
Korean Angelica... Wed 12th May 2004: Korean Angelica is a stunning biennial which grows tall (about head high) in its second year and has large purple seed heads in summer.
Blue Lupin... Mon 19th Apr 2004: Lupins are one of my favourite perennials, and these slate blue plants were grown from seed I gathered. They are happily flowering in Autumn from a Spring sowing.
Variegated Sedum... Mon 15th Mar 2004: This variegated sedum has the most delicate starry pink and white flowers in early autumn.
Sedum... Fri 12th Mar 2004: This sedum is a fabulous perennial for any mixed border. The bees smother it in late summer, and during autumn the flowerheads grow darker and browner in colour.
Perennial Geraniums... Mon 23rd Feb 2004: I'm not an expert on the herbaceous geraniums growing in my garden. They are all plants that I've picked out of mail-order catalogues, and forgotten their names soon after planting. I'm embarrassed that I've taken them so much for granted.
Filipendula... Sun 8th Feb 2004: Yippee! This was my first truly successful moist waterside habitat plant purchase. Things took a while to establish, but now every summer I am rewarded by huge pink fluffy flowers which remind me of candy floss.
Macleaya... Sun 8th Feb 2004: I love the subtle colouring of this rather naughty perennial. Macleaya does tend to creep around a bit, but the tall feathery pink and cream flowers are worth it. Its common name is 'Plume Poppy'.
Salvia Superbum... Sun 8th Feb 2004: There are so many Salvias which give joy and colour to any perennial planting scheme. My favourite smaller Salvia is the blue spiked variety which I think is called Salvia Superbum.
Delphiniums... Tue 3rd Feb 2004: I love my random patches of delphiniums (particularly when the wind isn't blowing). Some are seed grown, others were bought in from a fancy catalogue.
Scrophularia... Tue 3rd Feb 2004: This perennial has it all - clean cream and green variegated leaves which grow neatly in a rosette, followed by tall growth and the littlest of red flowers (which are absolutely adored by the bees).
Stachys... Tue 3rd Feb 2004: Stachys byzantina, commonly known as Lambs Ears, is the ultimate edging plant at Mooseys, and I grow two different types. My favourite is the lime green variety.
Aquilegias... Tue 20th Jan 2004: Aquilegias are enduring spring perennials, and a clear signal that the garden is on the move. As soon as the Aquilegias start flowering, I'd better be ready for action! They come in all colours and sizes, from small blues to large dusky pinks.
Penstemons... Tue 20th Jan 2004: Penstemons are so generous with their summer flowers and with their cutting-grown offspring. I have a number of regulars - Purple Passion, and Snowstorm, and a bright tomato red variety.
Purple Verbena... Tue 20th Jan 2004: I bought a purple Verbena through a mail order catalogue some years ago. Since then it has survived droughts, and frosts, and always flowers in full health in the later weeks of summer.
Salvia Black Knight... Sun 29th Dec 2002: Salvias grow well here in the free draining soil, and one of my favourite Salvias is Black Knight. I first saw this huge perennial in the back of the perennial border at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, and loved its size and the deep purple-black flower colour.
Phlox... Thu 26th Dec 2002: This phlox is a magenta pink colour, with dark leaves. A small patch of it was here when I first arrived. Phloxes flower profusely throughout the summer weeks, and are tough customers in wind or drought.
Pink Punk Plant... Thu 26th Dec 2002: My Liatris plant came from the local golf club plant sale. I've enjoyed its spikey flowers, and call it my punk pink flowering plant. It's planted in Middle Border by the edge of a dog-path, and I hope it bulks out there.
Japanese Anenome... Mon 23rd Dec 2002: When first given some Japanese Anenomes I immediately planted them in a hot border by the house. It was quite the wrong place, but luckily for me the soil was desperately dry and I was able to dig out all the bits of roots.
Echinops... Fri 20th Dec 2002: This stylish perennial echinops grows well in the sunny rugosa rose border near the hen house. My foolish son wouldn't take any photos of it for weeks, thinking that it was a weed. Even though the flower heads are thistle-like, the foliage is not particularly nasty.
Centaurea Montana... Thu 19th Dec 2002: This perennial cornflower has the craziest blue flowers which look like paper cutouts. Their detail can only be seen close up. I cut them back after flowering and often am rewarded with more flowers in autumn.
Chrysanthemums... Thu 19th Dec 2002: The yellow Chrysanthemums planted by the glass-house door were originally dumped there out of a pot and partially forgotten. The first Autumn that they bloomed, however, they stole my heart, and I won't shift them.
Achillea... Sun 15th Dec 2002: Achillea often start as favourite perennials and end up on the rubbish heap. They certainly die in a very scruffy way, and less well informed visitors still see the most beautiful hybrids as weeds.
Agastache... Fri 1st Mar 2002: Agastache was one of my early seed purchases. I didn't know that it would be so generous in providing me with new seedlings, and dutifully collected my own seed after the first flowering season. I really needn't have bothered.
Gypsophila... Tue 2nd Feb 1999: I bought this Gypsophila from the local golf club and originally planted it in the Dog-Path Garden next to some small fire engine red roses. I''s such a good combination - the bridal veil white of the Gypsophila with the romance of the red roses underneath.