What are Important Considerations for a Perennial Garden?

[angelamarak]

Hello. I am looking for help on planting a small perennial garden that will bloom from spring to fall. We live in Zone 5 and the flowers will be subject to full sun. The area we are looking to plant is a small 3x10 space. The area if flat and does not lie against anything (meaning tall plants are out). The space does not come to touch the stairs or a wall or anything. Just think of a small flat piece of land looking for some flowers. That being said, I am wondering what types of plants and how many (I am a new gardener and do not know anything about spacing, spread, etc for a 3x10 area). Any plans/design ideas/help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[applestar]

A critical piece of info needed here would be: Do you plan to water regularly or will they be in full sun+drought conditions? (Also, what do you consider tall >3ft?)

I became very interested in edible landscaping last year. So my response would be why just grow flowers when you could grow something you can eat! For instance, strawberries provide a nice low growing EDIBLE ground cover. If you grow native wild strawberries, they can handle drought (not sure about cultivated varieties, but with good mulch, they might be OK. Everbearers and Day neutral varieties make berries all season long vs. the June bearers/wild). I ordered bare-root plants, usually sold in bunches of 25 and least expensive way to buy them, and they'll be shipping them to me 2nd week of March. I'm in zone 6/7 border.

[bullthistle]

The most important thing is too make certain you amend the soil and because it is full sun make certain it has access to mositure and use bone meal when planting to insure proper root growth. Why not plant the tall plants in the center and step it down. One of the earliest would be Bearded Iris.

[rainbowgardener]

for your full sun location, think about things that are hardy and drought tolerant... for example black eyed susans, day lilies (come in hundreds of gorgeous colors and color combinations, in early, late, and ever blooming varieties, so you can span a long season just with day lilies), bee balm, lavender, penstemon, perennial salvias. Throw in some herbs, eg anise hyssop, mints, oregano, for you and for the bees and butterflies that love them. Add some spring flowering bulbs (snow drops, crocus, daffodil, tulip, iris), and some asters and mums and fall crocus and you will have something in bloom from early spring to late fall... All of these are easy care, perennial, will come back stronger every year. enjoy!

[hendi_alex]

As mentioned in the previous post, I think that water requirements are one of the most important considerations. You will have two pants side by side and one is whithering while the other is perfectly happy. You water the whithering plant and the previously happy plant starts showing signs of excess water stress and dropping its leaves. It takes a lot of research to find a group of plants that provides characterists of height, bloom color, bloom time, etc. and at the same time includes compatiblity wrt their water needs.