need suggestions

[beth2]

I have a flower bed that is mainly tall perenniels like gaurnia(?) cone flowers,bellflower,pin cushon flowers. In back of them I have foxglove, dephinium, and plan to get hollyhocks. love the color contrasts...like to keep the colors white, purple and blue. I am looking for something that will look nice in front of these taller plants that fits the color sceme. I am looking for ones that bloom all summer and that require little maintenance. (I have small children so I don't have a lot of time to fuss over the plants.)
I am in zone 5. Gets full sun.
Do you have any ideas?

[Newt]

Hi Beth,

the hardy Geranium 'Rozanne' is one of the longest blooming perennials I can think of. It blooms from the end of May to hard frost in my daughter's zone 7 garden. You can see the purple flowers in this bed.
https://www.sandfrauchen.de/images/geranium/Rozanne_gz_13sep06.jpg

Here's a close-up of the flowers.
https://www.sandfrauchen.de/images/geranium/Rozanne_blu_04aug06.jpg

Also look for everblooming or reblooming daylilies. You won't find blue but you should find purples and white. Do a google search:
everblooming daylily + white
everblooming daylily + purple

If you decide to mail order you can check references here.
https://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/

Newt

[beth2]

thank you for your reply. I appreciate the information. I have added a bunch of blackeyed susans to my gardens as they bloom all summer into fall here in zone 5. They arent blue or purple but its color non the less.
I will check into the geranium and daylilllies you mentioned! thanks!

[schleng]

Are you familiar with Catmint 'Walker's Low'? It's a great plant....and purple flowers to fit your color scheme.

This plant blooms almost all summer long. The flowers are similar to those of Lavender. and so is the color. It gets quite wide...about 30" to 36" but stays about 12" to 18" high.

It is such a carefree plant too. It's drought tolerant. We are having a drought here in Virginia and this plant said, "Who cares?"

Susan