Perennial Flowers with a long blooming period

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Question: In your recent newsletter you mention perennial flowers with a long bloom period. Could you share the names of some of your favorites?

Answer: Some of my readers have discovered that there is a lot of helpful gardening information on my web site: naturalpruningnw.com. including copies of all my newsletters for the last 3 years. A list of long blooming perennial flowers is included under flowers in the “how to guide”

Here are 8 of my favorite long blooming perennials.

Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ grows about 12 to 15 inches high and produces masses of small yellow daisy flowers from late June through the entire summer.

Lamium maculatum, common name dead nettle, is my favorite ground cover for shady areas. It grows 4 to 5 inches high and has attractive silver and green foliage as well as attractive flowers over the whole summer.

The new cultivars of Heuchera micrantha are cousins of Coral Bells. Although they do not have showy flowers their leaves have striking colors from deep purple to peach, rose and lime green. Many variegated leaf colors are also available. Heuchera grows less than a foot high and is best in shade to partial shade.

Hosta is another perennial grown in the shade for its colorful foiliage. Hosta has large leaves. Smaller and miniature varieties are also available.

Stella D’Oro Daylily (Hemerocallis) is golden yellow, long blooming plant with sword-like leaves. It grows 12 to 18 inches high. Several similar varieties have also been released recently.

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ had bright blue flowers non-stop from spring until fall. Leaves turn shades of red, orange and yellow in the fall. It grows about 18 inches high.

Walker’s Low Catmint (Nepeta) grows 10 inches high and has compact mounds of aromatic, soft gray green foliage with clusters of lavender blue flowers from late spring through early summer. A light shearing will force a second bloom in late summer to fall.

King of Hearts Bleeding Heart (Dicentra Formosa) when grown in the shade produces rose colored flowers above lacy gray-blue foliage all summer long. It grows about a foot high.