Keep the Color Coming
How Reblooming and Long-Blooming Perennials Keep Your Garden Looking Great All Summer
One of the biggest misconceptions about perennial gardens is that every plant should bloom all summer. In reality, most perennials have their moment to shine, then settle into becoming attractive green plants for the rest of the season.
The good news is that a little maintenance—and choosing the right varieties—can keep color in your garden from spring until frost.
Why Deadheading Matters
Deadheading simply means removing faded flowers before the plant starts making seed. When many perennials aren't spending energy producing seed, they often respond by producing another round of blooms.
It only takes a few minutes each week and is one of the easiest ways to extend the beauty of your garden.
Perennials That Often Rebloom
These favorites frequently reward you with another flush of flowers after deadheading or a light trim.
- Salvia – Shear plants back after the first bloom for another colorful display later in summer.
- Catmint – A quick haircut after flowering encourages fresh growth and more blooms.
- Coreopsis – Deadheading keeps flowers coming for weeks.
- Dianthus – Removing spent blooms often results in another show of fragrant flowers.
- Yarrow – Cutting faded flower heads encourages additional blooms while keeping plants tidy.
Long-Blooming Garden Favorites
Some perennials simply keep going with very little encouragement.
- Coneflower (Echinacea) produces colorful blooms for weeks while attracting butterflies and later feeding birds with its seed heads.
- Black-Eyed Susan brightens late summer gardens with cheerful golden flowers that seem to bloom endlessly.
- Russian Sage provides airy lavender-blue flowers and beautiful texture throughout much of the summer.
- Agastache, sometimes called hummingbird mint, attracts hummingbirds, butterflies, and pollinators while blooming for months.
- 'Rozanne' Hardy Geranium is one of the longest-blooming perennials you can grow. Its violet-blue flowers appear in early summer and continue blooming until frost with very little maintenance.
The secret to a colorful perennial garden isn't finding one plant that blooms all summer. It's combining plants with different bloom times and giving reblooming varieties a little attention along the way. The result is a landscape that always has something beautiful to enjoy.
Whether you're starting a new perennial garden or adding a few more plants to an existing landscape, we're happy to help you choose varieties that provide beautiful color throughout the growing season. Stop in and explore our selection of proven favorites—we'd love to help you create a garden that keeps getting better every month.
The Landscape Connection
4472 S. Mulford Rd.
Rockford, IL 61109
(815) 874-8733
www.TheLandscapeConnection.net
