Three Easy-Care Perennials

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Stephanie Cohen

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Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns' is an award-winning perennial.

The secret is out! Gardeners have discovered the benefits of planting perennials.

If you’re a new gardener just starting to dabble in these fabulous plants, I have three easy-care perennials for you to try – one for each season.

In late spring, after your bulbs have withered away, try a perennial salvia known as Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’. This plant grows in full sun and average soil, and once it’s established it’s quite drought-tolerant.

The upright habit, dark violet flower spikes and the dark green leaves with black stems make this an attractive plant from spring into fall. If deadheaded (removing faded flowers), ‘Caradonna’ has a long flowering season. It even makes a good cut flower! It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies, and thanks to its pungent foliage, the plant repels rabbits and deer. (But is it pungent to humans? Well, it’s like perfume – some may think marigold foliage is unpleasant, and boxwood smells like eau de skunk. Salvia isn’t as bad as these. Scent depends on who’s sniffing.)

For summer, try any daylily (Hemerocallis) cultivar. They grow in full sun to light shade in most soil types, and, once established, are even forgiving of benign neglect. (Except for plastic, daylilies are one of the easiest plants to grow.) Here are two nice choices that are available across the entire country:

‘Happy Returns’ is a charming canary yellow with dark green foliage. It’s 18 inches tall and begins blooming in early summer – and continues to flower sporadically until frost. It’s very heat-tolerant and has received several awards of merit.

Tips

Large Sedums can split open in optimum growing conditions, so if you find yours doing this, it’s better to cut them in half in June to have sturdier, better-branched, shorter plants for fall. (Otherwise, you’ll have to use stakes and string which makes them look like they’ve been tied up for committing a crime.)
When daylilies start producing very few flowers (when clumps become excessively large), it’s time to divide. If you wind up with too many plants, that’s the time to make friends with your neighbors – share the daylily love.

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