Make Your Own Perennial Flower Garden
This perennial flower garden design will provide many years of enjoyment and, since perennials come back each year, there’s no replanting required! The key to a perennial flower garden is careful selection of plants, so we’ve given careful consideration to our plant list and plot plan.
Not only do perennial plants keep coming back year after year, they also may produce colorful blooms for two months or longer. Attractive leaves, showy seed heads, and fetching foliage add even more interest. For early color, add daffodils, crocuses, and other spring bulbs.
This 5x10-foot rectangle suits a path or driveway border and requires well-drained soil and full sun. In longer beds, repeat the pattern.
Perennial Flower Garden Plan
Perennial Garden Plant List
- ‘Blue Ice’ bluestar (perennial): Dense mounds feature starry blue flower clusters in mid- or late spring. Slender, rich-green leaves turn bright yellow in fall. It is about 18 inches tall and grows in Zones 4 to 9. Six plants.
- Purple coneflower (perennial): Large, daisy-form, purple-pink flowers with prominent centers bloom through the summer atop 3- to 5-foot-tall stems. Also look for cultivars with white, orange, or yellow flowers. It grows in Zones 3 to 9. Six plants.
- ‘Miss Manners’ obedient plant (perennial): Sturdy, upright stems are topped with spikes of bright-white blooms from midsummer to early fall. Obedient plant can be a rampant spreader, but this cultivar is fairly well behaved. It is 18 to 24 inches tall and grows in Zones 3 to 9. Six plants.
- ‘Little Bunny’ fountain grass (perennial): Dense clumps of spiky foliage feature brushy, silver seed heads from late summer into winter. It is 12 to 18 inches in bloom and grows in Zones 5 to 9. Nine plants.
- Lady’s mantle (perennial): One-foot-tall mounds of elegantly pleated, velvety, scalloped-edge leaves boast frothy clusters of green-yellow flowers in early to midsummer. It is about 18 inches tall in bloom and grows in Zones 4 to 7. Three plants.
- ‘Zagreb’ coreopsis (perennial): Moderately spreading clumps of slender green leaves bear an abundance of bright-yellow, daisy-like flowers through summer. It is 12 to 18 inches tall in bloom and grows in Zones 4 to 9. Three plants.
- ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (perennial): Clumps of grassy foliage, 2 to 3 feet tall at maturity, feature 5- to 6-foot-tall stalks topped with plumes that are pinkish-gray in summer and tan in winter. It grows in Zones 5 to 9. Five plants.
For a garden that blooms from spring to fall, see our three-season flower garden design.
Getting Started with Flower Gardening
Building a Raised Flower Bed Garden
Choosing Flowers
Types of Flower Gardens
Flower Gardening for Pollinators
Growing Flowers in Containers
Spring and Fall Bulbs
Caring for Flowers
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I have been wanting to start growing Coneflowers all around my property. However, everything I read says they need to go in the ground spring, early summer. However, all my local retail flower stores are just starting to sell them. (Late summer/early fall) Can I put them in the ground now? Why are hey just starting to sell them now? PS I live in East TN
Have you considered winter sowing coneflower seeds? This is a way to get hundreds of plants cheap. Or scratch in seeds around your property.
have a partial shaded area
Hi Susan, While many perennials enjoy sun, there are certainly some great plants that prefer partial shade. Perennials that come to mind are: phlox, lungwort, hosta, astilbe, bleeding heart, heuchera. At your garden center, stroll around and the perennials for shade are usually separated from the perennials for sun. Each plant will have a tag telling you their preferences. You can also browse online. For example, this flower company has collections for shade which may provide inspiration: https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com
I'd love to see a garden plan for wet in winter/dry in summer. I also have clay soil but that can be amended.
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