Some flowers can last forever... Almost forever! Long-blooming perennials are beloved by many, and for a good reason. Their beautiful blossoms can bring you delight from summer to fall. What's even better, they are low-maintenance, and there's absolutely no need to replant them each spring. If you're excited about getting one of those greenies, you're probably confused by all the possible options out there. Ah, too many flowers to choose from! Don't fret; check out our list of 15 most popular longest-blooming perennials.
Benefits of Perennial Flowers That Bloom All Season
There are a lot of benefits that the Perennials-Fan-Club members can enjoy. Here are the best ones:
- Your garden may blossom for months;
- Only minimal effort is required to care for them;
- There is no need to replant them every year;
- They bring nutrients and water to the neighboring flowers, which don't have such a deep root system;
- They're easy to propagate since you only need to divide their roots and plant the parts of them.
Almost too good to be true, right?
List of Most Popular Long-Flowering Perennials
Drum roll...Get ready to meet our beauty pageant perennial contestants!
Ice plant (Delosperma spp.)
Our first candidate is Delosperma. This sun-loving flower can sparkle any garden up with its bright blooms!
- Why to Choose: Under the sun, the slender leaves of this plant are reminiscent of little ice crystals. Its bright long-blooming perennial flowers will please your eyes with their beauty from spring to fall. Ice plants are quite tall and can reach 3-6 inches (8-16 cm), which, combined with their ability to tolerate drought, makes them perfect for rock gardens.
- Color Palette: You can get yellow, white, and pink Ice plants.
- Watering Tips: Water your greenies once every two weeks if there is no rainfall and once a week during the hottest summer days.
- Sun Requirements: These sun-loving green African natives need at least 6 hours of sunlight daily.
- Soil Tips: The soil needs to be dry and well-drained, and the pH should be neutral, though you may add slow-release fertilizer when planting these flowering beauties.
If you follow these tips, your Ice plant will bring you delight for many years to come.
Coneflower (Echinacea spp.)
The second candidate is Echinacea. You have probably heard about its medicinal properties, so how about planting one of these pharmacy celebrities in your garden?
- Why to Choose: Coneflower is one of the longest-blooming perennials; it will embellish your garden with colorful flowers from June to August. This plant is not only pretty but also drought resistant and easy to take care of. It grows up to 2-5 ft (0.6-1.5 m) tall and will attract a lot of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds just as a pleasant bonus!
- Color Palette: Coneflowers are available in purple, pink, red, yellow, white, and orange.
- Watering Tips: Though coneflower is tolerant of drought, we recommend giving it at least an inch (2 cm) of water weekly in its first season. Make sure you let the soil dry out before watering it again.
- Sun Requirements: Coneflower should get 6-8 hours of sunlight.
- Soil Tips: The potting mix should be well-draining and have a neutral pH; it's best to add well-rotted manure each spring to give your greenies the necessary nutrients
Keep your Echinacea happy! It's definitely worth it.
Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata)
Ah, who doesn't know the sweet, strong scent of Garden Phlox…Perhaps, it's time to make your garden fragrant!
- Why to Choose: The magnificent, colorful flowers of this green beauty bloom from summer till fall, sharing fragrance with whoever visits your garden – including hummingbirds and butterflies, all hunting for the sweet nectar. Garden Phlox grows up to 2-4 ft (0.6-1.2 m) tall, and its white flowers grow in clumps. In addition to being one of the strikingly beautiful continuous-blooming perennials, it's also elementary to grow.
- Color Palette: You can add white, lavender, pink, rose, and red Garden Phloxes to your plant collection.
- Watering Tips: Water it once a week; foliage should be kept dry to minimize the risk of powdery mildew.
- Sun Requirements: Garden Phlox grows best in full sun.
- Soil Tips: The soil should remain dry and be well-drained. Fertilize once a year with compost.
Take good care of your Phlox paniculata, and you won't need any perfume in the summer. It will reward you with the sweetest fragrance!
Cranesbill (Geranium 'Rozanne')
Geraniums are pretty and long-lasting, another perfect candidate for your garden. Here's what you need to know to keep them thriving:
- Why to Choose: Cranesbill, one of the all-season-blooming perennials, creates a sea of violet flowers from early summer till fall, and its marble green foliage serves as an excellent groundcover. Also, cranesbill reaches a height of 16-20 in (40-50 cm). All of that makes it a perfect border plant. Besides that, it's also easy to take care of. It will also bring a lot of pollinators to your garden.
- Color Palette: Pink, violet, and blue.
- Watering Tips: It's best to water this greenie once a week.
- Sun Requirements: Prefers full sun with partial shade in the evenings.
- Soil Tips: The growing medium should be moist, well-drained, and slightly acidic. Remember to apply some balanced fertilizer once a season.
If you were looking for a perfect border plant, you found one. We hope these tips will help you maintain your Geranium in the best shape.
Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Have you met Black-Eyed Susan? We are about to introduce her to you. Ready? She's a perennial, likes acidic soil, and would be happy to join your garden!
- Why to Choose: Even though Black-Eyed Susan requires little care, it is one of the longest-blooming perennials, covering your garden in an abundance of yellow daisy-like flowers with dark brown discs from June to September. This plant is rich in pollen and nectar, so bees and butterflies will be frequent guests. It reaches a height of about 2-3 ft (0.6-0.9 m) and is a perfect border plant.
- Color Palette: Black-Eyed Susan can become a beautiful yellow addition to your garden or flower bed.
- Watering Tips: You should give your flowers an inch (2 cm) of water till they are established.
- Sun Requirements: Black-Eyed Susan grows best in full sun (at least 6-8 hours a day).
- Soil Tips: The soil should be well-drained and slightly acidic; you can also use slow-release granular fertilizer.
Next time you meet your Black-Eyed Susan in your garden (flowering and happy, of course), tell her we said hi!
Catmint (Nepeta racemosa)
You might want to keep your cat away from catmint; however, there's no need to stay away from it yourself. This flowering beauty will be a treat to any aspiring gardener out there.
- Why to Choose: Reaching a height of 1-2 ft (0.3-0.6 m), catmint boasts impressive, tall, blue flower spikes and green foliage covered in white-snowy spots. It's perfect for defining a border in front of flower beds and rock gardens. This low-maintenance flower can also be a great ground cover. In addition, Nepeta is one of the long-blooming blue perennials (amusing you with its beauty from spring to fall).
- Color Palette: Catmints are available in blue and purple colors.
- Watering Tips: Catmints should get one inch (2 cm) of water a week during their first season. You should give your green pet a sip only once every three weeks once it matures.
- Sun Requirements: Keep your Catmints in full sun or light shade.
- Soil Tips: Nepeta racemosa grows well in a range of well-drained soils; it doesn't need fertilization, but you may want to add a tablespoon of compost to its base at the end of the first season.
If you keep these tips in mind, your catmint will grow up to be healthy and beautiful.
Daylily (Hemerocallis spp)
This genus has interesting blooming sequences, so get this flower if you like to be original! If you know how to keep your pet away from this greenie, it will be a perfect decoration for your garden.
- Why to Choose: With this incredible plant, you will get a bloom that lasts only for a day but also from mid-spring to summer. How so? Well, though each blossom shares the beauty of its colorful elliptical petals only for a day, this plant flowers in sequences. It means, of course, that you will have a chance to enjoy the blooms for months! These long-lasting perennials are tolerant to heat, drought, and flooding. However, you should be careful if you have cats; these plants are toxic to them.
- Color Palette: You can find red, orange, yellow, pink, and purple daylilies at your local plant nursery.
- Watering Tips: You should water daylilies every couple of days in their first month, later once or twice a week in their first season.
- Sun Requirements: Daylilies enjoy full sun, though they tolerate partial shade, too.
- Soil Tips: The soil should be acidic and loamy, and it might be helpful to add a handful of balanced, general-purpose fertilizer twice a year.
The daylily will make your day (pun intended) if you take care of its needs. Luckily, looking after this plant is super easy.
Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)
Here comes another candidate with a fragrant spell to cast. If you're excited about all those summery scents, consider Grape Hyacinth. Is it just us, or does this plant look precisely like grapes?
- Why to Choose: These beautifully shaped flowers looking out from their grass-like foliage, will fascinate anyone who walks into your garden. They are miniature, reaching a height of only 6-9 in (15-23 cm), and can fit well at the border or in the grass. However, they have a few flaws. First, they are not perennial flowers that bloom all year. Second, they can be pretty invasive.
- Color Palette: There are white, yellow, lavender, pink, and blue Hyacinths to choose from.
- Watering Tips: You should water your plants every two or three days.
- Sun Requirements: Though Hyacinths tolerate light shade, try to keep them full sun.
- Soil Tips: The soil should be well-drained and loamy. Use slow-release granular fertilizer annually.
Almost forgot to mention that there is, in fact, a grapey aftertaste in this flower's smell. Yummy!
Cape Fuchsia (Phygelius capensis)
Cape Fuchsia's name refers to the Cape of Good Hope. Let's hope it also means a lot of hope for your beautiful garden!
- Why to Choose: If you want to add a little bit of magic to your garden, making you feel like an Alice in Wonderland, there is no better option than these long-flowering red perennials. Reaching the height of 3-5 ft (0.9-1.5 m), their variegated droplet-shaped blooms captivate anyone, including hummingbirds and bees, which feed on them. However, Cape Fuchsia may even be called killing beauty in a pretty literal way because it's rather invasive.
- Color Palette: Creamy white, purple, red, magenta, and pink.
- Watering Tips: Until they are established, water your green pets once a week. Mature plants need water less often.
- Sun Requirements: It's better to keep Phygelius in full sun, though partial shade is also alright.
- Soil Tips: We recommend fertilizing with compost at the beginning and end of the season. Remember that the soil should be well-drained.
Unless you let this flowering beauty invade your garden, you might really enjoy her presence. Keep our tips in mind!
Spiked speedwell (Veronica spicata)
If you're not afraid of aliens, here's your best choice. Veronica spicata will make all the heads turn!
- Why to Choose: Spiked speedwell is easy to grow and alien-looking (a perfect combo). It is also one of the plants that bloom all summer long. Its long, slim spikes of star-shaped violet flowers ascending from the dark-green foliage will thrill you from late spring to late summer. This greenie is perfect for defining borders and decorating rock gardens.
- Color Palette: You can pick blue, white, pink, and purple Spiked speedwells.
- Watering Tips: Water frequently after planting; once your flowers are established, give them an inch (2 cm) of water per week.
- Sun Requirements: Spiked speedwell enjoys full sun. It also tolerates partial shade.
- Soil Tips: The substrate should be loamy and well-drained. It's best to fertilize this plant annually (in spring). Use a balanced, general-purpose fertilizer.
Finally, you can make your garden look like a field on a distant exoplanet (and we love it).
Blanket flower (Gaillardia grandiflora)
Time to wrap your garden in a comfy blanket and meet our next candidate, the beautiful Gaillardia!
- Why to Choose: The only way for their name to be even more descriptive is to contain 'eternal' in itself, as these long-lasting perennial flowers will quite literally cover your garden with a blanket of flashy red blossoms with a yellow outer ring. They also attract many hummingbirds and butterflies and are easy to maintain!
- Color Palette: You can get your Blanket in red, orange, yellow, and peach.
- Watering Tips: You should water regularly until the Blanket flower is established; they become extraordinarily drought resistant after some time (just you wait).
- Sun Requirements: Make sure to plant your Blanket flowers in full sun.
- Soil Tips: The substrate has to be well-draining. There is no need to fertilize the plant.
Sleep tight! Just kidding...
Threadleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata)
Here comes the candidate who is very likely to endure that long scorching summer everyone dreads with a smile! Threadleaf is a survivor with stunning looks to show off.
- Why to Choose: These flowers will delight you for a long time like millions of tiny suns rising in a sea of green foliage. Threadleaf Coreopsis is considered one of the perennials that bloom all year. Reaching a height of 2-3 ft (0.6-0.9 m), a yellow eight-petal blossom on a slender stem looks dazzling and will be perfect for your garden. Not only humans but bees and butterflies are in love with these flowers!
- Color Palette: This flower is available in yellow color.
- Watering Tips: Water regularly in their first season and reduce to one a week as the plant becomes drought-tolerant.
- Sun Requirements: Keep your Threadleaf Coreopsis in full sun; they should receive 6-8 hours of direct sunlight.
- Soil Tips: The potting mix should be well-drained, loamy, and neutral. Adding a small amount of balanced granular fertilizer in the spring would be best.
You're all set and ready to grow this wonderful yellow flower.
Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum)
Would you like to wake up in the summer mornings feeling as fresh as a daisy? You should get one of the Shasta daisies outside your window.
- Why to Choose: If you ask a child to draw a flower, a blossom with snowy white petals and a yellow center on a long slim green stem is probably the portrayal you will get. Shasta daisy is a classic flower that always looks good, requiring little maintenance; it's a perfect filler for your garden. They are definitely not the longest-flowering perennials, so they will only last a few years.
- Color Palette: Shasta daisies can be a gorgeous white addition to your plant collection.
- Watering Tips: Give your flowers only one inch of water a week.
- Sun Requirements: Try to keep them in full sun, though they will tolerate partial shade.
- Soil Tips: Keep your soil moist but well-drained, loamy, and neutral. Fertilize with compost annually.
Daisies might not be as long-lived as some of the other candidates, but they will live forever in your heart once you start growing them!
Peony (Paeonia)
Finally, the last contestant, a beautiful peony! It goes last on this list, but it's definitely one of the brightest!
- Why to Choose: Was there a competition for the most stunning look? Peonies would easily take the first place. Dense and tender pink clumps of petals swaying on a long slender stem with rich green foliage and remarkable fragrance are the definition of fabulous. They are easy to care for and are also one of the long-lived perennials, lasting for decades! Though, like many things with vibrant colors, they are toxic.
- Color Palette: You can add white, pink, rose, and red peonies to your flower bed.
- Watering Tips: Your peonies should receive between one and two inches of water weekly.
- Sun Requirements: The best option would be a full day of direct sunlight.
- Soil Tips: The soil should be moist but well-drained, slightly acidic, loamy, or clay-based. Add a balanced granular fertilizer every spring.
People say the peony was named after a Greek god. Well, gods live forever, or at least long, and so does this pretty flower!
Tips to Keep Your Perennials Blooming
If you want to enjoy your perennials blooming as long as possible, here's a list of general tips to keep them flowering!
- Remove spent blossoms; this will help to save energy and resources for flowers to last longer.
- Fertilize your plants, as it will give them more nutrients to have longer blooms, but be careful and follow recommendations to prevent any harm.
- Remember to water your perennials and maintain optimal moisture.
- Have a variety of flowers; this way, your garden can burst with colors from spring to fall.
Now you know a little bit more about long-blooming perennials. Happy gardening!
FAQ
What Perennials Bloom the Longest?
Ice plants, cranesbills, Black-Eyed Susan plants, Cape Fuchsias, and Blanket flowers are the perennials that bloom the longest, producing beautiful flowers for several months.
What Perennials Bloom For a Long Time?
Ice plants, Cranesbill, Black-Eyed Susan plants, Threadleaf Coreopsis, Blanket flowers, Cape Fuchsias, catmints, and coneflowers bloom for a long time, ranging from two months to more than a whole season.
What Perennial Flower Blooms All Summer?
Blanket flower, Cape Fuchsia, Black-Eyed Susan, Cranesbill, and Ice plants bloom all summer long.
What Flower Blooms the Longest?
Cape Fuchsia fills a garden with beauty from late spring till the first frost. A great choice!
How Long Do Perennials Last?
Depending on the flower! Some live for three to five years and are considered short-lived perennials. Some live up to fifteen years, like Black-Eyed Susan, and some outlive even the gardener who planted them. Like the peony, for example, which has been known for living up to 100 years!
We hope this article inspires you to plant some long-living flowering greenies. However, remember that time still flies no matter how long your green pets live. Seize the moment and take some good pictures!
