25 Best Long-Blooming Perennials: Plant Once, Returns Every Year!

Perennials! Who doesn't love perennials? You plant them once and they come back year after year. In today's video, I've compiled a list of 25 of my best performing perennials in my garden and hopefully you'll find some that you can add to your garden. Hellebore. Depending on your zone, this perennial plant can bloom as early as December and as late as April. When they bloom will depend on both their species and your climate. Once in bloom, they stay in bloom for a long time. The foliage is evergreen and the broad, shiny leaves make them an excellent ground cover. Now the foliage on hellebores is really large and it will get a bit tattered over the winter and will need some cutting back, but at that point the plant is in bloom and you'll get to enjoy its blooms and then as soon as it's done blooming it will start pushing out all new foliage that serves as a wonderful ground cover. Hellebore are also deer and rabbit resistant. They prefer partial to full shade during the summer months but require more sunlight in winter. This makes them a great plant for planting under deciduous trees where they are shaded by foliage in summer but will be exposed to full sun after the tree drops its leaves in fall. Hellebore prefer moist, well-draining soil in our hardy end zones three through nine. There are so many beautiful varieties and colors to choose from, single petal and frilly double petals as well as a wide range of beautiful colors. Bearded iris. Bearded iris is a gorgeous spring to early summer perennial. It's grown by rhizomes that are easily dividable and they multiply so they're a great pass-along plant. There are so many gorgeous varieties that your options are nearly endless. They have strappy green foliage that look like upright swords and their foliage looks great most of the growing season. They will bloom best in full sun getting six plus hours of sun a day. Also be sure not to plant your rhizomes too deep which could be a reason to cause the plant to not bloom as well. There are even re-blooming varieties of bearded iris that will bloom in early spring and will repeat bloom again six to eight weeks later. Whether you have a cottage style garden or a formal style garden this stately plant fits right in. I have several varieties of iris growing in my garden and I just love them. Iris prefer loose well-draining soil and are hardy in zones three through nine. Dicentra or bleeding hearts another really beautiful spring blooming perennial that has heart-shaped blooms hence the name bleeding heart. They come in beautiful shades of pink red and even white and you can find some with green foliage as well as a beautiful golden foliage. They prefer a part sun location in a setting which is where they naturally grow. They also like a moist but well-draining soil and are hardy in zones three through nine. Salvia it's important to note that there are annual salvia varieties as well as perennial types. The annual types will bloom the entire season and then die off at your first frost and not return. The perennial type will bloom for a few weeks in the season and re-bloom with a second flush if dead-headed and then be done but will return year after year. Salvia is a gorgeous upright spike bloom plant that blooms in early spring and is a perfect companion to roses. The variety I grow is called May Night and it is perennial. It has a very deep purple color. The pollinators absolutely love this plant and the deer and rabbits stay away from it. Salvia grows quickly and is easy to divide. It prefers a moist well-draining soil but is also pretty drought tolerant once it's established. It blooms best and stays most upright in full sun. Salvia is hardy in many zones depending on the variety that you're growing and whether it's perennial versus annual. Nepera or catmint just as the name suggests it's part of the mint family. It is a wonderful and fragrant perennial that pollinators also adore. Pests such as deer and rabbits stay away from it and it blooms for a really long time. Even after the blooms begin to fade the calyx is purple which makes the plant appear to still have some purple coloring. Deadheading the Nepera will keep it blooming longer. Nepera comes in different sizes and heights. You're bound to find something that fits your garden. Nepera requires full sun and good drainage. It's drought tolerant once established and is hardy in zones three through nine. Peonies. Is there a more beautiful flower in spring than a peony? My favorite is Sarah Bernhardt and it's amazingly fragrant. Herbaceous peonies bloom for a couple of weeks in spring but are well worth the wait. They're so fragrant and provide such fluffy gorgeous blooms. Many newer gardeners fret when they begin to see ants on their peonies but no worries the ants are harmless and are just feeding on the nectar. Peony flowers provide food for ants and in turn the ants protect the blossoms from other floral feeding insects. Shortly after seeing the ants your beautiful peony will start to bloom. The herbaceous peonies are the most popular but do require some staking to keep the plant upright as the weight of the blooms can make them flop a bit. The Ito peony is a cross between a herbaceous peony and a tree peony and they are a bit more upright and sturdy and the tree peony is a tree and is the most sturdy requiring no staking. Peonies bloom best in full sun but can tolerate part sun. They prefer moist well-draining soil and are hardy in zones 3 through 8. Geum or Avens. They are hardy long-blooming perennials that come into bloom in late spring. The blooms look like dainty rosettes and are just stunning. They come in various colors including shades of yellow, orange, red, or pink. The foliage also stays pretty evergreen in my zone 6 garden. I grow a beautiful variety called Mai Tai. Geums enjoy full sun to part shade and medium moisture but well-draining soil. It's a pollinator magnet and deer and rabbit resistant. Geum is hardy in zone 4 through 9. Pincushion flower or Scapiosa. Scapiosa also has annual varieties commonly grown from seed for cut flower gardening and some short-lived perennial varieties such as the variety I grow in my garden called Butterfly Blue. This is a short-lived perennial meaning it may only return for a few seasons as opposed to longer-lived perennials which will return for many seasons. I have had this plant in my garden for a couple years now and I just love how long it blooms. This plant will begin to bloom in very early spring and will continue to bloom all season long through frost. It's my longest blooming perennial. In my opinion it deserves a spot in every flower garden. Pollinators also love this plant. It has a beautiful lavender bloom that measures about two inches across atop a wiry stem with a neat mounted clump of foliage below. This plant prefers full sun and a well-draining soil and it is hardy in zones 3 through 9. Lungwort also known as Pulmonaria is a clump forming perennial with beautiful fuzzy foliage that can either be speckled or look streaked with flecks of iridescent color. In early spring Lungwort blooms with little bell-shaped flowers. Depending on the variety the color of the blooms can range from purple, pink, and blue. What's interesting about this plant is that I have found that the foliage is smaller while the plant is in bloom and once the blooms are done the foliage gets much larger. Lungwort is a shade plant. If you have it in a sunny spot morning dappled sun is best as afternoon sun would be too hot and cause the leaves to scorch. I've learned this lesson from experience. It prefers well-draining moist soil and is hardy in zones 3 through 8. Mullein also known as Verbascum is a really beautiful upright perennial that adds a lot of vertical interest to the garden. It is a pollinator magnet. There are always bees and butterflies all over my Verbascum. They grow best in growing zones 4 through 9 and they prefer full sun and well-draining soil although they're pretty drought tolerant once established. In my garden my Verbascum starts blooming in late spring and it goes all the way through the summer with some sporadic re-blooming in fall. So in total it blooms for about four to six weeks which is a really long time. It's also relatively easy to grow from seed. I have two varieties growing in my garden. This peachy salmon apricot color is called Southern Charm and the white variety is called Snowy Spires. The Shasta Daisy such a beautiful classic garden perennial. It grows best in zones 5 through 9 and prefers full sun to part shade in a well-drained soil that remains moderately moist. It blooms from late spring through early fall and deadheading the plant regularly will keep those blooms coming. The pollinators also love daisies, the bees, and the butterflies and it makes a great cut flower. I can get daisies to last in a vase up to seven days by changing the water a couple of times. Yarrow also known as Achillea is a beautiful garden perennial that has feathery foliage that coordinates so nicely with other perennials in your garden. It grows best in zones 3 through 9 and likes full sun in a well-draining soil so they're also pretty drought tolerant once they're established. The pollinators also love yarrow and they bloom for a really long time from late spring through summer. The blooms are even beautiful as they start to fade when they start changing colors so they offer a lot of interest in the garden. And my favorite garden perennial, the coneflower also known as Echinacea. This is such a gorgeous garden perennial and I have several varieties and I just can't get enough of them. I find them to be deer resistant but sometimes the bunnies will munch on the lower buds so I do have to spray repellent to protect them. I have several varieties growing in several colors and they are just a beautiful pollinator attracting plant that lasts for a really long time. This is one that will start blooming for me in my zone 6b-7a garden in July and it will bloom all the way through September and I keep getting sporadic re-blooming out of the plant. It's even beautiful if you leave up the seed heads over winter to provide food for the birds. They love to snack on the seeds. Coneflowers are hardy in growing zones 3 through 9 and they prefer full sun in a dry to medium soil. They're really drought tolerant once established and they bloom from mid-summer through fall lasting several weeks with deadheading. Nephothia or red hot poker. This is a perennial that I've had in my garden for about three years now and I love it a bit more each year. It has a really interesting bloom atop a really tall stem and it comes in different colors. Typically you'll find them in hot colors like reds oranges and yellows hence the name red hot poker but I was able to find this beautiful variety that has a chartreuse limey green with a bit of a ivory at the bottom. They have sort of a gradient or ombre effect and this one is called lady luck and I absolutely love it. Even when it's not in bloom this perennial is really interesting because it looks like an ornamental grass at the base so it still provides a lot of visual interest in perennial borders. The hummingbirds absolutely love their tubular flowers and nephothia grows best in zones five through nine. They like full sun in a well-draining soil with moderate moisture and they bloom for a while as well anywhere from four to six weeks starting in late spring through summer. Astilbe, a beautiful shade to part shade plant that gets these gorgeous sprays of plume type blooms atop ferny foliage. It is a great perennial and I have found that it does best with a moderately moist soil and with regular fertilizing so I usually go through and fertilize my astilbe in very early spring. It grows best in zones four through nine and it blooms from mid to late summer lasting around four to six weeks. Look at these. I absolutely love ladies mantle because they have these kind of whimsical blooms that look like baby's breath. I've actually used these cut in some flower arrangements and they look beautiful as a filler and I am not in any hurry to cut these. They've been blooming for about three weeks now so they bloom for a really long time and I just love the way they look. Ladies mantle or alchemilla mollus has really beautiful foliage. Even when those billowy chartreuse blooms are done you'll still have something visually interesting to look at in the way that the foliage holds on to water droplets. It is hardy in USDA growing zones three through eight and prefers a moist but well-draining soil. It can handle both full shade and full sun but will need adequate moisture and full sun to prevent leaf scorch. Lambs hair. Now this is a perennial ground cover or a perennial that can serve as a ground cover because it grows really wide. This perennial has been in my garden for a couple of years and I've been able to divide it several times. It grows wider than it does tall. It can get anywhere from about three to three and a half feet in diameter. It has this fuzzy texture which means deer stay away from it. It likes full sun and a well-draining soil and it has a really beautiful color and provides a lot of textural interest to the garden and as you can see I have quite a few clumps here so over time if I were to leave these alone they would slowly start spreading and creating a really wonderful ground cover. This variety of lambs hair is called Helen von Steen and what's wonderful about this type of lambs hair over the traditional lambs hair is that where the traditional old-fashioned lambs hair does bloom and set seed it can become quite invasive. The Helen von Steen does not bloom which means it won't drop seed so it stays in a nice tidy clump of foliage. Rudbeckia. This is also very commonly known as the black-eyed Susan and it is a beautiful bloom that is golden in color with this dark brown center. They usually emerge in my garden here in my zone six around July and they last a really long time. These go on and on until fall and this golden color pairs so beautifully with so many other perennials. Now this variety that I have growing in my garden is called Goldstrom and Goldstrom is a really common cultivar of the Rudbeckia and it grows about two to three feet in height. This is also a plant that loves full sun so the more sun you give it the more blooms you'll have. It likes a well-draining soil but it's not particularly fussy. I've had it growing here and it just self-seeds readily and pops up everywhere so if you want a plant that you'll be able to divide around the garden Rudbeckia is a great option. Now when we talk about full sun that usually means that the plant is getting at least six hours of sun per day. This is one that you can divide and you can plug in different places in the garden so it's a plant that just keeps on giving and it is hardy in USDA growing zones three through nine. And right beside it we have another plant that I feel every garden should have and it is Agastache and you can see how beautifully this Blue Fortune Agastache with this light purple kind of bluish color looks with this Rudbeckia in this golden yellow color. Now Agastache is a pollinator magnet and just like the Rudbeckia it is also deer resistant. Deer and rabbit do not touch either the Agastache or the Rudbeckia. It is hardy in USDA growing zones five through ten. Now this plant here likes a well-draining soil. It will not tolerate clay or heavy soils that stay saturated in moisture which makes it a great water-wise plant so if you have an area that you don't get a lot of water Agastache is a great option. The leaves also have a minty fragrance so it's really pleasant to sniff and the pollinators love this plant. I have bees on my Agastache all day long. This variety, the Blue Fortune, gets to be about three feet in height and about two to three feet in diameter and it is sterile so it doesn't drop seed. It will just continue to grow from the roots as a clump so really love Agastache. And the next perennial that I want to talk about is Sedum. You can see here in this bed these clumps of beautiful lime green plants are Sedums. The variety that I have is called Neon and currently it is just putting on its buds and this will have a beautiful pink color in just a few short weeks. Now Sedum is probably one of the easiest perennials that you can have in your garden. Not only are they easy to divide but they are so drought tolerant. They don't need barely any water and they need full sun. If you plant these in your garden and give them too much water or too much fertilizer they will start to flop in the center. So these are basically one of those plants that you just plant and leave them alone and they do their thing and look beautiful. There are so many varieties of Sedum. The variety I have here is called Neon but a really popular variety that I also have in my garden is called the Autumn Joy Sedum. There's also Matrona which has really dark foliage and they come in different heights. There are shorter Sedums and taller Sedums but whatever variety you choose Sedum is a great perennial addition for any garden. Not only are Sedums super easy to grow they're also really hardy. They're hardy down to a zone three so they can take extreme cold as well as extreme heat. Joe Pyeweed another perennial that is a pollinator magnet specifically the Swallowtail Butterflies. The variety that I have here planted in my garden is the Little Joe and the Little Joe is hardy in zones three through nine and in terms of size I am 5'4 and this plant is already about my height. It is listed to get anywhere from three to five feet in height and two to three feet in width. It is basically disease resistant and you can see that this would make a great tall perennial for either the back of a border or in the center of some beds that you can see on both sides. So if you have like an island bed this is a great center of the bed plant. Now this has a beautiful kind of pink purple almost a mauve look to the flower and it is really beautiful. It also blooms for a really long time. We are now in the peak of summer and this just started blooming about a week ago and it will go until the fall. You can deadhead it to keep the blooms coming but this is a great perennial to add to any garden. Joe Pyeweed likes a moist but well draining soil. This bed here is pretty moist and this plant has done really well for me. It is also native so if you are interested in adding more native perennials to your garden Joe Pyeweed would be a good option. And perennial alliums. Now these beautiful alliums are a great option for any garden because they pair so beautifully with all other perennials. They have this beautiful globe shaped bloom which is really unique. It looks like a little ball and what's great about these is they're part of the onion family which means that they put off a little bit of a fragrance which deters rabbits and deer from eating on them. So they're deer and rabbit resistant, pest resistant. I have never had any issues growing these in my garden. The Millennium Allium is hardy in zones five through nine and it loves full sun. I don't find it to be fussy about soils. The soil in this bed is pretty moist but I also have another variety called Lavender Bubbles growing in another bed that leans pretty dry and it does equally well. The plant is also a pollinator magnet. It is still early so the bees are not active but at any given time there are probably dozens of bees swarming around this plant. So I find it a really great, easy, low maintenance perennial to grow in the garden. And another really beautiful late season bloomer, Anemones. Now I planted these just last season so this is only year two for them in my garden. The variety is Whirlwind which is a roughly white variety and this clump has gotten quite large. I have one here and I have another right there that's just getting ready to bloom and I find that Anemones do like soil with a little bit of moisture which this bed has. So it has been really happy and grown really well in this spot but such a treat to have such beautiful blooms this late in the season. And another Anemone that's looking gorgeous in the garden at the moment is this variety here by Proven Winners. It's called the Fall in Love Sweetly Japanese Anemone and it's a pretty ruffled pink variety that is absolutely gorgeous. Now this year it is blooming a lot better than it did for me last year. I think it's because we've gotten more rain but for whatever reason it is very happy which makes me happy because it's really pretty and offering a lot of late season color. This is my Anemones and they look absolutely gorgeous kind of floating above the foliage. These are the Robotissima and they are a light pink with a darker color pink on the back of the petal. Really pretty. Lamium also known as dead nettle and there's actually a small example of that right here and I have three varieties of Lamium or dead nettle. This one here is called Golden and you can see that it's currently blooming with these small pink purple blooms. So here is another clump of that gold Lamium or dead nettle and it's blended with some of the Burgundy Glow Azuga. And down this way I have the first dead nettle that I ever got in my garden which was a division from a friend. I have my third variety of dead nettle or Lamium and this one is called Purple Dragon. Oh Maverick's visiting the neighborhood cat. He likes to check out my ground covers as well. But this one here has a really beautiful this one might be besides the gold this one has a really beautiful foliage. It has a large silvery foliage. Look at that. And this one is also in bloom and it will sporadically bloom throughout the season. Now ground covers that bloom even when they're not in bloom they are still really beautiful because they offer a lot of interest with just their beautiful foliage color. This is Ascot Rainbow Euphorbia and look at this beautiful variegated foliage. Now I planted one of these in my garden to try last season. They're only hardy to a zone 7 and here I'm a 6b 7a so it was only kind of borderline for my zone. So I bought one to try it out in a container just about this size and it survived and it thrived and let me show you what it looks like now. So this is the Ascot Rainbow Euphorbia that I planted last year. Look how large it has gotten looking all sorts of beautiful. So I love this plant. Now let's compare the tags because of the zone hardiness. So this one here when I planted it it told me that it was only hardy to a zone 7 or at least the person at nursery told me it was hardy to yep here it is right in the corner. Let me get some of that dirt off. I'm doing this one-handed so bear with me friends. There it is Euphorbia Ascot Rainbow Sun zone 7. Now I have it here kind of in a part sun situation which is exactly what I'm going to do with it underneath the tree there where the hosta are. But if I look at this tag you can see that it says that it is hardy in zones 5 through 9. So it really depends on where you're getting your source from as to whether or not they're hardy. But I can tell you from experience that this came through the winter with flying colors and looking gorgeous. The other thing that was awesome about it was that it actually retained most of its color so it's staying kind of evergreen and took on a bit of a red coloring which is really cool. And in the spring it had the most interesting chartreuse blooms. So really great plant if you don't grow it highly recommend Ascot Rainbow Euphorbia. And here are my Sheffield mums. These have really made me smile this week as I look out the window when I'm doing dishes and I see that I have something in bloom as we head into the tail end of October is really a lot of fun. These are really beautiful the bees are really enjoying them. They have this really pretty kind of light pink sort of apricot peachy color and there are still tons of buds on these so my guess is that they will be blooming for at least a So these true perennial mums are a great addition for late season color in the garden. So that was my list. What did you think? Were there any perennials that you grow in your garden that you think should have been included? Go ahead and list them in the comments so that we can learn from each other. I hope that you enjoyed this video. Thank you so much for spending your time with me and I'll catch you in the next one. Thanks for watching this video. If you liked it please hit the thumbs up button and please consider subscribing so you don't miss any of my future videos. And we'll see you soon!