GARDENING: PERENNIAL PLEASURES
Flowering perennials should be the backbone of all ornamental gardens. Yet, for some obscure reason, many gardeners have a tendency to rely on purely seasonal/annuals. This, rather than making gardening relatively simple, complicates matters as well as increases costs and water usage.
A perennial plant is one with a lifespan of over two years: short-lived perennials usually last from three to five years whilst long-lived ones can, in the right conditions for the particular species, go on growing and flowering seemingly forever.
Perennial flowering plants — we are not discussing perennial trees, shrubs or climbers here — may take time to get established but once they do, they tend to need less regular care than often fussy, tender, purely annual ones that put on a brilliant display for a short time before going to seed and then dying away.
A simple guideline to selecting your perennial plants
This is not to say that brightly-coloured annuals do not have a place in Pakistani flower gardens as, quite obviously, they do, but it is environmentally and financially sound to use them as ‘secondary’ fillers instead of as the primary event.
Here is a round-up of just a few of the relatively easy to grow — either from seed or from cuttings — perennial flowers around which you can re-design your beds and borders:
Tall: Dahlia, strelitzia, kniphofia, foxglove, lilies, achillea, eremurus, lavateria cachmeriana, cynara cardunculus — cardoon, globe artichoke, verbascum, ligularia, delphinium, monarda, agapanthus, helenium, euphorbia, fuchsia and old-fashioned hollyhocks of the truly perennial types.
Medium: Carnations, chrysanthemums, dianthus - pinks, garlic chives, gerbera, dahlia, kniphofia, bearded iris, veronica, rosemary, lavender, sage, feverfew, lupin, foxglove, paeonia, day lilies, lilies, achillea, echinops, verbascum, heliconia, eupatorium, rudbekia, echinacea, phlox paniculata, monarda, mirabilis jalapa (4 o’clock flower), vinca, geranium, penstemon, heliopsis, aquilegia, trillium, euphorbia, primula, physostegia (obedient plant), liatris, scabosia, polemonium, hosta, oenothera, geum, coreopsis, kalanchoe, fuchsia, helianthum and hebe,
Low: Chives, dwarf gerbera, viola odorator (sweet violet), euphorbia, primula, osteospermum, gailardia, scabosia, hosta, kalanchoe, iberis sempervirens, hebe, oxalis and bellis.
Ground cover: Thyme, tradescantia, saxifrage, lampranthus spectabilis, hebe, oxalis, silene, arabis, anagallis and bellis.