Perennials

I need some colourful perennials to flower all summer,any suggestions please,they
will be in full sun

 

Hi Layla
The list is endless but you dont say if you want height or low growers
Larkspur is upright, Poppy is a bushy clump quite tall, i love Japanese anenemoes they seem to flower all summer ,Toad lilies,are 12", verbena are low growing 6"

 

As Pam says the list is endless.

Go to your local GC and take a look at what they have on offer - read the labels and see which are "free flowering" and "clump forming" then make your choice.

 

Layla - as the others have said - there is a long list.

However I too like things that flower for a long time and have kept records of how long my own plants flower for. So here are some results for 2007 (2008 was so cold and bad, that I didn't keep complete records). The figures are for weeks in full flower, ie looking reasonably good. The same plants were often in part flower (ie just a few blooms) for a few extra weeks.

24 weeks. Astrantia Buckland
23, Geranium Ann Folkard,
22, Argyranthemum - pink (not hardy)
20, Astrantia Hadspen Blood, Salvia Mystic Spires (borderline hardy)
19. Verbena bonariensis
17, Campanula poscharskyana, Geranium Russel Pritchard, Persicaria amplexicalis Firetail
16 Salvia leucantha (not hardy), Salvia patens (borderline hardy), Verbena Homestead Purple, Geranium Patricia,
15, Salvia microphylla (small shrub),
14, Dahlia Arabian Night, Diascia Little Dancer (this is a hardy perennial - but many Diascias on sale are annuals), Salvia involucrata (not hardy)
13 Geranium Joy, Viola Martin
12 Aster fricatii Monch (twice as long as any other Aster)

Also horourable mentions to Centranthus ruber (cut down in July and it will flower again), Cirsium rivulare, and Geranium Rozanne amongst others. These were among my top few in previous years flowering for up to 20 weeks. The order of longest flowering changes from one year to another, but generally the same plants are always there.

Other good plants are Helenium Moorheim Beauty, Echinacea and Nepeta fasenii (cat mint)

 

Some perennials, such as Lupins and Delphiniums are best cut back after flowering, to encourage a sceond flush of flowers later in the year. And like most plants, dead heading perennials will produce more blooms.

 

Thank you so much,Pam,Aaron and Peter,I did actually buy a Helenium,so was pleased
to see it on your list Peter,a very informative list too!