If you are new to gardening it’s best to start your garden with a few easy plants and grow from there. Here are my top 5 favorite perennials for sunny spots:
My Top 5 Easy Perennials To Plant
Can I get an Amen that it’s finally Spring??!! I mean New Hampshire is simply beautiful in the winter but I look forward to putting those shovels away (although as I’m writing this we are getting a crazy mid-April snowstorm).
One thing that helps me get through those long, cold February days is dreaming and planning my garden for the year. I get so excited when the gardening catalogs start showing up in my mailbox
Echinacea (commonly called Coneflower)
This is a must-have for your garden. They are super easy to grow and drought-tolerant; plus they can take the heat.
Coneflowers also attract butterflies and are deer resistant. Most people think of the common purple coneflower from their grandmother’s garden but they come in so many stunning colors now!
I love that they bloom for so long and are one of the last plants still flowering here in the Fall.
Echinacea can be between 2-4 feet depending on the variety so the taller varieties are great choices for the back of your flower bed.
If you want to plant a garden with pollinators in mind then you should definitely add a few coneflowers to it.
Coreopsis (Commonly called Tickseed)
I love the sweet little flowers on this plant, they resemble a little daisy.
Coreopsis is a low-growing perennial and will give you color in the front of your garden bed. I cut the spent blooms to encourage them to keep blooming.
After the first big burst of flowers is over I cut the plant back to get another burst in the early Fall. I have a few different varieties in my garden but my favorite is the pretty pink & red “Ruby Frost”.
Monarda ( commonly called Bee Balm)
Bee Balm comes in a variety of colors, reds, purples, whites, and pinks. A favorite of bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies it’s a mid-summer bloomer. The blooms always remind me of a bursting firework.
I love watching my red “Jacob Cline” variety in the summer outside my bedroom window; the hummingbirds fly back and forth to it all day long.
Bee balm spreads with underground shoot so you need to keep an eye on it and just pull the shoots you don’t want.
Achillia (Yarrow)
Achillia is a native North American plant. They are seriously the easiest plant to grow; basically, plant them and forget it!
The bright yellow variety looks amazing when planted next to purple flowers. In my garden, I planted yellow yarrow next to my Siberian Irises.
Yarrow is a long summer bloomer and looks so pretty mixed in a vase of cut summer flowers. Remember to deadhead the spent blooms to encourage more flowers.
I think they make such interesting dried flowers and I’ll cut a few stems and hang them upside down to dry.
Daylilies
Here’s another garden must-have that is a breeze to grow. Whatever color your heart desires there is probably a daylily in that shade! I like to plant them in 3’s throughout my garden.
There are low-growing varieties like the pretty yellow “Stella D’Oro” that look wonderful in the front of your flower bed or lining a walkway and taller more flamboyant ones like “Daring Deception” that are garden show-offs.
The only work you really need to do with daylilies is to divide the clumps every 2 to 3 years when they start getting wide.
You can fill in other areas of your garden and by then you probably have the knack of gardening and are ready to expand your space…that’s the thing, gardeners are never satisfied with the gardens they have and are always looking for ways to expand.
That’s a good start for your garden! Five easy perennials that are not only pretty to look at but will bring butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds into your yard to visit.
Happy Gardening
More gardening ideas…
