Designing and Planting a Perennial Garden

Perennials are a great choice for garden beds and borders. You only need to plant them once, and they will come back year after year. Learn how to grow a perennial garden in this Lowe’s video:

1. Choose an open location for perennials that require full sun or full shade.
2. Sketch out a plan to give you a guideline to follow.
3. Choose your plants. Pick perennials with varying height to give more excitement to your garden. Taller plants such as perennial sunflowers and roses add a vertical element and drama to your garden. At the medium level are plants such as ornamental grasses, coneflowers and coreopsis. Select smaller plants for the front and for edging. Candytuft, moss phlox and lamb’s-ears are example of edging perennials.
4. Dig the bed and amend the soil. Turn it over with a garden fork and use a rich compost to improve drainage and texture and to feed the soil.
5. Place the plants and plant them. Give the plants plenty of space as they will enlarge every year. Position your taller plants first and the smaller ones last. Remove the plant from the pot. Breaking up the roots a bit will encourage development of a vigorous root system. Dig a hole as the same height as the pot and plant.
6. Mulch the perennials. Mulch conserves moisture, suppresses weeds and creates a unifying look for the whole garden. Spread it out and do not cover the crown of the plants, just the areas around it.