Love those perennials! What else in this world is as dependable as a plant that comes back year after year with gorgeous blooms AND brings more blooms each time? Unlike annuals, perennials are plants that are able to survive the harsh winter weather and return the next year with additional growth to enhance your garden. I have decided to landscape a small area of my backyard and design a garden of all blue perennials. Of course, the perennials advertised as €blue€ in color are many times more violet, lavender, purple, or shades in between. So, I figure if I create an €all blue€ perennial garden, it will look something like the impressionist Renoir's paintings. However, my garden will have a bit of a more modern touch, and I will add a few unexpected colors€"like bright yellow and deep red€"to make it €pop.€ Landscaping is an art and can be lots of fun. And, the rewards for planting perennials multiply each year!

Now, whether you have a lot of shade or a lot of sun, you can always find perennials that thrive in either. Since I live in the south, I will be careful to select plants that thrive in the warmer climate of zone 8. So, before selecting the perennials you plant, check out the zone where you live that tells you what the minimum low temperature is during winter months. For my selection of perennials, I was careful to check the zone at which each could tolerate the coldest temperature, as well as checking for those plants that might not tolerate the warmth of zone 8.

Because the small area of my yard where I'm planning to landscape for my perennial garden is quite shady, I will choose plants, such as, Hardy Ageratum, Bellflower, Bluestar, Bugleweed, Siberian Bugloss, Bush Clematis, Hosta, Purple Loosestrife, Periwinkle, and Globe Thistle, all of which thrive in part shade or full sun. Others that include plants thriving in part shade only would be the Cardinal Flower or Toad Lily.

Although most perennial plants bloom only for several weeks and I want to have color for months, my plan is to have plants that are beginning to bloom as others are winding down, which means that in late spring (April to May) the Bluestar, Periwinkle, and Bush Clematis will be blooming until the Bellflower, Bush Clematis, Globe Thistle, Purple Loosestrife, and Cardinal Flower begin blooming in summer (June to August). This will leave the Hardy Ageratum and the Toad Lily to brighten the fall, with the Bush Clematis, which will continue blooming, all of which will bloom until the first frost.