Ten of the Best Perennials for Mostly Sun, Long Blooming, and Low Maintenance

The Basics!

Like many, I want colour in my gardens throughout the season without much fuss. I don’t have time to tend to perennials every day, so I need plants that will thrive and be workhorses. They must be tough, colourful, long-blooming, require little care or deadheading, and require little water.   

As a few of Gabby’s Facebook followers requested, I’ve created a list of my ‘Ten Best Perennials’ for primarily sunny locations. These perennials are long-blooming and easy-care for Zone 4+ gardeners.

What you need to know!                                                          

If you are searching for low-maintenance perennials that thrive in the sun, it’s important to remember that they need to be well-established before they can be considered low-maintenance. As a gardener, you play a crucial role in this process. All newly installed perennials need water for the first two growing seasons to establish strong roots. This means watering at least three times per week in the first season and twice a week in the second growing season and ensuring water during drought. Letting perennials wilt from a lack of water will damage the cell tissues, so your involvement is key.

Here are my suggestions for sun perennials: long blooming and low maintenance:

1. Purple Sprite Hybrid Phlox (Phlox Hybrid): Old Favourite, Only Better!

With its low, mounding habit and bright purple flowers with a tiny white halo, this hybrid phlox is a resilient addition to any garden. Blooming about a week after creeping phlox, it doesn’t spread aggressively, and its salt tolerance makes it a perfect choice for a walkway. It’s a plant that can thrive in challenging conditions. Its ability to attract bees and butterflies adds to its charm. I discovered this little beauty a few summers ago and was impressed by its long bloom time and vibrant flower colour. With a zone 4 rating, it blooms in late spring and early summer, adding a unique touch to your garden.

2. Cat’s Pajamas Catmint (Nepeta): New in 2019

This long-blooming perennial is ideal for small gardens. When in bloom, it showcases vibrant indigo-blue flowers from the ground to the tips, creating a striking burst of colour. After the blooms fade, rosy purple calyxes continue to add visual interest. Cat’s Pajamas catmint features fragrant flowers and foliage, is both heat and drought-tolerant and attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. It is rated for zone 4 and typically blooms in early summer.

3. Little Goldstar Brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia): Old Favourite with New Look!   

Little Goldstar is a compact plant that grows to about knee height. It produces abundant blooms with a dense growth habit, making it an excellent choice for containers and sunny borders. This variety features numerous yellow, daisy-like flowers surrounding a prominent brown cone, which provides a healthy food source for birds during winter. The flowers are suitable for fresh or dried floral bouquets and are very attractive to native bees in the summer. Additionally, Little Goldstar attracts butterflies, hummingbirds, and songbirds to the garden. Suitable for Zone 4, this plant blooms from August until frost when regularly deadheaded.

4. ‘White Wands’ Speedwell (Veronica): Old Favourite 

Pure white flower spikes rise above a dense clump of dark green foliage. This plant attracts bees and butterflies, is long-blooming, and is salt-tolerant. It is suitable for use as a hedge along a walkway or combined with flowering shrubs and ornamental grasses in a garden. Additionally, it beautifully complements a boxwood hedge. This plant thrives in Zone 4 and blooms in June and July.

5. Pardon My Pink Beebalm (Monarda): New in 2019                     

Are you searching for a magnet to attract hummingbirds? Consider this petite selection of beebalm from the ‘Pardon My’ series. This compact plant reaches a height of only 12 inches and features medium pink flowers that measure 2 to 3 inches across. Its unique and fragrant blooms are ideal for attracting butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. This beebalm thrives in zone 4 and typically blooms in August. Additionally, planting beebalm near tomatoes in your garden is said to enhance the health and flavour of the tomatoes.

6. Rainbow Rhythm ‘Going Bananas’ Daylily (Hemerocallis): Really Easy Care!

I don’t typically list daylilies as one of my favourites; however, this variety is a stand out. It is one of the best yellow re-blooming daylilies on the market. The lightly fragrant, lemon-yellow flowers bloom above a relatively short clump of attractive green foliage. It begins blooming early in the season and continues to flower through the heat of summer and into fall. This daylily is ideal for mass plantings or any area that requires low-maintenance perennials. It also works well as a low hedge. Additionally, it attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, making it an excellent choice for a vibrant garden. It is easy to care in Zone 4, blooming in early July and again in late August.

7. Blue Fortune Hyssop (Agastache): Old Favourite, I Really Like

This long-blooming selection lasts more than six weeks and is perfect for the middle to back of the border. It features tall wands of dusky violet-blue flowers and forms a compact bush with licorice-scented green leaves. Both the flowers and leaves are edible and can add a fun touch to salads. To extend the flowering period, be sure to remove faded blooms. This perennial is a hybrid of a native North American wildflower, making it a good choice for a naturalized meadow. In design, I place Blue Fortune in front of taller ornamental grasses for interest and texture. It attracts butterflies, native bees, and honeybees while also being resistant to deer and rabbits. It thrives in Zone 4 and typically blooms in late July into August.

8. Firetail Fleeceflower (Persicaria): Old Favourite

Fleeceflowers are widely used in European gardens and are becoming more popular in North America. Plants form a tall, spreading clump of leathery green leaves, bearing long spikes of poker flowers beginning in midsummer, right through the fall. This selection features crimson-red spikes. Give this plant some elbow room, as it can be pretty large. It’s lovely for mass planting in dry or moist areas. Excellent for cutting. While this plant is a steady spreader, it is not considered invasive. It attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. It’s deer and rabbit resistant. It can be grown in Zone 4.

9. Jaws Stonecrop (Sedum): A New Favourite!  

Originating in Tennessee, this sedum is a versatile plant that forms a bushy mound of succulent blue-green. The edges are deeply cut with cupped and curled leaves. Large heads of dusty salmon-rose flowers appear in late summer, later developing into brown seed heads with good winter interest. This plant is best used towards the front of a sunny border or in mixed containers where the unusual effect of the foliage may be best appreciated. This Zone 4 plant is essential for your garden if you want to attract migrating butterflies. It’s also deer and rabbit-resistant and remarkably tolerant to drought once established, showcasing its adaptability to various conditions.

10. PowWow Wildberry Coneflower (Echinacea): Old Favourite

A popular native wildflower, this plant forms a mid-sized mound of coarse dark-green leaves, bearing large daisy flowers with magenta-pink petals surrounding an orange-brown central cone. Coneflowers are sturdy, easy-care perennials that perform best in a sunny location. They are outstanding for cutting. Removing faded flowers regularly will significantly increase the bloom period, and leaving a few dried seed heads on the plants at the end of the season will provide food for winter birds. An All-America Selection Winner in 2010, it blooms mid-summer and is a delightful attraction for butterflies. It is also deer-resistant to Zone 4.

                                                                                 

Happy Gardening

Lexi Dearborn

The Gabby Gardener