No-Brainer Seasonal Flower Guide

Perennials are loved by gardeners for their ability to grace a landscape year after year, often growing stronger and more beautiful as they age. But unlike ever-blooming annuals, most perennials have a relatively short bloom season, lasting from a few days to a few weeks. Planting a variety of perennials with staggered bloom times ensures flowers in your yard all season long.

Here are a couple of tips for success when planning your seasonal flowers:

• Remember to plant perennials with showy foliage or other seasonal attributes so that when the flower burst is finished, attractive leaf color or pattern, seedpods, or texture remains.
• Increase the volume of plants you use if you want season-long color. Where three or four annuals brighten a bed with nonstop blooms, you may need at least a dozen different perennials to ensure long-lasting color.

Utilize the list below as your seasonal flower guide to help you plan out your seasonal perennials.

These spring flowers will brighten any shady area. Planted in low light, these seasonal perennials are low-maintenance and low-risk in attracting pests -- lots of lows with high benefits as an addition to your flowerbed.

• Barrenwort (Epimedium)
• Bleeding heart (Dicentra)
• Columbine (Aquilegia)
• Primrose (Primula)
• Foamflower (Tiarella)
• Bergenia
• Heart-leaf brunnera (Brunnera)
• Hellebore (Helleborus)
• Jacob's ladder (Polemonium)
• Lungwort (Pulmonaria)
• Viola
• Solomon's seal (Polygonatum)

Need a little something more to liven up your sunny space? These sun-loving perennials will add brightness to any sunny area -- and they'll grow back year after year. Give them a try!

• Alpine clematis (Clematis alpina)
• Candytuft (Iberis)
• Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata)
• 'Crater Lake Blue' Veronica
• Dianthus
• Sea thrift (Ameria)

Bring in the sweet, sweet summertime with these spring and summer flowers that love the shade. Bright colors and exploding foliage make for exciting accents in a shady corner spot. Park a bench near your shade garden, grab a book, and relax with a view of your gorgeous perennials.

• Astilbe
• Coralbells (Heuchera)
• Meadow rue (Thalictrum)
• Foamy bells (X Heucherella)
• Lady's mantle (Alchemilla)
• Yellow corydalis (Corydalis lutea)

Welcome sunny days and warm weather with plants that can beat the heat. This section of the seasonal flower guide features low-maintenance summer flowers that will naturally grow with pride. These sunny summer flowers will frolick and scatter, creating beautiful summer scenery.

• Bear's breeches (Acanthus)
• Baptisia
• Fleabane (Erigeron)
• Iris
• Lamb's-ears (Stachys)
• Peony (Paeonia)
• Geranium
• Salvia 'May Night'

When summer is in full bloom, so are these flowers. In the heat of summer, our gardens could use some new color. These summer flowers will withstand the midsummer heat and sun, and we're loving it!

• Balloon flower (Platycodon)
• Bee balm (Monarda)
• Bellflower (Campanula)
• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
• Blanketflower (Gaillardia)
• Blazing star (Liatris)
• Butterfly weed (Asclepias)
• Catmint (Nepeta)
• Coneflower (Echinacea)
• Crocosmia
• Delphinium
• Evening primrose (Oenothera)
• Dianthus
• Garden phlox (Phlox paniculata)
• Globe thistle (Echinops)
• Hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos)
• Helenium
• Hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
• Hyssop (Agastache)
• Knautia
• Lavender (Lavandula)
• Lily (Lilium)
• Maltese cross (Lychnis chalcedonica)
• Meadowsweet (Filipendula)
• Mullein (Verbascum)
• Penstemon
• Pincushion flower (Scabiosa)
• Red-hot poker (Kniphofia)
• Sea holly (Eryngium)
• Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum)
• Veronica
• Yarrow (Achillea)
• Yucca

These perennials bloom in the summer but don't necessarily enjoy the sun's rays. Find a shady, cool spot in your garden for these low-maintenance beauties. See shade secrets from the BHG Test Garden!

• Astilbe
• Goatsbeard (Aruncus)
• Hosta
• Ligularia
• Lilyturf (Liriope)
• Lobelia
• Meadow rue (Thalictrum)
• Yellow corydalis (Corydalis lutea)
• Yellow waxbells (Kirengeshoma)

Summer is coming to an end, but autumn is just around the corner. Feel the soft, cool breeze and smell the fresh scent of these beautiful fall flowers from our seasonal flower guide. Add these colors to your space to help the summer season live on just a little longer.

• Aster
• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
• Boltonia
• Chrysanthemum
• Coneflower (Echinacea)
• Gaura
• Hyssop (Agastache)
• Japanese anemone (Anemone japonica)
• Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium)
• Obedient plant (Physostegia)
• Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
• Sedum
• Stokes' aster (Stokesia laevis)

The sunny days may be dissolving, but these seasonal perennials will still thrive. Enjoy scenic grasses through the changing leaves with these shady fall flowers and plants. These seasonal perennials will perfectly complement a fall garden color palette.

• Bugbane (Actaea)
• Lobelia
• Toad lily (Tricyrtis)
• Yellow corydalis (Corydalis lutea)
• Yellow waxbells (Kirengeshoma)