24 of the Best Perennials for Adding Color to Your Garden Year After Year

A drought- and heat-tolerant perennial wildflower, blanket flower (Gaillardia) provides long-lasting color, even in spots with poor soil. In red, gold, or brown, its daisy-like, 3-inch wide, single or double perennial flowers bloom through the summer and into the fall. Although often short-lived, it's easy to grow and will flower the first year from seed.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in dry soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-10

Buy It: Blanket Flower Seeds, $13.95, American Meadows

The 7-inch spikes of veronica bloom in shades of blue or red from early summer through fall. In the North, veronica prefers sun, but it likes a bit of shade in the South. Grow these perennial plants at the front of your flower bed.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil (can tolerate dry soil)

Size: Up to 2 feet tall

Zones: 3-11

Buy It: Veronica Bicolor Explosion, $15.95, Bluestone Perennials

Phlox paniculata (garden, tall, or border phlox) produces large trusses of fragrant perennial flowers from summer to early fall. It's an old-fashioned favorite that has few rivals for its color display and light, sweet fragrance. It's well-suited as a border plant for the back of your yard and cottage gardens.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in consistently moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 4 feet tall

Zones: 4-8

Buy It: Red Riding Hood Phlox, $7.19, American Meadows

Suited to larger gardens, this giant creates clouds of blue flowers in late summer. Russian sage is a full sun perennial and is tolerant of drought and heat. Plant these perennial flowers at the back of the bed and give them room to grow.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 5 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Buy It: Russian Sage, $17.80, The Home Depot

Hybrid perennial sage, a relative of the herb garden favorite, combines 18-inch spikes of blue, purple, or white perennial flowers with attractive gray-green foliage. Plant sage in the front or middle of the border in a sunny spot. The variety shown here, 'May Night', is both cold-hardy and showy.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 5 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Buy It: 'May Night' Sage, $8.54, High Country Gardens

A staple of the fall garden, asters burst forth with their starlike perennial flowers in late summer and autumn. Bloom colors include rich pinks, blues, purples, and ruby reds. They can soar to 5 feet, depending on the species, and are excellent for beds and borders as well as for cutting to bring indoors.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in consistently moist, well-drained soils

Size: Up to 5 feet tall

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: 'Purple Dome' Aster, $11.21, Bluestone Perennials

The feathery plumes of astilbe rise above fernlike foliage for a month or more in late spring and early summer. Available in shades of pink, white, and red, astilbes are some of the best perennials for shady, moist spots. Plant a swath of these perennial flowers for a memorable display year after year.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in consistently moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 4-8

Buy It: 'Maggie Daley' Astilbe, $16.95, Bluestone Perennials

This prairie wildflower looks especially beautiful when you plant the 'Magnus' variety, which throws its petals out horizontally daisy-style. Coneflower tolerates heat and drought, and it blooms all summer long. Plant these tall perennial flowers in the middle or back of the bed.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 30 inches tall

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: 'Magnus' Coneflower, $4.49, American Meadows

A gorgeous North American native prairie grass, switchgrass offers the garden beauty and easy maintenance. Most varieties grow from 2 to 6 feet tall and have airy, cloudlike plumes. Some also have rich red or purple foliage in autumn.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 6 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Buy It: Switchgrass, $14.00, Roundstone Native Seed

Even if you've never gardened before, you can grow yarrow without much effort. Yarrow is an amazing perennial that is hardy throughout most of the United States and can withstand heat, drought, and cold. This perennial is valued in the garden for its ferny, gray-green or dark green, spicy-scented foliage and showy, flat-topped clusters of flowers in pink, red, white, or yellow appearing from late spring to early fall.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-10

Buy It: Moonshine Yarrow, $39.95, Nature Hills

Often sweetly fragrant, the peony is a very long-lived perennial flower that forms 2- to 4-foot-tall clumps in shrublike bunches. Its numerous varieties offer a wide range of colors (almost every shade except blue) with some bicolors, and blooming periods from late spring to early summer.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 4 feet tall

Zones: 3-8

Buy It: Sarah Bernhardt Peonies, $22.46, The Home Depot

You'll find coreopsis in a wide range of sizes and several colors. The threadleaf varieties of these perennial flowers like 'Moonbeam' and 'Zagreb' produce blankets of small daisy-like flowers all summer long in yellow or pink, with soft, ferny foliage. (In hot areas, flower production may slow temporarily.) Grandiflora varieties ('Early Sunrise' is one popular version) produce larger orange-yellow blooms.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in slightly dry, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: 'Moonbeam' Coreopsis, $12.95, White Flower Farm

Like most irises, Siberian iris is a moisture-loving plant, but once established it'll tolerate dry soil. These plants add color to flower beds in early summer, and vertical accents all summer long. The blooms appear atop leafless stems rising from the grasslike foliage. Colors include white, blue, yellow, and violet, with many bicolors. In addition to brightening the garden, Siberian iris provides a steady supply of cut flowers.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 40 inches tall

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: 'Berry Fulfilling' Bearded Iris Bulb, $6.97, Holland Bulb Farms

This perennial produces attractive spikes of tubular perennial flowers in pink, blue, lavender, white, or shades of red. The variety 'Husker Red' (from the University of Nebraska) combines white flowers and purple leaves, creating a wonderful contrast when combined with plants with light green leaves. Place penstemon in the middle or back of the bed, and give it plenty of sunshine.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soils

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: 'Husker Red' Penstemon, $12.95, Bluestone Perennials

Producing dainty blue perennial flowers all summer and into fall, pincushion flower, or scabiosa, is one of the longest-lasting bloomers in the perennial bed. It likes sun or partial shade and is best at the front of the bed. The foot-tall variety 'Blue Butterfly' stands up to heat best.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-11

Buy It: 'Blue Butterfly' Scabiosa, $8.24, American Meadows

Perfect for rock gardens, alongside paved areas, the front of raised perennial gardens, or as a ground cover on a slope, moss phlox forms a dense, creeping mat up to 6 inches high and 2 feet wide. The small leaves are slightly prickly, and the entire plant is covered with fragrant white, pink, blue, lavender, or red flowers in spring. The foliage is semi-evergreen in the North and evergreen in the South.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 6 inches tall (can spread up to 2 feet)

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: Creeping Phlox, $4.99, Direct Gardening

Truly an American icon, black-eyed Susan blooms from midsummer until frost; its orange or golden yellow blooms just keep coming. The variety 'Goldsturm', shown here, tops out at about 2 feet, making it perfect for the middle or back of the bed. It loves sun and is drought-tolerant.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-11

Buy It: 'Goldsturm' Black-Eyed Susan, $5.49, American Meadows

The fleshy leaves and bright flowers make sedum a popular perennial. It is practically foolproof and offers spectacular color during the latter part of the growing season when most other flowers are fading.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-10

Buy It: Dragon's Blood Sedum, $9.95, Bluestone Perennials

This front-of-the-bed favorite plenty of draws. Chief among them is the crinkly multicolored foliage. The variety 'Purple Palace' is especially noteworthy for its deep purple leaves. Coralbells' tiny perennial flowers, borne on stalks above the leaves, appear in late spring.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: 'Purple Palace' Coralbells, $19.95, Monrovia

Unlike their tropical cousins, hardy hibiscus will overwinter as far north as Zone 4. Although they die back to the ground each year, hardy hibiscus can grow 5-6 feet tall in one season, producing an eye-popping show of dinner-plate-size blooms. Colors include white, pink, red, and yellow, often with a contrasting "eye" of color in the center of each bloom. Hardy hibiscus can be slow to break dormancy in the spring and won't grow until soil temperatures heat up.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in consistently moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 6 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Buy It: Pink Chiffon Rose of Sharon Hibiscus, $17.58, The Home Depot

Talk about versatile! Daylilies come in a seemingly endless selection of colors and flower types and will flourish in almost any situation. Although they are sun worshippers, they will still produce flowers (although a lesser amount) when grown in light shade. Daylilies are also tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions and won’t slow down even during times of drought. Some daylily varieties bloom on and off all summer, while others will put on a big dramatic show once a year. They look great in the landscape and don’t need to be coddled to survive as long as you keep weeds at bay.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-10

Buy It: 'Always Afternoon' Daylily, $9.95, Greenwood Nursery

Create some fireworks in your fall garden with a generous helping of chrysanthemums. These autumn bloomers work just as well in containers as they do in a border. Flowers are available in red, orange, purple, white, and yellow, and vary in size from cute buttonlike blooms to softball-size giants. Chrysanthemums will come back every year, but they have a tendency to die out after a few seasons. That’s why it’s a good idea to plant new chrysanthemums every year.

Light: Full sun or part sun

Water: Plant in evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 5-9

Buy It: 'Ruby Mound' Chrysanthemum, $8.95, Bluestone Perennials

For reliable summer color, you can’t beat Asiatic lilies. These bright charmers are available in a cheerful variety of yellow, orange, red, white, cream, rose, purple, and bicolors. Asiatic Lilies grow easily from bulbs planted in the spring or fall. Each year these vigorous plants form bigger and better clumps that you can dig and divide to share with friends.

Light: Full sun

Water: Plant in well-drained soil

Size: Up to 4 feet tall

Zones: 4-8

Buy It: Pink Giant Tiger Lily Bulbs, $12.99, Breck's

Electrify the shady corners of your landscape with hostas. Colorful and reliable, hostas vary from 4-inch-tall dwarfs to 4-foot-tall giants. Although prized for their beautiful blue, green, chartreuse, or bicolor foliage, hostas also send up lovely spikes of pink, lavender, or white flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. These perennial flowers for shade are almost impossible to kill, but slugs, snails, and deer will feast on them, so be prepared to do battle if these pests are common in your region. Hostas grow well in containers, too, so be sure to pot up some of your favorites with shade-loving annuals, such as impatiens and begonias.

Light: Shade, part sun, or full sun

Water: Plant in consistently moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 4 feet tall

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: Costa Farms Hosta, $31.48, The Home Depot