Perennials For Beginners

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Perennial plants are a real find for a novice gardener. If you have little experience in planting and caring for plants, but you want to plant your own beautiful garden, then choose perennials. Actually, why exactly them?

Perennial plants have remarkable characteristics. The flower garden of them will be durable, that is, every year you will not have to worry about the success of sowing or growing seedlings. At the same time, with each subsequent year, the plants will grow prettier, grow and become more and more lush.

In short, perennials are an excellent base for any garden. However, the planting of such plants also has its own requirements, recommendations and rules. Let's take a look at how perennials should be handled.

Preparing the soil for planting

It is very important to choose and prepare the right soil for planting perennial plants. To begin with, we are looking for the most suitable place in the landscape, given the longevity of these plants. In the selected area, you need to check the drainage properties of the soil. To do this, we dig a small hole in the ground and fill it with water. A day later, we pour water into the pit again, and if this portion is not absorbed into the soil in 8 hours, then the drainage in such an area can be considered rather poor.

With poor drainage, it is imperative to raise the level of the flower garden above the ground. To this end, we dig a furrow along the edges of the plot and add soil from the furrows to the upper part of it. In addition to the earth, you will have to put a small layer of compost and peat. It is advisable to check the pH-level of the soil in the area where you are going to plant perennials.

Plant selection

When choosing perennial plants, you need to clearly understand what design of a garden plot you want to get in the future: a lush and abundant garden, an abundance of herbaceous plantings, a small suburban garden plot, rockery, etc.? It is also important to consider whether ornamental grasses, lamps and other delights of landscape design will be used in combination with perennials.

It also matters how shaded the area chosen for planting is: some perennial plants will not be able to survive in direct sunlight for many days, while others, on the contrary, can be destroyed by the shadow.

It is advisable to choose plants and bulbs that have different flowering periods in order to make the garden dynamic and changeable throughout the year. Annuals can be planted in the vicinity of perennials, which will brighten up the landscape in those periods when most of the perennials will fade.

How and where to buy perennials?

It is not difficult to buy perennial plants. They are sold in numerous garden centers, gardening clubs, on farms, thematic catalogs, etc. It is advisable to choose a trusted seller who was advised by acquaintances or friends. Before buying, remember that perennials are usually more expensive than annuals. Make sure the plants look healthy. Plants with thin, yellowed stems and leaves are not worth buying.

Planting recommendations

It is best to plant plants in accordance with a pre-prepared project. For this purpose, a coordinate grid is used, and curved lines are drawn according to special templates. Planting of perennials usually occurs from the middle of the flower garden to its edges, the plants are planted in a checkerboard pattern at a sufficient distance from each other.

Tall and bulky plants are best planted at an even greater distance than others, as large flowers will grow over the years and grow in size. Over time, they should not "outshine" their "neighbors".

When removing seedlings from pots, you need to straighten tangled roots, and remove excess shoots. Plants are carefully placed in pre-prepared pits. In large plants, aboveground areas are cut off before planting, leaving only stumps up to 10 cm long. For watering, use a strong hose, drip irrigation, or hand hose with a tip. The water should reach the roots of the plants themselves, but it is not advisable to wet the upper foliage.