Garden.True.North
  • Blog
  • Classes
  • Picture Gallery
  • Contact

​Garden Stories

​​Garden.True.North is about gardening in Zone 4,

​sharing thoughts, ideas and tips for all northern gardeners.

6 Ideas for Continuous Bloom

8/8/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
​There are many ways to plan a perennial garden that delights from early spring to the last hurrah of the season. It’s mid-summer and my garden is at its peak.  There are day lilies in colors of the sunsets ranging from pale yellow to the deepest purple and burgundy.  The pale lavender spikes of Hosta flowers pair well with the day lilies.  Black-eyed Susans are starting as the daisies are fading with Blazing Star as their foil.
 
I like the orderly progression through the seasons.  I anticipate each new bloom as I would friends coming for a visit.  Perennials don’t overstay their welcome and become tired as some annuals do before the seasons’ end.  Reflecting on the progress of the garden I have come to appreciate my investment in perennials.  Every few weeks something new captures my attention and makes its way into the flower bouquet gracing the kitchen island.  
Here are six ideas to inspire your garden.
 
1. SEE WHAT IS GROWING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD  My preferred method of planning for continuous bloom, if you can call it that, is to watch my garden and when there’s a lull I hop in my car and make a beeline to the local garden center.  I’m fortunate to live only 10 miles from the Winter Greenhouse.  Not only do they have a superb offering of perennials, more important, they have a demonstration garden.  I can wander about, find what is blooming, buy that, go home and install in the garden.  Not everyone lives next to a greenhouse garden, but you can walk around your neighborhood and see what is blooming.  Local public and private gardens can steer us toward plant combinations that might give a pop the garden needs.   
 
2. TAKE PICTURES  I take my camera with me on my garden walk-arounds whether in my own, in the neighborhood or at a demonstration garden.  A digital camera is a very handy tool for a gardener.  I take pictures almost every week during the growing season.  Not only do the photos provide the place in the perennial beds, they show nearby plants and the date.  This is all useful information when the catalogs arrive in January or a built-in shopping list when there is a sale.  Photos provide information on what you might be missing, where there are gaps, what needs dividing and what needs some fixing.
 
3. GARDEN BOOKS  One of the best books on this subject is clearly named:  Continuous Bloom, A Month-By-Month Guide to Nonstop Color in the Perennial Garden by Pam Durthie.  This book’s 328 pages are organized by month starting with Winter Aconite in March-April and ending with Toad Lily in October-November.  It also includes tips and appendices on colored foliage to bridge the seasons; hostas by color of foliage; a guide to color, height and bloom time for Astilbes; and perennials least affected by deer and rabbit browse.  The book is readily available from mail-order retailers as well as the local library.  Many garden books list bloom times and may even include appendices that offer additional information to consider. 

4.  CATALOGS   Catalogs tend to offer general information on bloom times, but I need to remind myself they are sent all over the country. If I am in search of a plant for a particular time period the general early spring, mid-summer, or late fall categories are not useful.  I compensate by noticing the relationship between the plants and compare to those blooming in my garden to help me pick the right one for the right time frame.  Here again the dates on the photos come in handy. 

5.  WEB   I googled “continuous bloom in the perennial garden” and received 302,000 results. When I narrow the search to: “continuous bloom perennial garden in zone 3 site:uwex.edu” I get 35 high quality results that are research-based from the University of Wisconsin.  See my tips for searching the web (click here) with better and fewer results. 

6.  USE ANNUALS   When all else fails – use annuals.  I plant several containers with a single flower type for the purpose of filling the gaps. They stay in the vegetable garden for easy watering until needed in the perennial beds.  My favorites are bright-colored Wave® Petunias for sun and New Guinea Impatiens for part shade.  Those containers came in extra handy this year when we had several large trees removed.  The Impatiens are a temporary fill-in until the trampled hostas recover. 
 
If you are in need of filling seasonal gaps, try one or more of these ideas for inspiration.  In August perennials can be found at deep discounts at the local garden center.  With regular watering, they will be well-established before the first frost. 
1 Comment
Sarah Tavakoli link
8/19/2024 06:08:30 am

Thanks for sharing such information; it helps a lot.

Reply



Leave a Reply.


    Classes

    ​
    * Sun Gardens on April 23, 2025 and Shade Gardens on April 29, 2025 at the Hayward Library No registration needed 

    ​Handouts for programs ​are on the ​ "Classes" tab. 
    ***************
    ​Check out my Garden Course catalog if you are interested in  a presentation to your group - Click Here

    Link to North Country Master Gardeners' website

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    December 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    January 2024
    November 2022
    April 2022
    August 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All
    Annuals
    Fall
    Garden Events
    Garden Trends
    Garden Visits
    Low Maintenance
    Miscellaneous
    Monthly Calendar
    Perennial & Biennial
    Spring
    Summer
    Travel
    Trees And Shrubs
    Vegetables
    Winter

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Blog
  • Classes
  • Picture Gallery
  • Contact