By Lindsay Bond Totten
Scripps Howard News Service
It used to be that just knowing the color of a perennial plant's blooms made one something of an expert. Perennials weren't new — daylilies, hosta, ferns, phlox, lilies, iris, and peonies had been grown for years — but most gardeners chose annuals for seasonal color.
Then the British influence prevailed, and perennials gained popularity. But there was a problem: Many people were disappointed to discover that most perennials only bloomed for a short period of time, two to three weeks in many cases. They wanted plants that came back year after year — a perennial's major selling point at that time — and varieties that bloomed, like annuals did, all summer long.
That was 20 years ago. And I smile to recall a conversation in which a colleague declared perennials to be a passing fad. Surely, he reasoned, people would return to annuals when they found out how elusive perennials could be.
Well, two decades and billions of dollars later, perennials are still hot stuff. Huge wholesale nurseries devote thousands of acres to their production. International trade in new varieties is booming. And the gardeners of America have proven my colleague very wrong.
For the most part, it hasn't been the plants that have changed — though new varieties are introduced very year — but the gardeners. Savvy, sophisticated, educated — all apply to today's knowledgeable consumers.
And the conclusion they've reached as they shop for new specimens for their gardens each season is that a perennial plant is more than just a pretty face. Flowers and color still matter, but gardeners want more. In fact, they want it all.
Armed with information and experience, gardeners today expect not only beauty, but quality, durability and performance for their plant dollars.
For instance, texture and foliage are more important to gardeners than ever before. Artemisia, heuchera, lungwort, rue, lambs ears and lamium, in a multitude of colors and sizes, are grown almost exclusively for their leaves. All make beautiful fillers in a perennial garden, without having to be staked or deadheaded.
Busy gardeners who appreciate low maintenance plants are proving just how willing they are to sacrifice blooms if the foliage is pretty enough.
And what about ornamental grasses? Some of the most popular varieties offer little in the way of either color or blooms, but they're prized for their textural contributions. Ferns perform a similar function in woodland and shade gardens.
Even when plants do have nice flowers, blooms alone aren't enough anymore. "What else does it do?" is the question that almost always follows the initial query. Eager sales people better have an answer or the plant is likely to remain on the bench.
If a plant blooms for just two weeks gardeners want to know that its foliage or habit will add personality to the border even when it's not in bloom. That makes plants like 'St. Ola' hardy geranium (Geranium cantabrigiense x 'St. Ola') and Epimedium perralchicum 'Frohnleiten' an easy sell. Both have wonderful flowers in spring, but they're followed by handsome, evergreen foliage.
Today's perennial gardeners are out to prove that flowers are just one part of the whole perennial package. And not necessarily the most important part!
Fragrance adds tremendous value to plants for many gardeners, who will always buy a fragrant variety over a non-fragrant one with comparable qualities. 'Casablanca' lily, anise hyssop, and lavender are as attractive for their fragrance as they are for their blooms.
Gardeners are looking for new, improved features from their old favorites. 'Becky' daisy, for instance, blooms repeatedly from June through October if spent flowers are removed regularly. Also, attractive foliage is longer lived than many of the old Shasta daisy varieties, so 'Becky' requires less frequent dividing.
Geranium 'Rozanne', Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies', and Coreopsis 'Sweet Dreams' bloom almost non-stop for two to three months instead of two to three weeks — a big selling point for all three.
"Improvements" come in various packages. With disease resistance, it's what you don't see that makes the difference. When given a choice, gardeners prefer the cleaner foliage of 'Jacob Cline', 'Raspberry Wine', 'Marshall's Delight' and 'Colrain Red' Beebalm over other varieties whose leaves are stained by powdery mildew in late summer.
'Kim's Knee High' is a slightly shorter version of the popular purple coneflower. No flopping, no staking!
Deer resistance is important to many gardeners these days, as is drought tolerance. Without these attributes, some gardeners won't — can't — buy, no matter how gorgeous the blossoms. And the word "native" on the plant tag is all some shoppers need to add a specimen to their cart.
One trend in perennial buying I simply can't understand is gardeners wanting larger and larger plants. In some nurseries, expensive gallon-size containers outsell plants in smaller pots. The price, often two to three times as much, seems unwarranted when the smaller plant will quickly catch up to the larger one once planted in good soil.
(Lindsay Bond Totten, a horticulturist, writes about gardening for Scripps Howard News Service.)
