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"My perennial garden needs more color in the middle of summer!"
If you are scratching your head, wondering what blooming perennial flowers can fill that mid-summer gap, there's hope -- and help. A half-dozen plants will fill the bill.
A perennial is a herbaceous -- soft tissue -- plant that lives year-after-year. Although the plant dies back each winter,
new growth appears the following spring. Along Colorado's Front Range, a perennial also is defined as a plant that will grow in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 4, meaning it is hardy to -20 to -30 degrees, or in Zone 5, which takes in -10 to -20 degrees.
Now is the time to walk through your neighborhood garden center or local nursery to see what perennials are blooming. Two July favorites are Cupid's Dart (Catanache caerulea) and Lucifer (Crocosmia).
Cupid's Dart resembles blue dianthus with a lavender or white flower and a darker purple center. The one-inch flowers are at the end of a thin stem, which stands about 18 inches tall. These flow nicely in the breeze and they like part sun.
Lucifer produces three-foot-long arching stems with tropical-looking blooms dotting along the last eight inches of the stem. Growing from a bulb, which fits nicely between other plants, Lucifer comes in gold or in a stunning bright red-orange. It has the reputation of being the flower that everyone asks, "What is this?" Show off Lucifer by planting it where others can see it.
Whirling Butterflies (Guara lindheimeri) has gained deserved popularity in recent years. As its name suggests, the plant has the appearance of butterflies whirling about. The Rocky Mountain Plant Guide describes Guara as a "tall airy plant with wispy, butterfly-like white flowers on wiry stems." A pink variety also is available. The growth height is three to four feet with a wispy width of two to three feet. Whirling butterflies can take full or part sun and they appreciate well-drained soil. And, yes, butterflies are attracted to these plants.
Another full or part-sun favorite is bee balm (Monarda didyma). Colorado State University Extension describes bee balm and other perennials in a fact sheet titled "Herbaceous Perennials." Bee balm flowers appear in a cluster and bloom in red, pink, violet and white. The plant grows two to three feet tall and about two feet wide. Bee balm likes moist, though not wet soil and, as its name suggests, bees like it. To keep powdery mildew fungus at bay, avoid overhead watering of this plant.
Other good July standbys are purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida). The flowers of both resemble daisies. Purple coneflower grows in full sun or part shade and adapts to low-water conditions. It grows to a height of two to three feet. Colors available are white, pink or purple. Black-eyed Susan prefers a sunny exposure and also adapts to low-water soil. Black centers with gold daisy-like petals on long stems describe this flower.
For more information on Gardening, contact your
local Colorado State University Extension office.
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