KnowTheYard

Plant Profile Collection

Perennials for returning color

Build a garden that returns each year with plants suited to your zone and bloom calendar.

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A mature aster clump in full fall bloom with pale lavender daisies spread along branched side stems in a mixed perennial border
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Use a guide when you are ready to grow, diagnose a symptom, or compare two close options.

Growing Guide

Best Fall-Blooming Flowers for Color Near Frost

A bed that still carries flowers in October usually was planned before temperatures fell.

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Annual vs Perennial Plants and Which to Choose

Annuals finish their life cycle in one growing season. Perennials can live for multiple years, provided the plant…
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Featured Perennials

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A mature aster clump in full fall bloom with pale lavender daisies spread along branched side stems in a mixed perennial border

Aster

Symphyotrichum spp.

Gardeners blame the weather when an Aster splits open in September, but the shape was decided in early summer.

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A clump of pink astilbe with upright feathery plumes held well above deeply cut ferny foliage in a shaded woodland border

Astilbe

Astilbe spp.

An Astilbe puts real color into a shade bed that would otherwise be green on green, but its shallow roots hold no reserve…

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Bigleaf hydrangea shrub covered in large mophead blue and pink blooms in a shaded garden bed

Bigleaf Hydrangea

Hydrangea macrophylla

Bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) produces mophead or lacecap flowers, but winter survival and reliable flowering…

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14 matching profiles

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Search checks the common name, scientific name, and profile description. Zone checks the hardiness range; sorting uses the profile name or last update.

Rudbeckia hirta

Black-Eyed Susan

A Black-Eyed Susan patch outlives the plants in it. The common garden species lives one to three years and restocks itself from…

USDA Zones 3-8

Lamprocapnos spectabilis

Bleeding Heart

A Bleeding Heart banks a fixed budget in its rhizomes and spends all of it on four to six weeks of spring flower, then withdraws…

USDA Zones 3 to 9 Toxic to dogs, cats

Nepeta spp.

Catmint

Catmint carries months of blue over a tough gray-green mound, then splits wide open the moment its first flush is done.

USDA Zones 3 to 9

Clematis spp.

Clematis

A Clematis grips with its leaf stalks, so it can only climb something thin, and every cut you make depends on which of three…

USDA Zones 3 to 9 Toxic to dogs, cats, horses

Echinacea purpurea

Coneflower

Many gardeners overwater and overpamper Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), then wonder why it flops or rots.

USDA Zones 3-8

Heuchera spp.

Coral Bells

Coral bells (Heuchera) bring colorful leaves and delicate flowers to borders and pots.