Perennials to consider during annual flower craze

Well, it’s here, that time of the year when nurseries make 20 percent or more of their annual income. Add June to May’s revenue, and it’s more like 35 percent. Who can blame people; we want to be outside right now, and we want flowering plants that enhance that experience. So I ask you: Wouldn’t herbaceous perennials already in the ground and already well sized and putting on a show make more sense as opposed to scrambling for annuals and waiting for them to fill in? I think yes, at least in some places. Let’s take a look at one or two that are blasting away right now.

I recently came across a dwarf snapdragon whose botanical name is Chaenorrhinum organifolium ‘Summer Skies.’ This diminutive ground cover that attains a height of 10 inches is smothered with blue flowers from May through September. This Mediterranean perennial really is super drought tolerant and must be grown in gritty, well-drained soils if it is to persist in your landscape. It will produce petite, bell-shaped blue flowers that rise above the foliage all summer long.

One of my longtime favorite herbaceous perennials is soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides). The wort in the name refers to it being a small plant. This ground-hugging plant is rather absent through the winter, but once things start to look like spring, it bursts forth with foliage followed by a plethora of 1-inch pink blooms held in loose sprays above the foliage. This plant can be cut back hard after it flowers for a resurgence of foliage. This will also keep it from reseeding profusely, which it is fond of doing. It too does not like wet winter feet, so give it a well-drained soil. It is super hardy and pretty much laughed off our 0-degree temperatures this past winter. There are several popular cultivars that you might be able to find; I still utilize the species.

Saponaria ocymoides ‘Rubra Compacta’: Quite dense and non-trailing, it is the perfect plant for a spot in a stone wall.

Saponaria ocymoides ‘Floribunda’: Quite a bit more floriferous than the species, producing an abundance of soft pink flowers.

Al Shay is a consulting horticulturist and instructor at OSU. Contact baxtersnoo@yahoo.com.