Perennials – Plant, Care For, Love

Summer is perennial season. In the perennial bed, a vibrant mix of flower colors and shapes abounds, and some perennials even offer a truly special fragrance experience. If you love perennials, summer is when your garden truly shines.

The most colorful perennial beds can be created in spring and autumn, and in summer, these perennials burst into their most magnificent colors. A perennial bed is always an excellent choice to bring the essence of summer into your garden.

The best time to plant perennials is in autumn. As the days shorten, the summer heat slowly dissipates and rain returns, creating optimal conditions for young perennials that want to grow big and strong. Perennials can also be planted in spring, but then increased watering is crucial due to less rainfall. Especially in summer, perennials need to be adequately watered.

To plant perennials, first prepare the soil. The right location for the perennial bed depends on the requirements of the individual perennials. After clearing the soil of weeds, it can be improved with fresh compost or topsoil. Before planting, the perennials are thoroughly watered. This gives them a good start and makes them easier to remove from their plastic pots. Planting then occurs with a spacing of 15 to 80 centimeters, depending on the needs of the different perennials. This spacing is important so that the plants don't hinder each other's growth and compete.

Beyond proper planting, care is especially important to keep your perennials beautiful and healthy in the long run. Perennials are generally quite resilient to frost and snow. However, some, like anise hyssop, leadwort, or penstemon, need a thick layer of leaves in winter to protect them and help them get through the cold months. This leaf layer is then removed during the spring cleanup of the perennial bed.

In spring, you should also remove dead plant parts and spent blooms. Early pruning of perennials is crucial to prevent damage to new shoots and to encourage healthy, compact growth. February is usually the best time for pruning. This encourages side shoots, making the perennials grow bushier and denser.

Taller perennials should be supported in spring to prevent them from snapping. As plant growth begins in spring, you can support them with bamboo or willow stakes. If you regularly remove faded flowers during the blooming season, you can encourage perennials to produce more blooms and extend their flowering period. If you want to fill gaps in your perennial bed naturally, you can leave the seed heads after flowering, as many perennials will then multiply by self-seeding.

If you want to propagate perennials, there are several reasons: they've grown too large, they're becoming bare in the middle, or they've stopped flowering. Or perhaps you simply can't get enough of those beautiful blooms and can't wait to fill your entire garden with them.

Whatever the reason, perennials are always divided in the same way: in autumn and with a radical cut. It sounds more unpleasant than it is, but actually, not every perennial likes being divided. For example, columbine, bleeding heart, peony, and Oriental poppy don't take kindly to division.

For all other perennials, spread them out! September is the best time to divide perennials with a sharp spade. To do this, dig up the perennials and divide them into several pieces with the spade. The individual parts can then be thoroughly watered and replanted in the bed. This is also a good opportunity to enrich the soil in the perennial bed with fresh compost or organic fertilizer like horn meal. It's a good idea to divide perennials every 3 to 5 years to maintain their vigor and bloom production.