New Ideas for Spring Gardening: Try Planting Perennials

Days of rain are slowly giving way to sunny and cool afternoons, giving many gardeners thoughts of spring planting and cleaning up the garden. Spring perennials add early color to your garden and can really make spruce up the garden for the growing season. Many of the hardier will also provide some lovely color during fall as well. Below are a few you might consider as accents to the usual spring favorites: pansies, crocus, tulips and daffodils.

The Ajuga, "black scallop," sports dark, glossy burgundy foliage with lovely scalloped leaves and make a terrific accent to the usual light and pastel colored-plants. They have very dark blue flowers and stay fairly short, between 3 to 6". Ajuga are hardy to zone 4 and are very adaptable to different types of soil. They prefer full sun and partial shade.

The Bergenia "pig squeak" is a lovely addition to your garden adding color in fall and spring. This is a fairly tall plant, usually attaining a height of 15" and spreading nicely to up to as much as 22". This makes it a nice middle accent or border. It has lovely green foliage in spring which changes to a lovely burgundy in fall. The sweet, bright pink flowers begin to bloom in mid-April and with the proper care will continue through the spring and into the summer.

The Marguerite Daisy is a sunny, bright bloom with feathery, silver foliage that forms a tight mound. The blooms are a creamy white with bright yellow centers. This plant prefers full sun and will bloom from May throughout the summer. It is extremely tolerant to poor soil conditions and prefers dry soil. This is a fairly tall plant, getting as tall as 24".

If you are looking for an interesting grass, consider "Little Bluestem" schizachyrium scoparium. This is a native American prairie grass also knows as sagegrass or beard grass. It, like Marguerite Daisy, tolerates poor soils and can reach up to 4' tall. The leaves have a blue hue in the spring and summer, deepening to a rich orange in the fall. It sports flowers throughout the upper parts with long hairs that give it a light, feathery appearance. The tip of each stalk holds a single, white flower cluster. This is a great plant for mass plantings as it covers very nicely.

Adding just a few interesting or unusual plants can give your garden a unique look, setting it apart from all the other spring gardens in your neighborhood.