Plants cost so much these days, you want to choose ones that are really going to give value for money – month after month. These are our top 10 recommendations
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Agapanthus are South African perennials whose drumstick flowers will bloom for weeks in summer borders and large pots. We love them for their drama, range of colours and sculptural form.
- Rich colour palette
- Dramatic form
- Long-flowering
- Loves packing a pot with roots but doesn't enjoy competition in a mixed border
- Some species are tender and need protection in winter
This pretty perennial daisy bears flowers all summer from mounds of soft feathery aromatic foliage. We love its soft yellow colour which fades to cream. Just perfect for a dry, sunny spot!
- Prolific long-lasting flowers
- Great for pollinators
- Tolerates drought
- Can be cut hard back after the first flowering to bloom again into autumn
- Hates wet or rich soil
- Poor flowering when in shade
- Can be short-lived, needing dividing every 2-3 years to maintain vigour
What a plant this is! This perennial geranium has won awards all over the place including Plant of the Century, no less! Its lavender-blue flowers flower all summer long, and we adore the way it even has reddish-tinted foliage in the autumn. A total winner in our book.
- Will flower in sun or shade
- Deep green foliage with red tints in autumn
- Great for bees and butterflies
- Can spread to 1m high and crowd out other plants
- Sprawling, scambling habit that can look untidy
- Doesn't like wet, heavy soil
This lovely shrub has such a long season of beauty! The conical flowers emerge lime-green, gradually change to a creamy-white before flushing pink in the early autumn. We reckon it provides interest, structure and colour and is perfect for a sunny or partially shaded spot.
- Very hardy, to H5
- Will grow in acid, alkaline or neutral soils
- Exceptionally long season of interest
- Dislikes dry or very wet soil
- Needs hard pruning in early spring for the best flowers
- Can get mildew in humid conditions
This neat evergreen shrub has the most wonderful presence in a dry. sunny spot. We adore its aromatic foliage and nectar-rich dense flower-spikes which are often alive with bees and butterflies.
- Rich colour and scent
- Perfect beside sunny paths and in pots
- Perennial, evergreen and with a long season of interest
- Will become straggly and unproductive if not cut back at the end of summer or early spring
- Hates wet or heavy soils
- Prefers alkaline to acid soil
Here's a tall perennial (1.2m high) which carries domed flowers, often scented, in a charming range of pastel colours from white through pinks to mauves and blues. You can extend its long-flowered period even more by cutting some of the stems by half in May so that they flower later (the famous 'Chelsea Chop'!).
- Sturdy stems mean that they rarely need support unless the flowerhead are very heavy
- Easy to divide clumps to make drifts that look great with grasses
- Perfect perennials for a cottagey look
- Might get mildew in dry conditions
- Needs deadheading after flowering or it looks messy
- Can be prone to bug problems such as eelworm
We would hate to be without this little beauty! It's a low-growing perennial daisy that is in flower for simply weeks during the summer, softening path and border edges with its frothy pink and white blossoms. It's lovely in pots on a sunny terrace too, on banks, in rock or courtyard gardens....a real winner.
- Drought tolerant and very hardy (H5)
- Easy to grow in sun or part-shade
- Almost disease-free
- Straggly growth must be cut back hard in winter or early spring
- When it's happy, it self-seeds readily - a bonus for some gardeners but not all
- The roots need good drainage
Wr rate this tall hardy perennial very highly because of its airy, see-through quality - its thin stems carry clusters of little lilac-purple flowers that seem to dance about through other border plants. The blooms are an excellent nectar-source making it a great choice for wildlife-friendly gardens, while the stiff, almost leafless stems have an architectural quality that would also suit city or courtyard spaces
- Very long-flowering right into autumn and low maintenance
- An absolute magnet for pollinators
- Awarded an RHS medal for its reliability and performance
- Needs sun and well-drained soil to perform well
- Will self-seed readily which might be a nuisance so need to deadhead
- Can be short-lived
A beloved old cottage garden favourite that still triumphantly cuts the mustard as far as we're concerned. It's a hardy perennial with small grey-green aromatic leaves topped by simply masses of violet-blue flowers the whole summer long. Abuzz with insects of all kinds, the billowing blooms form a cloud of fragrant colour.
- Wonderful for pollinating insects
- Easy to grow in sun and well-drained soil
- Low maintenance and relatively disease-free
- Its strong roots can crowd out weaker plants
- Can look untidy in late summer and benefits from a hard cut after its first flowering
- Attractive to cats who might flatten it (put some holly twigs among the stems)
This plant draws in the pollinating insects like no other hardy perennial in the garden - no wonder it's commonly called 'the butterfly plant'!. We love it for the way the fleshy flowers change from pale pink in late spring through raspberry to deep copper in late autumn. The seedheads look wonderfully dramatic through the winter too.
- Easy to grow in full sun
- Outstanding for bees and butterflies
- Simple to propagate by division
- Prefers neutral or alkaline soil
- The succulent stems can flop if grown in rich soil - cut central stems by half in May to cause later flowering on shorter stems
- Can be attractive to slugs, snails and vine weevils
