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Buy 1 get 1 Free Quart Perennials

July 7, 2022

SALE DATES EXTENDED

7/26-8/2, 2022

Perennial plants are the cornerstone and foundation of any garden. Here at Meadow View Growers, we offer a wide selection of perennials for sale. Whether it’s cheerful daisies for bright sunny areas or bushy green ferns and hostas for shady spots, we have a variety of perennial plants to suit any landscape..

Some of our 2022 Perennials
Echinacea PowWow Wild Berry

Perennials

Perennial flowers return year after year, forming the backbone of your garden. As long as they are planted correctly, perennials usually require very little maintenance. Every few years, if they become overcrowded, they need to be “divided” in spring or fall. 

Choosing plants based on how much sunlight or shade you have to offer should be your primary consideration. If you are looking to spruce up a garden bed with some new perennials, before you go plant shopping, first observe how many hours of sun that bed receives in a day. 

Full sun = 6+ hours of direct sun exposure per day

Part sun/Part shade = 4 to 6 hours of direct sun exposure per day

Full shade = Less than 4 hours of direct sun exposure per day

Planting

Prepare your soil in advance (up to a day or a season!). Perennials grow well in loose, well-drained, loamy soil to which organic matter has been added. Add as much compost or other organic matter as you can to give perennials a strong base. You can prepare your soil in the fall for spring planting. 

Water the perennials you’ll be planting before you start digging any planting holes.

Dig a planting hole that’s slightly deeper than the pot the plant is in and twice as wide. (Only dig one hole at a time to prevent soil from drying out.) When you place your plant in the hole, it needs to be at the same depth level that it was in the pot.

Toss a handful or two of organic matter into the hole and add water.

Gently remove the plant from the pot and break up the roots at the base of the root ball with your fingers. (Don’t worry; you won’t hurt the plant.)

Set the plant in the hole. Make sure that the plant’s at the same depth it was in the pot. Avoid burying the crown, the spot where roots and stems meet. To test depth, lay a stick or tool across the planting hole from the surrounding soil to the perennial root ball. A level tool equals success.

Backfill the hole with a mix of soil and compost/organic matter. Gently firm the soil around the plant with your hands (not feet).

Water well afterward so that the water soaks down to the root ball.

Add 2 to 3 inches of mulch around the plants. Don’t mulch up the stem; just mulch around the stem as if the stem’s a donut hole.

Transplanting

Deadheading

Deadheading is the simple act of removing the spent flowers from a plant before it goes to seed. In nature, seeds are an attempt to ensure that the next generation of plants develops. In some cases, once seeds have been produced, the plant will stop blooming since there is no reason to put energy into blooming anymore.

Not all perennials produce seeds. In such cases, we deadhead the plants to encourage more flowers to bloom. It won’t harm the plant at all if we choose not to deadhead—it is a matter of personal preference, not survivability.

When you deadhead, cut the stems down by about one-third or to the top of the mound of foliage if the flowers are produced at the tips of leafy stalks. Daisies, bee balm, and catmint are some examples of this. Watch for small buds forming along the length of the stems and be sure not to cut those off when you are deadheading these kinds of perennials. If the flowers are produced on their own stalks with no or few leaves, like daylilies and coral bells, remove the entire spent flower stalk.

Deadhead these perennials to encourage rebloom: 

Achillea
Clematis
Dianthus
Heliopsis
Kniphofia
Lavandula
Leucanthemum – Shasta daisy 
Nepeta
Phlox
Salvia 

Deadhead these perennials for appearance only (rebloom not likely)

Ornamental onion – Allium
Blue star – Amsonia
Japanese anemone – Anemone
Goat’s beard – Aruncus
Astilbe
Heartleaf brunnera – Brunnera
Geranium
Non-reblooming daylilies – Hemerocallis
Coral Bells – Heuchera
Foamy bells – Heucherella
Rose Mallow – Hibiscus
Hosta
Ligularia
Bee balm – Monarda
Beardtongue – Penstemon
Russian sage – Perovskia
Creeping phlox – Phlox subulata
Jacob’s ladder – Polemonium
Lungwort – Pulmonaria
Stonecrop – Sedum
Foamflower – Tiarella
Spike Speedwell – Veronica

These perennials will develop interesting seed heads if you do not deadhead them:

False indigo – Baptisia
Coneflower – Echinacea (leave standing to feed birds)
Clematis
Ornamental grasses

Mulching

Most plants, including perennials, benefit from having mulch around their roots year-round. Organic mulch like shredded bark, hardwood, or pine straw makes our gardens look more polished, but it also serves several useful purposes including:

Shading the plants’ roots and keeping the soil cooler, which makes the roots healthier

Retaining soil moisture longer

Preventing weeds from growing up into the plants

Adding nutrients to the soil as the mulch disintegrates over time

Inorganic mulches like small stones or gravel can also be used, but they will not have the added benefit of enriching the soil since they do not break down. Stone can be useful in very windy locations where lighter mulch tends to blow away and is sometimes used on steep slopes where lighter mulch would wash away. Just be aware that if you ever decide to switch from stone mulch to organic mulch, it is backbreaking work to remove all those stones.

Whichever type of mulch you use, it is important to prevent it from touching the crown (base) of the plant. Spread your mulch carefully so that it lays nicely under your plant’s foliage but away from the crown. When mulch touches the crown, it is an invitation for plant rot and pest issues.

If you plant any perennials or shrubs in the fall, be sure to lay a 3-4 inch layer of mulch around them to prevent frost heaving during the winter months. The mulch will moderate the soil temperature so it remains consistent throughout the winter.

Perennial gardens benefit greatly from having a layer of shredded leaves placed over them in late fall or early winter after the plants have gone dormant. When you are raking earlier in the fall, shred and bag some of your leaves to use for this purpose. By spring, the shredded leaves in your garden beds will have mostly broken down and their nutrients will enrich the soil—it’s free fertilizer!

Velvet Butterfly Bush
Mullein Verbascum Southern Charm

Watering

All plants need some amount of water to live, but they don’t all require the same amount. By choosing plants that prefer the conditions you have, and by grouping plants in the garden by watering preferences, you make watering easier on yourself.  

If you do not use an automatic sprinkling system, have regional watering restrictions, or simply do not want to your garden regularly, choose perennials that need less water to thrive.

As always when transplanting a perennial during the hot months of summer, pay attention and water well until established. This may include watering twice a day.

Perennials that need less water:

Yarrow – Achillea
Anise Hyssop – Agastache
Ornamental Onion – Allium
Blue Star – Amsonia
False Indigo – Baptisia
Pinks – Dianthus
Coneflower – Echinacea
Baby’s Breath – Gypsophila
Red Hot Poker – Kniphofia
Lavender – Lavandula
Catmint – Nepeta shown here
Beardtongue – Penstemon
Russian Sage – Perovskia
Perennial Salvia – Salvia
Stonecrop – Sedum
Switch Grass – Panicum (ornamental grass)
Little Bluestem – Schizachyrium (ornamental grass) 

If you do use an automatic sprinkling system, enjoy hand watering, live someplace where consistent rainfall is reliable, or if you garden in soil that tends to stay moist for long periods, choose plants that prefer average to consistent amounts of water.

Perennials that prefer average to consistent amounts of water:

Japanese Anemone – Anemone
Goat’s Beard – Aruncus
Astilbe
Japanese Painted Fern – Athyrium
Heartleaf Brunnera – Brunnera
Clematis
Ferns
Cranesbill – Geranium
False Sunflower – Heliopsis
Daylilies – Hemerocallis
Coral Bells – Heuchera
Foamy Bells – Heucherella
Rose Mallow – Hibiscus
Hosta
Shasta Daisy – Leucanthemum
Ligularia
Bee Balm – Monarda
Phlox
Jacob’s Ladder – Polemonium
Lungwort – Pulmonaria
Salvia
Foamflower – Tiarella
Spike Speedwell – Veronica
Fountain Grass – Pennisetum (ornamental grass)

Cutting Back

Late fall is the time of year when many people clean up their garden beds in preparation for winter. It is your choice whether to cut back your plants in fall or spring, but there are a few guidelines you’ll want to keep in mind before you decide.

DO cut these perennials back in fall: 

Any perennials you do not want to reseed in your garden

Any perennials with diseased foliage, like powdery mildew, rust, or leaf spot. Cut all of the foliage down to the ground and dispose of it rather than putting it on your compost pile.

Perennials that have heavy insect damage, like slug-damaged hostas. Bugs may lay their eggs in the spent foliage of their favorite plants, so by cleaning it out of the garden in fall, you are limiting pest issues the following year. 

DO NOT cut these perennials back in fall: 

Evergreen or semi-evergreen perennials like pinks (Dianthus), coral bells (Heuchera), foamy bells (Heucherella), foamflower (Tiarella), creeping phlox (Phlox subulata), bugleweed (Ajuga), Lenten roses (Helleborus) and red hot poker (Kniphofia)

Perennials with a woody or hollow stems like rose mallow (Hibiscus), Russian sage (Perovskia), lavender (Lavandula), butterfly bush (Buddleia), and delphiniums

Perennials with winter interest and that benefit wildlife like false indigo (Baptisia), coneflowers (Echinacea), ornamental grasses, autumn stonecrop (Sedum), and ornamental onion (Allium)

Foxglove

Dividing

Some perennials grow so quickly that they benefit from being divided every 3-5 years to retain their vigor and flower power. Ornamental grasses, daylilies, irises, and stonecrop are some examples. Other perennials, like coral bells and rose mallow, stay in a single clump that never needs to be divided. We’ll list some more examples for you below.

It is best NOT to divide plants with woody crowns, a single stem/crown, fragile fleshy roots, or a tap root as doing so can damage the plant. This includes:

False indigo – Baptisia
Heartleaf brunnera – Brunnera
Clematis
Baby’s breath – Gypsophila
Coral Bells – Heuchera
Foamy bells – Heucherella
Rose mallow – Hibiscus
Red hot poker – Kniphofia
Lavender – Lavandula
Beardtongue – Penstemon
Russian sage – Perovskia 

Perennials with fibrous or loose root systems are the easiest kind to divide. Siberian irises, for example, can often be pulled apart with your hands once you’ve dug them up and shaken the soil off the roots. Ornamental onions like ‘Serendipity’ are similarly easy to pull apart and divide. Daylily roots are a little tougher to pull apart but can be cut with a sharp knife. Bee balm and spike speedwell are also easy to divide with a knife.

As a general guideline, perennials should be divided in the opposite season of which they bloom. That means if they bloom early in the season they should be divided in fall, and if they bloom late they should be divided in spring. When you do so, dig up the whole clump of the perennial you want to divide so you can easily see its root system. Each piece you pull or cut away from the original clump should be no smaller than what would fit in a 1-quart (4-6”) pot. Immediately replant the divided pieces into the garden or containers before their roots dry out.

A note about dividing patented plants: Many varieties of perennial plants are protected under U.S. and Canadian patent laws. If a variety is patented or has a patent-pending, that will be stated in small print on the plant label. In such cases, it is illegal to divide or propagate and sell that plant. This won’t impact most home gardeners, but if you participate in local garden club plant sales, sell your plants online or something similar, you should know that it is illegal to divide any patented or patent-pending plants and sell them at such sales or for any other monetary gain.

Source: Proven Winners: Read more here: https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/soil/tips-maintaining-perennial-plants

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