When you are new to gardening there are a few terms or words that are thrown around that may not be familiar to you. Two of these are annual and perennial plants.

An annual plant is planted in the garden with the expectation that by fall it goes in the compost bin and you start new again the following year. These are your typical bedding plant flowers like petunias, marigolds and sunflowers. They are grown for their bright splash of colour and in deck pots.

A perennial plant is purchased and put into your landscape with the intention of it lasting multiple seasons. While the environment plays into how long a perennial will live, typically a perennial plant can live many, many years. They spend spring, summer and fall growing and producing blooms. Then they die back to the ground and stay dormant all winter, only to start growing again in the spring.

1. What Plant Zone do you live in?

A plant zone is a geographic area that specific plants are capable of growing. It’s determined through the climate and temperatures of the specific zone.

Photo from Natural Resources Canada

This is the first and most important question you need to ask yourself when planning a perennial flower bed. You can search all over the internet and read any gardening book or magazine on the shelf and nothing will be able to narrow down your plant selection more than this question.

I live in Central Alberta and I’m in Zone 2-3 Plant Zone. Now keep in mind there is a difference between Canadian and United States Plant Zone maps. If a plant is recommended in the United States and says that it’s a zone 3 it is a Canadian zone 4 plant.

For Canadians, you need to add 1 to every zone United States Plant Zone recommendation.

When I shop for plants I’m looking for hardy perennial, zone 2-3 plants. I know that these flowers have been tested for their hardiness in my plant zone. These choices are less likely to die over winter and come back up in spring.

As I have become more knowledgeable over the years I sometimes test the boundaries of these limits, knowing full well that my plants may or may not survive the winter. When starting in perennials I strongly encourage you to grow plants that are hardy tried and tested varieties.

2. What is your budget?

This is the second most important question when planning a perennial flower bed. Creating and planning a huge lush perennial border isn’t going to be free. You will need to purchase at least a few plants. This doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of money. You can always ask friends and neighbours if they have any plants that they’d like to share and this will help stretch your budget.

Smaller 3.5” pots are more economical and will get to a mature size eventually. Whereas the larger 1-gallon pots will give you a more mature look right away. Neither choice is wrong. It’s all about the budget and how long you want to wait for your garden to fill out.

3. Is your perennial border in Full Sun, Part Sun/Shade or Full Shade?

Did you know that plants have specific sun requirements? It’s true. The amount of sun a plant can take is very important. That’s why when you look on the tags of plants at the garden centre they will have a little photo of a sun that is either light colour, 1/2 light and 1/2 black or black. That little picture is telling you where that plant wants to grow.

So take a day and watch your potential garden plot. Watch when the sun first shines on that area and when it leaves the area. Plants have specific sun requirements and won’t perform their best if the wrong area.

If you love beautiful Hostas but only have a hot, dry south-facing garden you will need to save those plants for another garden. The same goes for putting hot sun-loving plants into a fully shaded garden. They just aren’t going to perform to their very best.

4. Are there any restrictions to the area?

It doesn’t matter if you live in town or in the country you’re going to have something buried in your yard. These buried cables, telephone lines and sewer, gas and electrical lines will all play into how you can create your perennial border.

While perennials are typically shallow-rooted and won’t affect those lines, it's still important to know where they are. This becomes very critical when you choose to add trees and shrubs to your landscape.

Other restrictions you need to consider are road access, future garage or home renovations. It’s good to think a little bit about the future so you don’t have to undo all your hard work. Believe me, I’ve moved far too many perennials!!

5. What kind of gardener are you? Beginner? Intermediate? Advanced? Do you have help?

Many times it’s easy to be wowed by the beautiful gardens of friends, family and neighbours. What we’re looking at is potentially years of gardening and hard work. What we don’t see is the countless hours it takes to keep that perennial border looking like it does.

If this is your first-ever garden, I encourage you to start small and see how you like it. For me, gardening is kind of like chips. After I eat one, I want another and another. Till all of a sudden I’ve eaten the whole bag and don’t feel so good anymore.

It’s the same with gardening. I start with one perennial bed. Then I add one more. Maybe just one more after that and I don’t want to forget about a veggie garden! Till all of a sudden, it’s the middle of August and everything is overgrown with weeds and I feel sick to my stomach and don’t know where to go.

Don't let your new love of gardening overwhelm you. Planning a perennial flower bed is a process. Start with little bites. You can always add another flower bed next year after you know if you like this whole gardening thing.

6. How much time are you willing to spend on this garden? What is your maintenance time?

This is where you need to be brutally honest with yourself. Do you get home from work at 6 pm or later every evening only to rush off to your kid’s sports? Or do you have a more leisurely schedule that leaves you hours to putter out in the garden?

It doesn’t do you any good to fill your perennial border up with plants that require more work if you don’t have the time. This doesn’t mean you can’t garden. You just need to go with a more low-maintenance style.

There are lots of different styles of gardens out there. From large rambling trees and shrub beds with big empty spaces filled with bark mulch and a few larger perennials. To the wild and chaotic English Cottage Garden that is so jam-packed with blooms, you can’t tell where one starts and another begins.

Knowing what your style is may not come naturally, but popping over to the library or magazine rack and flipping through some gardening pages will quickly tell you what catches your eye.

7. Do you have help with this project? Or are you doing this on your own?

Help isn’t always needed for gardening if you’re determined or have a love for DIY. But taking on too big of a project alone can make anyone discouraged. Consider all steps you’ll need to do to get this perennial garden from start to completion. Having a plan will allow you to decide what you’ll do in year one and what you can leave in the following years.

After you have taken time to think through all these questions it’s time to start the fun part, choosing plants!

Happy Gardening!

Heidi

Plan a Perennial Flower Bed