Yes, a year-round perennial garden can be as easy as selecting plants that work for your site and plopping them in the garden at the right time. However, adding a little nuance to your planning and design makes a huge difference. This keeps those plants that return for multiple years in a good space.

Before you start perennial gardening, it’s important to survey your garden and determine what conditions exist there. Follow up with a solid design, and all you have to do is figure out which plants work best for the garden’s environment. 

But adding to that considerations for bloom time, seasonality, and your desire (or lack thereof) to maintain the garden, and you’ll have something you can really enjoy. A garden that never sleeps adds so much curb appeal to your home as well. Here’s how to grow your own year-round perennial garden!

Milkweed / Butterfly Flower

Milkweed / Butterfly Flower Seeds

Alan’s Pride Echinacea Seeds

Step 1: Observe Your Site

Conditions in your garden change throughout the seasons.

The first step of establishing any garden is observation. Consider these things: sunlight, water, space, and soil. These are the backbone of your garden, and give you the foundation for what types of plants you grow.

Start with space. Measure the plot and make a note of the dimensions. This gives you an idea of what type of plants you can grow. 

Then ask yourself, what direction does the plot face? In the northern hemisphere, south-facing gardens generally have the most sun access. But you also need to consider nearby buildings, trees, and large structures that shade out the sun. Determine if the place you want a year-round perennial garden has full sun, partial shade, or full shade. 

• Full sun: at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight
• Partial shade: at least 4 to 6 hours of direct sunlight
• Full shade: less than 4 hours of direct sunlight

Then consider your garden’s access to water. Is there a water source nearby? How will you water your garden? If you want to get technical, you can install a drip irrigation system. However, hand watering is a viable way to irrigate, too. Think about what kinds of beds you’ll grow in (raised beds, in-ground beds, or containers).

Take a look at your soil. What ecoregion are you in? This is a good indicator of the native soil you will likely have in your garden. Is it compacted and heavy, or is it aerated and loose? A soil test helps you determine whether or not additional nutrients and amendments are needed to grow the plants you want to grow. 

Step 2: Design the Garden

Have a plan before you get anything in the ground.

After you’ve made and noted your observations, draw out your garden on a piece of paper, use a survey map, or use software to design digitally. A planning app can be a huge help in this step of the process. Design the year-round perennial garden with your observations in mind.

How you design can be as specific or as simple as you want. Think about the purpose of your garden. If you want to grow edible perennials, contemplate the requirements needed to cultivate them and place a bed in the ideal spot. If you want a native garden, think about the microclimate of the garden and how you can use your design to help plants thrive there. 

Take note of any current or future structures that will be in the garden. Include seating, arbors, or ponds. This part of the process is really fun, so enjoy it!  

Step 3: Choose Your Perennials 

Perennials are the foundation of the garden.

Using your design and thinking about your garden’s purpose, it’s time to pick your plants. If you know the constraints of your garden well based on your observations, this could be as easy as heading to the nursery and picking out perennials. Or the process could include doing some research and figuring out which plants you want to cultivate that way. 

The great thing about perennials is that they aren’t just one kind of plant. Perennial vegetables and fruit, along with natives, xeric plants, and cottage specimens are all viable options. Pick one type or a combo of perennials, but think thematically to keep the aesthetic of your garden tidy, rather than chaotic.

Another important consideration: do you want to transplant perennials from nursery pots, or do you want to save money and start them from seed?

As you pick your plants, pop them into your design so you have an idea of how your year-round perennial garden is laid out. It’s totally fine to pop them into your design as you plant them.

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Step 4: Think About Timing

Choose the right plants for your region.

When you decide which plants to grow, timing is an important consideration. If you want blooms year-round, choose plants that will bloom in succession. A combination of spring ephemerals, with spring and summer blooms, followed by fall flowers, ensures this is possible. 

If you’re on an edible kick, study which plants are best suited to the seasons in your region. Look at their days to maturity and compare this with your first and last frost dates. Tap into your local extension offices and master gardening associations to determine the best planting times.

Think about when you’ll plant your seeds or transplants. This is important for sticking to the plan and creating something beautiful that you’ll really love. Many fruit trees, for instance, are best planted in early spring. Natives, on the other hand, might be better suited to planting in fall. Perennials have different planting times, and it’s important to pay attention to that. 

Step 5: Prep and Plant

Amend your soil before planting.

The most important thing in your garden is your soil. Thankfully, growing a year-round perennial garden is a soil-conscious choice. Established perennials reduce the frequency of tilling and disturbing the soil, as the plants remain in place for multiple years. This keeps valuable nutrients, insects, and microorganisms safe within the earth. 

But it is essential to ensure the garden plot has the kind of soil you need to help your plants thrive. If you’re growing in raised beds or containers, gather enough material to fill them. If you’re growing in the ground, use your soil test to determine which additional nutrients you need. Use handy tools for planting lots of transplants or plugs at once, like a power auger. 

Having a hefty dose of well-rotted compost will help you get started, and having a pile for upcoming seasons is great. Amend your soils with it, and plant your plants. Then top them off with a little compost to help them get a good head start. This provides many plants with the nutrients they need to grow and continue blooming well throughout their season.

In that same vein, determine if your plants need to be on a fertilizing schedule. If so, obtain organic fertilizers that will give them all they need to put on a year-round show. Choose OMRI-certified formulations. If you’re working with plants well-adapted to your region, a thin layer of compost applied in temperate seasons is probably enough. Each plant has its own needs, though.

Step 6: Maintain the Plot

Regular maintenance keeps the garden looking fresh.

After your first season, your year-round perennial garden is likely thriving. Perennials grow over the seasons, and they need tending to.

Division is a task to carry out every year for perennials that lose vigor as they fill in areas. Do this in spring or fall, depending on the plant and which season is longest for you. Another regular task for keeping weeds down is mulching. Replenish any organic mulches that have deteriorated over the course of the season.

If you like to keep your plants tidy, the Chelsea chop is another maintenance technique that keeps them looking fresh. It can also revive leggy plants. Any early-season or end-of-season pruning is important to keep in mind too. Ideally, you’ve had a chance to see which plants need what in the planning process. 

For native gardeners and more naturalistic types, leaving seed heads and stems over winter provides visual interest while plants are dormant. This invites wildlife to utilize the plants all year long too, and is generally a more eco-friendly option than chopping every single year. Give insects and birds a little break when winter rolls around by leaving the leaves in the garden, or gently raking them into beds as winter mulch. 

Step 7: Enjoy Your Garden

Don’t forget to step back and enjoy.

You’ve done the work, and now it’s time to enjoy the space you’ve created. With a year-round perennial garden, you get to appreciate the beauty it has to provide. Use a seating area for daily relaxation, or enjoy waking up as the sun rises in the morning and you water the plants. 

There is really nothing as satisfying as appreciating the fruits of your labor, whether they are figurative or actual ones from an edible perennial garden.