It happens in mid-June: Your garden is empty, no matter how hard you tryed. You did all that careful planting in April and marveled at the first sprouting shoots. Then early summer came and went, as those first plants finished their cycle and rested. The whole season seem to be over before intermission.
Why does this seasonal downer happen? And why do we think it can’t be helped? Working harder isn’t the answer. Thinking differently, focusing on when things happen instead of just what happens. Is the trick to overcoming the seasonal lull in perennials.
How to Keep Your Garden Growing All Season
Perennials take the long view; but that means succession planning or else you’re left with a bunch of splashes and gaps. This timeline explains how each species takes turns being active from spring through fall, as shown in the visual breakdown above. The list shows who is first and when. For example, you will know to plant your Virginia bluebells in a spot where they will finish flowering by May, next to phlox that won’t finish blooming until August.
Why? Because a well-designed garden doesn’t start out strong and fizzle. It keeps moving along. Nothing ends winter dirt like a spring bloomer, usually the most exciting group of all. Creeping things like this (creeping phlox) form a carpet. This covers bare ground on slopes to prevent erosion and brings instant effect, right?
Many spring beauties dies back in the heat of summer. They dissapears just as you wish they would be there, holding down some cover. That is why it is so important to combine them with strong summer plants that perform later. You want the early foliage to weave itself with the mid-season flowers of things like black-eyed susans and coneflowers.
The summer stars holds up the whole show in July and August, luring bees and butterflies who depend on constant sources of nectar. New gardeners often forget that fall is here, thinking it begins and ends in September. That’s too bad: By October or so, when the air turns crisp, your yard can look pretty sorry.
Goldenrods and asters fills out the last big gaps here with important late-season color and shape. Their tall spikes of gold and violet create a lively farewell to the growing year, a fiery mark against the darkening sky. Adding some of these will give your garden a proper close instead of a sudden stop.
The most important consideration is light conditions: you won’t succeed trying to grow lavender in deep shade, for example, no matter what your best intentions or what the soil might be like. The sun requirements is divided into groups (full sun versus shade tolerating) so you can find your way around on the chart. That’s a big help.
There’s no point trying to put hostas in hot afternoon sun, where they’ll get crispy. There is also no point putting daylilies in the heavy shade cast by trees, where they’ll never bloom well. And then there’s height considerations. Tossing a group of tall delphiniums in front of some low-growing creeping phlox doesn’t do anyone any good…you must match the plant to the light, the first step in everything.
Then there’s layering. You use plants ranging from a six-inch edger to a five-foot backbone. This gives each plant its moment in the sun and makes it possible for others to shine. It looks good year after year because it is maintained.
Deadheading spent blooms redirects the plant’s energy from making seeds to producing more flowers. This is a little work that goes a long way toward extending bloom times. Dividing every few years revives vigor in clumping plants; otherwise they gets crowded out and overrun.
Mulching suppresses weeds, reducing the time you spend pulling debris instead of enjoying the view. Mulching reduces the time I spend pulling weeds, so I can spend more time enjoying what I see. Moisture conservation is another reason for mulch. Water deeply at the soil level (a shallow spritz here and there will not produce strong roots that weather summer drought well).
Another dimension of smart planting is companion planting. A simple pairing. Sage with rudbeckia (gold against purple), forms a sharp contrast for the summer border. Hosta combined with astilbe (bold foliage meets feathery plume) offers textural contrast in shady spots.
The mix is smart: They balance each other in terms of bloom time, height and even color. It is not random decorating, but intentional composition. Make your garden a work of art… Not a job. Combine elements so they knit together into a naturaly progression: spring starters, summer sustainers and fall finishers, plants whose shapes, colors and textures weave themselves into a living tapestry.
Make it so there’s always something to enjoy, but never something needing fussing over all the time. Plan your garden based off when things bloom; start with low plants, then add taller ones. If each thing has its spot and moment, the garden will take care of itself.