What are you planning to do on your garden this summer?

Home By Design brings a great article on what are the perfect plants for each of the seasons.

How many times have you excitedly purchased a perennial plant based on the glowing promises of its grower tag? If you are anything like me, then you have experienced a scenario like this: cruise down the nursery aisle and spot a specimen that looks appealing in its four-inch pot. Carefully read the tag and think, “this would be just perfect for that shady little corner by the fountain”. I should buy at least three of these”. Race home, put on garden gloves and kneepads plant, and wait for the promise to fulfill itself.

But at maturity, my choice ends up a disappointment. It’s too tall, too short, too floppy, too rigid, needs more sun, more shade, or the leaf shape and bloom color look poorly with its neighbor – something just doesn’t work with the rest of the garden. So I dig it up, move it, and hope for better results the next season in its new location. That is the reality of gardening, and it can be frustrating at times.

Gardening is about creativity and experimentation and perennials are the ideal since they are easy to obtain, small enough to move around and endlessly varied in their visual qualities.

Here are some plants recommendations for each season by Tom Fisher, garden writer.

Early to Mid-Spring

Lenten Rose ( helluborus X hybridus) comes in many color, but try pairing the deep, glowing pink variety with the shorter, more delicate pale lavender blooms of “Lewis Palmer”. The pastel ground will make the pink appear even more vibrant.

Early Summer

If you have a moist, sunny area, place cool, violet blue “Silver Edge” Siberian Iris (iris sibirica “Silver Edge”) with the compact, vividly colored “Hobe Tatra” bistort (Persicaria bistorta “Hohe Tatra”), which provides just the right touch of warm pink to enhance the Iris frosty hue.

Early Autumn

Certain floral combinations have a quality that is almost good enough to eat. The Hungarian daisy, (Leucanthemelia serotina) paired with “Lemon Queen” perennial sunflower (Helianthus “Lemon Queen”) may remind you of a big slice of lemon meringue pie in your garden!

Autumn to Winter

The furry white flowers of the charming Feathertop (Pennisetum villosum) are perfect for a tickle fight in the garden… if you are so inclined. But if you would rather just admire the blooms, pair these fluffy giants with a richly hued Japanese Blood Grass (Imperata cylindrical “Red Baron”), which reaches its peak color in the late fall.