7 Easy-to-Grow Perennials

Want a garden that doesn’t need your help to thrive? Then you want a garden full of easy-to-grow perennials. Perennials are plants that come back every year. You plant them once and forget about them (except for cutting back their dead stems each winter). Here’s a list of easy perennials:

Coneflowers

Heat- and drought-tolerant coneflowers are a staple of summer gardens. It blooms all summer and its purple flowers last a long time on the stem. It’s a native prairie wildflower that can be grown all over the country. Plant in full sun for the most blooms. 

Black-Eyed Susan

This hardy yellow flower is an iconic garden plant. It blooms from early summer to frost. It’s drought-tolerant, will grow in poor soil and is a sun worshiper. This easiest of easy perennial grows about two feet tall, so it’s perfect for the middle of mixed bed or planted around a mailbox. Pinch off spent blooms and flowers just keep coming. 

Hostas

These shade-lovers are prized for their large, tropical-looking leaves in shades from chartreuse to blue-green to bicolor. They also send up spikes of pink, pale purple  or white flowers that butterflies and hummingbirds love. They look more fragile than they are, and are almost impossible to kill.

Yarrow

Yarrow puts the easy in easy perennials. It produces flat-topped clusters of flowers in red, yellow or pink atop ferny, silver-gray foliage. Yarrow is drought- and heat-tolerant and can be grown anywhere in the country. Yarrow blooms from late spring to early fall.

Coreopsis

This easy perennial comes in a wide range of colors and sizes and blooms all summer. ‘Moonbeam’ and ‘Zagreb’ varieties produce drifts of yellow or pink daisy-like flowers. ‘Early Sunrise’ has a larger, orange bloom.

Daylily

Daylilies come in an endless variety of colors and flower types. They’re one of the most popular easy perennials. They are hardy, sun-worshipping plants that thrive in almost any conditions. Some bloom just once, others bloom all summer. Daylilies look great in mixed beds.

Hardy Hibiscus

These aren’t the fragile, tropical blooms you see in Florida. Hardy hibiscus grow on 5- to 6-foot shrubs and are hardy to USDA Zone 4. Yes, you can grow these in Maine. The blooms are the size of dinner plates and come in red, pink, white and yellow. They are an easy perennial, needing full sun and moist soil.