Perennial Flowers Add Color and So Much More to Your NJ Garden
Introducing perennials into your garden not only injects vibrant color but also introduces captivating textures to your landscape all year round. Unlike annuals, which require replanting every year, perennials are hardy bloomers, returning each year with little fuss or upkeep required. While the lifespan of perennial flowers typically spans from three to 15 years, exceptional varieties like peonies can delight with blooms for a lifetime.
Choose the Right Perennial Flowers That Will Thrive in Your New Jersey Garden
Bergen County, located in USDA Hardiness Zone 6, is well-suited to growing a wide variety of perennial flowers.
Perennial flowers, with their shape, colors, and textures, give your garden design a beautiful look. Some of these plants grow in mounted clusters, while others are used as groundcovers. Some are sun-loving, while others thrive in the shade.
At Borst Landscape & Design, we take pride in creating and maintaining beautiful landscapes and gardens for our customers. For your free estimate, call us at (201) 581-8076 or fill out a contact form on our website today!
20 Perennial Flowers
1. Anemone
Anemones are exquisite and vibrant blooms that possess vivid hues atop lusciously green stems, making them ideal for enhancing floral arrangements with their fragrant allure. Dubbed “windflowers,” they evoke a mesmerizing sight akin to a poetic ballet as they sway gracefully in the breeze. Typically showcasing cupped formations, anemone flowers come in an array of enchanting shades such as pink, purple, rose, or white, complemented by intricately lobed foliage.
Light: Full sun, partial sun
Height: 1 to 3 feet
Spread: 1 to 3 feet
Blooms: Spring, summer, and fall
2. Aster
Asters are easy to grow and drought-tolerant, and they are always at the top of the list of perennial flowers for garden design in the New Jersey area. They provide striking color in any landscape and, because of their height, can offer variation in a garden. Some of them grow from 6 to 8 feet tall and bloom with beautiful hues of pink, white, purple, and lavender.
Light: Full sun
Height: 1 to 8 feet
Spread: 1 to 4 feet
Blooms: Spring and fall
3. Astilbe
Astilbe is one of the most graceful perennials, with a feathery texture and soft colors in white, red, blue, and pink. Often used in Northern New Jersey garden design, It can tolerate direct sunlight as long as there is adequate water and rich, moist soil. It’s best to grow in shady areas because as summer heat builds, the leaves can easily scorch in the sun.
Light: Shade, partial sun
Height: 5 inches to 8 feet
Spread: 18 to 30 inches
Blooms: Spring and summer
4. Basket-of-Gold
Basket-of-gold loves to grow in unexpected places, such as at the edge of patio borders, cracks between paving stones, rocky garden areas, and the edge of gravel pathways. This perennial is one of the top choices for people looking to add informal perennial flowers to their New Jersey garden design. As the name suggests, Basket-of-Gold adds a lot of color to your landscape with its vibrant gold flowers.
Height: 6 inches to 3 feet
Spread: 12 to 18 inches
Bloom: Spring
5. Bee Balm
Bee balm is one of the most effortless, beautiful perennial flowers that also has the added bonus of attracting bees and butterflies to your garden design area. It is a native plant to New Jersey with lovely spider-like flowers in jewel tones of pink, red, purple, and white. These bright, eye-catching flowers produce fragrant scents and grow in clumps of dark foliage
Light: Sun, partial sun
Height: 1 to 8 feet
Spread: up to 2 feet
Blooms: Summer and fall
6. Blanket Flower
Blanket flowers produce both single and double daisy-like blossoms in colors ranging from orange to bright yellow. They are very well suited for a hot, sunny garden. Of particular importance in the New Jersey area, blanket flowers thrive in gardens because they are deer-resistant and tolerate light frost.
Light: Full sun
Height: 1 to 3 feet
Spread: 6 inches to 2 feet
Blooms: Summer and fall
7. Butterfly Weed
Butterfly weed is a plant that requires minimal care and maintenance and is native to New Jersey. Its brightly colored flowers, in white, orange, red, and pink, attract many types of butterflies and birds. Butterfly weed is fragrant, drought-tolerant, and deer-resistant. It tops the list of 20 perennial flowers for your New Jersey garden design.
Light: Full sun
Height: 1 to 8 feet
Spread: 2 to 3 feet
Blooms: Summer
8. Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums produce many different-shaped blossoms. Some look like daisies, while others produce blooms that are flat, fringed, rounded, quill, or spoon-shaped. They are a must-have for any type of garden design. The flowers can be seen in shades of pink, red, white, green, blue, and pink. Chrysanthemums are great in garden areas and containers.
Light: Full sun, partial sun
Height: 1 to 3 feet
Spread: 1 to 3 feet
Blooms: Summer and fall
9. Coral Bells
Coral bells’ diverse colors and interesting textures make them a favorite perennial flower for New Jersey garden design. They produce spires of dainty white, pink, and green flowers and different-colored foliage in silver, purple, and burgundy. Coral bells grow in low clumps, so they work well as border plants and groundcovers. They like rich, hummus-like soil that retains a lot of moisture.
Light: Full sun, partial sun, shade
Height: 1 to 3 feet
Spread: 6 to 30 inches
Blooms: Spring, summer and fall
10. Daylily
Daylilies are a very common perennial flower and are easy to grow and often seen growing in the wild. There are over 50,000 types of hybrid daylilies that produce trumpet-shaped delicate flowers in shades of pink, orange, blue, and red. July blooms sprout on tall stalks that make them a beautiful asset to many types of outdoor spaces.
Light: Full sun, partial sun
Height: 6 inches to 8 feet
Spread: 1 to 3 feet
Blooms: Spring and summer
11. Delphinium
Delphiniums are a favorite of many gardeners. They produce beautiful blooms in shades of pink, purple, blue, and white that tower over course dark green foliage. They are eye-catching in both formal and informal garden designs. Delphiniums need to be sheltered from the wind and should receive a good amount of moisture. They may re-bloom if you cut down the stalks after the flowers wilt.
Light: Full sun, partial sun
Height: 1 to 8 feet
Spread: 1 to 3 feet
Blooms: Summer
12. Goldenrod
Goldenrod flowers actually do not produce a lot of pollen to aggravate allergies. While its pollen does not blow in the wind, it does stick to the legs of insects, but the idea that it increases allergies is a myth. Goldenrod plants are easy to grow, with magnificent sprays of tiny yellow flowers that are a bountiful source of nectar for bees and butterflies. Check the variety of Goldenrod you plant to ensure it will not spread out of control in your garden design.
Light: Full sun, partial sun, shade
Height: 5 inches to 8 feet
Spread: 8 inches to 3 feet
Blooms: Summer and fall
13. Hellebore
Hellebores produce saucer-shaped flowers in burgundy, pink, yellow, and white. Flowers are often speckled, providing amazing texture and color. These plants are easy to grow and are low maintenance, which makes them a great choice for New Jersey woodland garden designs.
Light: Full sun, partial sun, shade
Height: 1 to 8 feet
Spread: 1 to 3 feet
Blooms: Spring and winter
14. Hibiscus
Hibiscus flowers (also known as Rose Mallow) provide gorgeous, vibrant colors to New Jersey garden designs. Growing hibiscus is an easy way to add a tropical flair to your garden. These flowers need plenty of water and good drainage and do best in rich soil with lots of room to spread out.
Light: Full sun
Height: 3 to 20 feet
Spread: 3 to 5 feet
Blooms: Summer and fall
15. Lupine
Lupine is also among the top 20 perennial flowers because it produces gorgeous blooms in vivid shades of pink, blue, and white. It produces large, pea-like flowers clustered in long spikes on sturdy stems. The most popular type of Lupine on the list of perennials is Bicolor Russell hybrids. Lupines prefer cooler temperatures with well-drained, slightly acidic soil.
Light: Full sun, partial sun
Height: 1 to 3 feet
Spread: 1 to 2 feet
Blooms: Summer
16. Painted Daisy
Painted daisies can be grown easily in any garden design, but they work especially well in rock gardens, woodland gardens, and areas around trees and shrubs. These perennials are the perfect height for those hard-to-fill middle spots in the garden when early spring blooms are dying back. Painted daisies require little maintenance when they’re planted in the right soil and location.
Light: Full sun, partial sun
Height: 6 inches to 3 feet
Spread: 8 to 18 inches
Blooms: Summer and fall
17. Peony
Peonies are exquisite flowering plants known for their large, lush blooms and captivating fragrances. They come in a variety of colors, from delicate pastels to vibrant hues, adding a touch of elegance to any garden or floral arrangement. Symbolizing prosperity, romance, and good fortune, peonies have enchanted gardeners and florists alike for centuries.
Light: Full sun
Height: 2 to 3 feet, up to 7 feet
Spread: 2 to 4 feet
Blooms: Spring and summer
18. Poppy
If you want brilliant color in your New Jersey garden design, plant poppies. Finer species, including Iceland, Alpine, and Atlantic poppies, have a special charm with flowers that come in an array of beautiful colors. Oriental poppies are less refined, but they produce large, exploding flowers in brilliant shades of white, pink, orange, red, and purple with black stamens.
Light: Full sun
Height: 6 inches to 3 feet
Spread: 4 inches to 3 feet
Blooms: Spring and summer
19. Sunflower
There’s no other perennial flower quite like sunflowers. They will provide height and brilliant color to any New Jersey garden design. Sunflowers are imposingly tall, with large, floppy flowers that can reach up to four inches in diameter. Bright yellow flowers form loose clusters that thrive in sun and less-than-perfect soil. Taller flowers may need support in the garden, but they make beautiful cut flowers.
Light: Full sun
Height: 3 to 20 feet
Spread: 3 to 4 feet
Blooms: Summer and fall
20. Violet
Who doesn’t love violets with soft, velvety petals marked with beautiful shades of yellow and purple? Violets produce blooms in shades of white, pink, red, orange, blue, and purple. You can plant them in borders, garden beds, wildlife gardens, rock gardens, containers, and window boxes. Violets grow well in Bergen County garden designs, even in cold New Jersey winters. To prolong blooms, deadhead faded blooms and cut back weak stems.
Light: Full sun, partial sun, shade
Height: 5 inches to 12 inches
Spread: 6 inches, depending on the variety
Blooms: Spring, fall, and winter
Borst Landscape & Design Offers Expert Garden Design Services in Bergen County
In addition to the list of perennials shown above, there are many other blooming varieties, exotic grasses, and varieties with year-round green foliage. If you’re interested in planting a perennial garden, contact the garden designers at Borst Landscape & Design. We can help you create a beautiful garden design that will enhance the beauty of your Bergen County home. Contact us today at (201) 785-9400.