SHOWSTOPPING PERENNIAL COMBINATIONS FOR YOUR GARDEN
Perennials are a low-maintenance, high-style asset for any garden, anywhere. But, when multiple types of perennials are planted in themed groupings, they can make an even more of a stunning statement. From different mini vignettes around every corner to one grandiose feature bed, you can create a showstopping perennial planting combo in your Indianapolis garden.
We've put together 5 different perennial combinations, but you can also come up with your own. Here are a few general tips for grouping your perennials.
Groupings of odd numbers of plants usually work best, and 5 plants are kind of the sweet spot. If you have room for more than 5 plants, it doesn't matter if you stick with even or odd numbers.
Consider the mature height of plants when you're planning. Tall plants, like ornamental grasses, add structure and architecture, can help lead the eye to the center of your grouping, or provide a background screen to highlight plants in the front of your grouping.
SWEET & COOL SERENITY
Enjoy calm, cool, and relaxing with this prairie-influenced combo. Wispy grasses, silvery colors, and large mounding plants fill your garden with simple serenity.
Six Hills Giant Catmint is a mounding perennial that features spikes of cool blue flowers.
Silver Mound Artemisia adds a silvery green to the palette, with soft mounds of fine silky foliage.
Maidenhair Grass adds an even larger mound of super-fine textured grass in a silvery-green. It dances in the slightest breeze.
Little Spire Russian Sage brings in a silvery-purple color, with slender upright spikes of tiny flowers. Russian sage is popular with pollinators.
Climbing Hydrangea, on a wall, fence, or arbor creates a beautiful backdrop of white flower bunches and dark green leaves to set off the mounding shapes of the other plants.
MODERN SCANDI
Take your inspiration from the minimalism and beauty of Scandinavian design style with this planting. Straight lines bring in structure and architecture, balanced by gorgeous white flowers, and beautiful neutral textures and colors.
Boxwood gives you beautiful clean lines and beautiful dark evergreen leaves. A quick zip with the hedge trimmer once or twice a year keeps these evergreens looking sharp.
Incrediball Hydrangea brings in that beautiful contrasting white with its large globes of gorgeous white flowers.
Lamb's Ear adds lightness, softness, depth, and texture with its large silvery-green leaves.
TROPICAL GETAWAY
Bring your tropical vacation memories home with showy flowers in vibrant colors and oversized jungle foliage.
Hardy hibiscus gives you those huge tropical blooms in a wide variety of colors.
A Knock Out Rose gives you a range of rich pink blossoms and classic dark green foliage.
Daylilies bring that exotic shape and style to the garden and are available in almost any color. Choose a type with double blossoms for even more striking flowers.
Canna lilies give you rich dark foliage and striking vibrant blooms. Cannas are a tender perennial, so you'll need to lift the bulbs and store them indoors over winter.
Add those huge lush leaves with a hardy banana. You read that right, Musa basjoo is a banana that's hardy to -10ºF, so it can even survive an Indianapolis winter.
BOLD & BOASTFUL
Make your perennial bed into a bold visual statement with unique shapes, textures, and colors. This combo of perennials brings eye-catching and distinctive architectural style to your yard.
Columbine is available in a variety of colors, including an almost completely black variety with dark leaves. The nodding flowers are intriguing and mysterious.
Add Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass for height, up to 8' tall, and year-round interest. This grass will stay standing all through the winter.
Alliums, in purple or white, add a unique perfect globe shape on slender stalks. They seem to float above other flowers. Alliums are also gorgeous year-round as the seedheads dry.
Eryngium makes you do a second take with its strange but beautiful icy-blue flowers.
A pale-pink Oriental Poppy adds some textural softness and impossibly huge yet delicate flowers. The seed heads also look beautiful through fall and winter.
Don't wait for next spring; start designing your perennial combinations now. Stop by the garden center to find some inspiration and see what we have in stock.