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Long-flowering plants: 12 weeks or more

Plants in flower for 12 weeks or more, the hardest-working plants for a bed that never goes flat.

Most perennials flower for three or four weeks. A few go on for three months or more, and they are the backbone of a bed that is never without colour. Many are sterile hybrids that never set seed and so keep flowering; others flower again if cut back after the first flush.

Every plant here flowers for at least twelve weeks in zone 5 (the weeks are given after each). Spread them through the bed: the gaps between their neighbours' flowers are what they are for.

141 plants: 82 perennials, 4 bulbs, 8 grasses and 47 shrubs.

The dozen to start with

  • Catmint 'Walker's Low'

    Catmint 'Walker's Low'

    24 in · mid May to mid September · 18 weeks

    A tough, drought-tolerant mound of soft grey-green leaves and lavender-blue flowers that bees love.

  • Oleander

    Oleander

    10 ft · mid June to early October · 17 weeks

    A large evergreen with narrow, leathery leaves and clusters of pink, red or white flowers from early summer to autumn.

  • Tall verbena

    Tall verbena

    5 ft · late June to mid October · 17 weeks

    Small clusters of lavender-purple flowers on tall, wiry, almost leafless stems, from midsummer to frost.

  • Canna

    Canna

    5 ft · early July to early October · 14 weeks · host plant

    Huge, paddle-shaped leaves, green, bronze or striped, topped with bright flowers in red, orange, yellow or pink from midsummer to frost.

  • Bigleaf hydrangea 'Endless Summer'

    Bigleaf hydrangea 'Endless Summer'

    4 ft · late June to mid September · 13 weeks

    Big mophead flowers, blue in acid soil and pink in limy soil, on both old and new wood, so that it flowers even after a hard winter.

  • Cranesbill 'Rozanne'

    Cranesbill 'Rozanne'

    18 in · early June to early October · 18 weeks

    Violet-blue flowers with white centres from early summer until frost, on a loose mound that weaves between its neighbours.

  • Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry'

    Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry'

    22 in · late June to mid September · 13 weeks · host plant

    A compact, well-branched coneflower with flowers of a deep, saturated rose-purple that does not fade in the sun.

  • Butterfly bush 'Blue Chip'

    Butterfly bush 'Blue Chip'

    2½ ft · early July to early October · 14 weeks

    A knee-high butterfly bush that sets almost no seed.

  • Shrubby cinquefoil 'Goldfinger'

    Shrubby cinquefoil 'Goldfinger'

    3 ft · early June to mid September · 16 weeks

    Large, bright golden-yellow flowers like small wild roses, from June until frost, on a dense, dark-leaved mound.

  • Dahlia

    Dahlia

    3½ ft · mid July to mid October · 15 weeks

    Flowers in every colour but blue and in every form, from single daisies to dinner-plate doubles, from midsummer until frost.

  • Purple fountain grass

    Purple fountain grass

    4 ft · late June to mid October · 17 weeks

    Arching, burgundy-purple leaves and long, nodding, rose-red foxtail plumes from midsummer to frost.

  • Feather reed grass 'Karl Foerster'

    5 ft · late June to early October · 16 weeks

    A narrow, bolt-upright grass with feathery plumes that turn wheat-gold and stand through winter.

A bed planned only from these plants

The planner was given only the plants on this page that suit zone 6 and full sun, and designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed from them when the page was made.

A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed at eye level in late June: Moor grass 'Greenlee', Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun', Feather reed grass 'Avalanche', Smooth hydrangea 'Invincibelle Spirit II', Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam', Gloriosa daisy.
A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) English border in zone 6, full sun, seen from the path in late June.
3. Feather reed grass 'Avalanche'33. Feather reed grass 'Avalanche'33. Feather reed grass 'Avalanche'34. Smooth hydrangea 'Invincibelle Spirit II'41. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'12. Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'22. Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'22. Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'21. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'12. Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'22. Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'22. Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'26. Gloriosa daisy66. Gloriosa daisy66. Gloriosa daisy66. Gloriosa daisy66. Gloriosa daisy65. Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam'55. Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam'55. Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam'56. Gloriosa daisy66. Gloriosa daisy66. Gloriosa daisy65. Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam'55. Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam'55. Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam'55. Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam'55. Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam'51. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'11. Moor grass 'Greenlee'1
From above, to scale. Each circle is one plant, as wide as the room it needs.

The plants

  1. 1 Moor grass 'Greenlee' × 16, tan
  2. 2 Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' × 6, red
  3. 3 Feather reed grass 'Avalanche' × 3, tan
  4. 4 Smooth hydrangea 'Invincibelle Spirit II' × 1, pink
  5. 5 Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam' × 8, yellow
  6. 6 Gloriosa daisy × 8, yellow

Planned as an English border: 9 of the 9 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The flowering is at its height from late June, with 6 kinds out together. There is more moor grass 'Greenlee' than anything else, 16 plants in all.

The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 6 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.

Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.

All 141 plants

Show all 141, by where they go in a bed

Front of a bed 49

Middle of a bed 48

Back of a bed 44

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