Perennials for zone 9

What grows in USDA zone 9, where winters reach 30 to 40 °F, and when it flowers there.

USDA zone 9 is where the coldest night of an average winter falls between 30 and 40 °F (−1 to 4 °C). Zones measure only that one night, so they say what will survive a winter, not how hot the summer is or how long the season runs.

597 of the planner's 1400 plants are hardy in zone 9. Below are the dozen to start with, when things flower in zone 9 month by month, the plants at the very edge of their range here, and a bed the planner designed for a zone-9 garden in full sun.

597 plants: 334 perennials, 26 ferns, 33 bulbs, 64 grasses and 140 shrubs.

The dozen to start with

Canna

5 ft · late June to early October · host plant

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

8 in · grown for its leaves

Whorls of glossy, toothed, evergreen leaves form a uniform carpet under trees.
Garden chrysanthemum

24 in · mid September to late October

The florist's mum: dense domes of daisies, pompoms or buttons in every autumn colour.
Tiger lily

4 ft · mid July to early August

Orange, black-spotted flowers with petals curled right back, up to twenty on a stem, in late summer.
Chaste tree

11½ ft · late June to early September

A large shrub or small, multi-stemmed tree with aromatic, grey-green, fingered leaves and long spikes of lavender-blue flowers in the heat of summer, loved by bees and butterflies.
Bleeding heart

2½ ft · early April to late May

An old-fashioned favourite with arching stems of heart-shaped flowers in late spring.
Purple coneflower

3 ft · mid June to early September · host plant

A tough native with purple-pink petals around a bronze cone, blooming for weeks in midsummer.
Caladium

20 in · grown for its leaves

Paper-thin, heart-shaped leaves in mixtures of white, pink, red and green, veined and splashed, from early summer until the first cool nights.
Japanese holly fern

24 in · grown for its leaves

Thick, glossy, dark green fronds with large, pointed leaflets like holly leaves.
Rose of Sharon

10 ft · late June to mid September

An upright shrub with hollyhock-like flowers in pink, purple, white or violet-blue from midsummer to autumn, when few shrubs flower.
Christmas fern

20 in · grown for its leaves

The most useful native fern: leathery, dark green fronds that stay green through winter, in a tidy clump that never spreads.
Oleander

10 ft · late May to early October

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

When things flower in zone 9

How many of these plants are in flower in each month in zone 9, and some of the familiar ones that open that month. Spring flowers here are about four weeks earlier than in zone 5.

Month	In flower	Opening this month
January	9	Japanese camellia
February	18	Lenten rose and Rosemary
March	48	Creeping phlox, Creeping phlox 'Emerald Blue' and Evergreen azalea
April	118	Azalea 'Delaware Valley White', Bearded iris and Bleeding heart
May	175	Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' and Creeping thyme
June	267	African lily, Bee balm and Bee balm 'Jacob Cline'
July	263	Black-eyed Susan 'American Gold Rush', Black-eyed Susan 'Goldsturm' and Dwarf fountain grass 'Hameln'
August	246	Sedum 'Autumn Joy'
September	190	Garden chrysanthemum and Pink muhly grass
October	96	Sasanqua camellia
November	12
December	3

A zone-9 bed

The planner designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed for zone 9 and full sun when this page was made.

A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed at eye level in early August: Verbena 'Homestead Purple', Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies', Fernleaf yarrow 'Cloth of Gold', Korean boxwood 'Wintergreen', Tatarian aster 'Jindai', Little bluestem 'The Blues', Spring starflower, Surprise lily, Pink lily leek. — A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) English border in zone 9, full sun, seen from the path in early August.

From above, to scale. Each circle is one plant, as wide as the room it needs.

The plants

1 Verbena 'Homestead Purple' × 4, purple
2 Cheddar pinks 'Tiny Rubies' × 43, pink
3 Fernleaf yarrow 'Cloth of Gold' × 5, yellow
4 Korean boxwood 'Wintergreen' × 1, green leaves
5 Tatarian aster 'Jindai' × 4, purple
6 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 8, tan
7 Spring starflower × 12, blue
8 Surprise lily × 8, pink
9 Pink lily leek × 5, pink

Planned as an English border: 7 of the 7 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Pink runs through the planting: 3 of the 8 kinds grown for their flowers have it. The longest in flower is verbena 'Homestead Purple': 21 weeks, from mid May to early October.

The planner's own design check: 16 Excellent, 1 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.

At the edge of their range in zone 9

Hardy to zone 9 and no colder (2). They survive a normal zone-9 winter but not a harder one: give them the warmest, best-drained spot you have, and a mulch in their first winter.

At their warmest zone (531). Zone 9 is as warm as they like: give them afternoon shade and steady moisture, and expect them to be shorter-lived than further north.

And 501 more.