While annuals look the same – only more so – as they progress through summer, perennials change over the course of a seasonal life. This is one big reason to plant them in the first place.
Yet not all stages of growth are attractive on all perennials. Some start out as ugly ducklings. Others go through a gawky adolescence – all stalks and floppy leaves. Still more degenerate toward the end into scraggly stems and increasingly sparse foliage. But some perennials – like some people – sail through their seasonal life cycles without ever passing through an awkward stage. Of course, as with families, not every member of a species manages this forever-dapper look.
“Some ferns look terrible in fall, but some turn a nice bronzy color that lasts into winter,” observed Lydia Kimball, landscape architect with Mahan Rykiel Associates in Baltimore. “And some, like Christmas fern, are evergreen and look great year-round.”
Graceful aging is variety specific. Cranesbill geraniums like Johnson’s Blue often get leggy and collapse in the summer heat. But Biokovo, which opens rose-blushed white flowers in late May, holds up the whole summer – usually with bloom – then turns blood red in fall.
While staying power is a scattershot affair among many perennials, virtually all the ornamental grasses look fabulous start to finish. Kimball said she especially likes Japanese blood grass “because it’s striking red in fall,” and switch grass. “It’s big – 4 to 5 feet tall – with bluish foliage and late summer seed plumes tipped in copper.”
Succulents, too, with their water-retentive leaves and stems, tend toward flawless seasonal transitions. Sedum Autumn Joy, which remains like a soldier at its post even once its flower heads dry, looks great in a winter garden. Ground-covering Variegatum with scalloped, deep green leaves variegated with purple and cream, Bronze Carpet, whose green leaves age to bronze, and Red Carpet, which remains deep burgundy all year, can help anchor a mixed border for three seasons. Bergenia Winterglow is practically a four-season plant. Its begonialike leaves turn from kelly green in summer to ruby red in fall and winter. Additionally, the plant is covered with fuschia-pink bloom in spring.
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