A perennial for every month.

Vita says relax.

“Sooner or later one has to make up one’s mind as to whether half-hardy annuals are worth growing or not. They certainly take up a lot of time, and once the frost has cut them down they are gone forever, and all our labour with them, for unlike the hardy annual, they will not renew themselves in their self sown children the following year”

Vita Sackville-West, on Salpiglossis in ‘Some Flowers’

I’m not sure about that Vita.

I do like a nasturtium, Californian poppy and this year, a marigold.

But, the co-creater of ‘Sissinghurst’ does have a point. Hardy annuals do need quite some resource to bring into flower so it is about time we considered them to be absolute luxury plants rather than ‘cheap fillers’ simply by virtue that they ‘cost’ just a packet of seed (less if you save your own). There is the soil, time, water and attention. Oh yes they are worth it and will create more diversity in your planting plan. But, I would encourage you to build your gardens and flower plots with a roster of trees, shrubs and perennials first and rely on, or cherish just a small proportion of half hardy annuals, seeing them for the precious commodity they are in a changing climate.

The perennials in our gardens have all bar none come back bigger, better and earlier this year after a very cold hard winter. I have done very little to help them. I don’t stake any, I barely tend to then bar cutting back and the odd spray with some general homemade or seaweed feed on the leaves. I’d like to say monthly but in reality it is far less than that. If I have the compost, I will mulch over winter, lifting and splitting to liven up the plants every couple of years. And that’s it. They repay in display and a lot of flowers every.single.year.

If you need some inspiration, here is my year of perennials. They may not be the ‘no. 1 of the month’, but they are hard workers, go with so many things in the garden, shrubs and foraged stems. I’d say they are failsafes, starting with this month and moving to the foreign countries of the autumn, winter and spring. Order these now or bookmark* to buy in the early autumn and plant then. You won’t regret it.

July - Scabious ‘Butterfly Blue’

August - Persicaria amplexicaulis

September - Anemone hydrida

October - Salvia Amistad

November - Chrysanthemum (tender ones can be bought into a porch for flowering up to Christmas)

December - Helleborus ‘winterbells’

January - Snowdrop

February - Narcissus ‘February Gold’

March - Eryisimum

April - Brunnera

May - Papaver orientale

June - Alchemilla mollis

What are your ‘desert island plants’? Would you change any on this list? I’d love to know.

*I’ve linked these to different plant suppliers so that you can see the descriptions of the plants. Howard nurseries are the best for large numbers of perennials if you are growing at scale otherwise check all these out. If you can’t find a plant from these above, they probably aren’t worth growing!