These Hardy Perennials are the Toughest on the Block

Perennials are showy additions in the garden that work hard for you year after year to decorate the landscape. While some require special care and a tender touch to succeed in the garden, there are a bunch of hardy perennials that are tough as nails. These are great for low-maintenance gardens as they will continue to bloom, year after year, with little care.

Why Hardy Perennials?

I often go by my old house to see how the front-yard perennial garden is doing. I have watched it over the past several years continue to bloom and grow and look lovely, despite the lack of interest the new owners have in gardening. It was so hard to leave the garden behind, but what I left was a number of hardy perennials that needed little care.

I figured the new gardeners would get two or three years of relatively maintenance-free flowers in the garden before it needed some care. And, boy, was I ever right! They didn’t water the garden, cut back, divide, or care for any of the plants, and yet it STILL continued to thrive.

It has now been many years of neglect, and the garden bursts with blooms from mass plantings that keep on truckin’ year after year after year. I visit a few times a year and, while I’m sad to see this gorgeous and healing space is left untended, I’m proud of my plants and my design.

It’s low-maintenance and drought-tolerant and a haven for pollinators and beneficial insects. I see plenty of growth and a messy appearance, but no signs of disease or stress. Perennials are the hardest-working decorative plants out there. Plus, they add so much personality to your garden.

In the right conditions, perennials will deliver a low-maintenance landscape in sun or shade. So when I get asked about how to create a low-maintenance garden, I share this list.

For more details on each of the plants, I have created a set of articles that outline my favourite perennials for sun and my favorites for shade. Head over to those two for more details about each of the plants, and leave your favourite hardy perennials in the comments section.

Best Hardy Perennials for Sun

Read more about perennials for sun and my top five here.

• Geranium (Cranesbill)
• Echinacea (Coneflower)
• Hemerocallis (Daylily)
• Coreopsis (Tickseed)
• Iris sibirica (Siberian Iris)
• Iris croatica (Bearded Iris)
• Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage)
• Rudbeckia hirta (Black-Eyed Susan)
• Sedum (Stonecrop)
• Nepeta (Catmint)
• Anemone hupehensis (Japanese Anemone / Windflower)
• Salvia
• Lilium auratum (Asiatic Lily)
• Dianthus (Sweet William)
• Achillea millefolium (Yarrow)
• Leucanthemum × superbum (Shasta Daisy)
• Euphorbia (Spurge)

Plants I Did Not Include on this List

Phlox – It is beautiful, fragrant, and easy to grow, and many would argue it is very hardy, but its predisposition to powdery mildew bumped it off my list.

Peony – a garden beauty queen and exceptional cut flower, but this stunner needs staking or caging, and it leaves a mess of petals all over the place when it’s done blooming, making it too much of a diva for this list. This isn’t to say I don’t love the peony, because I do! They just require a bit more care. Here’s how to grow and care for stunning peonies.

Clematis – this is an easy-to-grow perennial vine with showy flowers that come back stronger and better every year. But some varieties require annual pruning down to the ground, and others don’t. The task of remembering to have to prune it gets the clematis set aside from this list.

Best Hardy Perennials for Shade

Get more details on growing perennials in a shady garden and my favourite picks here.

• Helleborus (Hellebore)
• Geranium macrorrhizum (Big Root Geranium)
• Epimedium (Barrenwort)
• Hosta
• Alchemilla (Lady’s Mantle)
• Lamprocapnos spectabilis (Bleeding Heart)
• Tracheophyta (Ferns)
• Pulmonaria (Lungwort)
• Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot)
• Corydalis lutea (Yellow Corydalis)
• Astilbe
• Hakonechloa macra (Japanese Forestgrass)
• Asarum canadense (Wild Ginger)
• Liriope (Lilyturf)
• Ajuga (Bugle)
• Tiarella cordifolia (Foamflower)

Plants I Did Not Include on this List

There is a fine line between hardy and invasive. For example, plants that are strong growers and tolerant of poor soil and varying conditions can also be hard to control. For that reason, I didn’t include plants like Lamium on this list despite their ornamental value and hardiness.

But, you say, “you included Ajuga, Wild Ginger, and Lady’s Mantle!” For me, controlling Lamium is more difficult than it is worth, but with the others, I have no trouble ripping up a handful here and there to remove the excess. It’s truly up to your own personal preference as to how much spreading and clearing you are willing to tolerate.

What are your favourite perennials to grow in the home garden? Leave a comment and let us know. We love learning how your garden grows!

More Perennials to Love!

• The Best Perennials for Sun
• The 7 Best Perennials for Shade Gardens
• Save Money and Start these 14 Perennials from Seed
• Dividing Perennials 101: Tips for a Beautiful Garden
• Top 10 Drought-Tolerant Perennials
• Grow These Fall Perennials for Brilliant Autumn Color!
• Fall Perennial Gardening: Garden Design on a Budget