Perrenial Life Span

[cleo]

I got this email and thought I'd pass it on for those of you setting up a perrenial garden:

Long-lived perennials

"I just helped a friend move a peony that's 125 years old. Her great-grandfather had planted it," says perennial expert Stephanie Cohen, whose new book The Perennial Gardener's Design Primer is already into its second printing.

Given the right place and the right care, these plants will typically live at least 15 years, and some a lot longer than that.


peony

hosta

bearded iris

Siberian iris

daylily

hellebore

euphorbia, spurge Euphorbia

red-hot poker or torch lily (Kniphofia)

monkshood (Aconitum)

bugbane (Cimicifuga)

gas plant (Dictamnus)

balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus)

false indigo (Baptisia australis)

lily-of-the-Nile

astilbe (Astilbe)

purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta, R.fulgida)

Helianthus

butterfly weed (Asclepias)

goldenrod (Solidago)

bee balm (Monarda)

goatsbeard (Aruncus)

ironweed

Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium)

sneezeweed (Helenium)

sedum

trillium



Delphiniums

Short-lived perennials

These plants typically last for three to five years before fading away, or "the plants that live for three years if you don't kill them first," says Cohen.


columbine*

scabiosa

wallflower (Erysimum, or Cheiranthus)

basket-of-gold (Aurinia saxatilis)

hardy mum

lupine

leopard's bane (Doronicum caucasicum)

feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium)*

geum

cardoon

fire pink (Silene virginica) and many other pinks

blanket flower (Gaillardia)*

Coreopsis grandiflora, C. lanceolata*

lavender

Phlox divaricata*
* reseeds freely

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/cleodachsie/butterfly.gif

[moonbaby]

Thanks for the info! I'm safe! :D I often thought about how long my perennials would last! Thanks for telling me! :D

[buster]

Yes thanks for the info. I too wondered how long most perennials lived. i did know that Peony could easily live a hundred years, the rest was news to me. Thanks, Buster

[suncatcher]

Wow a peony living 125 yrs, I didn't know that was possible. I would really be afraid to move it. A piece of it maybe, but not the whole thing for fear of killing it. I have some oriental poppy's that have been plant around 20 years or more. I would like to move them but am afraid too. I guess in the fall I could trying to take a piece of it, but not sure how to do that. Does anyone know? They don't spread at all. Should I just try to slice down into the plant and get a piece that way. I hate to take the whole thing out of the ground for fear of losing it. any suggestions? :unsure:

[mla2ofus]

thanks for the info. I now know what I need to reseed before I'm left with an empty hole!
suncatcher, I've tried to transplant my oriental poppy and, let me tell you, the roots are trying to return home -_- :lol: They are really deep.

[MrSeedy]

Thanks for the list Cleo, though I must say some on the "short lived" list are agressive self seeders, and will replace the older plants every year. The blanket flower is one example, and they can almost be invasive with all the seeds , if they're not deadheaded constantly.

[grindle]

Thanks for the info very interesting

[pup25]

Thanks for the list. Very useful.

[gizmo]

Cleo...i've got a question on the delphinium. i'm constantly reading or being told it's a short-lived perennial but it's on the long-lived list. is there a type of delphinium that is long lasting? i know Pacific Giants don't last very long.

[donybee]

Very interesting list. My Yucca is 55 years old, does that count? :lol: :lol: :lol:

[MrSeedy]

I think the longevity issue really depends on the climate where some of those short lived plants are grown , and in some areas the delphiniums seem to live much longer, (I've heard)? The biennial Digitalis purpurea are considered perennial in a few limited areas , but in most they only live two years. I've gotten three years out of some foxgloves, but only two years flowering, if I constantly remove all the new seed pods forming on the flower stems as the flowering progresses up the stems. The funny thing is , that with those deadheaded the flower stems with continue growing and growing sometimes to keep flowerin for a couple of months instead of weeks, and then they get twice the normal height. May look a bit strange to some folks however, with such long flower stems, since the flowers end up so far away from the leaves at the base.