Full Sun Perennials

The backbone of the traditional perennial border is made up of full sun perennials. They spring from the ground to give us the textures and shapes (not to mention the colours and fragrances) that make our gardens and dreams reality. It is these plants that are most often featured in garden photography and those to-die for pictures in books and magazines.

Luckily, full sun perennials for the garden are usually easy plants to grow if a few simple conditions are met:

They generally do not like heavy clay soils. The excessive winter moisture in these garden soils leads to rotting and winter death.

Full sun perennials prefer (obviously) full sun although many will tolerate shade in the morning or late afternoon. Getting them the sun between 9 am and 3 pm is considered crucial to success. Like all things though, the plants are more flexible than the written word and I encourage you to experiment with new settings. If the plant thrives, you win. If it struggles, then you can simply follow the directions elsewhere on this site and move it again.

Full sun perennials really appreciate soils with high organic matter content. In my garden, I mulch the soil and this decomposing mulch adds organic matter. I also throw compost over the top of the plants each fall and spring (right on top of the mulch - it sinks down pretty quickly) to feed and nourish the soil. High organic content in soils (see organic articles elsewhere) is a key to building a great perennial garden.

perennials.

Ornamental Onions or Alliums are one of the easiest full sun perennials to grow and even though they are technically a bulb, they deserve a place in the early summer perennial border.

Monkshood or Aconitum is a wonderful plant for full sun or light shade and I particularly like the old-fashioned bicolor form. The fall blooming varieties bring fantastic blue shades to the fall garden.

One of the easiest of hardy perennials is the Coneflower or Echinacea. A sun loving beauty! Peonies are one of the superb classic perennial flowers and I'll tell you how to quickly and easily stake them so you can't see the stakes.

Hollyhocks are one of the stateliest and easiest of self-sowing perennials. Here's how to grow and enjoy those blooms.

And one of the longest blooming plants in the perennial border is the Coreopsis or Butter Daisy.

One of my all time favourite border perennials is the Beebalm or Monard A favourite tea of mine - Earl Grey - is flavoured with this garden plant.

And the rumour that Lavender is an aphrodisiac is entirely true and is a must have in a sun-filled garden.

Lavatera is a tall, shrubby perennial that produces scads of pink flowers and is a good plant for the back of the border. It will take a bit of shade too so that makes it even more versatile.

I planted some Mountain Bluet, Bachelor Buttons or Centaurea in a front garden and decided not to weed excess plants out. A few years later, the early summer show was magnificently blue and car-stopping.

Perhaps the first of the long season blooming perennials that should be grown by beginners is the Shasta Daisy. This plant is easy to grow and if deadheaded, it will bloom for a long time.

Poppies are a visually exciting garden perennial. Their bright colours scream across the garden and here's how to grow them. And I get some questions about Russian Sage or Perovskia not overwintering. Here's the secret to keeping this interesting plant alive.

Fall in the garden would not be the same without the showy Black Eyed Susan or Rudbeckia family of plants. These are North American natives and fill our fall gardens with those wonderful yellows we associate with fall.

I am not sure there is a plant that is considered an essential perennial for every garden, but if there was - Baby's Breathwould come very close to being that plant. This dainty flowering plant is considered a mixed blessing. In cold climates, it flowers as a biennial giving us scads of spring daisies. In warmer climates, it can escape from the garden into lawns and other areas. However you grow it, Bellis or English Daisy is a charmer.

If you have to have a massive late summer or fall bloomer, you won't go wrong with the sun or part-shade growing perennial Hibiscus It is a show-stopping plant.

And while these plants seem to grow best in a light shade, they are commonly grown in the full sun in richer soils. Excellent plants for the mixed border, perennial geraniums will quickly win your heart.

•Acaena
•Acanthus

•Achillea or yarrow is a superb plant for sunny hot spots.

•Aconitum or Monkshood

•Acorus
•Actinidia
•Adenophora
•Agapanthus

•Agastache has been in every one of my gardens but here's a warning about the newer ones.

•Ajania
•Alcea
•Alchemilla

•Allium or ornamental onions

•Alopecurus
•Alyssum
•Ampelopsis
•Amsonia
•Anacyclus
•Anaphalis
•Anchusa
•Andropogon
•Anemanthele
•Anemone
•Angelica
•Antennaria
•Anthemis

•Aquilegia or Columbine is an excellent self-sowing perennial for sun or very light shade.

•Arabis
•Arctanthemum
•Arctostaphylos
•Arenaria
•Armeria
•Arrhenatherum
•Artemisia
•Arthropodium
•Aruncus
•Arundo
•Asclepias

•Asters or Michaelmas Daisies are the stars of the fall, full sun perennials lineup (in more ways than one as this page points out).

•Astilboides
•Astrantia
•Aubrieta
•Aurinia
•Azorella
•Baptisia
•Belamcanda
•Bellis
•Bergenia
•Boltonia
•Bouteloua
•Briza
•Bromus
•Brugmansia

•Buddleia or Butterfly Bush is one of the most fragrant of garden plants. And it really does attract butterflies!

•Calamagrostis
•Calamintha
•Callirhoe
•Caltha
•Camassia
•Campanula
•Carex
•Carlina
•Caryopteris is a woody plant but it can be grown like a perennial in colder areas.
•Castilleja
•Catananche
•Centaurea
•Centranthus
•Cerastium
•Ceratostigma
•Chamaemelum
•Chasmanthium
•Cheilanthes
•Chelone
•Chelonopsis

•Chrysanthemums are one of the easiest of plants to grow. Here's a recipe for growing fall mums successfully to get you started.

•Cimicifuga
•Clematis
•Convolvulus
•Coreopsis
•Coronilla
•Cortaderia
•Cosmos
•Cotoneaster
•Cotula
•Crambe
•Crocosmia
•Cryptotaenia
•Cymbalaria
•Cynara
•Dahlia
•Darmera
•Delosperma
•Delphinium
•Dennstaedtia
•Deschampsia
•Dianthus
•Diascia
•Dictamnus
•Dierama
•Digitalis
•Dodecatheon
•Doronicum
•Dorycnium
•Draba
•Dracocephalum
•Dryas
•Duchesnea
•Echeveria
•Echinacea
•Echinops
•Elymus
•Eremurus
•Erigeron
•Erodium
•Eryngium
•Erysimum
•Euonymus
•Eupatorium
•Euphorbia
•Euryops
•Fallopia
•Fargesia
•Festuca
•Filipendula
•Fragaria
•Francoa
•Fuchsia
•Gaillardia
•Gaura
•Gazania
•Genista
•Gentiana
•Geranium
•Geum
•Glechoma
•Glyceria
•Goniolimon
•Gunnera
•Gypsophila
•Hebe
•Hedera

•Helenium is a superb bloomer if you keep it damp. If you don't keep it damp, it simply dies. One of the showiest of full sun perennials for the damp garden!

•Helianthemum
•Helianthus
•Helichrysum
•Helictotrichon
•Heliopsis
•Helleborus

•Hemerocallis or daylilies are stalwarts in the perennial border.

•Herniaria
•Hesperis
•Heuchera
•Heucherella
•Hibiscus
•Hieracium
•Hierochloe
•Houstonia
•Houttuynia
•Humulus
•Hutchinsia
•Hypericum

•Iberis or Candytuft is an excellent rock garden plant in the full sun or light shade.

•Incarvillea
•Indocalamus
•Inula

•Iris and their sweet fragrance are one of the joys of early full sun perennials in the flower garden. Here's a page on bearded iris and controlling iris borer.

•Isotoma

•Jasione
•Jasminum
•Jovibarba
•Juncus

•Kalimeris
•Knautia
•Kniphofia
•Lathyrus or perennial sweet pea is a good vine, ground cover or perennial border plant

•Lavander is among the most favourite of full sun perennials and belongs in every garden.

•Lavatera

•Leonotis
•Leontopodium
•Leptinella
•Leucanthemum
•Lewisia
•Leycesteria
•Leymus
•Liatris
•Libertia
•Ligularia
•Lilium
•Limonium
•Linaria
•Linum
•Liriope
•Lithodora
•Lobelia
•Lonicera
•Lotus
•Lunaria

•Lupines are easy to grow if you give this plant exactly what it wants.

•Luzula
•Lychnis
•Lysimachia
•Macleaya
•Malva
•Malvastrum
•Mazus
•Meconopsis
•Mertensia
•Mimulus
•Miscanthus
•Molinia
•Monarda
•Muehlenbeckia
•Myosotidium
•Myosotis
•Myrrhis
•Nectaroscordum
•Nepeta
•Nipponanthemum
•Oenanthe
•Oenothera
•Ophiopogon
•Origanum
•Oxalis
•Paeonia or peonies are classic perennials for the sun.

•Panicum
•Papaver, what can you say about poppies other than they are spectacular.

•Paronychia
•Patrinia
•Paxistima
•Pennisetum
•Penstemon
•Perovskia
•Persicaria
•Petasites
•Petrorhagia
•Phalaris
•Phlomis

•Phlox paniculata or tall garden phlox is a backbone plant in the perennial cottage garden. Here's how to grow this must-have plant.

•Phormium
•Phragmites
•Phuopsis
•Phygelius
•Physalis
•Physostegia
•Pimpinella
•Plantago
•Platycodon
•Pleioblastus
•Polemonium
•Polygala
•Potentilla
•Pratia
•Pseudosasa
•Pulmonaria
•Pulsatilla
•Pycnanthemum
•Ranunculus
•Raoulia
•Ratibida
•Rheum
•Rodgersia
•Romneya
•Roscoea
•Rosmarinus
•Rubus
•Rudbeckia
•Rumex
•Saccharum
•Sagina
•Salix
•Salvia
•Sambucus
•Sanguisorba
•Santolina
•Saponaria
•Scabiosa or Pincushion flowers blooms all summer if kept deadheaded. It doesnt' like clay but if you feed it - it blooms like mad. Here's the rest of the growing instructions.
•Schizostylis
•Scrophularia
•Scutellaria
•Sedum
•Sempervivum
•Sesleria
•Sidalcea
•Silene
•Silphium
•Sisyrinchium
•Smyrnium
•Solidago
•Solidaster
•Sorghastrum
•Spartina
•Sporobolus
•Stachys
•Stipa
•Stokesia
•Symphyandra
•Symphytum
•Tanacetum
•Teucrium
•Thalictrum
•Thymus
•Tradescantia
•Trifolium
•Trollius
•Typha
•Uncinia
•Vaccinium
•Verbascum
•Verbena
•Vernonia

•Veronica is one of the great blue flowers of the sunny perennial border and you should grow it for this reason alone. Here's a few other reasons.

•Veronicastrum
•Viola
•Weigela
•Yucca
•Zantedeschia
•Zauschneria