Carefree Perennials for Zone 6

An Informal Garden

• The English cottage garden epitomizes a carefree style with its lackadaisical array of plants, each one flowing into its neighbor's space in a riotous display of growth. To create this effect, choose spreading, semi-invasive plants such as bee balm, echinacea, cranesbill geranium, gaillardia and coreopsis and intersperse them here and there with delphinium and foxglove spikes. Plant ground cover such as snow-in-summer and English daisies in the forefront.

A Formal Garden

• For those who prefer a more structured look of easy-care plants that "stay put" yet get bigger and more beautiful with each passing year, choices such as iris, daylilies, peonies, balloon flowers, coral bells, hosta and dictamnus are perfect. Ground cover plants such as creeping thyme, "blue clip" bellflower and dwarf lady's mantle can be used to fill in areas around and between plants.

Plant for Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter

• A successful perennial garden is one that gives focal interest all year. Early spring plants such as creeping phlox, dwarf iris and primroses give way to late spring peonies, German iris and bugle weed, followed by early flowering summer perennials such as poppies, bellflowers and candytuft. This succession of bloom continues throughout the summer into autumn's array of heliopsis, tall sedum, asters and butterfly weed. Seed pods left on Siberian iris, echinacea and clematis add winter interest.

Give Plants a Good Start

• Whatever style garden you choose or whichever plants you grow, the true secret to a carefree garden lies in soil preparation. Most perennials have deep root systems and need good soil dug, or raised, to at least 18 inches for their continued health. Remove all weeds and grass before working plenty of compost and loamy earth into the garden. Add an inch or two of compost and fertilize once a month throughout the growing season to keep perennials in top shape.