Perennials Everywhere in the Garden!
Perennials are a plant that will continue to grow back every year. Perennials will reseed or re-grow and bring you new plants and flowers each spring. Perennials add color and texture to your garden even when you don’t have a lot of time to work in your yard.

Posted Friday, April 21, 2006

Perennial plants that you can grow in the heavy clay soil of your garden are Bungleweed, Lady’s Mantle, Windflower, Chamomile, Goatsbeard, Milkweed, Bergenia, Siberian Bugloss, Red Valerian, Cranesill, Daylilly, Inula, Sea Lavender, Rodgersia, Golden Rod, and Comfrey.

Perennials that are great for growing in sandy soil are Yarrow, Sea pink, Butterfly weed, Northern Sea Oats, Golden silver, Gaura, Day lily, Oxalis, Adam’s needle, and more. Read more about your favorite plants on the seed packet. They will give you more information about what type of soil your plants will grow in.

Perennial plants that are best known for growing in alkaline soils are the Wild Columbine, Bergenia, Knapweed, Northern sea oats, Bleeding hearts, Globe thistle, Hardy geranium, Creeping phlox, and Plumbago.

The soil in your gardens can be broken down to three different types. Between these three types of soil there are many more soil varieties and soil needs, but the three basic soil types are clay, sand, and alkaline soils.

Sandy soil is a very loose and very well draining soil. Think about sand on the beach with some soil mixed well into it, that is what sandy soil is like. Clay soil is the total opposite, with very heavy soil that doesn’t fall apart even when you throw it on the ground. Clay soil is thick and holds water for long periods. Alkaline soil is a soil with a mixture of hydrogen and pH levels higher than seven.

To figure out what type of soil you have, you need to go out in the garden after a good rain. Pick up a handful of your soil and make it into a ball. If the soil feels gritty you have a sandy type of soil. If the ball is like a lump of clay or it is very easy to form you have clay soil.

Testing your soil is going to give you the true answer about what type of soil you have and if your levels of pH are too high or too low. The soil type that you have will give you a listing of what type of plants your soil will support.