Please recommend some perennials and bushes.

Rolos_girl

Need to do some serious planting. prefer low maintenece. My neighbor has these beautiful purple flowers that bloom all summer, so definitely want something like that. We live in the northeast, s need something that will last the winter.

Any websites or books you can recommend for all the info I need. Thanks!

Dr.Loretta

Do a quick google search with your ZIP to find out what zone you're in. From there you can google some more and find out what works in your area.

You can also talk to your neighbor and ask what the plants are to get some guidance. Often looking at neighbors' homes can give you a great idea for landscaping.

Try a visit to your local nursery (not a big box store, an actual nursery). They'll have experts there who can give you a run-down on what works in your area.

And your local paper may be doing a spring gardening section to give you ideas as well.

GL

~NB~

What is your zone?

How much space do you have?

How much sun will they get?

living_insanity

Butterfly bushes grow pretty quickly and can have purple blooms in the summer.  I have seen a few different color options for butterfly bushes but purple is more standard.

 

Knockout roses are low maintenance and mine is two years old now and it's taking over it's spot.  I'll be cutting it back for the first time this year!  My knockout bush came from Costco

 

A lot of my summer flowers are Gladiolas but you need to plant the bulbs in the fall.  They do get top heavy and need some stakes so maybe that is't low maintenance.  

 

I love all my lillies and they multiply which rocks I have daylillies and asiatic lillies.  The bulbs need to be planted in the fall too

 

Blackeyed Susans and purple cone flower and shasta daisy will all multiply and flower in the summer and they dont need a lot of care.  

 

I also have a bleeding heart and clematis vine that are three years old and now they are blooming like crazy!  They didn't bloom that much for the first two years.  I dont do anything to those plants.

 

I've had some problems with a few plants not coming back or coming up at all.  I planted some dinner plate dahlias and they never sprouted, same thing with begonia bulbs but you can just buy the plant for summer as an annual and they will continue blooming.  I had some great looking poppys that I planted as bulbs but they didn't return the next year.  I may have bought the wrong kind for that but I was disappointed.  

Luvmy2sons

My favorite low-maintenance perennials are hostas. No they don't ever flower (aside from those talls sprouts they grow in the summer), but they require no maintenance, provide good ground cover, and have always come back with no problem.

I agree to go to a nursery and ask someone though. Also, map out what you want where so you know how much to get and how much room you have. I am all for the side-by-side gorgeous gardens that are almost always featured in BHG. I'm headed that way, but need my plants to mature more and spread