Here’s our list of the top 10 perennials for urban living. They’re all attractive, robust, long-lived and low-maintenance plants that are worthy of a place in your garden.
- Alchemilla mollis – Garden Lady’s Mantle
Has a fresh appearance with striking leaves and delicate, yellow-green flowers. Easy to combine with other plants.
- Anemone – Japanese Anemone
An autumn bloomer with attractive white or pink flowers on sturdy stems. Forms lots of leaves quickly. A honey plant.
- Aster – Michaelmas Daisy
Creates a cheerful garden in autumn with its many different-coloured flowers. A honey plant. Salt resistant.
- Geranium – Cranesbill
Has a very long flowering period and provides excellent ground cover. These flowers are available in white, pink, purple and blue. A honey plant.
- Hemerocallis – Daylily
An evergreen plant with striking flowers in various colours. Although a flower blooms for just one day, you can enjoy months of blooms because new buds keep opening. Able to survive long hot, dry periods thanks to its tuber-like roots. Salt resistant.
- Kalimeris incisa – Japanese Aster
Has white or lilac-coloured daisy-like flowers that bloom profusely throughout the summer and part of autumn. A honey plant.
- Nepeta – Catmint
This is a bushy-growing space filler with striking blue flowers and grey-green foliage. Flowers for a long time and can easily withstand long dry periods. A honey plant. Salt resistant.
- Persicaria – Knotweed
A plant with thickened knot-like nodes in the stems. Blooms for months, often until the first night frost. Its dense foliage suppresses weeds well. Insects are attracted to the white, red or pink flowers that are densely clustered on spikes. A honey plant.
- Phlomis russelliana – Turkish Sage
A partly evergreen plant with large leaves that quickly cover the ground. Insects love the whorls of creamy yellow flowers. Combines beautifully with blue or purple-flowering plants. Has a lovely winter silhouette thanks to its seed heads.
- Coneflowers
A long-flowering plant with yellow flowers around brown-black centres. Starts flowering in the summer and continues into autumn. Has an attractive winter silhouette as the centres of the flowers remain visible for a long time. A honey plant for butterflies and resistant to salt.
All the plants listed can be mowed once a year in the spring. Alchemilla and Nepeta have the added benefit of producing substances that inhibit weed seedlings.
