Award-winning Nepeta racemosa 'Walker's Low' (Catmint) is a popular herbaceous perennial noted for its massive lavender-blue blooms on short spikes, atop aromatic, gray-green foliage in early summer, continuing on and off through early fall if spent flowers are regularly removed.

One of the earliest hardy Salvia to bloom, multiple award-winner Sage 'Mainacht' or 'May Night' (Salvia x sylvestris) has been in cultivation for 30 years and has become quite a standard. Extremely showy, it displays stunning spikes of rich, violet-blue flowers which pleasantly contrast darker bracts. They appear in late spring and bloom for weeks, often throughout the summer.

Ready to please the gardener, award-winner Sage 'Amethyst' (Salvia nemorosa) is a favorite of many for its unique, glowing purple stems and stunning spikes of rich, lavender-pink flowers, appearing in early summer and lasting throughout the summer. Raised by world-acclaimed designer Piet Oudolf, Salvia 'Amethyst' is considered the best pink flowered variety of Salvia. Reliable, this erect, bushy herbaceous perennial grows in round clumps of mid-green, aromatic wavy-edged leaves. Drought tolerant and deer resistant, it is a real magnet for butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees!

One of the darkest-flowered Astrantias, Astrantia major 'Claret' (Masterwort) features dramatic clusters of tiny, deep ruby-red flowers crowded together in a dome-shaped flowerhead, just like pins on a cushion. They are surrounded by an elegant ruff of long papery bracts. The distinctive blooms are borne on nearly black stems, well above the rosette of lush, deeply cut, mid-green leaves that are adorned with burgundy around the edges when young.

Phlomis russeliana, commonly known as Jerusalem Sage or Turkish Sage, brings interest to the garden almost all year round! First, with its originating flower buds and the resultant flowers themselves in summer, then with its distinctive dome-shaped seed heads in fall and winter. This evergreen perennial features pale yellow hooded flowers in architectural whorled clusters that rise well above the basal foliage, which consists of a low ground-covering mound, up to 15 in. tall (37 cm), of aromatic, heart-shaped, gray-green leaves. A great sight in all seasons.

Tough, vigorous, and incredibly pretty, Geranium x oxonianum 'Wargrave Pink' is a superb hardy geranium cultivar with luminous, salmon pink to silvery pink, open-faced flowers from late spring to early fall. Flowers are small (1 in. or 2.5 cm) but abundant and rise atop mounds of deeply lobed, medium green leaves. Bushy, compact, and semi-evergreen, this hardy Geranium is reliable, easy to grow, and provides long-lasting color in the garden. Attractive to butterflies but deer and rabbit resistant!

A very desirable garden plant, Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum', commonly known as Plume Thistle, is a tall, branching, upright perennial exhibiting strong, leafless stems with pincushion-like, deep crimson flowers, up to 1 in wide (3 cm), atop a large basal rosette of soft green leaves. A magnet for bees and birds! Blooming from mid-summer to late summer, Plume Thistle is a statuesque plant that slowly grows in clumps, up to 4 ft. tall (120 cm), and spreads 2 ft. (60 cm).

Sporting one of the best burgundy foliage of all switch grasses, Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah' is a deciduous, perennial grass of choice. It forms an erect, compact and narrow clump of steely blue-green foliage in spring, which quickly takes on red tones by early summer and turns violet, purple, burgundy and wine-red by early fall. It gets topped in summer with a profusion of finely-textured, reddish-pink flower spikelets which hover over the foliage like an airy cloud. Both flowers and foliage turn beige in fall and persist well into winter.

Selected by the American Horticultural Society as one of the 75 Great Plants for American Gardens, Amsonia tabernaemontana (Blue Star) is an exceptional perennial with early-season blue flowers, attractive summer foliage, a sturdy habit and golden fall color. Amsonia tabernaemontana features clusters of delicate, pale blue, star-shaped flowers borne on erect, sturdy, leafy stems in late spring - early summer. The flowers attract long-tongued insects such as carpenter bees, hummingbird moths, and butterflies. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are also attracted to the nectar. The blossoms rise above a graceful, willow-shaped, upright foliage that pleasantly colors up in the fall. This beauty is also low maintenance, disease and insect resistant, making this eastern U.S. native a first-rate garden plant.

Undemanding, Knautia macedonica (Macedonian Scabious) is a clump-forming perennial with masses of deep crimson, pincushion flowers, 1.5 in. across (3-4 cm), that bloom in succession from early summer until fall. Attractive to butterflies, they are borne atop slender, branching stems with barely lobed basal leaves but deeply divided leaves higher up. Knautia may be short-lived but will generally self-seed under optimum conditions. This airy perennial adds long-lasting color to the garden and performs best in climates with cool summer nights.

Tough and durable, Baptisia australis (False Indigo) is an upright perennial with a long season of interest. In spring, this native to the North American prairies bears spikes of pea-shaped indigo blue flowers, resembling Lupines. They last for about three weeks and attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. When the flowers fade away, the lovely blue-green, trifoliate leaves remain neat and form a lovely backdrop for the other perennials in the garden. If left untrimmed, the plant forms interesting seedpods turning deep black in the fall and persist into winter.