Cultivated since the 19th century, award-winner Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) provides a lovely finish to a border or a path edge and blends beautifully with most perennials. This clump-forming perennial forms dense, leafy mounds of scallop-edged, toothed, densely hairy, light green leaves which nicely retain moisture beads after the rain.

Grown for its magnificent silver-white foliage, Artemisia ludoviciana (White Sage) is a fast-spreading perennial that adds light and contrast to the landscape and combines well with almost everything. Typically growing in a bushy clump, 2-3' tall (60-90 cm) and as wide, its lance-shaped foliage is aromatic when bruised. Its tiny, yellow-gray flowers are inconspicuous and should be removed as they appear. Drought, deer, and rabbit tolerant!

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.

A favorite for cut flowers and arrangements, Baby's Breath (Gypsophila paniculata) also deserves a place in the landscape. Its airy clouds of white or pink tiny flowers add both contrast and texture to the perennial border from early summer to fall. Their billowy appearance is most attractive and has a softening effect on the surrounding plants. Growing in decorative mounds, up to 2-3 feet tall and wide (60-90 cm), covered with myriads of long-lasting, single or double flowers on plants with very small, blue-green leaves, this plant is low maintenance and highly disease-free.

Valued for its showy fluffy vertical flower spikes contrasting with a lush, finely textured, grassy foliage, Gayfeather or Blazing Star (Liatris spicata) is a perennial of great ornamental value. Interestingly flowering in succession from top to bottom over 4 weeks and more, its button-shaped, purple, rosy red or white flowers resemble blazing stars (hence its common name). Attractive to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, this beautiful native American species enjoys a long season of interest from mid-summer to fall and supplies winter bird food. The narrow, opposite leaves stay attractive all summer and turn a rich bronze in fall. Easy to grow and low care, Liatris spicata adds a strong vertical accent in sunny borders or prairie gardens. It helps create outstanding combinations with the warm golds of Rudbeckia or the purple blossoms of Echinacea.

Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage) is a bushy, woody-based deciduous perennial with long terminal panicles of small, lavender-blue flowers, borne on thin white stems, clad with finely-dissected, aromatic gray-green leaves. Blooming for weeks from mid-summer to fall, this delicate-looking plant is a toughy that is resistant to drought, heat, pests, and poor soils. Pretty and excellent for xeriscaping, its long blooming season, makes it an extremely valuable addition to the garden - even in winter when the stems create a beautiful feature in the landscape.

Named after Achilles, hero of the Trojan Wars in Greek mythology, who used yarrow to heal the wounds of his soldiers, Achillea is valued for its pleasantly fragrant, feathery foliage and its long-lasting, conspicuous, flat umbel flowers. Vital ingredient of herbaceous borders, cottage gardens, meadows or prairies, Achillea typically blooms for weeks from late spring to late summer, in a wide range of colors. Easy care, drought, deer and rabbit resistant, Achillea is rich in many qualities!

Agapanthus are such flamboyant and exotic-looking perennials that it is impossible not to love them! Easy to grow, pest and disease free, they feature showy, rounded clusters of brightly colored flowers on stiff, upright stalks atop clumps of beautiful, long, shiny leaves.

Vigorous, charming and eye-catching, Campanula glomerata (Clustered Bellflower) is a useful perennial that brings early color and contrast to the garden. It features bouquets of eye-catching, violet-blue to white, upward facing, bell-shaped flowers, held in dense clusters. They sit atop sturdy leafy stems above basal rosettes of heart-shaped to oval green leaves. These clusters can have up to 15 flowers, therefore the common name of Clustered Bellflower. Blooming for 2-3 weeks from late spring to early summer, this Bellflower does well in most soils but has a tendency to spread rapidly in rich soils. Ideal for beds and borders in cottage gardens. Campanula glomerata makes excellent cut flowers that last up to 2 weeks in a vase!

Coreopsis, commonly known as "Tickseed", are prized by many gardeners for the bright colors of their flowers and their ability to put up with most garden soils. There are over 100 species available and countless hybrids, including both annuals and perennials. Most of them are low maintenance, drought tolerant and enjoy a long blooming season, generally from early summer to fall, or even longer if deadheaded. Native American Coreopsis are not only workhorses in sunny borders, they also make excellent cut flowers.

Tough as nails, Coneflowers (Echinacea) are wonderful additions to the landscape with their brightly colored blossoms to be enjoyed over a long flowering season. Simple to grow, mostly trouble-free, thriving on neglect, these members of the Asteraceae family (along with daisies, sunflowers and asters), are reliable performers that are tolerant to almost everything! Loved by butterflies, birds and bees, Coneflowers have won the hearts and minds of many gardeners and are increasingly in vogue as garden perennials, as cut flowers or landscape plants. They enjoy such a long list of virtues that should not be overlooked!

Adding fabulous color and form to the early summer border, hardy perennial salvias are mostly represented by the hybrids of Salvia x sylvestris (Woodland Sage) and Salvia nemorosa. With their vertical, densely packed flower spikes, ranging from rich indigo-blue to violet to purple, these hardy salvias contribute to creating incredibly beautiful and contrasting combinations with other perennials and ornamental grasses. Butterflies and hummingbirds love them as they enjoy sipping the nectar from their tightly bunched whorls of flowers.

Ridiculously easy-to-grow and long-lived, Hostas (Plantain Lilies) are shade-loving perennials that are highly prized by gardeners for their elegance and attractive foliage. Native to eastern Asia, these low-maintenance foliage plants are fabulous for shady areas and combine beautifully with other shade perennials. The world of Hostas is incredibly rich in terms of size, color, texture, leave shape. There are thousands of Hosta cultivars available reflecting their immense popularity with gardeners, and new varieties are legion. Growing from 6 inches to 3 feet tall (15-90 cm), the attractive foliage is topped in early-mid summer with taller funnel-shaped or flared flowers, in shades of white, lavender, or purple. Some flowers are even sweetly fragrant.

Often associated with the famous purple fields of Provence, Lavandula angustifolia, also called English Lavender, is not native to England but to the Mediterranean. Ideal for garden borders, cooking, and potpourri, this lavender also produces the best oils. Delightfully fragrant when brushed against or crushed, this lavender is celebrated for the wispy inflorescences that adorn the tip of each upright stem from late spring to late summer, creating lovely drifts of "cool" colors that sway in the summer breeze.

Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) is a highly popular herbaceous perennial valued for its prominent and spectacular floral display and its attractive, lush dark green foliage which provide weeks of color starting early or mid-summer. Extremely easy to grow, there is a Shasta Daisy for every garden and every taste thanks to the profusion of cultivars presenting different levels of compactness, floral size, flowering type (single or double), longevity, or repetitiveness of the bloom period.

Monarda has very distinctive, brightly colored flower-heads that create impressive border displays and provide a great impact when used in a mass planting. The blooms consist of asymmetrical, two-lipped tubular flowers borne in dense, globular terminal heads, which rest upon a whorl of decorative bracts that attract scores of butterflies and hummingbirds. It is also grown for its aromatic foliage that can be enjoyed in salads or simply by passing by.

With its showy, sweetly fragrant flowers and long blooming season throughout the summer until early fall, Phlox paniculata is a garden classic that is considered by many as the backbone of summer borders. Their full round heads of white, lavender, pink, rose, red and bi-color blossoms sway attractively in the breeze, adding a gentle fragrance that is always welcome. Rich in nectar, they are visited by hummingbirds, butterflies, and birds that adore them! And so should you!

Providing fantastic warm colors in the late summer garden, Rudbeckia fulgida are herbaceous perennial boasting golden yellow flowers with prominent, brown or black central cones. Blooming profusely from mid-summer through early fall, they are borne atop sturdy stems and literally cover the foliage of lance-shaped, deep green leaves. Their joyous color range is fairly limited - from yellow to orange-yellow - but they differ in height and habit. Extremely easy to grow, they look stunning next to the cool blue colors of Geranium, purplish Asters, or the soft tan ornamental grasses.

Rudbeckia hirta, commonly known as Black-Eyed Susan, Gloriosa Daisy or Yellow Oxeye Daisy is a cheerful, widespread wildflower that belongs to the Asteraceae family. It is renowned for its showy golden-yellow or orange-red, 2-3 in. wide (5-7 cm), daisy-like flowers with dark chocolate central cones. The single or double blooms rise atop sturdy, upright, scattered stems. Their foliage of oval green leaves is covered with bristly hairs that give it a slightly rough texture. Black-Eyed Susans flowers are attractive to butterflies, bees, and other pollinators and beneficial insects. They are considered deer-resistant plants due to their typically rough leaves and stems.

Sedums are almost the perfect plants. Vigorous, carefree, good-looking, with a season of interest lasting more than 6 months, who could resist? Even the bees and butterflies can't! These standout perennials grow more or less erect, up to 2 ft. (60 cm), and form a clump of thick, fleshy sage green to blue to dark red foliage topped with flower buds resembling broccoli. Gradually, these densely clustered buds reveal tiny, star-like flowers, in shades of white, pink or red, in late summer or early fall. As the weather cools, their colors grow deeper and richer. Both foliage and dead inflorescences remain attractive through winter, providing some additional interest.

Noted for their graceful and bountiful flowers, Speedwells (Veronica longifolia) are long-blooming, easy-care perennials that are prized by gardeners for the distinctive vertical lines they bring to the landscape. Their spiky flowers, in shades of white, blue, pink, purple or violet, rise like slender wands which enliven the garden with color and clouds of butterflies.