XERISCAPE WITH PERENNIALS
Mary Ann Walz

Perennials are non-woody plants that live for more than two years, many living for an extremely long time. Top growth usually dies back to the ground each winter and emerges again the next spring although a few perennials retain their leaves year round. Bloom period may last from a few weeks to a few months. Initial cost for perennials is generally higher than for annuals but over the period of several years their cost is very reasonable, especially when they re-seed or grow large and can be divided to make more plants. These attributes are why I like perennials in the xeriscape garden.

Many perennials are very drought tolerant, especially those that are natives of arid areas. Many perennials available in local nurseries are actually native plants of the Southwest or Intermountain regions. If they survive in the wild on natural rainfall then they’ll survive with little irrigation in your garden once they are established. They are the perfect plants to use when starting your xeriscape garden.

When getting ready to design your perennial bed there are several approaches you might take. One of my favorite sources of design inspiration is reading gardening books and magazines and selecting several photos of especially attractive perennial borders. I then make a list of possible plants, research their cultural needs making sure I’ve selected ones that are drought tolerant, and start looking at other design considerations to make sure my selections will work.

It is usually best to have multiples of each perennial. A bed with one each of twelve different varieties will be a less pleasing design than a bed that has three each of four species. An exception to this guideline is a plant that gets to be very large. At six feet tall and four feet wide, a single Helianthus maximiliana is usually enough for most perennial beds.

Plant height is one of the more obvious characteristics to guide the placement of plants in a flowerbed, placing tall plants toward the back and groundcovers in the front. Color is another design issue. I am always drawn to plants in shades of pink, purple and white so most of my beds have those three as the basic color palette. When I do incorporate yellow, it seems to stand out because I don’t have a lot of it. When selecting color, try to stick with three color ranges per bed, excluding that of the foliage.

The last design consideration I want to discuss is plant foliage. Variation in texture, color, and leaf shape creates lots of design interest. Perhaps you’ve seen a garden that consists solely of plants with white blooms and yet you found it very intriguing. More than the white blooms, it’s probably creative use of foliage that piques your attention.

Designing perennial borders is largely a matter of personal choice, choosing plants that you like and grouping them in ways that create pleasing variations in height, pairing plants with complimentary or contrasting colors, and selecting plants with different types of foliage. If the plants you have decided on for your garden are pleasing to you, then you will probably also have a design that is attractive to others.