Wise gardeners grow bushes and plants that bloom from spring to fall, then sit back and relax, enjoying a garden full of color while others are still sowing and planting. Plant shrubs, perennials, ground cover plants and vines for a display that covers all areas of your garden. Deadheading your plants, or removing faded blooms regularly improves this year's and next year's flowering.
Shrubs are sturdy, reliable plants in home gardens, but most provide blooms for only one season. Two that flower year-round are "Teenie Genie" compact lantana (Lantana camara "Monike") and "Leon's Purple Delight" lilac hibiscus (Alyogyne huegelii "MonLeon"). "Teenie Genie" forms 30-inch-tall mounds covered in florets that transform from yellow to pink. "Leon's Purple Delight" bears royal purple flowers and grows 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Both bushes are suitable for U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 through 11, and grow best in a full-sun site.
Perennials return year after year, and some also flower for most of the year. Blackfoot daisy (Melampodium leucanthum) bears scented, yellow-centered, white daisy flowers from spring to winter. Growing 12 to 18 inches wide and tall, this perennial is suitable for USDA zones 7 to 11. "Mango Popsicle" dwarf poker (Kniphofia "Mango Popsicle") provides a striking contrast, its 30-inch-tall spikes of orange blooms appearing from spring to fall. Hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9, this perennial forms clumps 18 inches tall and 12 inches wide. Both plants prefer full-sun sites and are drought-tolerant.
Ground cover plants help keep down weeds, and long-blooming plants also provide a long-lasting carpet of flowers. Tanager gazania (Gazania krebsiana) spreads 12 inches wide and 6 inches high, and bears brilliant orange, daisy-like flowers above glossy leaves. Growing in USDA zones 8 through 10, it tolerates loam, sand and clay soils. "Mesa Verde" ice plant (Delosperma "Kelaidis") is hardy in USDA zones 4 to 8a and bears salmon-pink flowers. It grows 2 feet tall and 1 1/2 to 3 feet wide and tolerates poor soils and slopes. Both ground cover plants flower from spring through fall.
For vertical flower festivals, choose long-flowering butterfly vine (Mascagnia macroptera) and "Sun Parasol" pretty pink mandevilla (Mandevilla "Sunparaprero"). Butterfly vine is hardy in USDA zones 8 through 10 and bears 1-inch-wide, yellow flowers in spring, repeating in summer and fall. It grows 10 to 12 feet and also grows well as a ground cover plant. Shorter-growing "Sun Parasol" mandevilla is suitable for USDA zones 10 and 11. It grows 6 to 8 feet and provides 2-to-3-inch delicate pink flowers continuously from spring through fall. As a short vine, it grows well in containers and hanging baskets.
- Monrovia: Blackfoot Daisy
- Monrovia: "Mango Popsicle" Dwarf Poker
- Monrovia: Butterfly Vine
- Monrovia: "Sun Parasol" Pretty Pink Mandevilla
- Monrovia: "Teenie Genie" Compact Lantana
- Monrovia: "Leon's Purple Delight" Lilac Hibiscus
- Plant Lust: Gazania Krebsiana
- Plant Lust: Delosperma "Kelaidis"
- Sunset: Pruning and Deadheading Shrubs
- Fine Gardening: Off With Their Heads -- Deadheading Perennials
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