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These are the Longest Blooming Perennials in my Garden (I Tracked Them All Year)
I tracked the bloom times of all of the flowers in my garden for the entire year to create the ultimate list of the longest blooming perennials in my own yard.
The results were quite surprising!
Over half of the plants on this long bloomer list are natives or native cultivars! This is great news because there are so many benefits to planting natives in your garden.
I was also surprised that many of the plants that I thought bloomed a very long time, actually weren’t at the top of the list. I think that when you love a particular plant, you can really skew the results.
So, I tracked… and tracked… and tracked. All year long.
Here are the details of my tracking.
| Common Name | Botanical Name | Zones | Sun | Bloom Time | Weeks in Bloom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butterfly Weed | Asclepias tuberosa | 4-9 | Full Sun – Part Sun | Early-Late Summer | 11 |
| Catmint ‘Walkers Low’ | Nepeta faassenii | 4-9 | Full Sun – Part Sun | Late Spring-Fall | 8* |
| Purple Coneflower | Echinacea purpurea | 3-8 | Full Sun – Part Sun | Mid-Late Summer | 10 |
| Coreopsis ‘Early Sunrise’ | Coreopsis grandiflora | 3-9 | Full Sun – Part Sun | Early-Late Summer | 12+ |
| Crape Myrtle ‘Black Diamond Pure White’ | Lagerstroemia indica | 5-9 | Full Sun | Summer-Fall | 11 |
| Daylily ‘Fragrant Returns’ | Hemerocallis | 5-9 | Full Sun – Part Sun | Early-Late Summer | 12* |
| Joe Pye Weed ‘Baby Joe’ | Eutrochium purpureum | 2-9 | Full Sun – Part Sun | Late Summer-Fall | 7.5 |
| Rose of Sharon ‘Azurri Blue Satin’ | Hibiscus syriacus | 5-9 | Full Sun | Mid Summer-Fall | 11 |
| Siberian Bugloss ‘Silver Heart’ | Brunnera macrophylla | 3-8 | Part Sun – Shade | Spring | 7 |
| Spanish Bluebells | Hyacinthoides hispanica | 3-8 | Part Sun – Shade | Early-Late Spring | 8 |
| Spiderwort | Tradescantia virginiana L. | 4-9 | Full Sun – Shade | Spring | 8* |
| Veronica ‘Pink Potion’ | Magic Show® ‘Pink Potion’ Veronica hybrid | 4-8 | Full Sun – Part Sun | Late Spring-Early Fall | 12+ |
| Yarrow ‘Apricot Delight’ | Achillea millefolium | 4-9 | Full Sun | Early-Late Summer | 8* |
*this plant reblooms
Please note that these plants may not bloom for the same length of time where you live. They may not even perform the same way for ME next year. A lot can depend on the conditions where you live along with the climate in any given year. Regardless of this disclaimer, I still believe these are all excellent, long blooming plants that you should consider adding to your garden.
If you’re short on time, you can check out this quick 1 minute video with 7 of my favorite perennials with long bloom times.
Or keep reading to get the full long blooming flowers list.
Butterfly Weed
Asclepias tuberosa
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Zones 4-9 | Full Sun-Part Sun | Blooms early-late summer
24-36″H x 12-36″W
11 weeks of bloom time
Butterfly weed is a small native perennial that glows with orange blooms from June through August. Crown-shaped flowers form clusters up to 2″ across. In the fall, upright pods of butterfly weed crack open, releasing seeds glistening with silky hairs. It’s one of the few host plants for the monarch butterfly.
Native in US and Canada. Ontario to Newfoundland; New England south to Florida; west to Texas; north through Colorado to Minnesota.
Catmint ‘Walkers Low’
Nepeta x faassenii
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Zones 4-9 | Full Sun-Part Sun | Blooms late spring-fall
2-3’H x 2-3’W
8 weeks of bloom time, with multiple reblooms
Catmint is a long-lived, long-blooming border plant that puts on a show from late spring through fall in the garden. This mounding perennial has spicy fragrant leaves and features waves of cool, lavender-blue flowers that bring butterflies in droves. ‘Walkers Low’ bloomed for 8 weeks straight, then continued to rebloom throughout the entire season. Catmint is one of my absolute favorite plants in the garden.
Native to Caucusus and northern Iran.
Eastern Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
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Zones 3-8 | Full Sun-Part Sun | Blooms mid-late summer
4’H x 3’W
10 weeks of bloom time
Purple coneflowers are one of the most beautiful US native plants and a must have for any easy care cottage garden. The pinkish-purple petals surround a large protruding dark brown center creating a graceful presence in the middle of the border as it’s visited by birds, bees and butterflies. Coneflowers grow in 3′ wide clumps on really tall stems (about 4′ high). The blooms last a long time — from midsummer through most of fall. Coneflowers can be susceptible to Japanese beetle, leaf spot and aster yellows disease. But, don’t let that deter you from trying them. They are very easy care and one of the most rewarding flowers to grow!
You can also harvest the seeds from the coneflower in the fall. In the video below I’ll show you how to do this in under 1 minute! Then, you can share the seeds with your friends or plant even MORE coneflowers in your garden! The birds and bees will love you for it.
Native to Eastern North America
What Blooms with What?
Never know what to plant together? Find out with this FREE Plant Pairing Guide and become a pro at combining plants for the best garden design possible!
Coreopsis ‘Early Sunrise’
Coreopsis grandiflora
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Zones 3-9 | Full Sun-Part Sun | Blooms early-late summer
18″H x 12″W
12+ weeks of bloom time
Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis grandiflora) grows naturally in dry, rocky soils throughout North America. Bold, upright leaves support the sunny faces of its flowers, which feature deeply textured yellow petals. The blooms are held on long, skinny stems which dip and sway in the breeze. Like many other Prairie natives, tickseed is a great “wind dancer” and will bring a unique kinetic energy to your garden border.
75-80 Coreopsis species are native to North, Central and South America.
Crape Myrtle ‘Black Diamond Pure White’
Lagerstroemia indica
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Zones 5-9 | Full Sun | Blooms summer-fall
10-12’H x 8’W
11 weeks of bloom time
Cheating a little bit on this one, as the Black Diamond Pure White Crape Myrtle is technically a tree or a very large shrub. It has dark, almost black foliage spring to summer white ruffled flowers all season. This is a small, multi-stemmed tree that’s even drought-tolerant once established. It’s contrasting deep maroon (almost black) foliage and pure white flowers are sure to get lots of attention!
Crape Myrtles are native from the Himalayas through southern China, southeast Asia and Japan, but have naturalized in the US from Virginia to Arkansas south to Texas and Florida. I believe the ‘Black Diamond’ series are hybrids.
Daylily ‘Fragrant Returns’
Hemerocallis
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Zones 5-9 | Full Sun-Part Sun | Blooms early-late summer
12″H x 12-24″W
12 weeks of bloom time
‘Fragrant Returns’ daylily has sunny yellow flowers measuring 2.5″ across contrast against its forest-green, sword-like foliage. Daylilies are carefree and prolific bloomers all summer long. They prefer full sun and moist, well-drained soil. But if you live in a hot climate, give the darker colored cultivars some afternoon shade. When planted in the correct location, they will flower all summer long for years with very little care.
I have the variety ‘Fragrant Returns’ in my own garden, but I would imagine most of the daylily varieties will perform just as well if you have the right conditions for them. You can also easily divide daylilies to get more and more plants to fill up your garden.
Native to Asia.
If you’re loving this list of long blooming perennials, you should also check out this post: Incredible perennial plants for your garden.
Joy Pye Weed ‘Baby Joe’
Eutrochium purpureum
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Zones 2-9 | Full Sun-Part Sun | Blooms late summer-fall
4’H x 3’W
7.5 weeks of bloom time
Great for a late-season statement in the garden, Joe Pye Weed is a tall, late blooming perennial that’s native to much of the US that does best in part shade with moist soil. Foliage is coarsely-serrated, lance-shaped with green leaves (to 12” long) and stem, with purplish leaf nodes. Flowers are composed of 5-8 florets and bracts in dusty rose to mauve, giving the appearance of large clusters. In some plants, the leaves and flowers can give off a vanilla-like scent. Baby Joe is a dwarf variety of the native Joe Pye Weed, which can grow 7′ high and 4′ wide. Baby Joe is more “well-behaved” than the main variety, which tends to seed a bit aggressively.
Native to Nova Scotia south to the mountains of North Carolina and from Nebraska to British Columbia.
Rose of Sharon ‘Azurri Blue Satin’
Hibiscus syriacus
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Zones 5-9 | Full Sun | Blooms mid summer-fall
8-12’H x 5-6’W
11 weeks of bloom time
‘Azurri Blue Satin’ Hibiscus is sure to provide some much-needed color to your mid-summer and fall garden. Flowers with lacy centers of purple-blue petals are accented with wine-red hues that streak out from the veins of the petals. This shrub is loaded with very large and unique flowers that bloomed for 11 weeks in my own garden. ‘Azurri Blue Satin’ is the first ever seedless/sterile variety. It’s hardy, easy to grow and does not become invasive. Rose of Sharon ‘Azurri Blue Satin’ is a larger shrub, but if you have the room for it, it will not disappoint.
A sterile variety of Hibiscus syriacus, native south-central and southeast China.
Siberian Bugloss ‘Silver Heart’
Brunnera macrophylla
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Zones 3-8 | Part Sun-Shade | Blooms in spring
7 weeks of bloom time
18″H x 18-24″W
Siberian bugloss is an herbaceous perennial native to Turkey with beautiful foliage all year long. Bold white and light green bordered heart-shaped leaves of Siberian Bugloss ‘Silver Heart’ provide a dramatic background for the delicate, cobalt blue flowers that adorn this perennial for over 7 weeks in the springtime. Siberian bugless will brighten shady areas in your borders or woodland garden. It also creates a lovely groundcover.
Native to Turkey.
Spanish Bluebells
Hyacinthoides hispanica
Zones 3-8 | Part Sun-Shade | Blooms early-late spring
12-16″H x 12″W
8 weeks of bloom time
Spanish Bluebells, also known as Wood Hyacinth, are fragrant, shade-loving bulbs with arching strappy green grass-like foliage adorned with beautiful purplish blue bell-shaped blooms. Spanish bluebells are very hardy and deer resistant. If given enough room they will naturalize beautifully. They also work well in containers, rock gardens, small spaces and woodland gardens.
Native to Southwestern Europe.
Spiderwort
Tradescantia virginiana L.
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Zones 4-9 | Full Sun-Shade | Blooms spring-fall
18-24″H x 24-36″W
8 weeks of bloom time
Virginia spiderwort is a large mounding but dainty perennial to 3′ with long, bright green, narrow lance-like leaves. The thick clump of slender, branched stalks are topped by groups of 2″ blue or purplish (sometimes white), 3-petaled flowers.
Spiderwort flowers close by mid-day and last only one day. The flowers open only in the morning; the petals then wilt and turn to a jelly-like fluid. Spiderworts are so named because the angular leaf arrangement suggests a squatting spider. This is a very adaptable plant that prefers humus-rich soil but can grow in a wide range of soils and sun levels.
This bloomed for about 8 weeks in my spring garden. It also reblooms throughout the summer and fall when I’m not expecting it to. It does spread through rhizomes and needs the space to do that. Some consider it a weed but I find it quite charming in the shade.
Native from Virginia south to Florida and west to Missouri and Illinois.
If you love purple and blue flowers like this, check out this post, too: What to plant with purple flowers
Veronica Magic Show® ‘Pink Potion’
Magic Show® ‘Pink Potion’ is a Veronica hybrid
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Zones 4-8 | Full Sun-Part Sun | Blooms late spring-early fall
12-18″H x 18-24″W
12+ weeks of bloom time
Baby pink flower wands are borne prolifically atop a rounded, low clump of deep green foliage of Veronica ‘Pink Potion’. Veronica is sometimes also called Spike Speedwell. ‘Pink Potion’ has bloomed in my garden for over 12 weeks straight. It grows best in average, humus enriched, well-drained soil and full sun. It’s also salt tolerant, deer & rabbit resistant and attracts bees and butterflies! Though it will survive in partial shade, Veronica flowers best in sun. Shear back after blooming to encourage reblooms.
I am very impressed by this plant and would definitely recommend it. It’s October as I write this and it’s still blooming… over 12 weeks now. Looks very similar in habit to salvia.
Veronica spicata is native to Northern Europe and Asia. ‘Pink Potion’ is a hybrid.
Yarrow ‘Apricot Delight’
Achillea millefolium
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Zones 4-9 | Full Sun | Blooms early-late summer
18-24″H x 18-24″W
8 weeks of bloom time
Apricot Delight yarrow produces an abundance of apricot to dusty rose colored blooms all summer long on silvery green fern-like foliage. A great cut-flower perennial plant that’s carefree and beautiful. Apricot Delight bloomed for 8 weeks straight in my garden and also rewarded me with multiple reblooms. Once the flowers faded, the seedheads were also very attractive in the garden.
Common yarrow is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe and North America.
Wrapping Up
While every year is different in the garden, I was incredibly impressed by all of these long blooming perennials in my 2021 garden. My favorite types of plants are ones that work hard and look great with not a lot of maintenance. And, I believe that every plant on this list fits the bill.
If you liked this post, be sure to check out my free plant pairing guide. You’ll get a photo list of gorgeous plant combinations that you can try in your own garden.
Shop my Amazon storefront for my essential gardening books & tool recommendations!
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Shop my Amazon storefront for my essential gardening books & tool recommendations!
