Perennials for a spot the sun only reaches in the morning or late afternoon. They come back every year, so there is no replanting in spring.
123 plants from our verified database, by name. A plant is only listed when the data this list relies on is not in doubt. How our data is made
Stachys monieri 55 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A long-lived perennial that makes a dense cushion of glossy, dark green, scalloped leaves, above which tight rosy-purple flower spikes stand for weeks…
Mentha suaveolens 60 cm × 1 m after 10 years
A mint with soft, woolly, rounded leaves whose mild, fruity, apple-like scent is good in teas, lemonade, salads and on desserts. The cultivar…
Astilbe × arendsii 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A splash of colour for shady, damp corners: feathery plumes in white, pink, red or purple rise above ferny foliage in early summer. Plant it only…
Actaea simplex 1.5 m × 80 cm after 10 years
A tall perennial for shade that carries long, white, strongly scented bottlebrush spikes from late summer into mid autumn, when most shade plants have…
Platycodon grandiflorus 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A long-lived, bushy perennial whose puffed-up, balloon-like buds open in summer into blue, white or pink starry bells. Plant it in sun or part shade…
Acanthus mollis 1.5 m × 90 cm after 10 years
An architectural perennial with large, glossy, deeply lobed leaves and tall summer spikes of white and purple flowers held in spiny bracts. Give it…
Monarda didyma 1 m × 90 cm after 10 years
In summer its shaggy red, pink or purple flower heads draw bees and butterflies, and the leaves smell spicy and minty when rubbed. It belongs in…
Rudbeckia fulgida 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A dependable, long-flowering perennial with golden yellow, dark-centred daisies from midsummer into autumn, popular with bees and butterflies. It does…
Dicentra spectabilis 80 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
An old cottage garden favourite: in late spring its arching stems carry rows of pink and white heart-shaped flowers. Plant it in part shade or…
Geranium sanguineum 30 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A tough ground-covering perennial that forms a low mound of finely cut leaves, dotted with magenta-pink flowers from late spring into summer, and…
Baptisia australis 1.2 m × 1.2 m after 10 years
A shrub-like, very long-lived perennial that carries lupin-like spikes of indigo blue flowers in late spring above blue-green, clover-like foliage,…
Aster dumosus 40 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low, dense, cushion-forming perennial that is smothered in purple, pink, blue or white yellow-centred daisies from late summer to mid-autumn, when…
Campanula carpatica 25 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
Carpathian bellflower is a low, cushion-forming perennial that is covered for weeks from early summer with upward-facing blue, purple or white…
Nepeta × faassenii 50 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
A loose mound of grey-green, aromatic foliage that carries clouds of lavender-blue flowers from May to September and is a favourite of pollinators.…
Nepeta × faassenii 'Walker's Low' 75 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
This grey-green catmint brings lavender-blue flowers and plenty of pollinators to sunny borders, path edges and rose plantings. Once established it…
Anemone hupehensis 75 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A perennial that flowers in pink or white from late summer until the first frosts, bringing colour when most of the border has finished. It does…
Astilbe chinensis 60 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A perennial with ferny, dark green leaves that sends up stiff, feathery pink or lilac plumes from midsummer, later than the garden hybrid astilbes. It…
Thalictrum delavayi 1.5 m × 60 cm after 10 years
A tall, airy perennial: above columbine-like, finely divided foliage it lifts a cloud of tiny lilac flowers on thin purplish stems about 1.5 m high…
Paeonia lactiflora 90 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
A long-lived, bushy perennial with large, scented flowers in late spring and foliage that makes a good backdrop in the border until autumn. Plant it…
Allium schoenoprasum 45 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A kitchen garden perennial that forms dense, grassy clumps: you can cut its hollow, onion-flavoured leaves from spring to autumn, and the purple globe…
Helleborus niger 30 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A low evergreen perennial that opens large pure white flowers with yellow stamens from midwinter to early spring, often pushing up through snow.…
Campanula glomerata 50 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A garden form of a wild meadow bellflower: in early summer upright stems carry tight, rounded heads of violet-blue, upward-facing bells that bees…
Aquilegia vulgaris 70 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A graceful perennial with nodding, spurred flowers in blue, purple, pink or white in late spring and early summer above blue-green, lobed leaves. It…
Polypodium vulgare 30 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Common polypody is a small evergreen fern that creeps slowly on its rhizome to weave a loose mat over mossy rocks, stone walls and the bases of trees.…
Heuchera sanguinea 45 cm × 35 cm after 10 years
A low perennial with a mound of leaves that stays green through winter, topped from late spring to early summer by airy sprays of tiny coral-red bells…
Primula veris 25 cm × 20 cm after 10 years
A low, rosette-forming perennial of meadows and wood edges that opens nodding, fragrant, egg-yellow flowers in April on stems held above the leaves.…
Crocus × hybridus 12 cm × 15 cm after 10 years
Spring crocuses bring the first colour of the year: the smaller-flowered early kinds open at the end of winter, the large-flowered Dutch hybrids…
Fritillaria imperialis 1 m × 40 cm after 10 years
A big spring bulb: a straight, metre-tall stem carries a ring of orange, yellow or red bells under a tuft of leaves, which makes it the showiest plant…
Veronicastrum virginicum 1.5 m × 75 cm after 10 years
A tall, slender perennial with whorls of leaves on strong, straight stems, topped in summer by thin, candelabra-like spikes of white, pale pink or…
Euphorbia polychroma 45 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A perennial that forms a neat dome and glows sulphur yellow around April and May, then turns red in autumn. It suits a sunny, dry border, also on limy…
Narcissus × hybridus 40 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
Daffodils are among the most dependable spring bulbs: they return every year, the bulbs multiply by offsets so a handful thickens into a dense clump…
Iris pallida 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A bearded iris with sweetly scented, pale lavender-blue flowers and grey-green sword leaves that stay tidy after flowering; the striped forms are…
Hemerocallis × hybrida 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Garden daylilies are almost indestructible, long-lived perennials: above a clump of arching, grassy leaves they carry trumpet-shaped flowers for weeks…
Hemerocallis 'Stella de Oro' 40 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low, dense daylily that keeps producing lightly scented golden yellow flowers in flushes from early summer to autumn, so it is rewarding as an…
Delphinium × cultorum 1.5 m × 60 cm after 10 years
The classic back-of-border perennial for summer: tall, dense flower spikes in shades of blue, purple, white and pink rise above deeply cut foliage,…
Lysimachia punctata 90 cm × 1 m after 10 years
A vigorous, upright perennial covered in bright yellow flowers for weeks in summer and asking for almost no care. It looks best in sun or part shade…
Primula denticulata 30 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
An early spring perennial that carries lilac, white or ruby flower globes on stout stems from March to April, before the leaves are fully grown. Plant…
Amsonia tabernaemontana 90 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
A long-lived perennial that builds a dense, bushy clump: pale blue starry flowers in late spring, then narrow leaves that turn golden yellow in…
Hosta fortunei 60 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
The Fortune's hosta group (for example gold-edged 'Aureomarginata' and white-edged 'Francee' and 'Patriot') is a dependable foliage plant for part…
Digitalis purpurea 1.2 m × 60 cm after 10 years
Foxglove is a biennial or short-lived perennial: in its first year it only makes a rosette of downy leaves, and in the second it sends up tall…
Penstemon digitalis 1 m × 50 cm after 10 years
In early summer stiff, upright stems rise from a low rosette of leaves, carrying loose spikes of white tubular flowers that bees and bumblebees…
Aster × frikartii 75 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
One of the longest flowering asters: its lavender-blue daisies with yellow centres keep coming from midsummer to late autumn, and butterflies and bees…
Lysimachia ciliata 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
In gardens it is nearly always the purple-leaved form that is grown: small lemon-yellow star flowers open above the dark foliage in summer, which…
Lupinus polyphyllus 1 m × 50 cm after 10 years
A cottage garden classic: tall, dense spikes in blue, purple, pink, red, white or yellow rise above hand-shaped leaves in early summer, and most…
Phlox paniculata 1 m × 80 cm after 10 years
A classic of the summer border: stiff stems carry large, scented flower heads in white, pink, purple or red that butterflies love. Plant it in sun…
Veronica longifolia 90 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
An upright, clump-forming perennial that carries long, slender lilac-blue spikes above narrow toothed leaves in summer; there are white and pink…
Aruncus dioicus 1.8 m × 1 m after 10 years
A big, bushy woodland perennial native to the region that lights up shady corners in early summer with head-high plumes of creamy white flowers. Plant…
Dryopteris affinis 1 m × 90 cm after 10 years
Golden male fern is a big, sturdy, shuttlecock-shaped fern: the fronds unfurl yellowish green in spring with stalks covered in golden-brown scales,…
Anemone tomentosa 1.1 m × 90 cm after 10 years
The toughest and earliest of the Japanese-type anemones: pale pink flowers float on thin stems above vine-like leaves from late summer into autumn. It…
Muscari armeniacum 20 cm × 10 cm after 10 years
A low spring bulb with small grape-like clusters of mostly cobalt blue flowers (pale blue, white or pink in some cultivars) from late March to May;…
Sanguisorba officinalis 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A native perennial of wet meadows: thin, wiry stems rise from a clump of pinnate leaves and carry small, dark red, egg-shaped flower heads from July…
Camassia leichtlinii 1 m × 40 cm after 10 years
A late-spring bulb that carries starry blue, purple or creamy white flowers on waist-high stems, just in the gap between tulips and the summer…
Astrantia major 70 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Great masterwort is a loosely bushy perennial for cool part shade: its white, pink or wine-red flower heads, each ringed by papery bracts, last for…
Anemone blanda 15 cm × 20 cm after 10 years
A tiny tuberous anemone that weaves a carpet of blue, white or pink daisy-like flowers under deciduous trees and shrubs in early spring. Plant the…
Geranium × hybridum 50 cm × 70 cm after 10 years
This record covers the garden cranesbills sold by cultivar name: loose mounds of cut leaves with saucer-shaped blue, purple, pink or white flowers,…
Hibiscus moscheutos 1.5 m × 1.2 m after 10 years
A shrub-sized herbaceous perennial that carries dinner-plate flowers in white, pink or red from midsummer into autumn; each bloom lasts a day or…
Bergenia cordifolia 60 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
Its large, round, leathery, glossy leaves stay all year and flush burgundy and bronze in the cold, and in early spring it carries clusters of pink…
Heuchera × hybrida 40 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Coral bells are grown mainly for their low mound of lobed leaves, which stays decorative almost all year: cultivars come in deep purple to near black,…
Hosta × hybrida 50 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
Hostas are the classic foliage plants for shady parts of the garden: broad, veined leaves in green, powdery blue, gold or with white or yellow…
Hosta sieboldiana 'Elegans' 90 cm × 1.5 m after 10 years
Its large, corrugated blue-green leaves fill shady borders nicely, and it also works as a specimen or in a large container. Give it humus-rich,…
Hyacinthus orientalis 25 cm × 10 cm after 10 years
A spring bulb with dense, waxy flower spikes in April whose scent fills the whole garden; sold in blue, purple, pink, red, white and yellow cultivars.…
Geum × hybridum 60 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
A low perennial with hairy leaf rosettes and wiry stems that carry small rose-like flowers in orange, red, yellow or apricot for weeks: one of the…
Lobelia × speciosa 80 cm × 35 cm after 10 years
An upright perennial with dense flower spikes in red, pink, purple or blue from midsummer into autumn, and many forms have bronze foliage too. It…
Aquilegia × hybrida 70 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
Long-spurred garden columbines are airy perennials with blue-green, fern-like foliage that carry large, often two-toned flowers in almost every colour…
Echinacea × hybrida 70 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Modern hybrid coneflowers come from crosses of purple coneflower with its relatives: the same stiff-stemmed flower with a central cone, but in orange,…
Hyssopus officinalis 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A low, aromatic, woody-based subshrub that draws bees and butterflies with spikes of blue, or less often pink or white, flowers from early summer into…
Paeonia Itoh Group 80 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
A group of hybrids between herbaceous and tree peonies ('Bartzella', 'Cora Louise', 'Julia Rose', 'Hillary', 'Kopper Kettle'): it dies back to the…
Anemone × hybrida 1 m × 1 m after 10 years
A perennial that flowers from late summer into autumn, when most borders are winding down: white or pink blooms float on slender stems and look best…
Aster ageratoides 70 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A very tough, late-flowering aster: from late summer until the frosts it is covered in a haze of pale lilac, white or pinkish flowers, in sun or…
Musa basjoo 3.5 m × 2.5 m after 10 years
The hardiest banana: its huge, paddle-shaped, bright green leaves give the garden a tropical look within a single summer, and the pups rising from its…
Cyrtomium fortunei 50 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Leathery, matt green, sickle-shaped leaflets make the fronds look like sprays of holly, and in mild winters they stay green all year. It is the…
Athyrium niponicum 45 cm × 55 cm after 10 years
Japanese painted fern is a low, arching fern usually sold in its painted forms: the fronds are silvery grey with a green wash and burgundy midribs,…
Polystichum polyblepharum 50 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Glossy, dark green, finely divided fronds form a neat vase-shaped clump that stays green through winter. In spring the tips of the unfurling fronds…
Alchemilla mollis 45 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
You will know it by its soft, hairy, rounded leaves that hold raindrops and dew like beads, topped by a haze of yellow-green flowers in early…
Athyrium filix-femina 90 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
A deciduous fern with lacy, light green fronds that form a shuttlecock-shaped clump, good for filling shady, moist spots under trees and shrubs.…
Coreopsis grandiflora 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A bushy perennial that produces large, golden yellow daisy flowers from early summer into autumn and is good for cutting too. It is happiest in a…
Veronica teucrium 40 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
A low, bushy perennial that is almost hidden under spikes of vivid gentian-blue flowers in May and June, to the delight of bees and butterflies. It…
Melissa officinalis 60 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
A bushy, lemon-scented kitchen and tea herb: pick the fresh leaves for salads, syrups and tea, and leave the tiny flowers for the bees that love them.…
Helleborus orientalis 45 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
An evergreen, shade-tolerant perennial that carries nodding white, pink, plum or speckled flowers from late winter into spring, when little else is in…
Doronicum orientale 50 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
One of the earliest yellow daisy-flowered perennials: it blooms in spring alongside tulips, above fresh green heart-shaped leaves. It suits part shade…
Lilium × hybridum 1.2 m × 40 cm after 10 years
Garden lilies are the showiest flowers of the summer border and are also good for cutting and for large pots. Plant the bulbs in autumn or early…
Levisticum officinale 1.8 m × 90 cm after 10 years
A huge, long-lived kitchen herb that can reach two metres, with leaves that give soups and stews a strong celery, stock-cube flavour. One plant is…
Dryopteris filix-mas 1 m × 90 cm after 10 years
A large, shuttlecock-shaped woodland fern that also grows wild in the region, and one of the least demanding ferns for shade and part shade. Use it…
Lychnis chalcedonica 90 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
An old cottage garden perennial that carries flat domes of vivid scarlet flowers on tall, straight stems in early summer; butterflies and bees visit…
Caltha palustris 40 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A perennial for pond margins, stream sides and permanently wet, boggy ground that opens glossy golden-yellow flowers in early spring above round,…
Thalictrum aquilegiifolium 1 m × 50 cm after 10 years
An airy, tall perennial with blue-green, columbine-like leaves and clouds of fluffy lilac flowers in early summer. It suits part shade and…
Euphorbia characias 1.1 m × 90 cm after 10 years
An evergreen sub-shrub with blue-grey leaves and a sculptural shape that carries huge lime-green flower heads in spring on two-year-old stems. It…
Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Above sword-shaped fresh green leaves it carries arching sprays of fiery red, orange or yellow flowers in midsummer, and they last well when cut.…
Centaurea montana 50 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A perennial relative of the cornflower: a bushy clump of grey-green, lance-shaped leaves carrying large, fringed blue flowers with a violet centre…
Origanum vulgare 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Oregano is a wildflower and a kitchen herb in one: from midsummer its pinkish-purple flowers are busy with bees and butterflies. It is happy in sunny,…
Matteuccia struthiopteris 1.5 m × 2 m after 10 years
With its fresh green fronds standing in a shuttlecock shape like ostrich plumes, the ostrich fern is one of the most striking plants for damp, shady…
Pulsatilla vulgaris 25 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
Pasque flower opens its silky-haired, bell-shaped purple flowers in early spring, almost before the leaves, and follows them with feathery, rounded…
Campanula persicifolia 90 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Peach-leaved bellflower sends up slender, upright stems from a rosette of narrow leaves in early summer, carrying large blue or white bells. It…
Anaphalis triplinervis 50 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A bushy perennial with grey, felted leaves that carries small, yellow-centred, white papery flower heads from midsummer into autumn; they are lovely…
Mentha × piperita 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A tea and kitchen herb with a strong menthol scent: the dark green, toothed leaves are good fresh or dried in tea, lemonade and baking, and its…
Echinacea purpurea 1.2 m × 60 cm after 10 years
Plant it in a sunny perennial border, preferably in a small group, for pink-purple summer flowers that attract bees and butterflies. Established…
Lythrum salicaria 1.2 m × 90 cm after 10 years
A native perennial of watersides and wet meadows: from midsummer into autumn its stiff, upright stems carry long, vivid purple-magenta flower spikes…
Lychnis flos-cuculi 60 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
A slender, airy wildflower whose pink (rarely white) petals are each cut into four narrow strips, giving the flowers their ragged look from May to…
Persicaria amplexicaulis 1.2 m × 1.2 m after 10 years
Red bistort is one of the longest-flowering perennials: from early summer until the frosts its dense, leafy mound keeps producing slender spikes of…
Centranthus ruber 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A bushy perennial with fleshy, blue-green leaves that carries clusters of small, fragrant crimson, pink or white flowers from late spring to autumn…
Rheum rhabarbarum 1 m × 1.2 m after 10 years
A long-lived perennial vegetable grown for its fleshy, tart leaf stalks, which you pull from April to the end of June and then leave the crown to…
Rodgersia pinnata 1.2 m × 1.2 m after 10 years
A bold foliage plant for moist part shade, with large, horse-chestnut-like, bronze-tinted leaves and pink flower plumes in early summer. Plant it by a…
Lychnis coronaria 80 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Above rosettes of silver-grey, felted leaves it opens vivid magenta (in some forms white) flowers on branching grey stems in early summer. It is…
Primula rosea 20 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
A small Himalayan primrose that opens its vivid pink, yellow-eyed flowers in March and April, before the leaves have developed; nurseries mostly…
Geranium 'Rozanne' 60 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
'Rozanne' is useful for covering the ground beneath roses or softening the front of a perennial border, with violet-blue, white-centred flowers from…
Geum coccineum 40 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
A low, rosette-forming perennial that carries bright orange-red flowers on wiry stems from late spring to midsummer; nurseries mostly sell the…
Leucanthemum × superbum 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
The classic big white daisy with a yellow centre that flowers for weeks in summer, cuts well and draws bees and butterflies. Plant it in sun and…
Brunnera macrophylla 45 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A shade-loving perennial with large, rough, heart-shaped leaves that carries a haze of tiny sky-blue, forget-me-not-like flowers above the foliage…
Iris sibirica 90 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
A graceful iris with grassy leaves that carries blue, purple or white flowers on tall stems in May and June, and keeps a handsome, grass-like clump of…
Achillea ptarmica 70 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Unlike other yarrows it has narrow, undivided dark green leaves, and it carries small white flowers all summer; gardens grow the double forms with…
Saponaria officinalis 70 cm × 1 m after 10 years
An old cottage-garden perennial with pale pink or white flowers from midsummer into autumn that are strongly scented in the evening and draw moths. It…
Mentha spicata 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
One of the best-flavoured kitchen mints: its fresh, sweet-scented leaves go into tea, cold drinks, salads and meat dishes, and bees and butterflies…
Lychnis viscaria 40 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
A native wildflower that sends up spikes of vivid magenta-pink flowers in May and June from tufts of grass-like leaves; the stems are sticky below the…
Hylotelephium 'Herbstfreude' 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Plant it in a sunny perennial border or gravel garden for late-summer and autumn flowers that attract bees and butterflies. Once established, it needs…
Oenothera fruticosa 50 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
An easy, sun-loving perennial whose bright yellow, four-petalled flowers open by day, unlike most evening primroses, and follow each other for…
Coreopsis verticillata 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
An airy perennial with fine, thread-like foliage, covered in starry yellow flowers from early summer into autumn. It is undemanding and long-lived…
Phlomis russeliana 90 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
Turkish sage makes a dense, weed-suppressing carpet of large, heart-shaped, felted leaves, and in summer its stiff stems carry tiers of soft yellow…
Chelone obliqua 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A stiffly upright perennial that flowers in late summer and autumn when little else does, with pink to purplish, turtle-head shaped blooms at the stem…
Dryopteris wallichiana 1 m × 90 cm after 10 years
A large, shuttlecock-shaped fern whose new fronds unfurl golden green in spring against dark, almost black scales on the stalks and midribs. It…
Lythrum virgatum 1 m × 45 cm after 10 years
A slender, clump-forming perennial with wand-like stems that carries loose spikes of purplish pink flowers for many weeks in summer and draws bees and…
Aster divaricatus 70 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
One of the few asters that flowers in shade: from late summer into autumn its dark, wiry, zigzag stems carry clouds of small white daisies above…
Eranthis hyemalis 10 cm × 10 cm after 10 years
One of the very first flowers of the year: golden yellow cups on a green leafy ruff, barely a hand high, open in February and March, often through…
Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' 60 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
Deep purple flower spikes and almost black stems work well in sunny borders, alongside ornamental grasses or in larger pots, and attract…
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