Everything's Coming up Roses

Clearance Knockout Rose from Lowes.

This year, due to lack of time ( working 5 days per week, sniff, sniff ) and energy, and traveling weekends to visit the new babies, I have spent less time and money on my flower gardens than ever.  I've come to realize that maybe I was spending too much time watering and fertilizing in the past.  Except for under the garage eaves, the window boxes, and the few pots I did manage to put together, I haven't watered anything yet this summer.  Or fertilized.  And yet my perennials are flourishing.  I guess it pays to be lazy.

Here are a few of the most hardy perennials that can be grown in zone 3.  I don't even bother to cover anything with mulch or leaves in the fall, and still the flowers return each summer.

Spiderwort.  Look closely.  No spiders, but an ant and a bee.

Lime green Coral Bells.

Succulent and stinky Shasta Daisy.  This bee must not have a good sniffer.

Balloon Flower.

Purple coneflower.  Badminton birdie look alike.

Now it even comes in white!

Daylily.

If I had to choose just one flower, this is it.  Annabelle Hydrangea.

Feathery plumes of Astilbe.

Pretty pink Columbine.

Endless array of Hosta.  Watering only creates a slugfest.  Yuck.

Jackmanii Clematis is a staple of any northern garden.

You can even find them growing against vacant houses. 

These next few plants aren't actually perennials, but will reseed themselves year after year.

Pansies add such cottage charm to any garden.

Hollyhocks are usually found next to fences or buildings, but this one keeps coming up in our front yard, and I don't have the heart to dig it out.  Also, I've found they don't like being moved to a new location.

My first Morning Glory blooms.  OK, I confess, these came from the one plant I bought.  The seedlings I planted are climbing the fence and just starting to blossom. Mr. Hooter is doing his job.

So, perennials are the way to go for lazy low maintenance, cheap low cost landscaping.