Top 20 Best of the Best Perennials for Your Garden

If you are like me, you probably want to do as little work as possible in your garden and still enjoy a big return of bountiful, beautiful flowers. In that case, you’ve got to get perennials.

Perennials, planted with care and tended to just a little throughout the year, can keep coming back year after year for years on end. As far as gardening investments go, you get to plant them once and then enjoy them again and again.

That sounds like a bargain to me, and if it sounds good to you too, you’ve got to check out the 20 best perennials I’ve assembled in the list below…

No matter what growing zone you live in, no matter your aesthetic preferences, and no matter your skill level, you are bound to find a gorgeous new favorite. Pull on your gloves, grab your spade, and let’s get to it.

Artichokes

• Growing Zones: 7 through 11
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
• Soil Requirements: Must be fertile and well-drained, high organic matter content

If you like them, artichokes are one of the best perennial veggies you can plant. In warmer climates, they are typically only grown as perennials but in cooler zones they only grow as annuals. Notably, it is the flower bud itself, harvested prior to the flower opening, that is the edible, tasty part. If you live in a warm zone, plant them as seed late in the summertime, or transplant them in early fall.

Most varieties need 3 months, plus maybe a couple of weeks, to develop to the harvest stage. Note that if you are growing them as perennials you should give the plants at least 6 ft of space each; they can only be grown successfully in close order when grown as annuals.

Chrysanthemum

• Growing Zones: 5 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
• Soil Requirements: Barely moist, well-drained soil

One of the most popular perennials out there, and one that is available in a truly stunning variety of cultivars, chrysanthemums come in almost any color you can think of.

Bloom sizes range from tiny, barely one inch across, to huge giants more than five inches in diameter! However, most chrysanthemums have a tendency to die off every few years.

Foxglove

• Growing Zones: 4 through 10
• Sunlight Requirements: Partial shade
• Soil Requirements: Moist, well-drained soil

Nothing, truly nothing, looks quite as captivating as foxglove. The tall stalks of white, pink, yellow, red, lavender, or purple bell-shaped blooms droop delicately and form a truly spectacular centerpiece in any garden.

It’s another great choice for shady spots, but do take care: every part of the plant is toxic if ingested.

Asparagus

• Growing Zones: 3 through 8
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
• Soil Requirements: Fertile, well-drained, soil a must; highly vulnerable to waterlogging

Once you get it established, asparagus is an early spring veggie you’ll be able to look forward to for years and years on end. It’s one of the tastiest, healthiest and most versatile perennial veggies.

Yet, you’ve got to have patience and plenty of it at first: it takes anywhere from 3 to 5 years to fully mature, or at least mature to the point where you can look forward to a bountiful harvest come the warm season. Asparagus is easy to establish in your garden in the early spring by planting cuttings in the form of crowns or roots.

Daylily

• Growing Zones: 3 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Likes full sun but can handle partial shade
• Soil Requirements: Highly adaptable but does best in well-drained, slightly moist soil

Despite how delicate they look, daylilies are another hardy choice for a perennial garden. The slender, fringed, curling petals of the blooms are available in a wide variety of colors, including the iconic and beloved orange-yellow.

This is a superbly low-maintenance choice that can grow almost anywhere and in any kind of soil. Take care, though; if planted in ideal conditions, daylilies spread rapidly and aggressively and may take over the rest of your garden!

Broccoli

• Growing Zones: 3 through 10
• Sunlight Requirements: Prefers full sun, tolerates shade in hotter zones
• Soil Requirements: Must have rich, consistently moist, well-draining soil

A tasty, versatile and bountiful perennial veggie, broccoli is harvested before the flowering heads actually bloom, and those unopened flower heads are the part that we eat.

Broccoli will return year after year if cared for and planted in the right spot; broccoli needs lots of sunlight in cooler conditions but it will require some shade if you live in a hotter region. In all cases, it needs very rich and well draining soil that is kept consistently moist but never allowed to flood.

Broccoli is highly vulnerable to root rot, and the foliage is susceptible to mildew and other kinds of fungus. For this reason you should never water broccoli and discriminately and instead direct water right to the roots at the soil surface.

Dianthus

• Growing Zones: 3 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Needs full sun
• Soil Requirements: Slightly alkaline and well-draining. Soil should be allowed to dry out between waterings.

Alluringly fragrant, the vivid magenta blooms of dianthus have an optical quality that makes them look almost fake, such is their bright color. It’s the best perennial for anyone who wants to make an immediate first impression, and another one of my favorites because it’s so very easy to care for.

As long as the soil is slightly alkaline, well-draining, and it gets six to seven hours of sunlight a day, you are golden. Dianthus also comes back for years on end; it has great staying power!

Hardy Hibiscus

• Growing Zones: 5 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
• Soil Requirements: Moist and well-drained, requires regular watering

One of the best pollinator attractors and one of the most gorgeous flowers on our list, hardy hibiscus produces stunning blooms similar to standard hibiscus but without the necessity of living in a tropical climate.

Available in various colors, including tropical, peachy pastels, these are sure to please the most discerning ornamental gardeners.

Peony

• Growing Zones: 3 through 8
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
• Soil Requirements: Well-draining, fertile soil

Another showstoppingly gorgeous perennial on our list and possibly the most ideal flower for folks who live in colder regions, peonies need plenty of sunlight, but as long as you provide that and protect them from pests, they will come back again and again.

These tough, showy flowers can live for decades and go dormant in the winter. Overall, a great choice and one that is easy to care for. Note that they typically aren’t as spectacular in warmer regions since they depend on cold-weather dormancy to form their flowers properly.

Lavender

• Growing Zones: 5 through 9, depending on the variety; most often a perennial in 7 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
• Soil Requirements: Alkaline, well-draining soil that is allowed to dry out between waterings. Prone to root rot in constantly moist soil.

Nothing on Earth smells like lavender, and few plants are as pretty when in full bloom! Whether you want it as an aromatic, for herbal tea, or as an ingredient in baked goods, lavender is a stellar perennial as long as you’ve got dry, well-drained, alkaline soil.

This is one plant you definitely don’t want to water too often, and it can’t abide constantly moist soil; those conditions will cause root rot, which can devastate it.

Achillea

• Growing Zones: 3 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
• Soil Requirements: Loose, well-drained soil

Achillea, better known to most as yarrow, is a hardy, versatile, and pest-resistant plant that is a favorite of many different kinds of pollinating insects. It’s pretty in its own right and can work wonders for boosting the reproductive health of other plants in your garden.

Milkweed

• Growing Zones: 3 through 9, depending on the species
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
• Soil Requirements: Well-drained, neutral to slightly acidic soil

Milkweed is yet another powerful pollinator magnet on our list, and one that is crucially important for many butterfly species, including monarch butterflies.

Charming and pretty with their tight clusters of tiny blooms, varieties come in many different colors and can lend vibrancy to your garden throughout the year. Some bloom in late spring, others throughout summer, and some into fall.

Spinach

• Growing Zones: 2 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun to partial shade; likes cooler conditions
• Soil Requirements: Highly nutritious, moist but well-draining soil with plenty of nitrogen.

One of the most nutritious leafy veggies around, and one that can be used in countless recipes, spinach is traditionally thought of as an annual veggie but that’s not true of all varieties; bountiful favorites like New Zealand and Ceylon can return year after year.

Just pay attention and make sure you’ve got the right kind before you plant, give it the care it needs and a little bit of protection during the harshest part of winter, and it should come back the following year.

Sweet Potatoes

• Growing Zones: 8 through 11
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
• Soil Requirements: Well-drained, loose sandy or loamy soil

Yes, sweet potatoes are perennials! They aren’t related to regular potatoes, and so if you care for them properly they will come back you’re in and year out, giving you several years of harvest.

No matter where you live, you’ll get your sweet potatoes in the ground in the springtime by planting slips. Slips refer to stems and foliage that sprout from the fully developed sweet potatoes themselves. Pinch them off, put them in water and then plant them when spring rolls around. 90 to 120 days later, you’ll have a new crop of delicious sweet potatoes.

Red Hot Poker

• Growing Zones: 5 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun and lots of it
• Soil Requirements: Well-drained, rich soil

No other flower looks quite like Red Hot Poker, or Kniphofia. Its spikes of thin, tiny tubular flowers have a distinct red-orange to orange-to-yellow gradient that makes them look, well, red hot! Like a piece of wrought iron fresh out of the forge.

Dramatic and intriguing, this is a favorite flower of hummingbirds, which will flock to it in great abundance. This perennial will dependably come back the following year with one condition: it cannot tolerate wet soil in the winter!

Bee Balm

• Growing Zones: 4 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Requirements: Moist and well-drained, can tolerate slightly acidic or alkaline soil

The fluffy blooms of bee balm are a distinctive sight in gardens across America. Renowned for its beauty, pollinator attraction, and also as an ingredient in various cosmetics and holistic treatments, bee balm is always a good choice, especially if you want to plant it around the perimeter or at the corners.

Most varieties don’t get too tall, maxing out at about four feet, but do note that it can spread significantly, up to three feet. To control its growth, plant it in a container or give it plenty of room to expand!

Horseradish

• Growing Zones: 3 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Requirements: Deep, well-drained, rich soil. Can tolerate poor soil if kept moist.

Horseradish is most commonly used as a fiery ingredient in various condiments and sauces. Consider both an herb and a vegetable, all common cultivars are perennial.

It’s easy to grow and will return reliably every fall if you plant it in the springtime and care for it diligently; horseradish roots grow amazingly fast and the plant will establish itself in no time.

Garden Phlox

• Growing Zones: 4 through 8
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun to partial shade, tolerates varying light levels
• Soil Requirements: Rich, loose, moist, and well-drained

Fragrant, stately, and long-lasting, garden phlox smells great and looks even better. This classic favorite typically lasts from early summer to the beginning of fall, meaning you can enjoy its gorgeous blooms for the better part of a year, every year! The only downside is that most cultivars are vulnerable to powdery mildew and other fungal infections.

Moss Phlox

• Growing Zones: 3 through 9
• Sunlight Requirements: As much sun as possible!
• Soil Requirements: Sandy or rocky, well-drained soil

Another Phlox on our list, and a highly attractive low-growing ground cover, Moss Phlox is also useful for preventing erosion; it is often used on slopes for exactly this purpose.

Veronica

• Growing Zones: 3 through 9 is best, but some varieties can grow as far as zone 11
• Sunlight Requirements: Full sun to partial shade. Likes more shade in hotter zones.
• Soil Requirements: Well-drained soil, can tolerate dry spells between waterings

If you like spiky flowers, Veronica might serve your purposes. Slender, five- to eight-inch spikes of blue or red shoot up from a stand of elliptical, blue-green leaves in a display that will last from early summer all the way through fall. The plants themselves are only a couple of feet tall at most.