Easy Perennials

Rippling Waters Organic Farm

Promoting Community Food Security through Education, Action, & Service
Farm, Farm Store, Greenhouse & Community Gardens
55 River Road, Steep Falls (Standish), Maine 04085
just off Rte. 25 near Limington Rapids picnic area
(207) 642-5161 greengrower@ripplingwaters.org

Easy to grow perennials can tolerate quite extreme differences in temperature, sunlight, and watering. Often they have native origins, so your Maine conditions match and will help you to grow them. But beware, easy perennials can take be invasive and take over more of your garden space than you planned. To help you get started you can buy the perennial and garden books we have at our Farm Store.

Botanical Name	Year	Common Name	Height	Color	Bloom Time	Deer	Notes
Achillea	2010	Yarrow	tall	yellows, reds	summer	2	native
Ajuga		Bugleweed	Sun to shade	Purples	early summer	2	invasive
Anthemis		Marguerite	tall	yellows	summer	2	cut
Aster*	2010	Aster	short, medium, tall	pink, purple	fall	4	cut native
Artemisia		Wormwood	Sun	grayish	summer	1	foliage plant invasive
Astilbe*	2010	False spirea	medium	reds, pinks purples	late spring	2	cut
Chrysanthemum	2010	Daisy	tall	white	summer	3	cut native
Coreopsis		Tickseed	medium tall	yellows, pink	summer	2	cut
Dianthus*	2010	Pinks or Carnation	medium	pinks	early summer	2	cut
Dicentra*	2010	Bleeding Heart	tall	white, pink	spring	2	native
Echinecea	2010	Coneflower	tall	pinks white	summer	3	medicinal
Hemerocallis	2010	Day Lily	tall	white purple	summer	4	invasive
Heuchera*	2010	Coral Bells	medium	pinks	summer	2
Hosta	2010		medium	purple flowers yellow tip leaves	summer	5
Iris*	2010		tall	pink, blue, purple	late spring	3	cut invasive
Lamium	2010	Dead nettle	Shade	pink, purple	late spring	1	invasive
Malva	2010		tall	pink	summer		invasive
Monarda*	2010	Bee Balm	tall	mixed colors	summer	3	cut, invasive medicinal
Papaver	2010	Poppies	tall	reds oranges	late spring	2
Paeonia*	2010	Peony	tall	white, pink	late spring	2	cut
Phlox	2010	creeping phlox	Sun	many	summer	1
Rudebeckia*	2010	Black-eyed Susans	medium	yellows	summer	4	well-drained cut, native
Salvia*	2010	Sage	medium	pink, white, blue	summer	2	cut, well-drained
Sedum*	2010	Stonecrop	tall	bronze, dark pink	fall	3	cut to dry
Sedum	2010	groundcover	Part Sun/Shade	yellow, red	summer	3	invasive
Stachys		Lambs Ears	Part Sun/Shade	some pink	summer	1	foliage plant invasive
Tradescantia*	2010	Spiderwort	medium	red, grape, white	early summer	2	moist, well-drained invasive
Veronica*	2010	Speedwell	short, medium, & tall	blue, pinks, white	summer	3	cut moist, w-d
Deer Codes: 1=Note Eaten; 2=Seldom Eaten; 3=Occasionally Eaten; 4=Usually Eaten; 5=Always Eaten

Last updated: May 2010