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When planning any type of garden, the use of perennials can serve as a foundation or building block from which you can expand or add initially and in subsequent years. Eventually, many perennials will need to be divided. In that case, these divisions can provide a foundation for other smaller gardens or fill in spaces where you lack sufficient variation or interest or spaces that are just too bare.

When considering perennials, the first few things one should consider are the zone they live in and the hardiness of that zone. If you live in zone 3, for example, it would not be wise to plant tropical things that are only hardy to zone 8 or higher. Another consideration is how much sun you have, and whether it's direct sun, partial sun or total shade. If the area where you intend to plant things gets direct sun, for how long in the day does it get direct sun? The last thing to consider is what your weather conditions are like from around the time of your last frost (if you live in an area where you have to deal with hard freezes,) and whether or not you live in an area that gets moisture throughout the season. Sometimes it's impossible to determine that. Where I live in Texas, we endured two years of extreme drought and that was followed by a year where we had excessive rain. That year it even snowed on Easter. This past growing season, it was very dry again.

If you have a good amount of sun exposure and want to create a space that will require relatively little attention, the perfect solution would be to use native wildflowers or plants. Native plants like the various varieties of coreopsis, yarrow, galliarda, black eyed Susan, gay feather, prairie verbena and Indian paintbrush, just to name a few are flowers that require little care. They can also usually survive dry conditions. They are hardy in most zones. If you live in a place that is tremendously dry, using things that can survive for long periods without water is the wise approach. In this situation, plants such as agave, sedum, yucca and cacti would be wise choices. If you live in a wooded area where you have little direct sun exposure, the wise choices would be things that are shade loving plants. Turtlehead is a nice larger plant. It grows like a bush and produces beautiful colorful small flowers. Astilbe is another good choice. It sends up spires of feathery looking blooms. Coral bells are lovely for shaded areas. If you need to fill a space with something that spreads, consider Pulmonaria or Liriope.

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