Long blooming flowers

What gardener does not want constant colour in their garden? Long blooming flowers are always appreciated in a garden by both the gardeners themselves and by the wildlife. While annuals are known for their long blooms, there are quite a few perennials that have bloom times of 6 -8 weeks or more. Unlike annuals, many of these perennials are native. Many cultivars are bred for longer blooms and they are not marked here as native. Here is a list of these plants.

In some cases, you can get a longer or double bloom period by cutting off the flowerheads as soon as they have finished blooming. Some plants have composite flowers with fertile disc flowers in the centre and sterile ray flowers around the periphery. These flowers will continue to look good in the garden because the sterile ray flowers remain long after the fertile disc flowers have matured.

 

Name	Notes
Agastache foeniculum	Will bloom for two months starting in July.
Agastache scrophulariifolia	Will bloom for two months starting in July.
Aquilegia canadensis	A spring flower for hummingbirds.
Calamintha nepeta	Late June until frosts in November
Coreopsis lanceolata	Commonly planted and has cheery colourful flowers. Cut off the flowerheads as soon as they have matured to get a second wave of flowering.
Coreopsis verticillata	As long as you keep deadheading, the flowers keep coming. It may be easier to deadhead the whole plant in which case you get two sets of blooms.
Echinacea purpurea	Two months beginning in July as it has composite flowers.
Euphorbia corollata	It blooms during July and August
Gaillardia sp.	Long bloom period but a short lifespan.
Helenium autumnale	Does well in moist soils.
Helianthus "Lemon Queen"	This particular cultivar of sunflower has an extended bloom time.
Heliopsis helianthoides	A tough plant that will bloom in a variety of conditions. It has composite flowers with sterile ray flowers. Deadhead the first set of flowers.
Houstonia longifolia	It actually blooms with fertile flowers for many weeks
Houstonia longifolia is a great plant to edge a border with.
Monarda didyma	Blooms for over 8 weeks starting at the end of June
Ratibida pinnata	Blooms over the summer and attracts different bees.
Rudbeckia hirta	Disc flowers are present for a few weeks, but ray flowers remain for 6 - 8 weeks.
Rudbeckia laciniata	Starts blooming in mid-July and will keep blooming until the frost. Other rudbeckia also have long blooms.
Tradescantia ohiensis	Spiderworts bloom in the spring and early summer.
Veronica spicata	When the flowers are near the top of the flowerhead, shear off all the heads and you will get a new set of blooms within a couple of weeks.
Zizia sp.	Can get a double blooming period by deadheading in the spring.