10 of the Best Long Flowering Plants

One of the first long flowering plants which comes to mind is lavender. There are many varieties to choose from and all stay in flower with graceful fading blooms for a good period. Lavandula angustifolia is one of the best, illustrated is 'Hidcote'. Suttons have over 10 varieties of Lavender including the popular 'Hidcote'. Also worth bearing in mind that the French Lavenders, Stoechas, although not as hardy, will continue to flower if regularly dead headed. Advice about Lavender's specific growing conditions.

Sedums look great from mid summer when they form buds as shown above, until late November when the frost settles on the faded flower heads. They are easy to grow, drought resistant and a magnet for butterflies. Fully hardy and blooming in many shades of red, there are also some white varieties ( short video showing pollinators and sedums) which the butterflies love, and low growing yellow varieties much visited by the bees. Buy Sedums.

All about Sedums.

Hydrangea have two flowering advantages. First, they are long flowering and secondly, they age gracefully with resplendent flower heads right up to the first frosts. The colours fade gracefully and make great cut flowers right up to the end of the season. Hydrangea can get large, so it's important to pick one suited to your garden. That said, Hydrangeas will grow in partial shade and tolerate many conditions-check out growing tips.

Dahlia will flower from midsummer until the first frosts. Dahlia produces a continuous supply of new flowers all summer long and, as long as they are dead headed regularly, the flowers will keep on coming. 

The price for all that colour in the border is Dahlia does need some attention- tips about growing Dahlias.

Achillea is another long flowering plant whose blooms look good as they fade. Illustrated is Achillea cerise and the flowers fade to pale pink over time. Achillea is easy to grow, fully hardy and although a relatively short-lived perennial which combines well with many other popular perennials such as Echinacea (Coneflower,) and grasses.

Images and growing tips.

Erigeron is another long-flowering summer perennial. I took these images on 15.06 and 15.10, still flowering.

Although the flowers are small, it's a tough, easy to grow plant demanding only a decent amount of sun. It's very unfussy about soil conditions. Planted in the right place, it looks very effective.

Whilst not a flower, grasses provide colour and interest in borders for months. I've put together a slide show because there are just so many to choose from I could not pick a single variety. Simmering in the summer, bronze autumn tints and even looking good in the snow.

There are lots of images and planting ideas here.  

Hellebores are a group of winter flowering perennials which remain in flower from December to late March, depending on the variety.

They are easy to grow, tolerant of most conditions and self seed to form large clumps of colour in the winter months.

There are a wide range of colours to choose from.

Agapanthus is a long-flowering perennial blooming for up to 2 month. Every garden I have had includes Agapanthus, even in a colder, wet northern garden. Stylish, suitable for borders or containers with attractive seed heads. Agapanthus can be both deciduous and evergreen, depending on the variety. Agapanthus will tolerate light shade, even though they are sun loving. Check out beautiful varieties on sale at Suttons.

Probably one of the longest flowering garden plants, hardy geraniums start flowering around May, and continue to October, depending on the variety. One of the longest flowering varieties is Geranium 'Johnson's blue' (illustrated) which is also attractive to bees. Walking around my area in late October, there were several gardens with this hardy geraniums still flowering.

There are several varieties of hardy fuchsia, this is F. 'Genii' which I particularly like. It has larger flowers than some varieties, strong colour in fuchsia and purple. Hardy fuchsia flower for a long time. I took this image in my garden on 22.10 and the shrub, which had been in flower all summer, was still going strong.

Check out on Suttons.

This is Salvia 'Hot lips', from my garden. First image taken 18.06 and the second 11.10, still flowering, which definitely qualifies as a long-flowering perennial.

It's easy to grow and requires little maintenance. This herbaceous perennial reliably returns each year in a dry, sunny environment. It is also drought-resistant and fully hardy. A member of the sage family, more growing information about Salvias .

Nepeta also known as catmint, is easy to grow and long flowering. Nepeta's beautiful blue display makes it a popular lavender substitute where conditions are unsuitable for lavender.

It's tough, drought resistant, and bee friendly, there is always room for Nepeta in my garden.

Nepeta will often produce a second flush to go on flowering into October.

Alliums flower in predominantly shades of purple, white, blue and there are some pink varieties.

Alliums are a bulb which flower in late spring and early summer (although there is one autumn flowering variety ideal with grasses) tolerant of most conditions except too much winter wet.

Attractive to bees. After flowering, the residual seed heads are attractive.