I know you think you’re a manly man who wants nothing to do with flowers, but every lawn and garden has to have some colors besides green present. It’s great to have a well-trimmed patch of green, but without highlights of other colors, it will get rather dull after a bit. So what is the best route to adding some colorful foliage that will be easy to maintain and require little in the way of effort? The answer is in native perennials – they are colorful, they need little maintenance, and they only need to be planted once. Group them together in rounded-off, raised flower beds to make them easy to mow around and keep looking nice and trim.
Yarrow
Yarrow comes in a multitude of colors, and is quite hardy – you’ll be able to enjoy the colors from early spring through late fall. They have a pleasant aroma, need little attention, and are able to withstand heat, cold, and drought. They can be grown in difficult conditions, and can mix with native plants as well ornamental plants.
Tall Garden Phlox
A long-time favorite of gardeners, these flower grow up to 3 or 4 feet high, have a wide range of coloring, and provide a light, pleasant fragrance that can cover a yard.
Asters
Growing up to five feet high, Asters are a staple of fall gardens. The large flowers bloom in multiple colors, including pinks, purples, blues, reds, and whites. They can grow in all hardiness zones, and will keep coming back year after year.
Peonies
Native to Western North America, some breeds of peonies can make it up to 10 feet tall, blooming in a variety of colors such as red and purple. They bloom in late spring and early summer, lasting through until fall. They are highly cultivated, with one of their attractive points being their durability.
Coneflowers
These plants, native to eastern and central North America, are large and showy, and quite hardy. They also multiply rapidly, without help. This can be great, as it will allow you to expand your garden without much effort, but it also means you might get some unchecked growth that you’ll have to weed out.
These five flowers are great places to start if you’re looking for some quick, easy splashes of color to put around your lawn. You’ll want to pay attention to what you plant and where, however, as some of these flowers can grow to great heights, blocking windows or throwing shade where you don’t want it.
