You’re welcome! Have fun choosing which ones to add to your garden - and of course there’s more options gardeners are also sharing here in the comments too! It’s amazing how just planting a couple of these make a Winter garden look more colorful! 🌿😀
I look for evergreens that have a dense growth and a bit of height (4 to 8 feet). My goal is to also offer birds some shelter during the cold winter nights.
Hi Laura. I planted a whole row of creeping phlox In my front border. They are the first things to bloom in Spring. As for Dianthus not sure which variety I got bcz they all turned brown & died back in Fall. It was not an evergreen in my case. Another great evergreen perineal are hardy ferns. I planted drifts of autumn & holly ferns in my backyard.
I bet the creeping phlox is so pretty in the Springtime, Sammy! It's possible the Dianthus varieties you purchased were annual varieties and not perennial varieties, as even if they don't stay evergreen for you, normally as perennials they would return the following Spring. Ferns are indeed a great idea for evergreen color! 👍
My ajuga had color all winter in a dark chocolate to magenta pink color here in my zone 5 garden. So nice to see color when most everything else is brown.
Hello, Miss Laura, You're a very good & skillful teacher * 1- clearly with all detailed from name of each type of flowers , zone , when to & how to , weather . Those information's for these " loves garden & flowers." I'm in zone 7 with hard clay soil. Thank you & we all very appreciated your time made this video & share. 👍👍
Thank you for your detailed growing guide. There are A Lot of channels to watch one being GA, but non are near as detailed as your videos! Again, thank you! I definitely appreciate your content.
I love having the spreading type of creeping phlox. I just dig it up from where I don't want it and either give it away or put it somewhere else in my garden. It works great as an edger between my flower bed and sidewalks--keeps the mulch and soil from running out onto the sidewalk. My tiarellas are some of my favorite spring bloomers and spread very politely. Even the villosa heucheras don't do great here in my zone 7B heat and humidity, but the heucherellas seem to fare better. I can't keep dianthus happy--probably can't get the drainage right in my clay soil, even well-amended. Another great flower evergreen perennial for me is Georgia Blue Veronica. The polar blast in December knocked it back, but it came back as beautifully as ever.
So now I want to pick your brain! You’re basically in the same gardening zone as I am - my area seems to fluctuate between 7A and 7B depending which way the wind blows. 😅 So I’m happy to hear that the creeping phlox does well for you! Do you have yours in full sun or does it get any partial shade? I used to have Tiarellas in pots when we first moved in years ago (showed it briefly in my video during that section) and loved them - perhaps I need to add some in higher pots so the rabbits aren’t tempted! Now you really got me with the Georgia Blue Veronica! I almost included this plant, but it isn’t an easy one to readily find at garden centers so I was trying to keep my list accessible to all shoppers if they didn’t want to shop via catalogs. I’ve had my eye on Georgie Blue Veronica for two years now, and have been wondering how it might do for me. I’m so happy to hear it bounced back after the December freeze. Is the color as blue as I see in catalog photos? 💙
@@GardenSanity Georgia Blue is absolutely a true blue and one of the first things to bloom in the garden. Mine is in full shade, where thrives, but I understand it will also take a little shade. It is usually an evergreen for me; the foliage bronzes in the winter. I have creeping phlox both in full sun and in one spot that gets winter sun and full shade in the summer (planted before deciduous trees grew and shaded it). It blooms beautifully in the sunny area and is a beautiful green groundcover under azaleas in the shade with a few sporadic blooms. Our temps dropped from mid 50s to 1 degree in just a few hours in December, and we stayed below freezing for 72 hours, so a lot of damage. All camellias, loropetalum, azaleas and gardenias completely browned and defoliated. Still waiting to see what comes back.
Thanks so much for this info on Georgia Blue. I'm excited to try it, because that blue color just amazed me! I used to have Lithodora in my garden, which has electric blue flowers, but it dried out so easily and sometimes couldn't handle our heat and humidity very well. So adding blue flowers back would be wonderful! 💙 That horrible December freeze did so much damage for so many gardeners. Did your Camellias bloom at all? Fingers crossed for the other pretty shrubs you mentioned.
@@GardenSanity No camellia blooms. Just hoping they leaf back out. I tried Lithodora for the first time last year after seeing it in garden centers for years. It didn't make it through the summer. If a plant doesn't like humidity, it dies pretty quickly here!
Thanks for a comprehensive video! 🌱 I appreciate your clear, and detailed descriptions + great visuals! Grateful I don’t have 🐇 pressure in my Zone 4 garden (so far)!
You’re welcome and thanks so much for your feedback! 🙂 You’re definitely lucky you don’t have rabbits to deal with. They are really cute but very destructive. 🐰
Scotch Broom… somewhere between a shrub and a perennial but certainly 100% evergreen and mindless care with spectacular pea-sized spring blooms and beautiful year round evergreen wispy spikes .
Thanks so much Nicole! 😊 You know I bought the sweater just because it had flowers on it! 🌸😅 I was worried about planting Ajuga at first, wondering if the spread would be crazy, but I love how it is behaving so far. And the flowers are so pretty! 💙
Thank you, I found this useful. I'm trying to create a South facing bed in Kent in the UK and want most of the plants to be perennial and evergreen. Fortunately I don't have a problem with deer or rabbits but know those that do.
Great idea Camb, to start off with perennials that are evergreen in a new garden bed! It just makes everything look fuller year-round, and flowers are a plus, of course! 🙂 You're fortunate not to have deer or rabbits...and I bet your gardening friends tell you that, too! 🙂 Let your friends know about my "Plants Rabbits Hate" video -- as that may help them too! 🐰
Many thanks for this enjoyable video! After seeing this video I will be adding some Hellebores to my garden. I’ve seen them in other gardens over the years and admired them but never bought any. Not sure why I slept on this one.? I guess I was too busy trying out other plants. There’s a lot of beauty out there and I garden somewhat on a budget. 🙂. Love your videos and your content! 👌🪴🥰
I love your honesty. I have dianthus, lavender, heuchera, hellebore, and creeping phlox. Your other suggestions are on my radar. My first dianthus had a lovely clove scent and bloomed near my son's birthday. They were British heirlooms gifted to me by a business associate.
Hi from Robbinsville, NJ! Deer and rabbits can do a lot of damage when they are just tasting so i am going native. So far it’s working! My hellebore are over twenty years old (the deer definitely don’t like them). Happy Gardening!
Hi JPat - waving to you from Little Egg Harbor! 👋 So glad the deer haven’t touched your Hellebores! Another gardener who commented here hasn’t been so lucky. The thing about deer is that they actually prefer to eat native plants rather than invasives. A study was done back in 2017 by Cornell showing this is the case. This has impacts for our wild forests because deer can end up changing the plant makeup of those forests, the study showed, actually enabling any nearby invasives to move in unfortunately. ☹️ And I guess it makes sense, since deer traditionally have foraged in forests and woodlands where native plants are plentiful. Luckily there are many deer “resistant” native plants and I love referring to Rutgers Univ list of plants for this purpose - handy for us in New Jersey! I’m very fortunate not to have any deer to deal with, but I see the damage they can do in so many gardens and I don’t envy anyone having to deal with them. On another note: I bet your 20-year-old Hellebores must be so beautiful! Have they gently spread over time? Which varieties do you have? (I love Hellebores so much!) 🌸🙂
@@Jpatmeadowbrook 🤣 You made me laugh out loud about your Bambis! 🤣 That is so special to have hellebores from seeds you harvested yourself! I'd be smiling every single day they are in bloom -- and I bet you do! So neat!!
Thank you for all of the wonderful info!! I live in the PNW and not only do we get a lot of water (my jasmine hates wet feet), I have clay soil (that I'm going to be amending with compost this year), but we have deer that hang out on our property because they know they're safe. We just had a hill stabilized with the Dirt Locker system, and this spring, most of it is going to buried properly and planted. The system was placed in December and I just wanted everything to settle with all of the water before rearranging a little and putting in great soil. No reason to pay for 5 loads of compost and 2 of topsoil before spring. It's only just now February, and we've already had a freeze ... ice, then snow, then ice again ... for a week. Expecting a few more things like this before April. I'm not a gardener, so I'm so uneducated. I have no idea what's what. Thanks for providing a great starting point!
My pleasure April! So first off: you ARE a gardener whether you realize it yet or not, because you've already told me the type of soil you have, how you're planning on amending it, plus you had the Dirt Locker system installed and correctly let everything settle for the Winter! So...I think you're going to really enjoy filling in the hillside. We all start somewhere, and gardening is such a wonderful passion because we are constantly learning. So welcome to gardening and I hope I can help encourage you as we go along on this fun -- and sometimes frustrating -- journey...but that's where garden "sanity" comes in! ❤️
I have a lot of these plants that you mentioned. My favorite is regular Phlox, Heucheras & Lavendar. I live in Zone 5. I am going to look for the Pigsqueak this year for my garden. I buy 1 new plant a year. Thanks for the very informative video.
Hi Linda - thanks for sharing your favorites in zone 5! I love that you add one new plant each year - that’s a fantastic way to treat yourself and get to know a new plant without being overwhelmed by “lots” of new plants! 🙂 Pigsqueak just seems like it will make me smile - so I look forward to adding it this year too! We will have to see how each of us likes it! 😀
I have most of the perennials you mentioned growing in my zone 8A garden. Also evergreen are: Stoke's aster, scabious, primrose, euphorbia "Ascot", Veronica "Georgia Blue", and species geranium in my garden Semi-evergreen are Shasta daisies, Farfugeum, and bearded iris. If you like grasses, carex, blue fescue, liriope, and mondo grass are all evergreen.
Thanks Jackie for such a great list of evergreen (and semi-evergreen) perennials for 8A! 👍🙂 I love the way blue fescue and carex sedges keep their colors in Winter - such a nice addition of texture too. I’m going to try Veronica “Georgia Blue” hopefully this year here in zone 7. I’ve had my eye on it for a few years now, and another gardener here in the comments told me how wonderful it is. I love how varied your list is, with different heights and bloom times, which must look so wonderful in your garden in Spring and Summer - but obviously in Winter too! ❄️🌞
This was a great video! So glad you mentioned Hellebores. I planted them for the first time 2 years ago and they are thriving here in my high elevation zone 7b Arizona garden. The leaves are a deep waxy green with a beautiful pattern and I still have flowers today and its May 20th! The flowers are exquisite and last so long! I am going to fill my garden with them! I have them planted in morning sun and afternoon shade. Our summers will get to triple digits and they still have tripled in size in 2 seasons. I also love my heuchera, ajuga and bergenia. I planted encore azaleas this last fall which are supposed to be evergreen but the squirrels devoured them as we had a long cold winter. They are coming back thankfully. Although they are not an evergreen, I would add red twig dogwood to a list of plants that provide color through all the seasons. Thanks for a great video!
Hi Donna -- pardon my delay in responding! That's wonderful to hear how well Hellebores grow for you in Arizona! I added more to my own gardens as well this Summer -- this time in the front yard. Some of them got a bit too much sun during our extreme heat (which no doubt you know all too well living in AZ). They get afternoon shade as well, but probably a bit too much sun, however I'm hoping they will fare much better as the years ago by once they get their roots better established. I'm planning on adding some taller perennials to give them some dappled shade next year. I also added Bergenia which I agree is wonderful! I guess I'm fortunate the squirrels haven't touched my evergreen azaleas (yet?!?). Last Winter was more mild here, but this year we may be colder so we shall see. A great point about red twig dogwood! I have both red and yellow and love them year-round but especially during the Winter. Thanks for sharing! The gardening zones are so interesting because we are across the country from each other -- I'm in NJ -- yet our zones are supposedly similar. Always fascinates me! 🌞😀
I am in zone 5b and I think the deer and rabbit resistance depends on what they have to forage through the winters. Last year was a long and rough winter for us and the deer ate our evergreen hedges, my rhododendron, and stripped bark from trees. This year has overall been much milder so far as total snow fall, and we haven’t had deer damage, but we did have some bunnies come through and eat about half my creeping phlox. I’ve had excellent luck with that lavender though! No animal damage and even though we got down to -15F recently the lavender didn’t have any problems and still looks great.
It is astounding how much damage deer can do during Winters when food (for them) is scarce. I’ve seen this happen in my parents’ landscape as well. I’m fortunate not to have deer problems, but wow can I ever appreciate how difficult it is. ☹️ I used to live in Boston for over 20 years, so I know how much snow you can get! I’m not happy to hear that rabbits ate your creeping phlox - but - you’re the second gardener to mention this. And with a more mild Winter, those bunnies should have other things to eat. (I still wish they could read - signs would make things so much easier.) Happy to hear your lavender is looking great! Sometimes I think I like lavender more in Winter than in Summer, just because the color is so wonderful in Winter landscapes! 💜🙂
You’re welcome Ron, and I really appreciate your feedback! 🙂 It looks like your temperatures are warmer in TN than what we have here in New Jersey - you’re lucky! ☀️🪴
I live in a 5 zone but I have a gigantic 45 years old novegian maple in front of my house which make a shady front yard. I like buxus and i make square row like a french garden. Echinacea, hydrangeas, poeny… i will love to have light pink rose on a arch. Will definitely try this once the patio renovation will be completed.
Tea bag deer/rabbit repellent: Dry out your used tea bags. Rub copious amount of Vicks Vapo-Rub and tie them to the plants. OK.. you don't have to use tea bags. You can use strips of cloth or whatever is convenient.
Never heard of this before, Katie. Thanks for sharing! I had heard of gardeners putting Vicks Vapo-Rub on their actual plants, which I don't think is a great idea personally. But hanging it next to them sounds like a good option.👍
I’ll have to try this as we have hung Irish spring 🍀 🧼 soaps with a fish string onto our sky pencil hollys or hollies (?) lol and they leave soap residue on the leaves so it looks like light mold 😅 I do wish that I didn’t toss my expired Vicks jar prior to seeing this post The soap did work until a bit into spring when they nibbled on the 2 that didn’t have soap hung and a deer deterrent device that was not close enough to them
Zone 6b Northern Arizona here. Having good luck with Euphorbia amygdaloides staying evergreen. Mine just shook off low 20 degrees and 10 inches of snow, came back perky!
Hi Kristi -- thanks for the great suggestion of Euphorbia amygdaloides! What a pretty plant! 💚 And it sounds like it is super resilient too! 👍 But I must admit, I never think of Arizona and snow in the same sentence. Here on the east coast, I wrongly assume Arizona is mild in the Winter. You've had more snow than me this year!
Deer ate the hellebores in my front yard but not my back yard… so if it’s along one of their high traffic areas it may fall victim but if it’s a bit out of their way then probably safe. I have particularly voracious deer though and live on the edge of the woods. They did not touch my lavender though!
Oh Courtney, so sorry the deer dined on your front yard hellebores. ☹️ And you’re right - the high traffic paths of deer are no match for anything they want to sample or eat. I see that with my parents’ landscape - the deer have established paths and that’s just the way it is. Glad they leave your lavender alone - hopefully they enjoy the lovely scent like we do! 💜
Hi Mary - glad this was helpful for you! You’re right - the Heucherella may be the perfect plant - and they come in so many colors that I bet you’ll make something very pretty underneath those Crepe Myrtles! (I’m watching my Ajuga to see if they continue spreading nicely to surround my own Crepe Myrtle. I hope so!) Keep me posted on what you decide to plant! 🌱🙂
I have Ajuga and live in zone 6a and it’s not evergreen for me. The plant is good until January and February and it all dies back. I love this plant though. I bought two of them two years ago for my rock garden. The plant is so easy to dig a piece out and turn the top of the soil and place it there. I now have five and will make more this year. Another good plant is a Foam plant for shade and it stays evergreen for me. The plant turns a burgundy in winter and it’s so pretty. Ok never mind you talk about Foam flowers lol.
Hi Sophie, It sounds like you might be right on the edge of the Zone 6 hardiness zone for Ajuga, but at least it’s nice for you into February! 👍 Glad to hear they’re easy to dig up and transplant, as I’m hoping to do that once mine fill in more. I bet your Foam flower plants are so pretty in Winter! I think they are lovely plants. 😀
@@GardenSanity I live about forty minutes from NYC going north. I am almost 6b. Ajuga is so easy to split and make more. I just use garden shears and cut a small piece off the plant and stick it in a new spot. The foam flower is the same. The root system in not very deep at all and it’s so easy.
Well you’re not on the edge of the hardiness zone, that’s for sure! 😂 I bought some teeny tiny pots of Ajuga Chocolate Chip at the end of last season to add more to my garden. But I think I’ll try your method too! Thanks for the tip! 😀
Waving to you here in southern New Jersey! 👋 Thanks for your list of evergreen perennials! I’m very interested in Silene being evergreen for you, as so many gardeners grow it just as an annual. Which variety do you have? There are so many pretty ones to choose from! 🙂🌸
@@GardenSanity 👋🏾 👋🏾 I grow Silene x robotii ‘Rollie’s favorite’. I bought them in Spring 2021 from HD so they’ve survived 2 winters. By Jan/Feb, the older outer leaves get yellow, but ~70-80% of the plants stays green throughout. Best part…the rabbits don’t touch them😂
@@Kylie4Queen Thank you so much for this info! I'm adding this to my never-ending list of plants I'd like to add. Rollie's Favorite sounds like a winner. 👍 I really appreciate it! 💜
Have never had tiarella but do have heuchera, again they got demolished by deer in the front yard but untouched in the backyard. Keep it to less high traffic deer areas. The deer only occasionally browse my backyard but are in the front yard almost daily.
These (tiarella, heuchera and heucherella) are such pretty plants, but I’ve got rabbits running around everywhere. And I’ve heard about deer grazing on them too - so thanks for sharing this Courtney! With rabbits, a fellow gardener suggested I plant rabbit favorites in higher containers they can’t reach, but you’d need super-high containers for deer! 🦌🤔🤣 Are there any shrubs or plants the deer avoid in your front yard?
@@GardenSanity so far lavender, Russian sage, butterfly bush, caryopteris, salvia, bee balm, service berry tree, oregano, catnip, thyme, daffodils, pachysandra, ferns, cypress, spruce and juniper are untouched. Iris and lungwort is mostly left alone but will sample. I think sedum was just fine and they don’t seem to bother my weigela. Amsonia foliage was completely untouched but I haven’t seen them flower yet so can’t speak to that but since it has that milky toxic sap I predict those will be fine. I have a really cool Aphrodite calycanthus shrub that you’d think they would eat since it’s so lush and has flowers but all 3 in different spots along their high traffic areas are fine. Peony are untouched as well (both regular herbaceous and itoh). They mostly leave my cardinal flower alone though might nip off a flower occasionally. Lupine and echinacea are pointless to grow because despite the foliage being left alone they eat all the flowers. I heard they don’t eat brunnera due to the scratchy fuzzy leaves but those still got hit. Rhododendrons are hit or miss- they seem to leave my black hat rhododendrons alone, slightly nibble on the traditional large purple flowering ones, but ate my red flowering Nova Zembla to a stub. That’s all I can think of for now :)
Wow Courtney -- you've got this deer problem solved! I love the wonderful selection of plants in your front yard -- regardless of the deer issue -- and the fact that deer mostly leave them alone is such a bonus! 👍 👏 The Aphrodite shrub is so pretty! Ok, but back to what a rock star you are with the excellent plant choices! Totally impressed. Totally! 😄
Heuchera for me definitely not deer resistant, the deer demolish them unfortunately. They did nibble my hellebores for the first time this winter in December, but they left them alone after that. Definitely a favorite perennial of mine because when the snow melts I see them getting ready to flower🥰. Creeping phlox and dianthus also great greenery in winter when we have those snow melts and see ground. Even though it’s a biannual and not perennial foxgloves are a great evergreen choice that’s definitely deer resistant, it does love to reseed so I look at it like a perennial since I have tons of flowering plants every year.
Sorry that deer demolished your Heuchera Terri. But at least they stopped eating your Hellebores. (Glass half full!) And I’m with you - seeing those Hellebores peeking out from leaves and (sometimes) snow is pure joy. 😊 Are Foxgloves difficult to grow? I think I’d like to try them.
@@GardenSanity yep glass half full, because I have some nice looking hellebores under that snow cover. Foxglove so easy, we just tossed the seed onto the ground years ago, before I knew about winter sowing, and they came up. They do reseed at will, but easy to pull up in unwanted locations. I love them because they are truly deer proof one of the few deer don’t even dare nibble.
Ooooh Terri - sounds like Foxgloves might be in my future! (I can see myself next Fall/Winter throwing seeds all over the garden beds!) 😂 Seriously, thanks for letting me know about them, as they are indeed beautiful flowers! And I’m happy that they are not liked by rabbits either - probably because they are poisonous…of course so was my Yucca plant but they ate that anyway! 🙃🙂
Thanks a lot. I,m a new (just 3 years experience) and found out that from all my plants I would like to have more salvias. I need YOUR ADVICE, please. What is the best way to find them and what is the best place to buy? Looking forward for next videos. My wishes of the very best for you. Great job!
Salvias are wonderful sun-loving perennials! If you have an independent garden nursery nearby, that's the best place to purchase garden plants. The staff will be very helpful and knowledgeable about salvias and what will grow best in your area. You won't get the same level of plant expertise at the big box garden centers, unfortunately. A wonderful resource to learn about interesting varieties of salvia is Plant Delights Nursery, here's their link about salvias: www.plantdelights.com/collections/salvia-greggii-guaranitica-farinacea-nemorosa I hope this helps! 🌱😃
The bunnies like to mow down my creeping phlox right before it’s about to bloom. 😢 Hardy geraniums are sometimes evergreen and mine have never been eaten.
Gah!!!!!! 🤯 That's horrible Will -- and using a mower too. 😉 Now I'm wondering if it will be smart for me to plant it... This year, despite the overall mild Winter, my hardy geraniums didn't keep their color...but in past colder and snowy Winters they have. 🤷♀️ But those rabbits... 😡
Hi Ryan -- these are three Red Tip Photinia shrubs we grew into trees next to our patio. I love these plants because they are evergreen, so you get privacy year-round. The new growth is bright red, which makes for a pretty leaf combination and there are wonderful flowers in late Spring that look like giant Queen Anne's Lace flowers. The flowers appear on the sunny side (the other side from where I'm standing!) If you want to see the other side, here's a link to a video I did about professional tree pruning two years ago: th-cam.com/video/B4Q3fZLFXWA/w-d-xo.html If you go to the Chapter headings in the description area (below the video) you can click on Red Tip Photinia to go directly to that section. I plan on filming it again later in the Spring with the flowers so stay tuned! Thanks for asking! 🙂🌳
I am very impressed with your knowledge of evergreen perennials. You read my mind that I needed these plants in my garden...thank you!
You’re welcome! Have fun choosing which ones to add to your garden - and of course there’s more options gardeners are also sharing here in the comments too! It’s amazing how just planting a couple of these make a Winter garden look more colorful! 🌿😀
I look for evergreens that have a dense growth and a bit of height (4 to 8 feet). My goal is to also offer birds some shelter during the cold winter nights.
Hi Laura. I planted a whole row of creeping phlox In my front border. They are the first things to bloom in Spring. As for Dianthus not sure which variety I got bcz they all turned brown & died back in Fall. It was not an evergreen in my case. Another great evergreen perineal are hardy ferns. I planted drifts of autumn & holly ferns in my backyard.
I bet the creeping phlox is so pretty in the Springtime, Sammy! It's possible the Dianthus varieties you purchased were annual varieties and not perennial varieties, as even if they don't stay evergreen for you, normally as perennials they would return the following Spring. Ferns are indeed a great idea for evergreen color! 👍
My ajuga had color all winter in a dark chocolate to magenta pink color here in my zone 5 garden. So nice to see color when most everything else is brown.
That sound so pretty Amy! 💓 Which variety do you have? Mine are starting to bloom, with tiny blue flowers! I have Chocolate Chip.
Hello, Miss Laura, You're a very good & skillful teacher * 1- clearly with all detailed from name of each type of flowers , zone , when to & how to , weather . Those information's for these " loves garden & flowers." I'm in zone 7 with hard clay soil. Thank you & we all very appreciated your time made this video & share. 👍👍
You're welcome and so happy to help! Happy Spring! 🌸
I have dianthus lavender and just bought a Hillebroe love them
Hi Debbie! Each perennial you mentioned is so dependable in the garden. Great choices - I love them too! 👍😀
In zone 8 My euphorbia looked amazing all winter with its red stems. Definitely buying more this year
You're the second vote for Euphorbia, Mary! Thanks so much for sharing this! I'm keeping my eye on Euphorbia now. Geez my plant list is growing! 😄
Thank you for your detailed growing guide. There are A Lot of channels to watch one being GA, but non are near as detailed as your videos! Again, thank you! I definitely appreciate your content.
You’re welcome Christy - and thank you for your feedback! It means a lot! 😊 Where do you garden, i.e. what garden zone?
I love having the spreading type of creeping phlox. I just dig it up from where I don't want it and either give it away or put it somewhere else in my garden. It works great as an edger between my flower bed and sidewalks--keeps the mulch and soil from running out onto the sidewalk. My tiarellas are some of my favorite spring bloomers and spread very politely. Even the villosa heucheras don't do great here in my zone 7B heat and humidity, but the heucherellas seem to fare better. I can't keep dianthus happy--probably can't get the drainage right in my clay soil, even well-amended. Another great flower evergreen perennial for me is Georgia Blue Veronica. The polar blast in December knocked it back, but it came back as beautifully as ever.
So now I want to pick your brain! You’re basically in the same gardening zone as I am - my area seems to fluctuate between 7A and 7B depending which way the wind blows. 😅 So I’m happy to hear that the creeping phlox does well for you! Do you have yours in full sun or does it get any partial shade? I used to have Tiarellas in pots when we first moved in years ago (showed it briefly in my video during that section) and loved them - perhaps I need to add some in higher pots so the rabbits aren’t tempted! Now you really got me with the Georgia Blue Veronica! I almost included this plant, but it isn’t an easy one to readily find at garden centers so I was trying to keep my list accessible to all shoppers if they didn’t want to shop via catalogs. I’ve had my eye on Georgie Blue Veronica for two years now, and have been wondering how it might do for me. I’m so happy to hear it bounced back after the December freeze. Is the color as blue as I see in catalog photos? 💙
@@GardenSanity Georgia Blue is absolutely a true blue and one of the first things to bloom in the garden. Mine is in full shade, where thrives, but I understand it will also take a little shade. It is usually an evergreen for me; the foliage bronzes in the winter. I have creeping phlox both in full sun and in one spot that gets winter sun and full shade in the summer (planted before deciduous trees grew and shaded it). It blooms beautifully in the sunny area and is a beautiful green groundcover under azaleas in the shade with a few sporadic blooms. Our temps dropped from mid 50s to 1 degree in just a few hours in December, and we stayed below freezing for 72 hours, so a lot of damage. All camellias, loropetalum, azaleas and gardenias completely browned and defoliated. Still waiting to see what comes back.
Thanks so much for this info on Georgia Blue. I'm excited to try it, because that blue color just amazed me! I used to have Lithodora in my garden, which has electric blue flowers, but it dried out so easily and sometimes couldn't handle our heat and humidity very well. So adding blue flowers back would be wonderful! 💙 That horrible December freeze did so much damage for so many gardeners. Did your Camellias bloom at all? Fingers crossed for the other pretty shrubs you mentioned.
Actually, I meant that my Georgia Blue grows in full sun, but I'm going to try it in a shadier area.
@@GardenSanity No camellia blooms. Just hoping they leaf back out. I tried Lithodora for the first time last year after seeing it in garden centers for years. It didn't make it through the summer. If a plant doesn't like humidity, it dies pretty quickly here!
Thanks for a comprehensive video! 🌱 I appreciate your clear, and detailed descriptions + great visuals! Grateful I don’t have 🐇 pressure in my Zone 4 garden (so far)!
You’re welcome and thanks so much for your feedback! 🙂 You’re definitely lucky you don’t have rabbits to deal with. They are really cute but very destructive. 🐰
Scotch Broom… somewhere between a shrub and a perennial but certainly 100% evergreen and mindless care with spectacular pea-sized spring blooms and beautiful year round evergreen wispy spikes .
Great video!!!
Thanks Jacqueline! 😀
18k views!!!! Well done! ❤️🌱
Love your knit top 💙
Great list 💯 Ajuga is my favorite
Thanks so much Nicole! 😊 You know I bought the sweater just because it had flowers on it! 🌸😅 I was worried about planting Ajuga at first, wondering if the spread would be crazy, but I love how it is behaving so far. And the flowers are so pretty! 💙
Thank you, I found this useful. I'm trying to create a South facing bed in Kent in the UK and want most of the plants to be perennial and evergreen. Fortunately I don't have a problem with deer or rabbits but know those that do.
Great idea Camb, to start off with perennials that are evergreen in a new garden bed! It just makes everything look fuller year-round, and flowers are a plus, of course! 🙂 You're fortunate not to have deer or rabbits...and I bet your gardening friends tell you that, too! 🙂 Let your friends know about my "Plants Rabbits Hate" video -- as that may help them too! 🐰
Many thanks for this enjoyable video! After seeing this video I will be adding some Hellebores to my garden. I’ve seen them in other gardens over the years and admired them but never bought any. Not sure why I slept on this one.? I guess I was too busy trying out other plants. There’s a lot of beauty out there and I garden somewhat on a budget. 🙂. Love your videos and your content! 👌🪴🥰
I love your honesty. I have dianthus, lavender, heuchera, hellebore, and creeping phlox. Your other suggestions are on my radar.
My first dianthus had a lovely clove scent and bloomed near my son's birthday. They were British heirlooms gifted to me by a business associate.
Hi from Robbinsville, NJ! Deer and rabbits can do a lot of damage when they are just tasting so i am going native. So far it’s working! My hellebore are over twenty years old (the deer definitely don’t like them). Happy Gardening!
Hi JPat - waving to you from Little Egg Harbor! 👋 So glad the deer haven’t touched your Hellebores! Another gardener who commented here hasn’t been so lucky. The thing about deer is that they actually prefer to eat native plants rather than invasives. A study was done back in 2017 by Cornell showing this is the case. This has impacts for our wild forests because deer can end up changing the plant makeup of those forests, the study showed, actually enabling any nearby invasives to move in unfortunately. ☹️ And I guess it makes sense, since deer traditionally have foraged in forests and woodlands where native plants are plentiful. Luckily there are many deer “resistant” native plants and I love referring to Rutgers Univ list of plants for this purpose - handy for us in New Jersey! I’m very fortunate not to have any deer to deal with, but I see the damage they can do in so many gardens and I don’t envy anyone having to deal with them. On another note: I bet your 20-year-old Hellebores must be so beautiful! Have they gently spread over time? Which varieties do you have? (I love Hellebores so much!) 🌸🙂
Good that my Bambi’s haven’t read that Cornell paper. I’m a alumni of Rutgers and my first hellebores came from seeds harvested on a trip to Italy!
@@Jpatmeadowbrook 🤣 You made me laugh out loud about your Bambis! 🤣 That is so special to have hellebores from seeds you harvested yourself! I'd be smiling every single day they are in bloom -- and I bet you do! So neat!!
Thanks for the explanation on the Heucherella. This is the best choice for me as my yard lacks shade until the trees grow big enough to provide some.
You’re welcome Carl! If I didn’t deal with rabbits, Heucherella would be my choice too. 👍
Thank you for all of the wonderful info!! I live in the PNW and not only do we get a lot of water (my jasmine hates wet feet), I have clay soil (that I'm going to be amending with compost this year), but we have deer that hang out on our property because they know they're safe. We just had a hill stabilized with the Dirt Locker system, and this spring, most of it is going to buried properly and planted. The system was placed in December and I just wanted everything to settle with all of the water before rearranging a little and putting in great soil. No reason to pay for 5 loads of compost and 2 of topsoil before spring. It's only just now February, and we've already had a freeze ... ice, then snow, then ice again ... for a week. Expecting a few more things like this before April.
I'm not a gardener, so I'm so uneducated. I have no idea what's what. Thanks for providing a great starting point!
My pleasure April! So first off: you ARE a gardener whether you realize it yet or not, because you've already told me the type of soil you have, how you're planning on amending it, plus you had the Dirt Locker system installed and correctly let everything settle for the Winter! So...I think you're going to really enjoy filling in the hillside. We all start somewhere, and gardening is such a wonderful passion because we are constantly learning. So welcome to gardening and I hope I can help encourage you as we go along on this fun -- and sometimes frustrating -- journey...but that's where garden "sanity" comes in! ❤️
I have a lot of these plants that you mentioned. My favorite is regular Phlox, Heucheras & Lavendar. I live in Zone 5. I am going to look for the Pigsqueak this year for my garden. I buy 1 new plant a year. Thanks for the very informative video.
Hi Linda - thanks for sharing your favorites in zone 5! I love that you add one new plant each year - that’s a fantastic way to treat yourself and get to know a new plant without being overwhelmed by “lots” of new plants! 🙂 Pigsqueak just seems like it will make me smile - so I look forward to adding it this year too! We will have to see how each of us likes it! 😀
I have most of the perennials you mentioned growing in my zone 8A garden. Also evergreen are: Stoke's aster, scabious, primrose, euphorbia "Ascot", Veronica "Georgia Blue", and species geranium in my garden Semi-evergreen are Shasta daisies, Farfugeum, and bearded iris. If you like grasses, carex, blue fescue, liriope, and mondo grass are all evergreen.
Thanks Jackie for such a great list of evergreen (and semi-evergreen) perennials for 8A! 👍🙂 I love the way blue fescue and carex sedges keep their colors in Winter - such a nice addition of texture too. I’m going to try Veronica “Georgia Blue” hopefully this year here in zone 7. I’ve had my eye on it for a few years now, and another gardener here in the comments told me how wonderful it is. I love how varied your list is, with different heights and bloom times, which must look so wonderful in your garden in Spring and Summer - but obviously in Winter too! ❄️🌞
Great list of choices. Thanks.
@@maureenmckenna5220 I agree Maureen -- Jackie's list is wonderful!
Jackie, this is so sweet that you put this list together. It’s always great to see how plants behave in this zone!
This was a great video! So glad you mentioned Hellebores. I planted them for the first time 2 years ago and they are thriving here in my high elevation zone 7b Arizona garden. The leaves are a deep waxy green with a beautiful pattern and I still have flowers today and its May 20th! The flowers are exquisite and last so long! I am going to fill my garden with them! I have them planted in morning sun and afternoon shade. Our summers will get to triple digits and they still have tripled in size in 2 seasons. I also love my heuchera, ajuga and bergenia. I planted encore azaleas this last fall which are supposed to be evergreen but the squirrels devoured them as we had a long cold winter. They are coming back thankfully. Although they are not an evergreen, I would add red twig dogwood to a list of plants that provide color through all the seasons. Thanks for a great video!
Hi Donna -- pardon my delay in responding! That's wonderful to hear how well Hellebores grow for you in Arizona! I added more to my own gardens as well this Summer -- this time in the front yard. Some of them got a bit too much sun during our extreme heat (which no doubt you know all too well living in AZ). They get afternoon shade as well, but probably a bit too much sun, however I'm hoping they will fare much better as the years ago by once they get their roots better established. I'm planning on adding some taller perennials to give them some dappled shade next year. I also added Bergenia which I agree is wonderful! I guess I'm fortunate the squirrels haven't touched my evergreen azaleas (yet?!?). Last Winter was more mild here, but this year we may be colder so we shall see. A great point about red twig dogwood! I have both red and yellow and love them year-round but especially during the Winter. Thanks for sharing! The gardening zones are so interesting because we are across the country from each other -- I'm in NJ -- yet our zones are supposedly similar. Always fascinates me! 🌞😀
I am in zone 5b and I think the deer and rabbit resistance depends on what they have to forage through the winters. Last year was a long and rough winter for us and the deer ate our evergreen hedges, my rhododendron, and stripped bark from trees. This year has overall been much milder so far as total snow fall, and we haven’t had deer damage, but we did have some bunnies come through and eat about half my creeping phlox. I’ve had excellent luck with that lavender though! No animal damage and even though we got down to -15F recently the lavender didn’t have any problems and still looks great.
It is astounding how much damage deer can do during Winters when food (for them) is scarce. I’ve seen this happen in my parents’ landscape as well. I’m fortunate not to have deer problems, but wow can I ever appreciate how difficult it is. ☹️ I used to live in Boston for over 20 years, so I know how much snow you can get! I’m not happy to hear that rabbits ate your creeping phlox - but - you’re the second gardener to mention this. And with a more mild Winter, those bunnies should have other things to eat. (I still wish they could read - signs would make things so much easier.) Happy to hear your lavender is looking great! Sometimes I think I like lavender more in Winter than in Summer, just because the color is so wonderful in Winter landscapes! 💜🙂
What great information! Thank you.
You're welcome Nancy -- so glad you liked it! 🌸 😊
Thank you for this wonderful video. You provide so much information on the plants and flowers. Very well done!
You’re welcome Ron, and I really appreciate your feedback! 🙂 It looks like your temperatures are warmer in TN than what we have here in New Jersey - you’re lucky! ☀️🪴
I live in a 5 zone but I have a gigantic 45 years old novegian maple in front of my house which make a shady front yard. I like buxus and i make square row like a french garden. Echinacea, hydrangeas, poeny… i will love to have light pink rose on a arch. Will definitely try this once the patio renovation will be completed.
Loved your content .
Thank you! 😊
Tea bag deer/rabbit repellent: Dry out your used tea bags. Rub copious amount of Vicks Vapo-Rub and tie them to the plants. OK.. you don't have to use tea bags. You can use strips of cloth or whatever is convenient.
Never heard of this before, Katie. Thanks for sharing! I had heard of gardeners putting Vicks Vapo-Rub on their actual plants, which I don't think is a great idea personally. But hanging it next to them sounds like a good option.👍
I’ll have to try this as we have hung Irish spring 🍀 🧼 soaps with a fish string onto our sky pencil hollys or hollies (?) lol and they leave soap residue on the leaves so it looks like light mold 😅
I do wish that I didn’t toss my expired Vicks jar prior to seeing this post
The soap did work until a bit into spring when they nibbled on the 2 that didn’t have soap hung and a deer deterrent device that was not close enough to them
Hey, Laura! 👋🏻 I’m actually growing some candytuft that I started from seed this yr. It has germinated and is growing like a weed lol!
Whoo hoo! Glad to hear it’s growing like a weed Lori! 😀🌱🌿 I know you’ll enjoy it! 🤍
Zone 6b Northern Arizona here. Having good luck with Euphorbia amygdaloides staying evergreen. Mine just shook off low 20 degrees and 10 inches of snow, came back perky!
Hi Kristi -- thanks for the great suggestion of Euphorbia amygdaloides! What a pretty plant! 💚 And it sounds like it is super resilient too! 👍 But I must admit, I never think of Arizona and snow in the same sentence. Here on the east coast, I wrongly assume Arizona is mild in the Winter. You've had more snow than me this year!
Amazing Video thanks 😊
Deer ate the hellebores in my front yard but not my back yard… so if it’s along one of their high traffic areas it may fall victim but if it’s a bit out of their way then probably safe. I have particularly voracious deer though and live on the edge of the woods. They did not touch my lavender though!
Oh Courtney, so sorry the deer dined on your front yard hellebores. ☹️ And you’re right - the high traffic paths of deer are no match for anything they want to sample or eat. I see that with my parents’ landscape - the deer have established paths and that’s just the way it is. Glad they leave your lavender alone - hopefully they enjoy the lovely scent like we do! 💜
We have pacasandra as a ground cover in our garden beds. The Coolidge stays dark green in zone 5 😊
My Erysimum cheiri always does great in the winter aswell as summer.
Oh I bet it is so pretty Lidia! Another great suggestion -- thank you! 💛 Does it self-seed nicely for you?
Great info. I’m looking for things to plant under 3 large Crepe Myrtles that get little sun. Heucherella may just work!
Hi Mary - glad this was helpful for you! You’re right - the Heucherella may be the perfect plant - and they come in so many colors that I bet you’ll make something very pretty underneath those Crepe Myrtles! (I’m watching my Ajuga to see if they continue spreading nicely to surround my own Crepe Myrtle. I hope so!) Keep me posted on what you decide to plant! 🌱🙂
Très intéressant et très clair. Merci.
I have Ajuga and live in zone 6a and it’s not evergreen for me. The plant is good until January and February and it all dies back. I love this plant though. I bought two of them two years ago for my rock garden. The plant is so easy to dig a piece out and turn the top of the soil and place it there. I now have five and will make more this year. Another good plant is a Foam plant for shade and it stays evergreen for me. The plant turns a burgundy in winter and it’s so pretty. Ok never mind you talk about Foam flowers lol.
Hi Sophie, It sounds like you might be right on the edge of the Zone 6 hardiness zone for Ajuga, but at least it’s nice for you into February! 👍 Glad to hear they’re easy to dig up and transplant, as I’m hoping to do that once mine fill in more. I bet your Foam flower plants are so pretty in Winter! I think they are lovely plants. 😀
@@GardenSanity I live about forty minutes from NYC going north. I am almost 6b. Ajuga is so easy to split and make more. I just use garden shears and cut a small piece off the plant and stick it in a new spot. The foam flower is the same. The root system in not very deep at all and it’s so easy.
Well you’re not on the edge of the hardiness zone, that’s for sure! 😂 I bought some teeny tiny pots of Ajuga Chocolate Chip at the end of last season to add more to my garden. But I think I’ll try your method too! Thanks for the tip! 😀
Hi, thank you informative video, I have several dianthus under my European fan palm.
You’re welcome Florence! I bet the Dianthus is such a pretty pop of color underneath the fan palm! 🌺
I’m also in zone 7 southern NJ and the perennials evergreens in my garden are basket-of-gold alyssum, dianthus, silene and penstemon.
Waving to you here in southern New Jersey! 👋 Thanks for your list of evergreen perennials! I’m very interested in Silene being evergreen for you, as so many gardeners grow it just as an annual. Which variety do you have? There are so many pretty ones to choose from! 🙂🌸
@@GardenSanity 👋🏾 👋🏾 I grow Silene x robotii ‘Rollie’s favorite’. I bought them in Spring 2021 from HD so they’ve survived 2 winters. By Jan/Feb, the older outer leaves get yellow, but ~70-80% of the plants stays green throughout. Best part…the rabbits don’t touch them😂
@@Kylie4Queen Thank you so much for this info! I'm adding this to my never-ending list of plants I'd like to add. Rollie's Favorite sounds like a winner. 👍 I really appreciate it! 💜
Thank You. Zone 8B
You're welcome Linda! Happy Spring! 🌸🌷😃
Have never had tiarella but do have heuchera, again they got demolished by deer in the front yard but untouched in the backyard. Keep it to less high traffic deer areas. The deer only occasionally browse my backyard but are in the front yard almost daily.
These (tiarella, heuchera and heucherella) are such pretty plants, but I’ve got rabbits running around everywhere. And I’ve heard about deer grazing on them too - so thanks for sharing this Courtney! With rabbits, a fellow gardener suggested I plant rabbit favorites in higher containers they can’t reach, but you’d need super-high containers for deer! 🦌🤔🤣 Are there any shrubs or plants the deer avoid in your front yard?
@@GardenSanity so far lavender, Russian sage, butterfly bush, caryopteris, salvia, bee balm, service berry tree, oregano, catnip, thyme, daffodils, pachysandra, ferns, cypress, spruce and juniper are untouched. Iris and lungwort is mostly left alone but will sample. I think sedum was just fine and they don’t seem to bother my weigela. Amsonia foliage was completely untouched but I haven’t seen them flower yet so can’t speak to that but since it has that milky toxic sap I predict those will be fine. I have a really cool Aphrodite calycanthus shrub that you’d think they would eat since it’s so lush and has flowers but all 3 in different spots along their high traffic areas are fine. Peony are untouched as well (both regular herbaceous and itoh). They mostly leave my cardinal flower alone though might nip off a flower occasionally. Lupine and echinacea are pointless to grow because despite the foliage being left alone they eat all the flowers. I heard they don’t eat brunnera due to the scratchy fuzzy leaves but those still got hit. Rhododendrons are hit or miss- they seem to leave my black hat rhododendrons alone, slightly nibble on the traditional large purple flowering ones, but ate my red flowering Nova Zembla to a stub. That’s all I can think of for now :)
@@GardenSanity oh also I have some large ornamental grasses I think are miscanthus that they never bother.
Wow Courtney -- you've got this deer problem solved! I love the wonderful selection of plants in your front yard -- regardless of the deer issue -- and the fact that deer mostly leave them alone is such a bonus! 👍 👏 The Aphrodite shrub is so pretty! Ok, but back to what a rock star you are with the excellent plant choices! Totally impressed. Totally! 😄
Heuchera for me definitely not deer resistant, the deer demolish them unfortunately. They did nibble my hellebores for the first time this winter in December, but they left them alone after that. Definitely a favorite perennial of mine because when the snow melts I see them getting ready to flower🥰. Creeping phlox and dianthus also great greenery in winter when we have those snow melts and see ground. Even though it’s a biannual and not perennial foxgloves are a great evergreen choice that’s definitely deer resistant, it does love to reseed so I look at it like a perennial since I have tons of flowering plants every year.
Sorry that deer demolished your Heuchera Terri. But at least they stopped eating your Hellebores. (Glass half full!) And I’m with you - seeing those Hellebores peeking out from leaves and (sometimes) snow is pure joy. 😊 Are Foxgloves difficult to grow? I think I’d like to try them.
@@GardenSanity yep glass half full, because I have some nice looking hellebores under that snow cover. Foxglove so easy, we just tossed the seed onto the ground years ago, before I knew about winter sowing, and they came up. They do reseed at will, but easy to pull up in unwanted locations. I love them because they are truly deer proof one of the few deer don’t even dare nibble.
Ooooh Terri - sounds like Foxgloves might be in my future! (I can see myself next Fall/Winter throwing seeds all over the garden beds!) 😂 Seriously, thanks for letting me know about them, as they are indeed beautiful flowers! And I’m happy that they are not liked by rabbits either - probably because they are poisonous…of course so was my Yucca plant but they ate that anyway! 🙃🙂
Thanks a lot. I,m a new (just 3 years experience) and found out that from all my plants I would like to have more salvias. I need YOUR ADVICE, please. What is the best way to find them and what is the best place to buy? Looking forward for next videos. My wishes of the very best for you. Great job!
Salvias are wonderful sun-loving perennials! If you have an independent garden nursery nearby, that's the best place to purchase garden plants. The staff will be very helpful and knowledgeable about salvias and what will grow best in your area. You won't get the same level of plant expertise at the big box garden centers, unfortunately. A wonderful resource to learn about interesting varieties of salvia is Plant Delights Nursery, here's their link about salvias: www.plantdelights.com/collections/salvia-greggii-guaranitica-farinacea-nemorosa I hope this helps! 🌱😃
Hi Laura, how long does the creeping phlox stay in bloom? Thank you for showing how candytuft looks like in the winter!
The bunnies like to mow down my creeping phlox right before it’s about to bloom. 😢 Hardy geraniums are sometimes evergreen and mine have never been eaten.
Gah!!!!!! 🤯 That's horrible Will -- and using a mower too. 😉 Now I'm wondering if it will be smart for me to plant it... This year, despite the overall mild Winter, my hardy geraniums didn't keep their color...but in past colder and snowy Winters they have. 🤷♀️ But those rabbits... 😡
I am sad to report rabbits ate my creeping phlox, Heuchera, and Dianthus. I tried Tiarella and Ajuga too, and rabbits didn't eat those :)
Rabbits eat the flowers off the creeping phlox here in my zone 7.
Slightly off topic, but what is the large shrub behind you?
Hi Ryan -- these are three Red Tip Photinia shrubs we grew into trees next to our patio. I love these plants because they are evergreen, so you get privacy year-round. The new growth is bright red, which makes for a pretty leaf combination and there are wonderful flowers in late Spring that look like giant Queen Anne's Lace flowers. The flowers appear on the sunny side (the other side from where I'm standing!) If you want to see the other side, here's a link to a video I did about professional tree pruning two years ago: th-cam.com/video/B4Q3fZLFXWA/w-d-xo.html If you go to the Chapter headings in the description area (below the video) you can click on Red Tip Photinia to go directly to that section. I plan on filming it again later in the Spring with the flowers so stay tuned! Thanks for asking! 🙂🌳