Perennial Garden Design for Iowa Conditions

A perennial garden is a long-term investment that pays off more every year. Unlike annuals that you replant each spring, perennials come back from the same root system year after year, getting bigger and better each season. The trick to a great perennial garden in Iowa is planning for continuous bloom from spring through fall. You do not want a garden that looks amazing for three weeks in June and then sits there green and boring for the rest of the year. Succession planting, where you choose varieties with overlapping bloom times, keeps the garden interesting from the last frost to the first hard freeze.

Start with spring bloomers to get the season off to a strong start. Iris and peony are the classics for Iowa gardens. Siberian iris blooms in late spring with delicate blue and purple flowers that stand up well to our unpredictable spring weather. Peonies need a cold winter to set buds, which Iowa certainly provides, and they reward you with enormous, fragrant blooms in late May and early June. Plant these where you will see them from the house, because they are the first big payoff after a long winter. Pair them with early bulbs like daffodils and tulips for color while the perennials are still filling out.

Early summer is when the garden really hits its stride. Coneflower and daylily start blooming in June and keep going for weeks. These are the workhorses of the Iowa perennial garden. They handle our heat, our humidity, and our clay soil without complaint. Coneflower sends up tall purple or pink flowers that attract butterflies and bees. Daylilies bloom in waves, with each flower lasting a day but new ones opening continuously. Stella de Oro daylilies bloom from June all the way through September with almost no deadheading. A drift of coneflower next to a sweep of daylilies creates a bold, colorful mass that looks great from across the yard.

Mid-summer brings black-eyed Susan, phlox, and butterfly weed into the show. Black-eyed Susan is a native prairie plant that thrives in our conditions. It blooms from July through September with bright yellow flowers and dark centers that look good even as they fade. Phlox adds clusters of pink, purple, or white flowers that are fragrant and long-lasting. Butterfly weed, a type of milkweed, produces orange flower clusters that monarch butterflies cannot resist. These mid-summer bloomers carry the garden through the hottest part of the year when a lot of other plants are struggling with the heat.

Fall is when sedum, aster, and ornamental grasses take center stage. Sedum, particularly Autumn Joy, starts with green broccoli-like heads in summer that slowly turn pink and then deep russet red by fall. Asters burst into clouds of purple, blue, and pink in September when everything else is winding down. Ornamental grasses like little bluestem and feather reed grass add texture, movement, and color that intensifies as the weather cools. Little bluestem turns a stunning coppery orange in fall and holds its color through winter. Grasses also catch the low autumn light and glow in the late afternoon sun.

We design perennial gardens for homeowners all over Cedar Falls and the Cedar Valley. We select varieties that perform well in our specific conditions and arrange them for continuous bloom and year-round interest. If you are tired of a garden that only looks good for a few weeks, or if you are starting from scratch and want to get it right the first time, give us a call. We will put together a planting plan that gives you color from spring through fall with plants that come back stronger every year.