Perennials for Northern Arizona above 6,000 Foot Elevations

Perennials are a favorite for many gardeners but particularly for those gardeners in northern areas where the selection of shrubs is limited. Literally hundreds of different species and cultivars of perennials can be grown above 6,000 feet. Perennials provide a wide range of shapes and forms, flower color, bloom time, foliage type, and cultural and environmental requirements. Some perennials bloom for more than a month in a blaze of color, others may flower for only a week or two. Still others are grown more for their attractive foliage than for their colorful flowers.

Perennials are those plants that persist in the garden for two years or more. They differ from shrubs in that they are usually nonwoody. Most are herbaceous meaning that they die back to the ground in the fall. Some may retain a woody base from which growth will emerge in the spring. Almost all perennials at the high elevations of northern Arizona will have the above ground part of the plant die back during the winter. Unlike annuals, the root system of perennials will live through the cold winter months. It is from this surviving root system that new growth will arise each spring.

Perennials can be used in various garden settings. The most common way to use perennials is in the herbaceous border. Perennials can also be successfully used in island flowerbeds, with or without annuals, in rock gardens, in cottage gardens, mixed with bulbs, in mixed borders with shrubs, as a ground cover and even as a specimen plant. The uses for perennial are endless, with only your imagination limiting your design. Matching the perennial to the environmental conditions of the garden is one important ingredient to success. With the sometimes harsh conditions of northern Arizona, many gardeners achieve success by carefully evaluating their site and then selecting those perennials best suited to those conditions. Planting a long-blooming, sun-loving plant in the shade will only give disappointing results.