From ostrich ferns to common nettles…
Perennials are the backbone of a garden, the old reliables. Returning year after year, these plants re-emerge to greet us in spring, or provide colour and life in winter when all else is quiet. They can offer beautiful flowers, evergreen foliage, or a wonderfully easy vegetable crop.
They may eventually need lifting and dividing after a few years to keep them healthy, and occasional staking, but otherwise perennials are generally very self-reliant. They give us a bit of breathing space to plan and think about sowing or planting annuals, while they give the garden structure throughout the seasons.
Chinese meadow rue Thalictrum delavayi
This is an upright, herbaceous perennial with beautiful, multi-toned, fern-like foliage and clouds of tiny flowers in mauve, white,
