Better Homes And Gardens Summer Crush

Yellow Gaillardia, black and blue sage, and Shasta daisy

Credit: Jamie Hadley

What blooms with what? That's one of the big questions gardeners struggle with. This list of best perennial plant combinations will help you create the most eye-catching pairing and fill your garden with color throughout the seasons.

Yucca Makes a Drought-Tolerant Partner for Lilies

Yucca with bright red Asiatic lily

Credit: Matthew Benson

When you think of perennials, yucca probably isn't the first plant that comes to mind. But besides its handsome, spiky foliage, yucca is also prized for its tall, fragrant clumps of creamy white bell-shape blooms. Its nectar-rich flowers will also lure colorful hummingbirds to your yard. In this country garden, yuccas bloom alongside a patch of bright red Asiatic lily.

Buy It: Red Twin Asiatic Lily ($25, Breck's)

Buy It: Yucca Plant ($37, The Home Depot)

Hydrangeas Make a Beautiful Backdrop for Perennials

'Annabelle' hydrangea with red Astilbe

Credit: Lynn Karlin

Flowering shrubs make ideal partners for your favorite perennials. Besides their colorful flowers, shrubs add architectural interest to your garden during the winter when perennials are dormant and out of view. In this partially shady border, 'Annabelle' hydrangea provides an avalanche of white flowers behind a colorful drift of red astilbe.

Buy It: 'Annabelle' Hydrangea (from $9, Etsy)

Buy It: Red Astilbe Seeds ($4, Etsy)

Jump-Start the Season With Bulbs and Colorful Foliage

'Blue Shades' Anemone with 'Caramel' Coral Bells

Credit: Peter Krumhardt

Give your garden a boost of spring color by mixing bulbs with early-bird perennials. Here, 'Blue Shades' anemone pops into bloom just as the first leaves of 'Caramel' coral bells start to unfurl. To create the best bulb and perennial combinations, tuck bulbs around existing plants in the fall. Other reliable bulbs for extra early-spring color include snowdrops, crocus, Scilla, Puschkinia, narcissus, and Eranthis.

Buy It: 'Blue Shades' Anemone ($19, Breck's)

Buy It: Caramel Heuchera Coral Bells (from $10, Etsy)

Create Elegant Monochromatic Gardens

Close up of Goatsbeard and Chamomile

Credit: Matthew Benson

In the 1930s, the renowned English gardener, Vita Sackville-West created one of the most famous all-white gardens at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent. Today, you can create a similar look in your yard by teaming white-flowering perennials together in their own bed. In this border, the feathery cream-color blooms of goatsbeard pair beautifully with the cheerful, snow-white flowers of chamomile in the late spring and early summer.

Buy It:German Chamomile Organic Seeds ($1, Etsy)

Buy It: Goatsbeard Seeds ($4, Etsy)

Evoke a Cottage Style With Hollyhock and Heliopsis

Cottage style garden with yellow and pink flowers

Credit: Andrew Drake

The romantic, informal style of a cottage garden will complement almost any home. Cottage gardens contain an overstuffed mix of old-fashioned favorites, native plants, and modern hybrids. Pink hollyhock and yellow heliopsis paired together can make a well-tended garden bed look like a patch of native wildflowers.

Buy It: Pink Hollyhock Dormant Bare Root ($3, Walmart)

Buy It: Oxeye ($20, Breck's)

Add Height With Mallow and Lilies

Pink mallow and yellow Asiatic lilies

Credit: Peter Krumhardt

Give your flower garden a layered look by planting tall, vertical species in the back-of-the border. They act as a colorful focal point to draw the eye and give the garden visual balance. In this border, pink mallow, which can grow 4 feet tall, teams with 3-foot-tall yellow Asiatic lilies to provide a spectacular backdrop of bloom. Other tall perennials include garden phlox, heliopsis, Oriental lilies, delphinium, allium, and lupine.

Buy It: Potted Pink Mallow ($9, The Home Depot)

Buy It: Lilies Oriental Stargazer Bulbs ($15, The Home Depot)

Pair Woodland Perennials Like Ferns and Foam Flower

Cinnamon ferns and tiarella

Credit: Celia Pearson

When you design your garden, remember green is also a color; mix different shades together to make a memorable garden without relying on a circus of bright flowers. In this shady corner, tall cinnamon ferns tower over a subtle bed of white-flower tiarella, giving the space a sophisticated yet restful look. Cinnamon fern gets its name from the cinnamon-color fibers found near the frond bases.

Buy It: Cinnamon Fern ($40, Breck's)

Buy It: Tiarella Foam Flower ($14, Etsy)

Grow Tropical Plants for Bold Color

Red Hibiscus and small blue flowers

Credit: Paul Vandevelder

You don't have to live in the tropics to enjoy the big, bold blooms of hibiscus. These tropical beauties have a variety of cold-hardy relatives that prefer life in the north. Hardy hibiscus is easy to care for, often growing 6 feet tall in one season and producing dinner-plate-size flowers in the late summer and fall. They'll die back to the ground each winter, but pop back up when the temperatures soar in the early summer. In this garden, this red-flowered hibiscus makes a stunning pair with Delphinium elatum.

Buy It: Brandy Punch Hardy Hibiscus Plant ($27, Etsy)

Buy It: Multi-Colored Delphinium Mixture ($12, The Home Depot)

Include Multicolor Flowers for a Two-Tone Show

Purple irises in field

Credit: Laurie Black

The majority of perennials come in solid colors, but some offer varieties with bicolor blooms. Bearded iris, peony, coreopsis, Gaillardia, and phlox are just some examples of perennials with bicolor options. And, by selecting bicolor varieties, you'll double the color in your beds and borders. In this spring border, it just takes purple allium and bicolor bearded iris to create a tapestry of bloom.

Buy It: 'Cherry Blossom Song' Bearded Iris ($40, The Home Depot)

Buy It: Drumstick Allium ($12, Breck's)

Flowering Vine Plants Can Brighten Fences and Arbors

yellow coneflowers with clematis blooms

Credit: Bob Stefko

The crowning glory of any landscape, flowering vines will quickly smother a fence or arbor in color. But left unchecked, some vines, such as trumpet vine or wisteria, may smother perennials growing nearby. Clematis, on the other hand, only grows 5-10 feet tall making it an ideal partner for perennial flowers. This sun-loving vine also comes in a wide variety of flower shapes and colors so you have plenty of options for any style of garden. In this border, 'Jackmanii' clematis and 'Harvest Moon' coneflower are a feast for the eyes.

Buy It: 'Harvest Moon' Coneflower ($19, Walmart)

Buy It: Clematis Flowering Vine ($17, The Home Depot)

Include Tender Perennials

Cannas with serpentine perennial border

Credit: Rob Cardillo

Large leaved cannas make a dramatic statement in any garden. These heat-loving plants are perennial in frost-free regions, but they must be dug and stored over the winter in the north (because they are not cold hardy, they are called tender perennials). Available in standard types that can grow 6-8 feet tall and dwarfs that stay below 4 feet tall, cannas are easy to squeeze into the flower border. In this garden, a mass of red- and green-leaf cannas form a wall of color at the end of a long, serpentine perennial border.

Buy It: Mixed Canna Bulbs ($18, Walmart)

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