Low-maintenance
Low-Maintenance Perennials That Look After Themselves
A beautiful garden without the chores. These tough perennials come back every year and ask for almost nothing.
A low-maintenance perennial earns its place by doing a lot and asking for little: it comes back every year, shrugs off pests and dry spells, holds itself up without staking, and flowers for a long stretch. Fill a bed with these and the garden mostly runs itself.
The plants below are about as close to plant-it-and-forget-it as gardening gets. For more options, browse the full lists of perennials and drought-tolerant plants.
The easiest flowering perennials
Long bloom, no staking, no spraying, no babying. These are the dependable core of an easy garden.
Hemerocallis 'Stella de Oro'
Famous for reblooming, throwing out fresh golden flowers for months with zero fuss.
Echinacea purpurea
A tough native that blooms for weeks, feeds pollinators, and needs almost nothing from you.
Rudbeckia
Golden, reliable, and long-blooming, one of the easiest plants you can grow.
Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam'
Months of pale-yellow daisies on a drought-proof plant that never seems to stop.
Nepeta
A soft haze of lavender-blue all summer over aromatic foliage that pests leave alone.
Salvia yangii
An airy violet-blue cloud on silver stems, untroubled by heat, drought, or deer.
Achillea
Flat flower heads in warm and soft shades on ferny foliage, thriving on neglect.
Salvia nemorosa 'Mainacht'
Deep violet spikes that rebloom if you shear them, otherwise hands-off.
Tough plants for tricky spots
Dry shade, poor soil, a baking corner: these handle the spots where fussier plants give up.
Hosta 'Francee'
The easy answer for shade: bold variegated leaves that fill a bed and need no attention.
Hylotelephium 'Autumn Fire'
Succulent foliage that stores its own water, with late flower heads that bees adore.
Geranium 'Rozanne'
Violet-blue flowers nonstop from early summer to frost, with no deadheading needed.
Baptisia
A long-lived native that, once settled, is essentially permanent and trouble-free.
A few habits that keep it easy
- Right plant, right place. A plant matched to its spot needs almost no help.
- Mulch once a year to smother weeds and hold moisture, which removes most of the chores.
- Lean on long-bloomers and rebloomers so you get months of color from each plant.
- If you have deer or dry soil, choose resistant and drought-tolerant plants from the start.
- Leave the seed heads standing over winter. It feeds the birds and saves you the tidying.
What are the easiest perennials to grow?
Daylilies, coneflowers, black-eyed susans, coreopsis, catmint, and sedum are all famously easy. They tolerate a range of conditions, resist pests, and bloom for a long time with little input.
Which low-maintenance perennials are best for full sun?
Coreopsis, russian sage, catmint, yarrow, coneflower, and daylilies all thrive in full sun and need very little water or care once established.
Do these perennials really come back every year?
Yes, that is what makes a plant a perennial. The ones here are also tough enough to return reliably for many years, as long as they are grown within their hardiness zone.
Design a garden with these plants
Open BloomsEye Studio with this guide's plants ready to drop onto a plan, then watch the whole bed bloom across the year.