6 easy-care perennials you can plant once and ignore

Easy-care perennials are some of my favourite plants for the garden. It is simply a case of planting once and letting them flourish – ideal when you want a dreamy garden but don’t have the time to dedicate hours a week to the task.

The secret to easy-care perennials is finding the right plant for your garden. For example, if you have clay soil, then make sure you stick to the best plants for clay soil; the same applies to sandy soil, full sun or shady spots. Taking the time to read the labels before you get planting will set you up for success.

Looking for inspiration? These are some of our favourite easy-care perennials that you can plant once and enjoy, with next to no additional care or maintenance.

1. Verbena

With its billowing stems and beautiful purple blooms, verbena is always a welcome addition to the garden – something only made better by the fact that it’s also an easy-care perennial. Thriving in both pots and borders, Verbena can withstand periods of excess water while also being drought-tolerant – meaning it can cope with a soggy spring and a heatwave in summer.

Plant verbena in full sun (west-facing or south-facing gardens are best) and then let this low-maintenance border plant do its thing.

‘Verbena bonariensis usually lives for several years but can succumb to a hard frost. Still, it seeds itself freely, so new plants usually appear to replace any losses,’ adds experts from the RHS.

It is worth noting that if you have a shady garden or waterlogged soil, then Verbena may not be the best option, as it needs sun to flower and will rot if left in standing water.

For a budget-friendly garden idea, try growing from seeds – these Thompson & Morgan seeds are available on Amazon.

2. Erigeron karvinskianus

Mexican fleabane is loved for its pretty pink and white daisy-like flowers, and is also a low-maintenance addition to the garden.

Thriving in soils that other plants would struggle in, Mexican fleabane is most at home in dry, poor conditions – making it one of the best drought-tolerant plants for summer – and a welcome addition to coastal gardens. However, if you have wet soils or rich ground, then Mexican Fleabane might be best kept in pots.

If you’re specifically looking for an easy-care perennial that will offer plenty of ground cover, the mat-forming Mexican fleabane is a great option – once established, it will help stop weeds from taking over garden beds.

Some varieties of Erigeron are annuals, biennials or short-lived biennials, so be careful which you purchase. Look for Erigeron karvinskianus, available at Crocus as both seeds and established plants.

3. Pansies

Not just hanging basket flowers, pansies are, without a doubt, an easy-care perennial – especially when added to the border. Coming back every year with an abundance of blooms, pansies offer some of the best value for money plants – you can even pick them up in most supermarkets.

‘Pansies are beloved spring classics with their distinctive markings and rich colour palette ranging from deep purples to sunny yellows. Cold-hardy and reliable bloomers, pansies perform beautifully in beds, borders, and containers while requiring only basic watering and occasional deadheading for continuous flowers,’ says Julian Palphramand, Head of Plants at British Garden Centres.

While Julian recommends deadheading for continuous flowers, it isn’t essential – you’ll just get slightly fewer blooms.

These jumbo flowering pansies have great reviews on Amazon – or for something more unusual Crocus stocks these Frizzle Sizzle Burgundy pansies which have pretty frilled petals.

4. Sedum

Growing sedums is the textbook choice for perennials that thrive on neglect, and stonecrop is a brilliant choice. One of the larger sedums, this shrub-like plant grows up to 40 cm tall with a 60cm spread, and produces vibrant pink umbellifer flowers in summer that last well into autumn. Leave the seedheads intact after flowering for winter interest – then cut the flower stems back to ground level in early spring.

Happily growing in most conditions – they particularly thrive in drier soils, making them a great choice if you’re looking for easy-care perennials that will survive a heat wave.

Autumn Joy is a particularly popular variety – available at B&Q.

5. Cornus

A winter garden staple, Cornus, also known as dogwood, is one of the easiest shrubs to grow – after all, it’s seen thriving in borders on industrial estates or alongside supermarkets.

Dogwood can be planted at any time of year (though autumn is best) and is one of the shrubs that thrives in wet soil – meaning if you have clay soil or a damp garden, then dogwood is a great option.

The only real maintenance – other than occasionally watering during prolonged hot and dry spells – is pruning dogwoods. However, it isn’t as daunting as it first appears; it is simply a case of either thinning the stems once a year or pruning back to ground level every two years – it’s nearly impossible to get it wrong.

There are lots of different colours of Cornus available. My favourite is Cornus alba Sibirica Varigata – available at Gardening Express – which has the iconic red stems and beautifully variegated leaves during spring and summer.

6. Primroses

Found in woods, hedgerows, grass verges, and even in the cracks in the pavement, perennials don’t get more hands-off than primroses.

‘These are iconic spring bloomers that thrive in cool temperatures and partial shade, making them perfect for early planting. Their vivid colours beautifully adorn beds, containers, hanging baskets, and troughs. Low maintenance and requiring only water and well-drained soil, primroses truly shine in spring when clustered together for a visually striking spring display,’ says Julian Palphramand, Head of Plants at British Garden Centres.

There is a colour combination available for every style of garden from bright whites and yellows to moodier reds and purples – Suttons stocks a wide variety.

Alongside planting easy-care perennials, consider installing an irrigation system or using Ollas to make watering and care super easy in the summer months.