Maybe hard to pick five, but...

Persicaria 'Crimson Beauty'--very late bloom of ivory flowers that fade to cherry red, and last and last. Huge plant--0ver 8 feet with bamboo-like stems. Very handsome. Gorgeous with grasses. NOT invasive.

Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'--the best ajuga I've ever tried. Tight, small deep purple foliage that makes a solid mat, with really good rich blue bloom for a long period in spring. Highly adaptable to both moist and very dry soil.

Agastache foeniculum 'Blue Fortune'--long, lovely lavender bloom and luscious in my garden in a row backing a large planting of mixed Achillea 'Fireland' and an unknown red daylily with a yellow throat.

Pardancanda norissii--good bloom of interesting shape for a respectable period that sets off companions. Good iris-like foliage.

Pulmonaria 'Diana Clare'--stunning silver foliage and as unfussy as a plant can be.

All plants mentioned (except the day lily) are highly deer resistant too.

Uh oh. I'd like to add the Baptisias--all of them: B. australis, B. sphaerocarpa, B. 'Carolina Moonlight', B. alba, B. 'Purple Smoke' and B. 'Twilite Prairie Blues.'

Is agastache blue fortune better behaved then honey bee blue...I have to dig out millions of little honey bees!

Geranium 'Jolly Bee' Very long blooming, self cleaning

Euphorbia 'Polychroma' Love the spring show of color, but it is still a very attractive little soft shrub for the rest of the growing season.

Nepeta 'Subsessillis' Long bloom, tall, very upright, sturdy (for me 3 feet) Hummingbirds love it.

Daylilies For variety of color and dependability

Dictamnus Albus. Once established, a great plant that endures anything. Nice clean foilage that stands up better than peony foilage all season after a lovely spiky bloom in late May/june.

Hard to submit just 5, but mine are:

Liatrus- Kobold, stunning color, and the bees like them immensly.

Anise Hyssop- Pretty to look at, the leaves smell like black licorice, and again, the bees love them.

Peonies- any type, Beautiful flowers, wish they lasted longer.
Shastas and other daisy types- simply a happy flower, and they bloom for a long time.

Chysanthumums- love the flowers and the leaves smell good, a great looking plant.

I know thses aren't perennials, but one of my fav annuals are zinnia, so many to choose from, and fun fillers.

1. Peonies for unequaled beauty, fragrance, low maintenance dependability. 2. Daylilies for beauty, low maintenance dependability. 3. Nepeta same reasons. 4. Rudbeckia for long bloom time and low maintenance. 5. Oriental lilies don't bloom for long periods but are stunning and low maintenance. Seems to be a low maintenance theme running thru my favorites:)
Marnie

My favourites provide good colour, have great foliage during the whole growing season, and bounce back despite the weather.

Geranium 'Max Frei'
Heuchera 'Checkers'
Hosta 'Jade Cascade'
Iris 'Banish Misfortune'
Pulmonaria 'Irish Spring'
Carex 'Beatlemania'

This is a good test as these are the ones I recall when the ground is bare and the tulips are just poking up.

It seems to be always changing but at the moment...

NZ Delphiniums
Nepeta 'Walker's Low'
Epimediums
Baptisia australis
Phlox paniculata 'Nora Leigh'

Spanish Lavender -- gorgeous blooms, evergreen for me, easy keeper, deer proof

Nepeta 'Walker's Low' or 'Six Hills Giant' -- blooms from now until frost, easy keeper, deer proof

Dutch Iris -- delicate flowers, sturdy stems, beautiful color, impervious to late frost, cut flower, deer proof, foliage easy to clean up (easy keeper)

Salvia greggii 'Navajo Red' -- long bloom season, evergreen for me, hummingbirds love it, deer proof, easy keeper

Perennial heliotrope 'Azure Skies' -- blooms forever, ground covering, easy keeper, deer proof, beautiful color

Cameron

hellebores-all of them
epimedium-Lilafee, sulphureum, Rose Queen
geranium-Espresso, Samobor, Elizabeth, sanguineum
nepeta-Walkers low, subsessilus
euphorbia-chameleon, robbiae, fen's ruby, red wing
agastache-blue fortune, tutti frutti, pink panther

I know, more than 5...

Iberis (evergreen candytuft)
Clematis (etoile violette)
Sedum (autumn joy) - I know, so common but so easy and reliable.
Sweet woodruff
Almost any hosta.

Jacob's ladder - I love the way this plant looks in bloom and the foliage is beautiful. It breaks my heart every year when the hard rain smashes it flat.
False sunflower - Adds height and blooms from June until late fall in my garden. Disclaimers, it brings many bees which is good for flowers but not good for an entry way and it is a fairly aggressive spreader though.
Coreopsis verticillata - Im not sure which variety (probably zagreb). It is so easy, always looks good and usually provides me with something to bring to the plant swaps.
Echinacea (a yellow variety I got from a plant swap) - this is another long bloomer that adds some nice height without flopping. It just stands there looking good all summer, every summer and doesn't seem to want much more than to be admired in return.

Cyclamen hederifolium--lovely foliage, plus pretty flowers, plus grows under bushes.

Double primroses--they're hardy and give more flowers than the singles, they don't complain at neglect.

Rosemary--smells like heaven to me, plus I use to cook almost anything but cakes. May not be technically a perennial, but I use it like one in the garden.

Elin, a rue that gets very tall, with the most wonderful smokey-purple tinted sea-green foliage. As pretty as any flower when it unfolds from Winter.

Columbines, pretty much all of them. Dainty, unique flower, ever-changing as they seed around.

And just in case rosemary is disqualified, then dianthus of various kinds. Wonderful smells and tough plants.

Tough question...I'll narrow my choice to my favorites at this time of year. Would like to repeat this in the summer and fall..it's interesting to see everyone's answers from different climates. In SC, we have what is as known as early spring (and if you'd asked my then I would have said any of the hellebores, tassel fern, columbine, epimedium, and oxalis traingularis. This followed by high spring and it is the start of hostas, daylilies, etc. and is followed by our wretched heat when all we are really doing is waiting for fall.

1. siberian iris...deer proof, reliable, clumps are stunning in bloom and a good background for other things when not in bloom.
2. asarum splendens (any of the asarums)---interesting foliage and so far deer resistant...wonderful with...
3. japanese painted ferns---great foliage, reliable and (surprise)...deer resistant
4. variegated solomon's seal...great colors and clumps up nicely and also deer resistant
5. baptisia..any of them, but my favorites are probably alba and purple smoke.

My favorites tend to be workhorses that require minimal care and no spraying for deer.

lol gee one would think you had a herd in your back yard..

Interesting...no one has mentioned Geranium 'Rozanne', this year's plant of the year. I have a love/hate relationship with it.
Five of my favorites:

Brunera 'Jack Frost'. No care, love the silver
foliage and deep blue flowers in spring.

Centranthus ruber/Jupiter's Beard. Pinky red flowers,
Blooms all summer and fall. A little dead heading.

Daisy 'Rebecca'. Sturdy, blooms and blooms

Coreopsis Moonbeam w/Delphinium 'Butterfly'/lavender 'Hidcote'. Gorgeous!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:203757}}

Sorry about the tiny picture. How do I post within the message?

Hi Proudgrma...love your pic!
to post a pic in the post you go to where you have them uploaded ie: photobucket...then below the pic in photobucket there is a box that says HTML CODE...you copy this code and then come here and write your message in the message box...after you finish your message ..paste the html code right below your message in the same message box as you wrote your post in...preview and you should be able to see the photo in the preview. hth

Ok, heres my list...

Corydalis- I have C. lutea and just bought the blue C. elata kind. Mine havent gone dormant in the summer, they bloom from spring until fall with their cute little 'guppy' flowers. I adore it!

Polygonatum (Solomons Seal)- So interesting. I love the arching stems and pendulous little white/green flowers.

Eupatroium (Joe-Pye-Weed)- love these plants. If I had a bigger garden id have a collection.

Crocosmia- I just love the flowers and foliage. It looks almost tropical. The hummers love it too.

Im also really starting to like Aconitum- Monkshood. It does better than Delphiniums for me.

CMK

Sue in Nova Scotia...there was a time when I actually did!

This is hard! As I sit here right now my favorites are:

1. Peonies both herbaceous and tree peonies. They're gorgeous and have nice foliage most of the year when they're not in bloom.

2. Hardy Geraniums. It's too hard to pick one type. They make such nice fillers in the garden.

3. Persicaria 'Firetails'. Long season of bloom and interesting form.

4. Roses. Alas, I stink at growing them with the exception of my New Dawn climbers and Knockout roses.

5. Clematis. So many varieties to choose from. I currently grow about 24 different ones.

Monarda - all if them! This year I winter-sowed 4 species of Monarda, 3 of which I had never heard of before researching seeds to buy. Beautiful and the pollinators and hummingbirds love them.

Phlox - again all of them - growing many species and cultivars, but one of my outstanding performers is Phlox paniculata 'Nora Leigh' - beautiful variegated foliage, very vigorous, never gets mildew

Agastache 'Blue Fortune' - very pretty spires, and the Bumble bees just go nuts over this plant. The Blue Fortune I bought at a nursery doesn't reseed at all, but a couple other Agastache from a plant swap last year that look like Blue Fortune have reseeded like crazy this Spring.

Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' - this is a HUGE plant but what a beauty! Lots of lemon yellow flowers that the bees love. I've got 4 of them and they literally make a hedge they're so large, and they spread rhizomatically into these massive clumps.

Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' - really nice foliage, and I love the haze of little white flowers at the end of the season.

I'm growing so many new plants from winter-sowing and some I purchased on sale last November (including Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight' and 'Prairie Twilight Blues' which are sending out buds), that I may have some new favorites popping up this year! :)

1. Coreopsis 'sweet dreams'
2. Helleborus - x hybridus, niger & foetidus
3. Ligularia dentata - the kind with enormous, glossy leaves with red undersides
4. Lavender 'grosso' (technically a sub-shrub, not a perennial)
5. Peony - Bowl of Beauty or Festiva Maxima

I could add about 20 more ...

1.) Ferns. Any and all, I'm particularly fond of the Osmundas.
2.) Chelone. Tough, self sows, will tolerate wet feet and provides interesting flowers late season. Beautiful foliage.
3.) Hostas. Beautiful foliage, and can offer a nice big presence in the border. Lovely flowers, too.
4.) Ornamental grasses. Big, small, I love the graceful way they move in the garden, not to mention the fact that they require virutally NO care or water.
5.) (a "tie") Peonies or Iris. Any and all. They provide beautiful flowers and great foliage while asking virtually nothing as far as care.

Runners up: Baptisia, Epimediums (Epimedia?), Peonies, Iris.