Where are you located and how much room is there to fill?

tj

Consider also re-bloomers that will bloom in spring and fall. There are some great new German iris varieties, daylilies (they will have "Returns" in the name, like Happy Returns), nepetas and salvias. You don't have to trim them, unless you like that tidy look. Just let them take a break during the hottest months and they will bloom again.

Well, they are earlier in the season, but some of the low growing pinks are nice. They do better when deadheaded, but seem to last ok without. The foliage is not unattractive when not in bloom. A lot of plants in the mint family are good bloomers and have good foliage--lamb's ears come to mind. Again, better when deadheaded but I rarely do that with my wildflowers. Tansy is good but the dang stuff is invasive where I live . . . another great bloomer is Anthemis tinctoria (Dyer's chamomile).

if your soil drains well,

low cat nip, Nepeta fassenii SUperba, it reblooms in fall

Teucrium hircanicum goes on for me all season and you just cut it back if it looks too rough

if pollinators a re a main concern, solely focusing on bloom time might not suffice

Hydrangea flower for a long time but depending upon cultivar, lots of the flowers are useless

Native honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirans aka coral honeysuckle) is non-invasive, not related to the invasive Japanese and other Asian honeysuckles, and for me blooms all summer. I have it growing up a trellis; it is many years old and hasn't spread out of it's spot - it just get denser. Every couple of years I thin it out, removing dead twigs and branches.

agastache Honeybee Blue

monarda Raspberry Wine

chrysanthemum Sheffield (pinch in May)

aster Raydon's Favorite (pinch in May)

verbena bonariensis

Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone. i am excited and cant wait to try some of the plants.

@tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱ i am in northern NJ. subarban garden with mostly half sun beds and couple of shade gardens. but im slowly taking over the front and back lawns (my husband’s turf) which are much sunnier. I’ve about 1/4th of an acre to play with.

@JoJo (Nevada 9A) thanks for the suggestions. I have been adding reblooming kinds. have an azealea - perfect mundo, a bloomerang lilac, daylily and couple of irises ( immortality and ragtop). will look up the nepetas. how would you rate walker’s low nepeta? that is in my list because of supposedly long blooming. Interesting that you mentioned salvia - have ordered a salvia may night. Will have to wait for next season to see if it lives upto the hype or not.

@l pinkmountain Anthemis tinctoria looks interesting and a kind of plant i love, but not available for sale in US it seems. will add to my wish list. thanks for the suggestion.

@linaria_gw thanks for suggesting Teucrium hircanicum, i will check this one out. i have a soft spot for hydrangea. the house came with a mophead which rarely blooms (and blooms become ugly soon), but myself have added ruby slipper oakleaf hydrangea, limelight, double delights wedding gown, two from PW tuff stuff (just planted these two). so far im impressed with double delights. the oakleaf one is getting eaten up by the deer almost regularly but has potential to turn beautiful as the flowers are supposed to turn red when weather turns (mine finally got to set some blooms this year - will check how the color changes in fall).

@raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio im glad you provided feedback on native honeysuckle performance. i bought one named major wheeler (hybrid of the native Lonicera) 4 years ago. it was very slow to establish - most likely because for first two years deer wont leave it alone. but this season it looks quite perky and bloomed a bit in spring. its good to know yours is getting better with age. it is reassuring to know what’s coming now that the vine has good foliage cover. and it is in a part shade area but climbing up a small tree towards sun.

@cecily 7A thanks. all suggestions look tempting. i am adding to the list.

@cab84 great garden picture. thanks for sharing the suggestions. that is a bush cleamatis it seems? i want to buy a bush clematis and will keep this suggestion in mind. i have clematis piilu which bloomed the first time this season and it’s breathtakingly beautiful but the bloom season lasted only about three weeks. this is why i want more variety. added Proven winner’s ’still waters’ this year, lets see how that perfrom. will add your milkweed and lobelia suggestion to my list as well.

I grew dyers chamomile back in the 90s in a MI garden. Someone gave it to me who was an herb gardener. It self seeded like crazy. It also goes by the name "Golden Marguerite." I have not seen it in nurseries, that's for sure. You'd probably have to order seeds from a specialty store. Dead easy to grow though . . . funny that it isn't more popular as a potted plant.

For pollinators very little beats eryngium ’Blaukappe’ in my yard.

tj

I suppose it is a bush clematis. It blooms for a long time and I love finding the flowers peeking out from other plants.

To answer your question, I only grew nepeta Six Hills Giant because it's said to be more tolerant of heavy, moist soil. It was in my previous garden in Maryland. They were covered in bloom throughout the growing season, slowing down only when the temps hit triple digits. I would then give them a trim and the plants would come back to put on a big show again. I grew them between rose bushes where they would spread to 3 feet and fill all available space. The blooms complemented my pink and yellow roses really well.

And yes, it tolerated the heavy clay and lots of rain clay just fine.

Agastache 'Blue Blazes' in bloom now and will bloom until frost. Also salvia 'Black cherry' both from High Country Gardens.

Nepeta Walker's Low and salvia May Night bloom concurrently around here and the effect is spectacular. Walker's Low does a fine job camouflaging daffodil foliage while allowing it to ripen so I like to edge beds with it. Mine blooms heavily until Independence Day then it gets a trim and reblooms gently until frost. May Night blooms for about a month then it's done with no rebloom for me.

Please add calamintha nepeta to my list of long bloomers above. The blooms are tiny thus only the tiny native bees use them. Mine blooms for about four months.

@cecily 7A Four months of show…sounds like a must have. i am thinking this one will look nice in front of walkers’s low. thanks for the feedback on May night.

@laceyvail 6A, WV i love to shop from high country. they have some unique plants that i cant find locally.

forgot to add poppy mallow that i bought from HCG in my long bloomer list. she is a beauty and i was surprized to realize can climb as well. I underplanted the bloomerang lilac and now see mallows poking through branches 5’ high. beatiful surprise…she is blooming since early june.

I'm not sure about mixing calamintha nepeta and nepeta nepeta since they have very similar habits - each would look better with a contrasting foliage/shape to set it off.

High Country also rocks because their pot shape is deeper.

Ok. i was thinking from bloom contrast pov. white and blue combo is one of my fav (second fav is purple and yellow). besides the WL is 30” and calamintha showing as 18” at maturily. this is why thought it will look good. but you are right, if theu have same structure and foliage color, once bloom is over there will be no much visual interest.

any suggestion on Monarada? i have Jacob cline which is sulking in its current lication because of a siberian iris which contonuously tries to swallow it- i have finally removed most of the iris and hoping now the monarda will take off. this year i added a Pardon my Purple from PW. it’s compact at about 18” height. just started opening blooms.

Yesterday I saw monarda blooming at a local historical house garden, along with some daisies and thread leaf coreopsis i think. the display is amazing. below is the picture i managed to take from the moving car:

the monarda looked redish/dark pink. does any of you have names for something similar?

That's probably Raspberry Wine monarda.

As an edger for your Walker's Low nepeta, I'd use lamb's ears or Vera Jameson sedum. For me, Walker's Low is the edger because I like billowing plants that obscure the edge of a bed rather than forming a clear, firm line. This forum is fun because we have our own styles.

I also highly recommend calamintha. It's a billowy, "see-through" plant that looks great in the front row. It bloomed for me all summer long. The white generic variety performed the best.

Check out mountain mint/Pycnanthemum.

Panicled Hydrangea cultivars that look lacier have more fertile flowers for pollinators, so a cultivar like Quickfire will be more useful to pollinators than one like Limelight that has a majority of infertile flowers.

Helenium Mardi Gras blooms for about 6 weeks for me but likes full sun.

Here is Lonicera sempervirens ’Major Wheeler’. It blooms heavily like this for several weeks in spring, but has flowers a bit less densely all summer for me.

I think my two longest blooming Clematis are Mikelite which typically blooms for me for 5 or 6 weeks

and Rooguchi, which typically starts in July. Here it is in September near the end of its run.

You will likely gat a late summer bloom from Piilu aka Little Duckling clematis. Even I get a few September flowers up north here with short growing seasons, and I have not had any other clematis rebloom.

I have Raspberry Wine monarda…it is beautiful, but, for me, it needs all day sun. it was in part-shade last year and was afflicted with powdery mildew. I moved it to full sun and it’s very happy, spreading like crazy and very tall…well over 4ft.

Alll are such great auggestions, my already long list of must haves is gtting longer rapidly now 😃

@cecily 7A i am with you on blended borders. i like the natural informal and soft look it creates. often tuck some creeping favorites like nasturtiums, hardy geraniums or verbenas to create that affect. not fun for the poor hubby when he is mowing the area around these beds. Vera Jameson added to list - its so beautiful! thanks for the suggestion.

i have added a lot of rose campions aroun the garden which are similar to lamb’s ear but with much more showy flowers. and this long bloomer have bloomed for me even in shady location with only 1 hr of direct sun.

highly recommeneded even though many consider this one a bit old fashioned…

The above pic was taken more than a month ago and she is still going strong with the blooms.

thanks @NHBabs z4b-5a NH for the great suggestions. and your flowers look beautiful. i love the pic of major wheeler. mine is now looking established. hopefully she will put up similar show for me starting next season. i will lookup mikelite. Purple flower is my weakens i think. i have Piilu and she is amazing - though took a long time to establish- bloomed nicely only this year. here she is this season (yet to see the double flowers though):

@lovemycorgi z5b SE michigan this looks similar to the display and height is also about right. thanks for sharing the picture and your experience. what i saw was simply beautiful. these are planted on a steep slope and full sun. this one too added to my list.

Monarda definitely like full sun - and will indeed root spread, but not hard to pull up if needed. I have 'purple rooster' and a red one (probably Jacob Cline) - both 3-4' tall. I have had no luck with a couple of the compact varieties, for some reason.

Another perennial that does bloom, and holds the blooms until frost (but the leaf color is the big feature rather than the blooms) is Heuchera (coral bells). I see pollinators on it, and sometimes hummingbirds visit it. I have several that have gotten quite large and I plan to replace the hosta out front with them in the fall, since the deer leave them alone. There are other varieties that have stayed small in the same bed.

Pollinator plants are more important to me this year than usual. The city has fogged for mosquitoes twice so far this summer, and I am seeing definitely fewer bees on the bee balm than usual - and far far fewer fireflies at night, as well.

Kalimeris pinnatfida (Japanese Aster) blooms from late June until frost. It was sent to me by accident, but is a great plant. Tons of white flowers, upright habit and tough, can take almost anything you or nature throws at it. Doesn't get much love from the bees though.

@zekeafroid (Z7 - South Jersey) thats an interesting plant you mentioned. the blooms are beautiful. May i ask where did you get the plant from? google is not returning any decent seller result.

@raee, heuchera is superb plant. i have two different kinds glorifying my shade garden - though they dont bloom in deep shade the foliage is always attractive and anything that im not fighting the deer to save from is a welcome addition to my garden. i will look up some bright flowering ones for half sun locations. good you mentioned this plant - i somehow just dont think of heuchera unless i am thinking of my shade garden.

There's actually a few names for it, so it gets confusing. I've seen it listed under any of the following names:

Kalimeris pinnatafida

Asteromoea mongolica

Kalimeris mongolica

I got it from https://earthlypursuits.net/, but looks like they might not currently have it in stock.

Do any of you have experience with Astrantias? blustoneperennials.com listed it as long bloomer (Early summer to early fall). Looking for feedback before buying. if you can share a picture from your own garden that will be great. the plant looks amazing in website picture but i have not seen one in-person yet.

Lomelosia (formerly Scabiosa) caucasica 'Fama Blue' blooms fairly continuously (with semi-regular deadheading) for me from about mid June through mid October.

natureinspired, my largest heuchera (lime colored) has lived in full sun for years. I think some of them are like lenten rose - very shade tolerant, but really have no problem with full sun (I have several of those in full sun too, and they are large!) However I do have one heuchera that is more of a caramel color that gets a bit sunburned in mid summer, so probably would be better in part shade.

I just thought of butterfly weed - asclepias tuberosa - when I had it, IIRC, it bloomed for a long time. Mine was crowded out, I think, by goldenrod and Kwanza daylily.

I have a couple different types of Astrantia. I believe they are Roma and Abbey Road. I like them. They bloom for awhile, but I don’t think they do so all summer. I’m not very good at deadheading mine so they might bloom longer if I did so.

At least one, if not both, of mine self seed. I have a bunch of baby plants right now. I would like more plants so I dont mind.

These aren’t the best pictures, but hopefully they help.

@cab84 thanks for sharing pictures, these look beautiful. now i can confidantly order, even if the show is for few weeks. i like the leaves too. same issue here. don’t have time to tend to the garden except for only couple of days a week, so dead heading all plants not possible. but the ones around patio get better attention because i can just be there when i am back home even if for 30 minutes.

@raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio yes butterfly weed is something i want to plant. bought a seed packet from burpee. i am creating a bed where our sump mump drain. planning on scattering the seeds in fall. i will definitely incorporate more heucheras.

thanks @sah_upstate4 (zone 5b - NY) i remeber seeing pincushion flowers at their peak in DC. simply gorgeous (seems allmost all people maintain beutiful perennial gardens there). somehow i did not add any in my garden yet. will add to the list :)

Asclepias tuberosa (the orange or yellow one) likes dry/well drained soil - your planned spot sounds like it might be too moist for it. But, A. Incarnata (the pink one) aka swamp milkweed prefers damp to wet soil but tolerates "average" garden soil - is that the one you have seeds for? I love the scent of Incarnata - really smells like vanilla!

@raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio I must have mixed the two up in my head and decided both to be tolerant of wet soil based on the same genus. thanks for pointing that out. yes i meant Asclepias tuberosa - may be i will keep them at the edge of this new bed where the ground is dry. I also ordered A. incarnata ’ice ballet’ with that space in mind. right now i have red and blue lobellias growing close to the outlet and they love it. this year i also planted some canas close the that area and they are turning into monster cannas already. no flower yet…though my potted ones are blooming already. i think because those are rootbound. i have been pulling out Siberian irises from a nice full sun bed, guess i will add some to this location.

Anise Hyssop.

Midsummer blooming. Blooms well into the fall. Produces long cone shaped purple fragrant flowers! Pollinators love it! Honeybee, Bumblebee, Monarchs all over it.