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Dear Helen: I have a long perennial bed that needs a roster of new summer-blooming plants. I’d like flowers mainly in the pink to purple range, with perhaps someÌýyellow. Please recommend some plants.

H.E.

Probably the top choice among yellow-flowering summer perennials is ‘Goldsturm’ coneflower (Rudbeckia), which gives summer through early autumn bloom. ItÌýgrows 60 to 75 centimetres tall. ‘Pot of Gold’ and ‘Little Goldstar’ are preferred now byÌýsome gardeners for their similarity but more compact, bushy habit.

Heliopsis comes in many attractive forms. ‘Loraine Sunshine’ (one metre tall) has golden daisy-like flowers and lovely white and green foliage.

Threadleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata) is another long-lived, long-flowering perennial atÌýabout 38 centimetres with ferny foliage and small golden flowers all summer. Several forms are available.

Here are a few favourite, easy-growing perennials in your preferred colour range. Consider adding a bit of blue and white as well. Blue flowers display best at or toward the front of beds.

•Astrantia (masterwort) is a prized cut flower with pink to wine-red, pincushion style blooms on stems 30 to 75 centimetres tall (depending on the variety) above loose clumps of maple-like leaves. There are varieties with cream and green leaves.

• Summer phlox (Phlox paniculata) blooms in a wide range of colours in plant heights from 60 to 120 centimetres. ‘David’ bears large white flower heads on plants resistant to powdery mildew. Also mildew resistant is ‘Norah Leigh,’ a vigorous plant with white and rose pink blooms and cream-edged, dark green leaves. Some ofÌýthe newer varieties, mostly with pink flowers, are compact and suitable for the front of beds. A humus-rich, moist soil helps plants resist mildew.

• Campanula (bellflower) is a popular, varied perennial with bell-shaped flowers in blue, lavender, pink, white or purple on low, creeping forms to tall, stately plants. One of the easiest is peachleaf bellflower (Campanula persicifolia), an old-fashioned cottage garden perennial. ‘Chettle Charm’ has beautiful porcelain blue and violet flowers.

• Hardy geraniums are legion. Currently very popular is Rozanne with soft violet-blue flowers from early summer to mid-autumn.

• Lilies. For dramatic July and August bloom and garden-filling fragrance choose from among the Trumpets (Pink Perfection, Regal) and Orientals (Casa Blanca, Stargazer).

• Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) offers a wide choice in varieties. ‘Magnus’ is a classic purple-pink. ‘Razmatazz’ is one of the newer, double-flowered forms in rose pink and magenta.

• Baby’s breath (Gypsophila), both upright and creeping, is available with white or pink flowers. These are long-lived, care-free plants. Choose double-flowered forms to avoid seed setting.

• Gaura gives slender wands of bloom June to October if the plants are cut back after each flush of flowers. ‘Rosy Jane’ is particularly long blooming, with pink-edged white flowers.

• Border sedums don’t colour up their large domes of bloom until August, but many have lovely purple-black, pale lemony-green or variegated foliage. Flowers are pale pink to dark magenta.

• Lavender. Commonly used in perennial borders, lavender offers fragrance and summer flowers. Provence, Hidcote and Grosso are standard reliables, but there is much fanfare over the more recent ‘Phenomenal,’ said to have outperformed all others in trials across Europe and the United States.

• Dahlias do have to be dugÌýand divided every few years, but otherwise are fairlyÌýcare free and in recent early, hot summers they have begun blooming fairly early inÌýthe season. For a tantalizing array of dahlias, go to ferncliffgardens.com.

In many beds there are sites that tend to be dryish. Use them for lavender, gaura, coreopsis and sedums. All are drought tolerant once they are well established.

There are many varieties to choose from in each of these perennials. To view them, visit perennials.com, the website of Heritage Perennials, a major wholesale supplier of plants to our local garden centres.

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GARDEN EVENTS

Rose meeting. The Mid Island Rose Society meet this evening from 6 to 8 in the Nanaimo North Library meeting room, across from Green Thumb Nursery on Hammond Bay Road.

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Fall fruit show. sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Fruit Testers are hosting a Fall Fruit Show on Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday, 11Ìýa.m. to 5 p.m. in Westshore Town Centre. Hundreds of varieties of apples and pears will be displayed. Bring in mystery apples to be identified. Information at bcfta.ca or 250-818-1836.