If you want a garden that looks alive from the first warm days of April right through to the cool evenings of October, you don't need a hundred different plants — you need the right ten. These are our most-recommended performers for UK gardens: hard-working, forgiving, and beautiful for months on end.
1. Geranium 'Rozanne'
Voted RHS Plant of the Centenary, and for good reason. Violet-blue flowers from late May until the first frosts, thrives in sun or part shade, and asks for nothing in return. If you only buy one perennial this year, make it this.
2. Salvia 'Caradonna'
Deep purple flower spikes on near-black stems. Bees adore it. Cut it back hard after the first flush in June and you'll get a second show in late summer.
3. Erigeron karvinskianus
The Mexican fleabane that softens any wall, step or path edge. Tiny daisies turn from white to pink and it self-seeds politely — never invasively.
4. Hardy geranium 'Mrs Kendall Clark'
Soft pearl-grey-blue flowers in a dreamy haze. Brilliant under roses.
5. Verbena bonariensis
Tall, see-through purple wands that hover above everything else. The pollinator magnet of the late summer border.
The other five
- Achillea 'Moonshine' — flat lemon-yellow plates, drought-proof
- Nepeta 'Walker's Low' — clouds of blue, beloved by bees
- Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' — golden daisies from August to October
- Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' — pure white blooms when little else is flowering
- Heuchera 'Palace Purple' — evergreen burgundy foliage all year
How to make them work together
The secret isn't picking great plants — it's repeating them. Plant your ten in groups of three or five and weave them through the border. You'll get a garden that flows, rather than a collection that competes.
"A garden of ten plants planted well will always beat a garden of fifty planted singly."
— Old garden designer's rule
Want a tailored shortlist for your soil, sunlight and region? Take our free 2-minute quiz and we'll match the right plants to your exact garden.