Hardy perennials for Zone 5-6 — print version.
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SUS Farms · Utah Gardening
Hardy perennials for Zone 5-6
design · beginner · ~6 min read
A good perennial is one you plant once and ignore for a decade. Utah's alkaline soil rules out a lot of east-coast perennial favorites (azaleas, rhododendrons, bleeding hearts), but the ones that DO work here are spectacular and forgiving. Build a perennial bed around these and you'll have color from April to October with minimal effort.
Backbone perennials
Russian sage (Perovskia) -- silver foliage, lavender flowers June-September, drought-tolerant. Coneflower (Echinacea) -- pollinator magnet, blooms 8 weeks. Daylily (Hemerocallis) -- every soil, every climate, divides easily. Peony (Paeonia) -- May bloomer that lives 50+ years. Hellebore -- winter-bloomer, evergreen, shade-tolerant.
Late-summer color
Sedum (Autumn Joy and similar) -- succulent foliage, pink-to-rust flowers August-October. Rudbeckia -- yellow daisies into October. Aster -- pink-purple-white late bloomers, last food source for migrating monarchs. Goldenrod (Solidago) -- gold spires September. Coreopsis -- yellow blooms repeat all season.
Foliage perennials
Hosta -- shade beds, big leaves, deer love them so plant under trees with deer netting overhead. Lamb's ear (Stachys) -- silver fuzzy ground cover. Coral bells (Heuchera) -- colored foliage all year, semi-shade. Lady's mantle (Alchemilla) -- chartreuse foliage holds water droplets in scalloped leaves.
Avoid in Utah
Astilbe -- needs more humidity than we have. Azalea/rhododendron -- need acidic soil; can't maintain pH that low long-term. Lupine -- short-lived, dies in our heat. Forget-me-not as a permanent planting -- biennial here. Dahlia -- must lift tubers and overwinter indoors.
Spacing and division
Plant perennials at the spacing recommended on the tag, even though it looks too far apart year 1. By year 3 they fill in. Most clumping perennials benefit from division every 4-5 years -- dig in early spring, split with a sharp spade, replant divisions. Free new plants and healthier originals.