DATE: Sunday, March 30, 1997                TAG: 9704010487

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ANN BARRY BURROWS, SPECIAL TO HOME & GARDEN 

                                            LENGTH:  189 lines

PERENNIAL WINNERS IF SUMMER SEEMS TOO FAR AWAY, TRY SPRING-BLOOMING PERENNIALS FOR EARLY COLOR EACH YEAR.

SPRING IS NOT the best time to plant perennials, but in this area it's not a bad time, either. If you are wistful for flowers, flowers, everywhere, perennials are a good alternative to the geraniums, pansies and other annuals filling the garden shops this season.

They are hardy, easy to care for and will grant your wish year after year after year. In two or three years, they can be divided, and your investment in flowers will have tripled in value.

Perennials are fine in average to rich soil. The main concern is to keep the roots in loose, crumbly earth. The plant's life is stored in its roots each winter, so root growth is important. They will do well in mounds, raised beds and a cultivated border. Some do very well in containers.

When shopping for perennials, check which varieties need a lot of water and which need a lot of sun. Then plan accordingly. Also take a look at biennials and herbs.

While most of these plants flower best in full sun, there is a wide array of early blooming perennials that will fill the shady spots in your garden. Those at home in the filtered light under a canopy of trees include ajuga, phlox, lamb's ears, hostas, Japanese anemones, ferns, primrose, columbine and foxglove.

Out in the sun, with very little need for water, your best bets are sedum, salvia, lavender and ornamental grasses. Most other flowering perennials need at least partial sun and flourish with regular watering.

At Smithfield Gardens there are many perennials planted for an early spring show.

Owner Linda Pinkham said she cuts them back in February or early March as green growth begins to emerge from the soil. Her plantings include a Russian variety of veronica called ``Georgia blue'' and the ground cover Robin's plaintain daisy with its low spreading habit and dainty blue flowers. She also has a variety of Lenten roses (helleborus orientalis) in pink, white and burgundy. It is sometimes considered a winter flower, because it blooms from Christmas to Easter.

Another favorite for spring is the zizia aurea ``golden Alexander,'' which has yellow flowers and fernlike leaves in the bright, light color of spring green. But the queen of the garden is the tree peony, a showy and somewhat pricey flower.

``It is just spectacular in April,'' Pinkham said.

She said primroses, often called cowslips, need rich, organic soil and are sometimes considered finicky spring-blooming perennials.

She also has a few evergreens that make wonderful ground covers throughout the year, including Rob's euphorbia and ajuga. Another of her favorites is red wings geum, but some local gardeners have found it difficult to grow.

Any of the Master Gardeners in Virginia will say that perennials are plants that live year after year. This includes trees, shrubs and vines. Some vines, such as clematis and wisteria, have attractive spring blooms.

Most flowers, however, come from herbaceous perennials. They die back to the ground each winter and re-emerge in the spring. Some plants are perennials, or hardy, for this region but not northern climes.

A ``tender perennial'' may or may not survive a Hampton Roads winter, depending on conditions. An example would be Eustoma.

At McDonald Garden Center in Virginia Beach, most perennials are stocked after March 15. A few early bloomers showcased there in February included Mexican heather.

Lillian Marshall and Scott Graham of McDonald's said that phlox and candytuft are among the first perennials to bloom, along with dianthus.

Milder temperatures this year could see a spring blooming of many early summer perennials, they said.

Graham expected coreopsis, verbena, salvia, veronica and Russian sage to bloom in April and May, ahead of their usual late May and June schedule. ``There are so many summer-blooming perennials,'' Graham said. ``The list is endless.''

Buy them this year, and you may get spring color as well.

In any year, coreopsis is likely to bloom from late spring through fall. It is a showy, worry-free plant. Some varieties are considered annuals, but the ``moonbeam'' variety with small, pale-yellow blooms should come back year after year.

Many perennials provide color simply from their foliage. Whites and silvers are shown off by artemisia, silver-king tarragon and lamb's ears. Ajuga leaves can be dark purple. Hostas are variegated and come in shades of chartreuse, green and blue-gray. Ornamental grasses and ferns also provide a range of greens. MEMO: Ann Barry Burrows is a freelance writer and Master Gardener living

in Norfolk. ILLUSTRATION: COLOR PHOTOS FROM JACKSON & PERKINS

PERENNIAL SAMPLER:

(1) Mallow Zebrina is a compact bush; (2) Hollyhock Alcea mix is an

old-fashioned favorite; (3) Coreopsis Sunray blooms early and long;

(4) Blue Emerald Phlox is a hardy ground cover; (5) Purple Verbena

gives a cascading cover of tough blooms.

Graphics

A PERENNIAL PRIMER

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

FIND OUT MORE

Some of the best books about growing perennials are:

``Perennials for American Gardens,'' by Ruth Rogers Clausen and

Nicolas H. Ekstrom (Random House, $35 hard-cover).

``Perennials: How to Select, Grow and Enjoy,'' by Pamela Harper

(Macmillan, $40 hard-cover).

``Designing with Perennials,'' by Pamela Harper (Macmillan, $40

hard-cover). Both of Harper's books about perennials are recommended

for local gardeners, because the author lives in Yorktown.

A new release on perennials is:

``Caring for Perennials,'' by Janet Macunovich (Storey

Publishing, $17.95 at bookstores or $21.40, including postage, from

Storey Communications, (800) 441-5700, Dept. YP). It chronicles a

year of tending a perennial garden at Michigan State University's

Judith DeLapa Perennial Garden.

Most garden centers, including Smithfield Gardens in Suffolk,

carry a variety of perennials. If you prefer to order, some good

mail-order sources include:

Bluestone Perennials. Free catalog by calling (800) 852-5243.

Niche Gardens. 1111 Dawson Road, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27516. Catalog

$3, refunded on first order.

Wayside Gardens. Catalog free by calling (800) 845-1124.

White Flower Farm. Catalog free by calling (800) 503-9624.

Klehm Nursery. Best selection of peonies, plus other perennials.

Catalog $3, refunded on first order. Write to 4210 N. Duncan Road,

Champaign, Ill. 61821. Call (800) 553-3715.

Jackson & Perkins, Perennial Gardens & Flowers catalog. Free

catalog by calling (800) 292-4769.

BLOOMS

List of spring-blooming perennials and biennials:

Barrenwort

Bleeding Heart

Candytuft

Coralbells

Cowslip primrose

Coreopsis

Cranesbill

Creeping buttercup

Creeping jennie

Dianthus (moss pink)

Erigeron puchellus

False indigo

Foxglove

Globeflower

Hellborus orientalis (Lenten rose)

Hollyhock

Hosta

Jasmine

Jerusalem sage (phlomis)

Lamb's ear

Lavender

Lily-of-the-valley

Lungwort

Mallow

Marsh marigolds

May Queen ``oxeye daisy''

Ornamental garlic

Painted lady chrysanthemum

Penstemon

Peonies

Phlox

Pineapple lily

Plumonaria

Queen Anne's lace

Red wings geum

Rob's euphorbia

Robin's plaintain daisy

Russian sage

Siberian iris

Snowdrops

Sweet woodruff

Snow-in-summer

Solomon's seal

Sedum

Spiderwort

Verbena

Violets

Yucca

Zizia aurea ``golden Alexander''

Photos

LINDA PINKHAM

The showy tree peony is a favorite perennial of Linda Pinkham, owner

of Smithfield Gardens. She describes its April bloom as spectacular.

RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

Good for dry, sunny spots, ornamental grasses include, from left,

red sugar cane, Lamb's ear and golden rod.

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