As a whole, perennials are quite easy to care for, especially if they are located in the right location and thus receive the recommended amount of sunlight and the soil is suitable. Watering the perennial plants with a soaker hose or drip system will be beneficial. Applying water over the top may cause the soft and tender stems to flop over and wet leaves can be an incubator for leaf diseases. Perennials need about 1 inch of water a week. Supplement the rainfall if the amount totals less than 1 inch each week during the growing season.

Mulch the perennial beds all year around with an organic mulch. Mulch holds back weeds, retains moisture, and keeps the ground from freezing and thawing during the winter months.  Maintain the bushy appearance of perennials by pinching back stem tips so that tall stems do not reduce your plants appearance. If you do not want to save seed heads, deadhead the spent flowers for maintaining a more vigorous plant.

Fall care is very important. Winterize your perennials by removing dead flowers and foliage in late fall. After a hard freeze, cut back the stems to ground level and add extra mulch. Following these hints should produce healthy and viable perennials for a long time to come such as the fall flowering perennial, Sapphire Aster pictured below.