6 Best Perennials for your Sarasota Landscape

Some things are best if they don’t stick around.  A migraine. Wasps. Your old college roommate who promises to only crash on your couch for the weekend. 

But beautiful garden plants? They never wear out their welcome. 

Hello, perennials. 

Unlike annuals that thrive for just one season, perennials are plants that grow indefinitely.

Once established, perennials typically require less maintenance than annuals and settle in to become a more permanent part of the landscape.

Check out a few of the best perennial plants for Florida:

1. Blue Daze 

Are you a morning person? So is Blue Daze, with brilliant blue flowers that open in the morning and close up in the evening. This easy-care ground cover loves the heat and sun. 

It makes a stunning mass planting ground cover.  Or use it for a prettier, low-maintenance alternative to a strip of lawn. 

‘Blue My Mind' is a Tropical Gardens Landscaping favorite and one of the best outdoor plants for Florida. An improved variety of Blue Daze, it’s more compact and offers even more of those vivid blue flowers.

Its foliage is pretty, too, a silvery green. And as long as you’re getting regular rainfall, you won’t need to water it very often.

2. Giant Ice Plant

 This is worth adding to your landscape just because of its cool name. Who wouldn’t want to intrigue their guests by saying, “Want to go look at my Giant Ice Plant?” It sounds like something from a cool prehistoric sci-fi movie. 

Its flowers measure 4 inches across, with grayish blue leaves. A succulent native to South Africa, this perennial is a trailing variety great for covering sunny banks.

It’s drought tolerant and super sturdy, rarely affected by diseases or insects, making it one of the best perennial plants for Florida.

3. Baby Sun Rose

Awwww. Its irresistible name suits this Florida perennial— small and low growing. And it has cute heart-shaped leaves. Except for one thing — its flowers don’t look anything like roses. The tiny flowers are pretty, though, like mini daisies in a reddish purple. 

Unlike real babies, baby sun rose can go without water for a long time. They actually close their pores during the day to retain moisture, then open them at night when it’s cooler. 

With its dense, creeping habit, it makes a great ground cover.

4. Begonia ‘Alba’

Every landscape can use white flowers. They practically glow in the evening garden, and make the colorful blooms around them look even more vibrant. 

Begonia ‘Alba’ is stunning, and one of the best perennial plants for Florida.

This beauty’s long-lasting sprays of delicate white flowers are great for brightening up dark, shady areas. It has striking red stems and olive green heart-shaped leaves with surprise reddish undersides. 

‘Alba’ won an award from The Royal Horticultural Society. If it’s good enough for royalty, maybe it should grace your garden, too. 

5. Petite Ixora 

Ixora is a spectacular sun-loving shrub that offers clusters of tubular flowers in bright red, orange, yellow, pink, or white. The flowers cover the plant so completely you can barely see the leaves. It’s a stunner, and one of the best outdoor plants for Florida.

We love the petite variety, which stays short, great for borders and hedges.

Ixora flowers throughout the year, and each flower cluster can last between six and eight weeks, giving your landscape long-lasting color. And it doesn’t even need pruning — perfect if you love low maintenance. 

We love the pink or red varieties. Avoid the yellow — it doesn’t do as well here. 

6. Penta 

Pentas offer an explosion of starry blooms in jewel tone colors, making it a great Florida perennial. If it’s pruned correctly, it will reseed itself, making a continual repeat appearance. (Hopefully unlike your couch-surfing college roommate.) 

Pinch pentas back occasionally during their early growth and they’ll get nice and bushy. 

Bonus: butterflies and hummingbirds love them, so sit back end enjoy the air show.

Planting Tips for Florida Perennials

Perennials have an easy-going reputation, compared to fussier annuals, but they still need some care and come with a few tips: 

Go Big

Why plant one lonely Blue Daze plant when you can plant seven? 

Many Florida perennials make the biggest impact when they’re planted in masses, especially if you’re going for curb appeal to be seen from the street. Don’t be skimpy. 

Do Your Reading 

Before you plant your Florida perennials, read the tags on the plants— they’re full of helpful information. Super important — how big will it get when it’s fully grown? Plan your spacing based on that, not how big it is now.

How much sunlight does it need? Is it sensitive to cold? When does it flower? All this info is designed to help you plan your planting so your perennials have the best shot at thriving. 

Design pro tip: if you have a large planting area, consider repeating clumps of the same perennial throughout. Repetition of color and form pulls the eye through the garden and offers a nice sense of cohesiveness.

Prepare a Cozy Bed

Don’t just plunk your Florida perennials in the ground. Take the time to prepare your planting bed. Remember, unlike annuals that only hang out for a season, perennials are here for the long haul. They need proper soil to thrive. 

• If you have sandy soil, like many Floridians do, amend it with organic matter like peat or compost. Add a few inches of organic matter to the soil surface and work it into the top 10 to 12 inches.
• Mulch! Add 2 to 3 inches of this magical stuff. It holds in moisture, insulates roots from heat and cold, and discourages weeds.
• Keep an eye out for insects and diseases. If you catch problems early enough, they can be treated before much damage occurs.
• Partner with perennial plant pros. Invest in comprehensive Sarasota plant health care services, and Tropical Gardens plant experts will keep your hungry Florida perennials fertilized and monitor and treat them for any diseases or insect infestations.

Ready for the Best Perennial Plants for Florida? Talk to Us

There are lots of great perennials out there. Can’t decide which ones are perfect for your outdoor space? Get them all! Just kidding. You’d need a garden roughly the size of South America. 

Tropical Gardens offers landscape design services in Sarasota, Florida that make it easy. 

Our landscape design and build teams can create the backyard tropical paradise you crave. Then, our residential maintenance team can keep it healthy and thriving. 

Let’s get started. We’ll help you figure it all out. 

Give us a call or fill out our form today! Our team of Sarasota designers can’t wait to design the perfect outdoor haven for your backyard or vacation rental property.

Sources: Blue Daze, Ice Plant, Sun Rose, Begonia ‘Alba’, Petite Ixora, Penta