When I first started planning my garden, yellow wasn’t a colour I prioritised. Indeed I vowed to have no yellow in my garden! However as time has gone on I’ve really valued the impact which the colour can bring. I’ve combined yellow perennial flowers with reds and oranges to create a hot corner. I’ve also contrasted yellow plants with purples to create some of the most wonderful effects.
And now as we slip into Autumn, it’s often the yellow plants which are still providing some much needed cheer in my garden. So if you’re keen to add more yellow into your garden, and you want plants which will come back time and again, here are 9 yellow perennials I’d recommend you try.
Canna Lillies
I’ve been experimenting with a few more tropical looking plants this year and have got a bit hooked! So I thought I’d include a Canna in my list of yellow perennial flowers.
Cannas not only add a touch of exotic to your garden in terms of their look and shape but they come in some amazing colours and their leaves are wonderful too. I think they look lovely on their own in pots. However you can also have them in mixed borders, with say Agapanthus or Crocosmia to create a bit of a tropical vibe or with other flowers such as Echinaceas and Dahlias for some full-on, flowering drama.
If you’re looking for a yellow there are plenty to choose from. Cannova Yellow flowers from May until October and is 70-80cm tall, so smaller than your typical Canna making it ideal for a small patio. Or if you want something with flecks of orangey-red, Canna Tropical Yellow is fabulous. Both have long lasting flowers which contrast beautifully with their dark leaves.
The only thing to bear in mind with Cannas is that they are tender perennials. You can protect them over Winter with mulch and keep your fingers crossed, but I’d dig them up (or move the pots indoors) to overwinter in a cool, frost-free place, and plant them out the following year once the threat of frosts has passed.
Achillea
I couldn’t possible list my favourite yellow perennial flowers and not include Achillea. In particular I like Achillea Moonshine. With its acid lemon flat flower heads, which go on and on, and feathery blue-green, grey foliage, I think it’s a star.
I have my Moonshine both in a container on my wild patio where it’s like a sunburst, creating real impact contrasting with dark purple planting. You can see how to create a wild patio for yourself here.
I also have this Achillea planted in the narrow border behind our tatty old cricket net. It’s not the ideal location but good old Achilleas aren’t fussy, they cope with full sun or partial shade, as long as the soil is well-drained. They hate becoming waterlogged, so if you have them in a container, make sure you’ve good drainage.
Other than that they’re easy. Keep deadheading your Achilleas and they’ll keep coming back. Mine is still flowering on my patio in October. That’s good news for our insect population as Achilleas, with their flat, easily accessed flowers, are incredibly popular with our beneficial insects, especially hoverflies. And like so many perennials, if you want to increase your stock that’s easy too. You simply divide your plant up either in Autumn or Spring. You can see how to divide perennials here
Yellow Perennial Flowers with Flavour – Fennel
When planning a border, you want a mix of flower shapes to create interest. And to my eye, nothing looks softer and lovelier than the airy flowerheads of Fennel. Add to this the dazzling brilliance of its colour and you can see why it’s on my list of yellow perennial flowers.
At a height of 1.8 metres, I’d put Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare, to give it its proper name, at the back of an ornamental border. I think it looks fantastic with the contrasting pink of Echinacea Purpurea Magnus. But any contrasting colour will work. If you’re unsure, my blog on using a colourwheel to identify colour combinations will help you. Alternatively you could plant it with other equally tall yellow perennials which have a different flower shape, such as Rudbeckia Herbstonne. More on that plant in a moment!
Whatever planting you go for, not only will you love the effect but the wildlife will too. Fennel is absolutely loved by insects, again especially hoverflies, and its aniseed-flavoured seeds are eaten by birds.
One thing to bear in mind with Fennel is that it doesn’t like being moved. I often move plants (finding I’ve put them in the wrong place to start with). Well you can’t do this with Fennel, so put it in the right spot from day one! It likes full sun, and moist but well drained soil. Other than that, it’s easy.
Food For Thought!
The added bonus with Fennel is the culinary one. But as I’m the world’s worst cook, it’s not a major factor for me. However, for those of you who are a dab hand in the kitchen, Fennel’s strong aniseed flavour means you can use its bulb (sparingly), in soups or sliced in salads. Or you can roast it and serve it with other root vegetables. The leaves can also apparently be harvested and used in pesto, and the seeds in curries.
For me, the birds and insects can munch it, I’ll happily just look at it!
Yellow Perennial Flowers with Height – Rudbeckia Herbstonne
My appreciation of yellow perennial flowers really started when I created a hot border in my garden. Since then, I’ve gradually added to the area a mix of red, orange and yellow plants. Some really small, such red hot pelargoniums and some a bit bigger like the delciously orangey Helenium Short ‘n’ Sassy. But when it comes to dazzling yellow stature, none comes even close to Rudbeckia Herbstonne. I bought mine at a plant fair and popped it in a pot not really appreciating quite how tall it would get. How often have I done that!
Well, let me tell you, Rudbeckia Herbstonne can get to 1.5 – 2.5 metres tall! Mine has easily reached the top end of this height range and in a pot, as you can imagine, it’s even taller. It’s towering. I imagine my lovely neighbours, Desi and Tim, can see its flowers from their garden, peering over the high garden wall at them!
Given that Mr F-W has resorted to tethering the Rudebeckia’s leaning stems as otherwise they assault you as you leave our back door, I may have to move mine to the back of a sunny border (though they will cope with a bit of shade). But wherever it is, the yellow daisy-like flowers will be gorgeous. They’re like yellow rays of sunshine, slightly backward tilting, and emanating from a greeny-yellow centre. The flowers start in Summer and continue well into Autumn. No wonder this perennial has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s prestigious Award of Garden Merit.
Yellow Perennial Flowers for Early Colour
Primula Veris – Cowslip
So far my list of yellow perennial flowers has focused on later flowering options. But what about the front end of the season? Well that’s easy. It may be a humble little plant, but I’d defy anyone to find something with more yellow ‘zing’ that Primula Veris aka the Cowslip.
I have created a colony of them under my Ash tree, where they look wonderfully natural, flowering away from April through to June. I also have them growing through the cracks on my patio! Full sun, dappled shade, partial shade, these little plants (growing 10 inches/25cm tall) are so easy. They just like a free draining situation.
I think they look particularly lovely with Viola Odorata and of course they look splendid with another of my favourite perennial yellow flowers Primula Vulgaris.
Primula Vulgaris – Primrose
I’ve a whole blog devoted to Primulas here So I won’t say too much about this stalwart of the Spring garden, other than, if you’re looking for a softer yellow, this is the plant for you. Pale and buttery, the Primrose is an absolutely beautiful little plant. I have masses of Primroses in my semi-shaded, woodland style border. Give them damp shade and an annual mulch of well rotted manure or compost and they’ll reward you and the wildlife in your garden with months of soft, gorgeous flowers.
Flowering from March, Primroses provide an early meal of nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators. Added to this, several species of moth use the Primrose as food for their caterpillars. That will please Mr F-W who is moth-mad! He even gave our daughter a moth trap as a birthday pressie once, so they could examine the various species in our garden. She loved it!
Anyway, back to the Primrose, if you’re looking for a colour contrast, like Cowslips, they also look lovely with the purple of Violas. I also think they look fantastic with with Daffodils.
Narcissus – Daffodils
Although you can get some white varieties such as Thalia, most people think yellow, when they think of Daffodils. So I can’t really list yellow perennial flowers and not mention them. Especially as Daffodils are among the most reliable of Spring flowering bulbs. Planted in early Autumn, these tough plants cope with rain, competition from grass and when in flower some will even cope with a severe late frost without losing any of their mojo.
Apparently, including hybrids, there are some 13,000 different daffodils out there to choose from. But they are different in terms of their flowering times. So the good news is, with careful selection you can have Daffodils flowering in your garden from January through to May!
There’s also a height of Daffodil to suit every situation. Spellbinder is a lovely taller variety (it grows to 50cm) so you might want it in the middle of a border, whereas if you want something smaller Tete A Tete, at 15cm tall, is well worth checking out. I think this smaller Daffodil looks lovely at the front of beds or in lower level, bowl-shaped pots.
Want something a bit different? A middle-sized double-flowered Daffodil called Narcissus ‘Cheerfulness’ is really lovely. It has a deep, rich yellow colour in the middle, and paler frothy petals on the outside. It grows to 40cm in height, so is ideal for the middle of a border.
Personally I like my Daffodils planted around trees, but it’s your garden, plant them where you like. Just make sure you’ve a spot for a Daffodil somewhere in your garden, you won’t regret it!
Verbascum
Moving away from Spring bulbs, but staying resolutely with yellow, you can get some lovely yellow Verbascums. And with their tall spires of flowers (up to 1 metre tall), they provide a strong shape contrast to other plants in a border. They will flower all Summer long and into early Autumn and are happy in partial shade and sun. So most of us can find a spot for these beauties.
I live in the Cotswolds so it seems appropriate to single out the variety Cotswold Queen, as one to try. Its delicious yellow flowers have a pinky purple eye. I think this variety would work well with say a Verbena Bonariensis swaying alongside it.
Romantic Yellow Perennial Flowers – Peonies
They may be slow growing and only bloom briefly from late Spring to early Summer but there’s something utterly romantic about Peonies. So I’m definitely suggesting two for my list – Sequestered Sunshine and Border Charm.
These wonderful yellow perennial flowers are both Intersectional peonies (Itoh peonies). As such they are much more unusual and relatively rare. Itoh peonies are a cross between a herbaceous peony and a tree peony. This leaves them with some features of both which give you the best of both worlds. For instance, like tree peonies, they have larger flowers and often bloom for four to five weeks, which is slightly longer than herbaceous peonies. But like herbaceous peonies, they’re reasonably compact – typically growing 75cm tall. They also require little or no support, because like a tree peony, they have a stronger framework. If you are interested in how to grow peonies there’s more in my peony blog.
But to really find out more about these or any other Peonies, I’d also urge you to visit Primrose Hall’s site, they are absolute experts and kindly lent me the photos above. (They don’t pay me to say this or link to them, I just think it’s true!)
So that’s my 9 ideas for yellow perennial flowers to add a dash of dazzle to your garden. I know I could have irises and roses in my list, I promise to cover them off another time. Meanwhile, happy, cheery, gardening X