Long-Lived Perennials

There's nothing wrong with that, the glass-half-fulls among us say. If no plants called it quits, there wouldn't be holes in the garden that we can fill with new and interesting plants. But if you honestly plan on planting only once where you can, the best thing to do is dedicate the ground to the long-lived.

But first, a word about good genes. They usually can't overcome an untenable environment. If a plant needs moist shade, putting it in dry sun will usually kill it pretty quickly, regardless of how long it's known to live. And as tough as some plants are, they need a minimal amount of care.

"If you don't divide shasta daisy and give it potassium, it will definitely be short-term," says Ruth Baumgardner, co-owner of Mouse Creek Nurseries in Riceville, Tenn.

Plants like the old-fashioned foxgloves, hollyhock and verbascum seem short-lived, but they're actually biennials. And some plants like blanket flower, lance coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), Leucanthemum and Phlox divaricata may not be long-lived but they reseed.

"I just helped a friend move a peony that's 125 years old. Her great-grandfather had planted it," says perennial expert Stephanie Cohen, whose new book The Perennial Gardener's Design Primer is already into its second printing.

Given the right place and the right care, these plants will typically live at least 15 years, and some a lot longer than that.

These plants typically last for three to five years before fading away, or "the plants that live for three years if you don't kill them first," says Cohen.