Perennials for Sunny Gardens

'Flame Thrower' is a bi-color, orange and yellow coneflower hybrid with petals surrounding a dark brown cone. It grows in moderately fertile, well-drained soil and is fragrant. It attracts butterflies and moths and is a beautiful addition to a prairie garden or a mixed herbaceous border. 

Good drainage and a soil lean in nutrients is essential for this Mediterranean plant to perform at its best. Lavender is fragrant, but it is also great for its silver leaves that are deer resistant. 

Easier to grow than C. 'Moonbeam', 'Zagreb' is a taller fern-leaf coreopsis with a brighter bloom. It is easy to grow in well-drained and moderately fertile soil. 'Zagreb' looks good at the front of the sunny border.

This coreopsis, part of the Big Bang series, is a chameleon. Its flowers are yellow with darker yellow/red centers throughout summer, but when fall comes and temperatures drop, the same flowers turn beautiful shades of red. It is a great accent in the front of a cottage garden. 'Red Shift' is hardy to USDA Zone 5.