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5 Beautiful Flowering Plants

Flowers add so much to a home. Over the last 7 years we’ve cultivated a few gardens in our yard and I’m excited to share 5 beautiful flowering plants.

Garden path lined with peonies

The warmer days and nights mean our garden is bursting with beautiful blooms and lovely fragrances. I’m so delighted to share 5 (of my favorite) beautiful flowering plants with you.

peonies

When we first moved into our home 7 years ago, the yard was a blank slate. There were a few hydgrangeas bushes and a rose bush but other than that there was just lots of grass. Since then we added a she shed turned pool house, a pool and created raised beds and are working on a cut flower garden behind the pool house.

Before I go any further, I’m NOT a gardener. I simply LOVE flowers and have learned what works by trial and error. Saying that, I’ve gotten a lot better with gardening over the last 7 years. I thought I’d share what works for us in our New England garden.

Let’s start in our front yard. We created this paver walkway and made a little garden to enter our backyard and pool. I wanted it to feel like a secret garden 😊 even thought it’s in our front yard. I’ve loaded this area with peonies, false indigo, lilies, and flanked the entry with vanilla strawberry hydrangeas. We used crushed shells instead of mulch which our plants seem to LOVE!

Peony garden

5 Beautiful Flowering Plants

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change.”

– Buddha
peony

Peonies

My peony bushes are about to pop! The one pictured here just opened this week. It’s a sorbet peony.

  • When to Plant – Fall
  • When they bloom – spring into summer depending on your location
  • Ants are important – you may see ants walking across your peony bloom these are important they rid peonies of pests and also help the blooms open.
  • Lovely cut flowers – peonies make lovely cut flowers. They have a gorgeous fragrance. They can last up to a week in water in your home.
  • They need support – the peony flowers can become very heavy so it’s important to support the stalks. I have rings around all our peonies.
  • Other facts – peony petals are edible. You can use them on salads or garnish on ice tea. They are said to symbolize a happy life and a happy marriage.

You can grow peonies from root but I haven’t had luck doing this. All our peonies were small plants. Some were transplanted from our backyard – they were originally in the shade and didn’t get enough light. Now they’re thriving. We also have the Karl Rosenfield Double Peony in the front yard. They have deep fuchsia petals.

In the back yard we have Coral Charm peonies which are brand new this year. My mom gave them to me Mother’s Day weekend. We planted them shortly after and they seem to be doing very well.

Coral Charm Peony

They start out a gorgeous pink / peach and then fade to the most glorious pale blush.

Coral Charm Peony

Here you can see the support and the faded hue:

Coral Charm Peony

You can see how the peonies in the front yard are more established. The peony bushes will retain the dark green leaves all summer and then they completely die back in winter to regrow in the spring.

Clematis

Inside our pool gate we have two types of clematis growing on our trellis. The purple clematis currently flowering is multi blue. It flowers all summer. Growing up higher is sweet autumn clematis which flowers in September and looks like snow! Sweet autumn clematis smells heavenly. You can read more about that here.

Pretty Multi Blue Clematis climbing trellis
  • When to Plant – Fall
  • When they bloom – spring into summer depending on your location
  • Cool roots – it’s important to keep the roots cool, but the stems in full sun.
  • They need support – they need a trellis or something to grow up. The variety mentioned above grows off old growth.
  • Other facts – The word clematis comes form the Greek word for climbing vine. Clematis belong to the buttercup family.
Purple clematis

False Indigo

We have two False Indigo plants – one in our front garden and one in the back. This is the one in the front and it’s smaller and less established.

False indigo

The one in our backyard is huge and thrives every year. To give you an idea of the resiliency I’ll tell you a little story – It was gift from our old neighbor when we first moved into our home 7 years ago. I’d always loved it in her yard. When we put the pool in very heavy diggers and equipment drove over the plant when it was dormant, I was so worried it would have damaged the plant. This little plant used all its might to push through the hard-packed dirt. That year there weren’t very many flowers but the plant survived and thrives once again.

False indigo plant
  • When to Plant – Fall
  • When they bloom – spring into summer depending on your location
  • Native to – Prairies of southern North America
  • Easy to care for – this plant is resilient and easy to care for.
  • Other facts – One of the oldest perennials known. A native plant of North America that the Europeans used to pay the Americans to grow this plant for the dye hence the name false indigo. It attracts butterflies and is attractive in cut flower arrangements.
False indigo

Knock Out Roses

Knock Out Roses

We have two of these beautiful bushes growing in our pool area. We have the Double Pink Knock Out Rose. They were a gift from my parents when we first moved in. They’ve really grown quite big in 7 years!

Pool gardens with knock out roses

What I love is that they are so easy to care for and they bloom ALL summer! I just deadhead them.

  • When to Plant – Late winter to spring
  • When they bloom – spring and summer. They bloom all summer.
  • Easy to care for – this plant is resilient and easy to care for. I just deadhead the roses. They like full sun.
  • Other facts – Knock Out got their name by being resilient to pests, like black spot mildew. The name was patented. It has superior drought tolerance once established.

Reblooming Lilac

Reblooming lilacs

I bought these lilacs at WholeFoods about 5 years ago for our anniversary. At the time I didn’t know they rebloomed. How delighted I was when I found them blooming during the summer.

  • When to Plant – Any time except winter.
  • When they bloom – Bloom in spring along with traditional lilacs but rebloom all summer.
  • Easy to care for – this plant is resilient and easy to care for. Blooms grow on new and old growth.
  • Other facts – this plant is deer resistant and attracts butterflies. The flowers are smaller and more delicate than traditional lilacs and has a lovely fragrance. It is beautiful in cut flower arrangements.
lilacs in galvanized tray

I clipped some and made used them in my fragrant lilac mantel which you can see here.

Well, I hope this gave you some ideas for beautiful flowering plants for your yards! I thought it would be perfect to share as part of my friend Jennifer’s cozy living series. Here you can see more of our garden below. If you enjoyed this post you might also like this one on making elderflower cordial.

Pool with gardens

Be sure to visit all my friends below for more cozy living ideas:

Cozy Living June 2021

Creative Cain Cabin / Making It in the Mountains / Town and Country Living

 

Cozy Living June 2021

Duke Manor Farm / Finding Silver Pennies

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Donna
Donna
2 years ago

I will definitely be planting some Clematis this autumn. And False Indigo too! The landscaping around your pool looks so lovely!! Hoping you guys enjoy your beautiful little oasis over this hot and steamy weekend! 🙂

Kristi Mercer
2 years ago

Oh, you’re beautiful garden gets me every time my friend! We’ve been working away on our own landscaping plans and I’m finding so much inspiration in all of your beautiful photos! I had no idea that there was such a thing as reblooming lilacs! I’ll definitely be adding those to my planting list.

Mary
Mary
2 years ago

Your yard is beautiful! I am looking for a flowering plant that does well in hot afternoon sun. Would the false indigo be a good choice?
Thanks for any help you can send my way.

terry wilson
terry wilson
2 years ago

WHO EVER WRITES THESE IS not A GARDNER. From NC south clematis is a weed to rip out. ponies will not grow well from NC south, these are not plants for NC south or west to the rockies. Please label for northern gardens. Having lived in the north, far south, west, midwest and now eastern seaboard, gardening is different where I have lived. So please either get better advice for say above the Mason Dixon line.

Jennifer @ Town and Country Living

Danielle – your garden spaces are gorgeous! I don’t have any false indigo but I love the way yours looks and will need to add it somewhere. Thanks for sharing your pretty landscaping!

Dawn
2 years ago

Beautiful photos, I have never heard of re-blooming lilacs and now I need one. I wonder if they would thrive in my environment. My peonies are blooming right now too and mine have a special meaning. They are from my 101 year old granny’s garden.

Sue Madge AUSTRALIA
Sue Madge AUSTRALIA
2 years ago

Is that the species (original, not hybridised) French Lilac you have there? We had one in a park in town but Council dug it out – I will never forgive them!

Sue Madge
Sue Madge
2 years ago

It was their lilac since it was in their park, but I am still sulking!

Janet
Janet
2 years ago

Beautiful garden!! I thought I lost my baptista … false indigo … but thankfully just started growing. I love clematis. I have 7 different clematis plants LOL. You should try the tubular flowered clematis. The flowers are smaller but they bloom all summer…gorgeous. I had pink ones at our old house and wished I brought them to our current house. I finally bought one but wasn’t in full sun so transplanted last fall. I’m hoping they bloom this year.
Love seeing your garden!

Joan Fantozzi
Joan Fantozzi
2 years ago

Flowers make me smile and I love seeing them inside and out. I have the knock out roses and they just keep getting bigger and fuller; they were a gift that keeps on giving. I also have clematis which I didn’t realize at the time was a perennial and when I saw the brittle brown remnants I thought they had not made it thru the winter. But no, they not only made it, they are thriving. I have two old barn ladders they are climbing up and just seeing them makes me smile and people comment on them all the… Read more »

Leslie
Leslie
10 months ago

Your backyard is breathtaking! I am looking at a fence/gate that is very similar to yours (the Certainteed Bufftech brand). I was wondering if you would share what brand you used for your fence/gate/arbor. I’ve had trouble finding an arbor that matched my gate design as yours does. Thank you so much! This would be so helpful!