Evergreen Perennials

Best Evergreen Perennials

Evergreen perennials form a huge group featuring some classic garden favourites including spiky succulents, bright foliage plants and a few flowering plants too. Use evergreen perennials to fill your garden with year round structure and colour. We suggest the best options for tricky shade, full sun and more below.

Evergreen perennials for shade

Plenty of evergreen perennials tolerate and thrive in full shade. Hellebores perform very well in a shady bed, flowering in a range of colours come winter and early spring. They look fabulous paired with the colourful foliage of heuchera. If you’re after slightly more height, you can’t go wrong with an ornamental fern.

Tallest evergreen perennials

The tallest evergreen perennials are surely the red hot pokers (kniphofia) which send up impressive flower spikes true to their name in fiery shades. Other tall perennials include the ornamental grasses, phormiums and the airy mauve verbena. Bring height to your beds and borders with these stunners.

Evergreen perennials for patio pots

Go for a succulent like mangave in a patio pot. Not only are they drought tolerant, the spear-like foliage looks stylish and architectural. Nip the sharp tips off the leaves to avoid any pricking.

Evergreen perennials for full sun

Full sun can be a tricky condition for some evergreen perennials. Go for drought tolerant, ornamental grasses, lavender or use a silvery senecio. For top tips on choosing and growing lavender, do check out our helpful care guide.

Best flowering evergreen perennials

Depending on your colour palette, go for a really long blooming verbena or electric blue salvias to add pops of colour to the garden. There’s plenty of foliage colour to find too, exemplified by the exotic looking coleus and tiny succulent sempervivums.

Violas and pansies are great value for money in the winter months. Their cheerful nodding blooms defy the cold to bring colour to beds, pots, and baskets.