Perennials are the quiet heroes of the garden, reliable, resilient, and ready to return year after year with little fuss. Unlike annuals, which provide one season of quick color, perennials reward gardeners with long-lasting structure, evolving beauty, and the pleasure of watching plants mature over time. They anchor borders, fill empty spaces, and deliver dependable color and texture through the seasons. Each year, we select our top five favorite perennials, plants we feel offer exceptional performance, beauty, and versatility for home gardeners. From bold bloomers to graceful foliage plants, these standouts bring color, movement, and personality to any garden.
Below are our top perennial picks for 2025:
Daffodils are our fifth pick. Although often thought of as spring standouts, daffodils deserve perennial praise for far more than their early blooms. These cheerful flowers return reliably year after year and naturalize beautifully, creating larger displays over time. Available in countless shades of yellow, white, orange, peach, and soft pink, daffodils offer endless possibilities for color and style. Many varieties also feature lovely fragrances and layered petal forms. Deer- and rodent-resistant, easy to grow, and among the earliest signs of spring, daffodils bring joy, brightness, and resilience to gardens of every size. They look stunning in beds, borders, under trees, or naturalized in grassy areas.
Next on our list is Amsonia or Blue Star. Amsonia is a true four-season treasure. In spring, its clusters of soft blue, star-shaped flowers add a gentle glow to the garden. Through summer, its narrow, willow-like foliage forms a graceful, airy mound. By fall, the entire plant transforms into a golden fountain, providing one of the season’s best foliage displays. Adaptable and low-maintenance, Amsonia thrives in full sun to partial shade and is highly resistant to pests and diseases. Whether used as a specimen plant or massed in larger drifts, it brings movement, subtle beauty, and exceptional seasonal interest to perennial borders.
In the middle of the list is Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia). Few perennials offer the ethereal movement and hazy, cloud-like beauty of Russian Sage. With its tall, airy stems and lavender-blue flowers, this plant brings a soft, breezy elegance to sunny borders. Russian Sage blooms from midsummer into fall, offering months of color during the hottest part of the year when many plants fade. It thrives in full sun and well-drained soil, tolerating drought and heat effortlessly. Its aromatic silvery foliage adds lightness and contrast, pairing beautifully with ornamental grasses, roses, and summer-blooming perennials. Russian Sage is a standout for adding texture, height, and pollinator activity to any garden.
Hostas came second on our list this year. Hostas remain perennial favorites for a simple reason: they deliver lush beauty in the shade with almost no effort. Known for their dramatic foliage, Hostas range from petite miniatures to grand varieties stretching several feet wide. Their leaves come in endless combinations of greens, blues, yellows, and variegated patterns, adding depth and elegance to garden beds and container plantings. Summer brings tall flower spikes topped with lavender or white blooms that attract hummingbirds. Easy to grow, adaptable, and visually stunning, Hostas continue to be essential in woodland gardens, shady borders, and serene landscape designs.
Our top pick for 2025 is Achillea, also known as Yarrow. Achillea is a powerhouse perennial, beloved for its durability and long-lasting clusters of tiny flowers that appear in flat-topped umbels. These pollinator magnets bloom from early summer into fall and come in a rainbow of warm shades—gold, pink, red, apricot, and creamy white. Yarrow thrives in poor soil, full sun, and hot, dry conditions, making it a perfect choice for low-maintenance or water-wise gardens. Its fern-like foliage adds soft texture, while its sturdy blooms make excellent cut flowers, both fresh and dried. If you want a plant that performs with almost zero fuss, Achillea is a top contender for 2025.
Perennials play a crucial role in creating gardens that evolve gracefully through the seasons, offering dependable structure, color, and charm year after year. Our top five picks for 2025—Achillea, Hosta, Russian Sage, Amsonia, and Daffodils—represent plants that are not only beautiful, but also hardworking, low-maintenance, and deeply rewarding to grow. Whether you’re refreshing a border, starting a new planting bed, or simply looking to add long-lasting interest to your landscape, these exceptional perennials are well worth inviting into your garden this year.
