Herbaceous Collection, Short & Sweet

Short & Sweet Herbaceous Perennial Collection: 6 x p9 Pots

What these lack in stature, they make up for in punchy character: think Dustin Hoffman as Dorothy Michaels in the 1982 movie Tootsie. We've assembled a colourful collection of eight low-growing varieties for use at the front of the border, lining a path, growing on top of a terraced wall, or for growing in large pots.
With our range of collections, such as the Back of the Border pack, we make it easy for you to choose plants that work together, so you can be experimental.

Browse our other herbaceous perennial collections, or all of our perennial plants.

Features

• 6 varieties of low-growing plants especially selected by our garden design experts
• Planting instructions supplied
• Grow 60cm tall or less

Our carefully-curated range of short perennial plants includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Ajuga reptans, Alchemilla mollis, Arabis alpina, Arenaria montana, Armeria pseudarmeria, Aster novi-belgii, Aubrieta, Bergenia cordifolia, Campanula glomerata, Centaurea montana, Cerastium tomentosum, Coreopsis grandiflora, Dianthus, dwarf Digitalis, Lithodora diffusa, Nepeta racemosa, Primula, Stachys byzantina, Verbena rigida, Viola labradorica.

Please note: We cannot accept requests for specific plants. We select a mix of the best at the time of delivery. The pictures are examples only, your mix may vary.

Growing Herbaceous Perennials

Our perennial collections consist of hardy characters that will thrive in any moist, well-drained soil, preferably in sun, but some shade is fine.

Nepeta can spread like wildfire once it has taken, which can give the garden a pleasing informality and is perfect for wildlife. The way to control is to cut back and divide.

In Your Garden Design

Use these perennials to soften the front of the border, cover leggy plants and spill over your paths, or to meet the eye on a low wall around a terraced area: Aubrietas particularly suit this.

Low-growing plants are often referred to as base plants in design and can make up to 50% of your design structure as ground cover. They are the garden's initial defence mechanism against weeds and a background against which other, taller plants can stand out. Create a mix of colours with height cascading from the back, down through to the bottom of borders. Try them around climbing roses and other leggy climbing plants such as wisteria.

Did You Know?

Some low-growing, spreading perennial plants make great, low-maintenance weed suppressors: once they take off, you'll find yourself spending time controlling their spread.
As the great garden designer Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006) wrote about his use of ground cover at Great Dixter in East Sussex:

"Dixter is a high maintenance garden; I make no bones about that. It is effort that brings reward. There are many borders and much work goes into them. Labour saving ground cover is not for me. If you see ground cover, it’s there because, first and foremost, I like it. If it does also save labour, that is an incidental benefit."
He was a man with a great eye, which dictated his planting. And bear in mind he did, during busy months, have six gardeners on site to help him!