Perennial flowers are the mainstay of any garden. They come up year after year and often need less care than an annual plant.

"Your Garden Companion" Paul DeJong from Landscape Garden Center says one thing to consider is the magnitude of all the different flowers and foliage color.

Take for instance, a perennial geranium. The blue color would work well with a golden yarrow. You want to use different colors to enhance the areas. In most cases, you want to use more than one perennial. Groupings of 3 to 5 are typically the rule.

There are a lot of different colors to choose from, royal blue to paprika, to pink. The nice thing about perennials with all the different foliage - at certain times of the year it's hard to get a lot of color. But since the perennials are native to the area, they can stand a lot of heat and can give you a portrait or painting of color in your yard all summer long.

Perennial plants are a diverse group. They can live for only a few years or they can last for 20 or more years. Perennial plants can vary in size from only a few millimeters in size to over 328 feet tall.