Perennials that flower red are exciting in the landscape. Red's powerful, passionate color can be enjoyed throughout the season and blends well with other perennials, ornamental grasses, shrubs, evergreens, groundcovers and trees. Red flowering perennials are great at attracting butterflies and birds, particularly hummingbirds.

Perennials with red blooms are native plants, which are more naturally insect resistant, salt tolerant and have natural disease resistance. Native perennials include Bleeding Heart and many new hybrids, Bush's Poppy Mallow is a nice mixture of red and pink; Clump Verbenas are wonderful, true-red garden additions; Coral Bells and the plentiful hybrids are a rich, vibrant red for shady garden; Fire Pink is native to eastern half of US and Ontario; and Butterfly Weed ranges in color from orange to red and yellow add great summer blooms in moist areas.

Some of the non-native perennials with red flowers are: Blood Lobelia, Dahlia, Pinks, Poppies, Sage and Sweet William.

Flowering perennials can be grown directly in the ground, in containers for patios and decks or even in hanging baskets. Mixed containers are in vogue, often a blend of annuals, perennials, ornamental grasses and even tropicals to take the urn, window box or decorative planter through the spring, summer, fall until frost. Most of these perennials grow well with average soil moisture and partial or full sun, though some can take full shade, giving the home gardener more options for use in the landscape.

Too much red can quickly overwhelm an interior room, but in the outdoor living spaces without the confined dimensions of walls and ceilings, red flowers harmonize with orange and yellow, blue, purple and white providing a striking contrast.

To view learn more about red flowering perennials, please visit Virtual Plant Tags.