After rating our annuals earlier this season, you demanded the perennial edition – and we're delivering with brutally honest opinions that might surprise you. Perennials form the backbone of any cottage garden, and with dozens of varieties that have weathered at least one winter in our zone 6A garden, we have plenty of data to share.

Our rating criteria? Simple: would we plant it again? A 10 means it's a must-have, a 5 is neutral territory, and anything below that should probably find a new home. But here's where it gets interesting – we don't always agree, and those disagreements reveal a lot about personal gardening preferences versus objective plant performance.

The Perfect 10s: Our Garden MVPs

Backlight Luminary Phlox: The Undisputed Champion

If we could only grow one perennial, this would be it. Six to seven weeks of pristine white blooms, clean green foliage that stays disease-free, and the kind of reliable performance that makes you forget you ever gardened without it. This tall garden phlox earned unanimous 10s from both of us – a rare occurrence.

What makes it exceptional:

• Extended bloom period when most perennials are taking breaks
• Disease-resistant foliage in humid conditions
• Architectural height that anchors mixed borders
• Reliable performance year after year

Serendipity Allium: The Pollinator Magnet

Easy to divide, interesting foliage throughout the season, and late-summer blooms that pollinators absolutely devour. This might be the most underutilized perennial in American gardens. We've divided and spread it throughout our landscape, and it performs beautifully everywhere we've tried it.

Walker's Low Catmint: The Comeback Kid

Currently in its second flush after being cut to the ground in late spring, this perennial exemplifies what we want from our plants: multiple bloom cycles, easy division, and the kind of vigorous growth that forgives mistakes. Five weeks from cutting to full bloom? That's garden gold.

Fall in Love Sweetly Anemone: The Season Extender

Yes, you wait until late summer for blooms, but that's precisely why this perennial earned its perfect score. When everything else is winding down, these anemones are just getting started, carrying color well into fall without the aggressive spreading habit of other anemone species.

The Controversial Ratings: Where We Disagreed

Hudson Bay Hosta: The Beauty vs. Beast Debate

One of us called it a 10/10 for that gorgeous avocado-green center with dark edges. The other gave it a brutal 5/10, saying it looks like "smeared avocado." This perfectly illustrates how personal taste affects plant evaluation – objective performance means nothing if you don't love looking at it.

Delft Blue Geranium: The Showstopper Divide

All season long, one of us has been raving about this "showstopper" with its incredible flowers. Rating time revealed a shocking 1/10 from the other, who "hates the leaf and habit." Beautiful flowers can't overcome fundamental design incompatibility with your garden vision.

Coral Bells Collection: The Relationship Status Complicated

As the self-proclaimed "coral bell pusher" versus the "victim of coral bells being pushed," our ratings ranged from 6/10 to 10/10 depending on the variety and personal tolerance for their sometimes-marginal performance in our conditions.

The Solid Performers: 8/10 Territory

Summerific Hibiscus: Late but Great

Eight out of 10 despite not flowering until late in our season. When those massive blooms finally appear, they justify the wait and the space they occupy. Sometimes spectacular late performance trumps early mediocrity.

Cotton Candy Thalictrum: The Early Star

A perfect 10 when flowering in early season, but once those blooms fade and seed heads are removed, the foliage looks tired. Still earned an 8/10 because that early performance is so memorable.

Leading Lady Monarda: The Spreader

Recently cut back hard, this bee balm is already showing new growth just weeks later. Its tendency to spread in its designated area is a feature, not a bug, and the pollinator activity it generates is phenomenal.

The Learning Experiences: Mid-Range Ratings

Webmaster Spiderwort: The Flopper

Two weeks ago, this would have earned a 9/10 for non-stop blooms and cool texture. Today? A disappointing 6/10 because it's flopped dramatically. Sometimes you don't know a plant's true character until you've grown it through multiple seasons.

Day Lilies: The Neutral Zone

Nosferatu day lilies earned straight 5/10 ratings from both of us. They're healthy, they bloom prolifically, they're reliable – but we're just not day lily fanatics. Sometimes good performance isn't enough to overcome personal preference.

Baptisia Varieties: The Texture Stars

Pink Lemonade earned higher marks (8-9/10) than Blue Bubble (6-8/10), primarily because the pink variety keeps its interesting seed pods while the blue drops them. Details like this separate good plants from great ones.

The Disappointments: Time to Reevaluate

Lamb's Ear: The Hatred

A brutal 1/10 rating reflects complete failure in our conditions. After years of poor performance, we're finally admitting defeat and planning replacement with Silver Lining Artemisia, which thrives with zero care.

Aztec King Creeping Veronica: The Wrong Place Problem

A 2/10 rating might reflect poor siting rather than inherent plant issues. Sometimes the problem isn't the plant – it's where we put it.

Various Geraniums: The Habit Issues

Tall-growing geraniums consistently rated lower than compact varieties, revealing a preference for plant habit that fits our garden's scale and maintenance style.

What These Ratings Really Reveal

Personal Taste Matters More Than Performance

The biggest lesson? Plant performance is only half the equation. If you don't love looking at something, its objective merits become irrelevant. Hudson Bay hosta and Delft blue geranium both perform well, but aesthetic preferences created wildly different ratings.

Maintenance Tolerance Varies

Plants that require staking, frequent cutting back, or pest management got dinged in our ratings, even when they performed well otherwise. Know your maintenance tolerance before selecting plants.

Bloom Timing Affects Perception

Early bloomers that fade by mid-summer rated lower than plants with extended or late-season interest. In a short zone 6 growing season, every week of color counts.

Division and Spreading Behavior

Plants that divide easily and spread appropriately earned bonus points. We want more of what we love, and plants that cooperate with our propagation efforts get rewarded.

The Sentimental Factor

Some plants earned higher ratings purely for emotional reasons. Bumble Sky meadow sage and Roseanne geranium both acknowledged getting sentiment points for being among our first garden additions, even when current performance doesn't justify the attachment.

Regional Performance Considerations

Several ratings reflected specific zone 6A challenges:

• Heat tolerance during summer extremes
• Winter survival and recovery
• Disease pressure in humid conditions
• Slug and snail damage in wet seasons

What performs beautifully in zone 7 might struggle here, and our ratings reflect that reality.

The Replacement Strategy

Low-rated plants aren't necessarily going to the compost pile immediately. Instead, we're planning strategic replacements:

• Lamb's ear will be gradually replaced with Silver Lining Artemisia
• Weak coral bells might be swapped for stronger Heucherella varieties
• Poor-performing varieties will be moved to different locations before being discarded

Future Planning Insights

These ratings are informing our future plant purchases:

• More of anything that earned 9-10 ratings
• Caution around plants with habit issues we've identified
• Focus on extended bloom periods and easy maintenance
• Consideration of personal aesthetic preferences alongside performance data

The Garden Relationship Reality

Rating perennials after multiple growing seasons reveals that gardening is ultimately about relationships. Some plants become beloved garden companions despite minor flaws, while others never quite click despite objective merits.

The most valuable gardens aren't necessarily filled with the "best" plants – they're filled with plants that work well together and bring joy to their gardeners. Performance data matters, but so does the daily experience of living with these plants through multiple seasons.

Our honest ratings reflect both the science and emotion of gardening, acknowledging that the perfect garden plant for one person might be a disappointing performer for another. The key is knowing yourself, your conditions, and your tolerance for various plant behaviors before making long-term perennial commitments.

Remember that garden ratings are deeply personal and site-specific. Use our experiences as a starting point, but trust your own observations and preferences when building your perennial collection.

Thanks for growing with us!