Unlike annuals which flower once and then are over perennial plants last for several years. Because they are so long lived you need to take care in choosing the plants to make sure that they suit your garden. Naturally everyone will have their own particular favorite plants, but this list has been chosen on the basis of plants that have colorful flowers when in bloom and attractive foliage when the flowers have faded. The list and accompanying information which I found over at the Hubpages website is by Ilona.

Everyone wants a beautiful garden, but not everyone wants to have to coddle plants that give only limited return of bloom for a good garden show. It’s not as if the modern homeowner has access to the kind of professional gardener that made the English gardens of the early twentieth century the places of garden legend. That kind of garden required a small army of laborers, run by a career head gardener. The bedding annuals, the pots of blooming bulbs, the insertion of plants to fill the place of those gone out of bloom…
As Rudyard Kipling was known to observe:
“Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:–“Oh, how beautiful!” and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives”
The work of a garden was an apt analogy for the making of a great nation, wasn’t it?
Most of us aren’t aiming for garden legend, but we would like to have dependable bloom to brighten up our landscapes. Perennials that produce color during their bloom time, and attractive foliage when out of bloom will give a modern garden good looks without an army of gardeners.

Plant harmonies made easy

Color Wheel For Gardeners

A tool like this can be very important for combining your plants in the border. If you have tried and failed to produce the plant pictures you wanted, try this quick way to use the ten best plant choices with some companions.
The main flower feature always needs a number of secondary flowering plants to create a garden picture. That is a good garden tip to remember when putting together even small borders.
Arrange plants by height, then factor in bloom time, sun requirements and color choices, reduces planning time and increases successful combinations. There are other color wheels to choose:
Womanswork Shade Garden Wheel

A Word About Perennial Plants

Characteristics of a this herbaceous form

When landscaping, we all have a wish list of less work, more bloom, and all season interest. The bad news is it is impossible to fulfill those wishes with just one kind of plant. The good news is that if you know what plants can do, you can combine them to get something very close to your landscape wishes.

Perennials, the Good Things

They come back year after year (with proper care).
Perennial blooming plants often have substantial form.
There are choices for every climate and every garden growing condition.
There is less work for most perennials than for biennials or annual flowers.
They will multiply in proper growing conditions.

Perennials, the Not-So-Good Things

They have a specific season of bloom.
They do need dividing, fertilizing, and other care.
You do need to plant the right plant in the right place (creates a learning curve)
The plants take time to “settle in”, and produce the desired effect.
Just so you understand that it is not possible to pop plants into the ground and get back a full season of non-stop color, I wanted to start off with this information. Instant effect is something that a gardener can get with annuals, for the cost of the plants replaced every year and the annual renewed efforts of planting. But by choosing wisely, a chosen month of the growing season can be spectacular, and a longer time of continuous bloom can be achieved.
Would you like to mull over the ten plants that I think will give you the best results for a blooming garden?

See more including the list of 10 best perennials at Hubpages