Perennials for Season-Long Color in Colorado

The early anchor — deep violet spikes open the season in May and draw the first bees of the year. Shear it back hard after the first bloom collapses and it returns with a second flush in late summer.

Rigid, upright, and deer-resistant; it gives the front third of a bed its structure.

The longest-running bloomer in the lineup — soft lavender-blue clouds that start with the salvia and, given one mid-season shearing, keep going into September. It softens walk edges and spills over walls without becoming a thug.

Nearly unkillable in Colorado conditions; if a bed can only have one plant, this is the argument.

Flat gold landing pads over ferny foliage, all summer, on almost no water. Cut spent heads to a side bud and it repeats into fall.

It earns the middle of the bed — tall enough to layer, tough enough to ignore.

The midsummer centerpiece — big purple daisies that butterflies treat as furniture. It bridges the gap between the June bloomers and the fall finishers.

Leave the seed cones standing after frost; goldfinches work them all winter and the stalks carry the bed's structure into the snow.

The iron man — red-and-gold blooms from June until a hard freeze with no meaningful care. A native that treats poor soil, heat, and neglect as normal working conditions.

Deadhead when you're nearby and it blooms harder; ignore it and it blooms anyway.

The fall closer. When most beds fade in August, agastache is just getting loud — orange-pink spires that carry color and hummingbirds into October.

Give it sharp drainage and skip the winter cutback; its standing stems protect the crown and feed birds.