St. Louis Gardener's Patio Blooms with Perennials
A gardener in St. Louis, Missouri, has transformed a new patio into a dense, colorful space filled with perennials and annual containers, sharing her
A gardener in St. Louis, Missouri, has packed her small garden with flowers following a patio installation in 2023. Sarah, gardening in Zone 7a, says the space started filling in beautifully by 2026, featuring perennials and vibrant container arrangements.
She enjoys growing flowers for cutting, with a particular fondness for giant zinnias. Her activities extend to flower arranging, often using secondhand vases, and participating in a local garden club and a nearby community garden. "I’m thankful for the community garden because it gives me the opportunity to grow things I don’t have room for in my small garden," Sarah told Fine Gardening. In 2026, she began sharing her gardening journey on a YouTube channel called Sarah’s Moments in the Garden.
The Perennial Border in June
The perennial garden along the foundation in June 2026 features a row of Little Quick Fire panicle hydrangeas. These are accompanied by a diverse mix of flowering plants and foliage. The selection includes plants suited for a range of hardiness zones, from 3 to 11.
| Plant Name | Botanical Name | Hardiness Zones |
|---|---|---|
| Little Quick Fire panicle hydrangea | Hydrangea paniculata ‘SMHPLQF’ | 3-8 |
| Purple coneflower | Echinacea purpurea | 3-8 |
| ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ catmint | Nepeta ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ | 3-8 |
| Speedwell | Veronica cvs. | 3-9 |
| ‘Everest’ Japanese sedge | Carex oshimensis ‘Everest’ | 5-9 |
| Dusty miller | Jacobaea maritima | 8-11 |
| Baby Elizabeth rose | Rosa ‘Baby Elizabeth’ | 5-9 |
| ‘Pink Parasol’ coneflower | Echinacea ‘Pink Parasol’ | 4-9 |
| ‘Autumn Joy’ stonecrop | Hylotelephium ‘Herbstfreude’ | 3-9 |
| Firefly Fuchsia yarrow | Achillea ‘Firefly Fuchsia’ | 3-8 |
Hydrangeas, like those in Sarah's garden, thrive in moist, well-drained soil and their flower color can vary with soil pH.
Creative Containers and DIY Features
Container gardening plays a major role, with arrangements on her front porch and in basket planters. The front porch containers, which receive a few hours of morning sun, hold asparagus fern, pink begonias, creeping Jenny, and Heart to Heart ‘Chinook’ caladium.
Her basket planters shows a 2026 color scheme of pink, purple, and white. One grouping includes purple petunias, tall verbena, and white sweet alyssum. Another features SunPatiens Compact Orchid Blush impatiens, purple alyssum, and Jacob’s ladder. A third holds a pink-and-white dianthus.
A simple DIY birdbath, made from upside-down terra-cotta pots topped with a saucer, is surrounded by Daisy May Shasta daisies and annual purple salvia. Creeping phlox covers the ground nearby.
Favorite Flowers and Community Ties
Sarah highlights giant zinnias as a favorite, specifically mentioning Benary’s Giant ‘Carmine Rose’ zinnia from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. These attract pollinators like Monarch butterflies to her garden. The community garden allows her to grow additional flowers, which she then arranges in vintage containers like an Ironstone pitcher or a blue Atlas jar.
June is a prime month for such gardening activity, typically involving tasks like planting out and watering as plants reach their peak.
