Perennials – Goffle Brook Farms
Perennials are often considered the heart of the garden due to how rewarding they are, year after year, as well as the fact that they offer an enormous variety of colors, sizes, habits, fragrances, and bloomtimes. They provide interest throughout any season of the year, for many, including winter. Most perennials have a deep, extensive root system, allowing them to tolerate dry spells and guard against erosion.
Not only are our plants of the highest quality, but you’ll also find rare and unique varieties here that are very difficult to find elsewhere. We’ve chosen many of them because they’ve shown superior disease or pest resistance and excellent performance in drought, heat, cold, or other stresses. Some have been selected because of exciting new bloom colors and forms or new sizes and habits that make them perfect for any garden.
At Goffle Brook Farms we encourage and offer many native plant species of New Jersey and Bergen County. Native plants not only add beauty to New Jersey yards, they offer important environmental and economic benefits. Native plants help conserve and filter water, provide habitat for native wildlife, protect soil resources, and reduce the costs and environmental impacts associated with fertilizers and pesticides. They also give us a “sense of place.” From the unique plant communities of the Pinelands to coastal salt marshes to the hardwood forests in the Highlands, New Jersey’s native plants make us feel at home.
The Perennials of Goffle Brook Farms
It was such a pleasure to sink one’s hands into the warm earth, to feel at one’s fingertips the possibilities of the new season.
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
“However many years she lived, Mary always felt that ‘she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow’.”
Ajuga Chocolate Chip
Campanula Bellflower
Coreopsis
Ferns
Helenium mardi grass
Hollyhock zebrina
Jacobs Ladder ‘brise d anjou’
Leadwort
Daylily Blueberry Candy
Oenothera
Peony ‘shirley temple’
Sea Thrift – ‘Sea Pink’
Sedum ‘tri-color’
Speedwell Veronica
Baby Joe Pye
Coneflower hot papaya
Daylily Pardon Me
Foxglove – digitalis
Huechera
Hosta Great Expectation
Jacobs Ladder
Liriope ‘silver dragon’
Lupine
Peony ‘bowl of beauty’
Red Hot Poker
Sedum ‘angelina’
Sedum ‘Vera Jameson’
Tiarella Cordifolia
Bearded Iris
Coreopsis cosmic eye
Dicentra Bleeding Heart
Foxglove – mertronensis
Hibiscus Luna
Hostas
Ladys Mantle ‘auslese’
Lupine
Meadow Sage
‘Monsieur jules’ Peony
Russian Sage
Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’
Sempervium
Spiderwort ‘concord grape’
Black Eyed Susans
Coreopsis double gain
Euphorbia
Garden Peony
Hollyhock Queeny Purple
Delosperma Starburst
Lungwort ‘diana clare’
Meadow Rue
Missouri ‘primrose’
Peony ‘sarah barnhardt’
Scabosia
Sedum – ‘Makinoi ogon’
Silver Mound
St Johns Wort ‘brigadoon’
Perennial Tips and Care
First, pick the spot for your perennial bed. If necessary, use a garden hose or string and stakes to visualize the bed lines. If the bed is already cut, so much the better. Either way, be sure the space is the size and shape you want. Remove any vegetation in the bed. Lift sod and/or remove any weeds.
Next, test your soil’s pH. Most perennials prefer a pH range of 6.2-7.0. Much of New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania has acid soil so add lime if needed based on the results of your pH test. Healthy soil promotes healthy plants, which are more insect and disease resistant. We can’t over-emphasize the long-term value of adding organics, like peat moss, compost and manure to the garden.
When planting a new bed, enrich your soil with these organic soil amendments. One part peat moss to two parts existing soil, or one part each garden soil, peat moss, and compost (or dehydrated manure) will give you great soil in which to start your new garden. Also add a handful per plant of an organic, balanced fertilizer like Plant-Tone. Mix or till these materials into the soil prior to planting. Grade the soil so the final desired contour is achieved.
For some, choosing the flowers is the best part, for others it’s an overwhelming chore. Whichever type you are, let our sales associates help. Measure the bed area, the amount of sunlight the area gets and how well the soil drains in the beds. If possible, take a picture of the area. Then come in and discuss your options with one of our sales associates. We’ll help with suggestions and ensure you’re making the best choices for your area.
The most common way to display perennials is together, in a large flowerbed or, space permitting, a long border of either meandering form or with firm boundaries. Perennial gardeners have to be patient and be able to imagine the future because new plants are small. Find out your chosen plants’ expected mature sizes and allow them enough elbow room in your plan. Plan to position taller-growing plants to the back of a traditional border or the center of an island bed; array lower growers at their feet.
Save yourself a lot of grief and wasted money and effort by choosing plants that are clearly labeled as sun-lovers or shade-lovers, as the case may be in your intended site. As for soil conditions, some perennials like the dirt rich and moist; others like it dry and only moderately fertile. Do your homework here, too.
The hole you dig for each perennial should be twice the size of the container the perennial comes in. The wider the hole, the better, since plant’s roots grow out more easily into loosened, enriched soil. Remove the perennial from the container and lightly loosen the roots so the plant will grow out of its tightly wrapped ball and settle in more quickly.
Refill the hole with enriched soil so you set plants into holes at their original growing level. Never bury a plant deeper than its crown (where the roots and the stems meet) Buried crowns mean suffocated plants! Plant 2 inches higher than ground level if you are going to mulch. Backfill the rest of the hole with enriched soil. Tamp down the soil to remove any large air pockets.
Water well, with a soft trickle of water that lasts long enough to saturate the root ball deep into the soil. Perennials prefer one inch of water a week, in one application. However, different soil types may need slightly more or less water. Monitor the soil moisture to help you judge when the plant should receive more water. In order to conserve precious moisture and to keep weeds down, mulch your perennials with a 2-3 inch layer of organic mulch (not stones!) A well-planned, well-planted perennial garden will be a joy for many years. Let us help you make the choices that will give you the garden you’ve dreamed of.
- pH test kit
- Plant-Tone
- Peat Moss
- Composted manure
- Dehydrated manure
- Good quality trowel
- Garden Fork
Check out our gardening supplies in the Farmer’s Market at Goffle Brook Farms while shopping for perennials. We have a diverse selection of gardening tools, accessories, soil amendments and fertilizers in stock.
Why Shop at Goffle Brook Farms
- Courteous, knowledgeable and professional staff
- Locally Grown Fresh Seasonal Produce
- Quality Perennials – Annuals – Herbs and Garden Plants
- Full-scale Garden Center on Premises
- Conveniently located in Ridgewood, New Jersey
- Open 7 days a week from March 15th through Christmas Eve
- Family owned and operated since May 1st, 1968
- Serving Bergen County for over FIFTY years
What Our Customer’s Say
This is such a great place. Goffle Brook Farm & Garden Center has friendly and helpful staff that seem to really appreciate your business. They have a great selection of plants, flowers, gardening supplies, great FRESH local produce and I am sure tons of stuff I have yet to discover. The staff is very knowledgeable and always takes the time to walk me through any garden problem or question I have.
I’ve been going to Goffle Brook Farm & Garden Center regularly for the past year since my family moved to the area and every time I go I leave happy. What more can you ask for?
They will have my loyal business. I think they deserve your business too.
Really cute garden center. My boyfriend and I stopped by to get some pumpkins. They had a great variety of both small and large pumpkins. They also have a small petting zoo with goats, sheep, and a pig. They have a small variety of produce for purchase inside. We wound up sampling cider they were selling and bought that as well as it was delicious. We may go back to get more. Employees were very helpful and friendly.
Highly recommend this garden center.
