Zone 3 Flowers: Snow Cap

Description: This clumping ground cover is a beautiful addition to your garden. Blooming in spring and remaining with it's great foliage for the rest of the season it's a great choice for a boarder garden.

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Spring

Height:  5''

Spacing: 24''

Sun Needs: Part shade - full sun

Water Needs: Average

Outstanding Features: spreading, clump like ground cover, beautiful white flowers in the spring. Divides well.

Uses: Boarder, rock, flowering garden, perennial garden, cottage setting.

Tips: Divide but cuttings or splitting

(This is mine. Not too happy early in the spring but now it looks amazing, and has tripled in size)

Zone 3 Plants: Blue Angel Hosta

Description: Gigantic, heart-shaped, blue-green leaves are of heavy substance and are very slug resistant. Light lavender flowers are held attractively above the foliage on 48" scapes in midsummer

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Mid summer

Height: 3 feet 

Spacing: 4 feet 

Sun Needs: Part to full shade

Water Needs: Average but consistent watering

Outstanding Features: Attracts hummingbirds

Uses:   Border, Containers. Cut Flower, Rabbit Resistant, Massed, Specimen. Woodland

Tips: Hosta go completely dormant in the fall, and the dying foliage can be removed any time before mid spring. Easily divided in either spring or fall, but plants may be left alone for years. Good slug resistance. Elegans group.

Zone 3 Plants: Hosta sieboldiana 'Elegans'

 Description: 'Elegans' is a large hosta with deep, smoky blue, slightly frosted heart-shaped foliage. Deep veins give the leaves a corrugated look. White flowers bloom in early spring. Though slugs love hostas, this one is usually spared.

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: May - June

Height: 2- 3 feet

Spacing: 3 -4 feet

Sun Needs: Part shade to full shade 

Water Needs: Medium

Outstanding Features: Attracts hummingbirds

Uses: Cut flowers, rock gardens, English gardens, boarders, shade gardens. It is also effective on a slope where it can help reduce soil erosion.

Tips: Plant with other hostas to get a great contrasts in colors and leaf shapes.

Zone 3 Flower/Ground Cover: Coral Bells, Alumroot

Description: Coral bells is a superb low maintenance perennial valued more for its foliage than for its delicate flowers. Multi-colored foliage is mostly basal and comes in a variety of colors, from silvery purple to lime green to peach. May be evergreen or semi-evergreen. Airy flower spikes (panicles) rise above foliage and come in pink, red and white

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Spring all the way to the end of summer

Height: 12'' - 36'' (depending on variety)

Spacing: 1 1/2'

Sun Needs: Part shade - Shade (can also handle full sun)

Water Needs: Medium


Outstanding Features: Variety of colors and can grow in full sun all the way to shade making it a great option for every location in your yard.

Uses: In masses, for edging, as a specimen plant and in containers. Use in a mixed perennial border or in a woodland shade garden. Combine with other shade-loving plants, including hosta and impatiens. The flower panicles make fine additions to cut flower arrangements

Tips: Coral bells blend well with other shade loving perennials including Astilbe, Dicentra, ferns, Hakonechloa, Helleborus, and Hostas. In sunny locations, they work well with numerous perennials such as Alchemilla, Artemisia, Carex, Corydalis, Geranium, Lamium, Lysimachia, and ornamental grasses.

To encourage continuous flowering or repeat bloom, deadhead the spent flower spikes as needed. Mulching during the summer months will help keep the soil moist and prevent injury to the shallow root system from heat. They can be divided every 3 to 4 years if they lose vigor or when the crown gets too large.

Zone 3 Plants: Hadspen Blue Hosta

Description: Forming neat clumps of heart-shaped, grayish blue leaves about 5'' long. 'Hadspen Blue' is a smaller hosta variety.

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: August

Height: 14''

Spacing: 24''

Sun Needs: Part - full shade

Water Needs: Medium/Average

Outstanding Features: Attacks hummingbirds

Uses: Boarder, edging, mass planting, shade gardens, great with ferns or other types of hostas.

Tips: Hostas are very easy to propagate through division. This can be done at any time during the growing season with little or no affect on the growth of the parent plant. Since each division should have at least 3 eyes, plants should be allowed to mature for several years before being divided.

 

(A great option for how to plant them with other hostas to get a great color contrasting garden)

Zone 3 Flowering Ground Cover: Bugleweed, Ajuga

Description: Great low-maintenance perennial grown for its colorful foliage and ground cover habit. Produces profuse blue flower spikes. Semi-evergreen to evergreen. Some selections feature variegated foliage and bloom colors in white, pink and rose.

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Late spring - early summer

Height: 6''

Spacing: 12 - 16''

Sun Needs: Part to full shade

Water Needs: Medium


Outstanding Features: Wonderful dark and interesting foliage.

Uses: Ground cover, ground cover, in masses, boarders, edging.

Tips: Spreads but underground roots

Zone 3 Ground Cover: Angelina Stonecrop

Description: Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina.’ Plant taxonomy classifies Angelina stonecrop as Sedum rupestre‘Angelina.’ Sedums are referred to by the common name, “stonecrop” plants, although “sedum” itself is so widely used as to be virtually a common name. ‘Angelina’ is the cultivar name.

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Early to late summer

Height: 6''


Spacing:  1 foot 


Sun Needs: Full sun - part shade

Water Needs: Low

Outstanding Features: bright coloring, ground cover, spreads well and quick

Uses: Ground cover, a source of color, rock gardens  (Because of its chartreuse or golden foliage color, this sedum looks especially good when combined with plants that have dark or reddish foliage.)

Tips: Propagate by rooting or cuttings.

Zone 3 Plants: Camelot Hosta

Description: Frosty blue-green foliage, almost heart-shaped (rounder than most Tardianas) with a slight cup and thick substance. Blue scale 2 (on a scale of 1-6, one being the bluest).

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Mid to late summer

Height: 17''

Spacing: 3 feet

Sun Needs: Part to full shade

Water Needs: Average/Medium

Outstanding Features: Beautiful blue coloring makes a great addition to your garden and the color mixes well and has a nice contrast with other hostas.

Uses: Ground covers, landscape, perennials

Tips: To start from seeds/propagate let stems dry on plant and collect seeds from the pods

Zone 3 Plants: Lungwort

Description: In early spring, the brilliant blue, pink, or white flowers of lungwort bloom despite the coldest chill. The rough basal leaves, spotted or plain, always please and continue to be handsome through the season and into winter. Planted close as a weed-discouraging groundcover, or in borders as edgings or bright accent plants, lungworts are workhorses and retain their good looks.

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Spring- Summer

Height: 6''-12''


Spacing: 1 1/2 feet (will spread out)

Sun Needs: Sun to part shade

Water Needs: Medium

Outstanding Features: Fragrant, Winter Interest, Drought Tolerant, Deer Resistant, Easy to Grow

Uses: Containers, Beds & Borders, Groundcover

Tips:  Want to know what to plant it with? Check out this great list!

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Zone 3 Plants: Halcyon Hosta

Description: One of the best and most popular of the blue hosta cultivars. An erect plant to 14" tall featuring a mound of flat, spear-shaped, heavily-textured, blue-green leaves and racemes of bell-shaped, pale lilac-blue flowers on 26" scapes. This cultivar retains blue leaf color longer than most other blue hostas. A slower growing hosta (takes several years to develop mature shape) that is a dependable and versatile perennial requiring little care.

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Summer (August)

Height: 1 1/2 feet

Spacing:  3 feet

Sun Needs: Shade - Part shade

Water Needs: Medium

Outstanding Features: Attracts hummingbirds

Uses: Boarder, shade, rock gardens. Can use flowers in arrangements.

Tips: Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soil in part shade to full shade. No special culture is required. Soil should be kept moist, however, especially in hot, sunny conditions.

Zone 3 Ground Cover: Snow on the Mountain

Description: Aegopodium 'Variegatum' is a vigorous spreader that will create a beautiful display in that difficult shady location.

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Early summer


Height: 6''- 10''

Spacing: 18'' -24''

Sun Needs: Low

Water Needs: Low


Outstanding Features: Snow on the Mountain has light green and white leaves that produce umbrella-shaped clusters of tiny, lacy, creamy white flowers that bloom in early summer.

Uses: Ground cover

Tips: This plant will spread like a weed so don't plant it in a place where you don't plant to maintain.

Zone 3 Plants: Hosta 'Gold Standard'

 

Description: Hostas are exceedingly popular perennials in today's gardens due to their versatility in the landscape. Their subtle colors, tall flower scapes, and broad, coarse leaves fill a niche in garden designs that few other plants can achieve. Their large leaves provide excellent coverage for dying bulb foliage. Hostas also grow well in city environments where the air may be polluted by car exhaust, etc.

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time: Mid-July/mid-August, pale lavender,

Height: 22 to 36-inch high scapes, but leaves get to around 12'' - 16''

Spacing: 36'' apart

Sun Needs: Low (Part shade)

Water Needs:

Outstanding Features: Fast grower, fills in dead boring spaces fantastically.

Uses: Border, rock garden.

Tips: If you have a large hosta you want to split dig up in spring before the leaves come up. Get as deep as you can without disturbing the root system and split your plant as desired. The size of the leaves are directly related to how large the root system is.

Zone 3 Plants: Aureomarginata Hosta

Description: Aureomarginata has large, dark, heart-shaped, green leaves with narrow, bright yellow margins and purplish flowers in the summer. Hostas are extremely popular, hardy herbaceous perennials grown primarily for their beautiful foliage. They are easy to grow, shade-tolerant plants. 

Hardy: Zone 3

Bloom Time:  Small purple flowers, mid summer to fall


Height: 18''-24'' tall

Spacing: Plant 40'' apart


Sun Needs: Plant in full shade (can be planted in part shade as well, but does better in full shade)

Water Needs: Medium 

Outstanding Features: This variety tends to be the first up in the spring so you may need to protect it if there is a chance of a freeze.

Uses: Garden Bed, Containers, Borders, Landscapes

Tips: Try pairing hostas with Astilbe, Hardy Ferns or Dicentra for added contrasts in plant forms, textures and colors.

Zone 3 Perennial Plant List

I've been trying to find new plants for my zone and I came across this great list for all sorts of wonderful perennial!! I've got a lot of them already, and I've gone through most of the list and it's mainly flowering plants, which is wonderful! I just thought I'd share this with you! Happy gardening!!

(I've added more as people have told me of plants so if you know of some that aren't on this list please send them my way!!)


Aster (Aster sp.)
Baby's breath (Gypsophila paniculata)
Perennial bachelor button (centurea)
Bachelor Button 
Balloon flower or Chinese bellflower (Platycodon grandiflorus)
Basket-of-gold (Aurinia saxatilis)
Bee balm, Oswego tea (Monarda sp.)
Bellflower (Campanula sp.)
Bergenia (Bergenia sp.)
Bishop's Hat (Epimedium)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia sp.)
Blanket flower (Gaillardia x grandiflora)
Bleeding heart (Dicentra)
Bluestar (Amsonia)
Blazing Star 
Brunnera (Brunnera macrophylla)
Bugbane (Cimicifuga)
Bugleweed (Ajuga sp.)
Buttered Popcorn
Bugloss (Anchusa)
Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris)
Cardinal flower (Lobelia)
Calamint
Catmint
Clematis- Warsaw Nike
Chamomile (Anthemis)
Chinese Lanterns 
Chinese Astibe
Columbine, Western (Aquilegia formosa)
Columbine, European (Aquilegia vulgaris)
Columbine, hybrids (Aquilegia)
Coneflower (Echinacea sp.)
Coral bells, alumroot (Heuchera), marginally hardy
Coreopsis, threadleaf, or Tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata)
Cranebills
Crocus
Cushion Spurge (Euphorbia Polychroma)
Beard's Tongue (penstemon)
Daylily (Hemerocallis sp.)
Delphinium (Delphinium)
Daisies (Shasta and Becky)
Dianthus
Daffodils
Daylily (Hemerocallis)
Ferns
Ferns - Japanese Painted 
Fleabane (Erigeron)
Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)
Foxglove, grandiflora
False Sunflower (heliopsis)
Fragaria
Gaillardia 
Gas plant (Dictamnus)
Gayfeather (Liatris)
Gentian
Geraniums
Goatsbeard (Aruncus sp.)
Globeflower (trollius)
Globe Thistle
Hellebore (Helleborus)
Herman's Pride (lamiastrum)
Hens and chicks (sempervivum)
Jacob's Ladder
Wooly Cerastium
Hosta (Aureomarginata)
Hosta (Hosta sp.)
Hosta (Golden Standard)
Hosta (Camelot)
Hosta (Halcyon)
Inula, swordleaf (Inula ensifolia)
Iris, bearded (Iris hybrids)
Iris, crested (Iris cristata)
Iris, Siberian (Iris sibirica)
Lady's mantle (Alchemilla)
Leopard's Bane
Lamium
Lady Slippers
Larkspur
Lamb's Ears
Lewisia
Lily (Lilium)
Lily, Canada (Lilium canadense)
Lily, Oriental (Lilium) selected hybrids
Lily of the Valley
Lupine (Lupinus)
Lungwort  (pulmonaria)
Martagon Lilies
Masterwort
Milkweed
Maltese cross (lychnis)
Meadowsweet (Filipendula)
Monkshood (Aconitum x cammarum 'Bicolor')
Moss pink (Phlox subulata)
New Millennium Delphiniums
Obedient Plant
Onion, flowering (Allium)
Pasque Flower
Penstemon
Peony (Paenoia)
Pearly everlasting (Anaphalis)
Phlox, summer (Phlox paniculata)
Poppy (Papaver)
Poppy, Himalayan (Meconopsis sp.)
Primrose (Primula)
Potentilla (cinquefoil)
Pussy Toes (Antennaria dioica 'Rosea')
Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Ribbon Grass
Rudbeckia
Ranunculus
Repens
Rollers (jovibarba)
Rock-jasmine (Androsace mucronifolia)
Saxifraga
Salvia (rose queen and blue queen)
Scabiosa
Sea Holly
Sedum
Sea Campion (Silene)
Spiderwort
Statice (sea lavender)
Silver Feather Grass
Stonecrop Angelina
Snow-in-summer (Cerastium)
Solomon's seal (Polygonatum)
Snow on the Mountain 
Sundew, round-leafed (Drosera rotundifolia)
Thrift, moss pink, creeping phlox (Phlox subulata)
Turtlehead
Tulips 
Thrift, sea pink (Armeria)
Threadleaf Coreopsis, Tickseed
Violet (Viola)Veronica (speedwell)Windflower (Anemone)
Vinca
Wormwood (Artemisia)
White Pearl Achillea
Yarrow


Source