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Annual plants are pretty but use loads of petroleum and petrol products in the heating of greenhouses and production of plastic pots.

I often wonder how much plastic is generated by us as well-meaning Mother's Day celebrants, so on the 2nd Sunday of this month, when thinking of honoring your mother, please consider this list of hardy, sustainable perennial plants, ready to yield much joy and a gentler touch on our Mother Earth.

• Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia Goldsturm)
• They look glorious amassed with a tall grass backdrop and bloom from mid-July into October.
• Sedum “Autumn Joy
• Taller than most sedum, these florets change color from green to pink to orange to dark red in the fall and, most amazing, chocolate for winter to contrast with the snow! Perhaps you'll find another variety you like. There are several hearty beauties.
• Cone Flower (Echinacea)
• Various varieties and colors
• Asters
• Fall-blooming, many varieties
• Peonies: Want a spectacular flower? See Peter Waltz at FUUSE!
• GROUND COVERS:
• Geranium “Spessart” (hardy, lemon-scented fragrant), “New Hampshire” variety Epimedium for full shade — various varieties
• Grasses: Calamagrostis, feather reed grass, various vartieties, earliest to grow; Miscanthus, tallest, various varieties, most of them later blooming; Pennisetum, plume grass, denser, great blooms.)

These are just a few of the hardy plants and grasses that are all best planted in masses (except peonies), although any of the grasses may also be used as single accents as well. Once established, these plants require very little care, are pretty much drought resistant and offer much pleasure and low maintenance.