Bleeding-heart (Dicentra spectabilis) Sweet, heart-shape dangling blooms in rosy pink or elegant white, plus the graceful arcing sprays of powder-green foliage look gorgeous in the garden or a bouquet. By summer, the entire plant turns brown and withers away, leaving a hole that can be filled with a later bloomer such as a hardy geranium.

Blue star (Amsonia hubrectii) Blue star is a great three-season plant. After the 2-inch sky blue spring flowers finish blooming, the feathery green foliage adds texture to your border. Come fall, the billowy mass turns golden, adding outstanding color.

Columbine (Aquilegia sp.) You don't hear "dainty" and "spurs" in the same sentence too often, but you can when you talk about columbines. Wild or hybrids, columbine blooms persist for several weeks. When you cut the spent blossom, the frilly foliage looks good the rest of the season.

Coral bells (Heuchera sp.) They like a little sun, they like a little shade. The leaves, in many variations of greens, purples and ambers, look great all year long. Stalks with tiny flower bells are a bonus. (Some, such as 'Champagne Bubbles', may rebloom.) 'Palace Purple' was the Perennial Plant of the Year in 1991. Pronounce it "HOO-ker-ah," and you'll sound like a horticulture pro.

Cushion spurge (Euphorbia polychroma) Neon yellow flower heads (actually, they're clustered bracts) glow atop rounded mounds of foliage. They bloom for several weeks. The tidy foliage looks great all summer, turning red-orange in fall.

Lenten rose (Helleborus x hybridus) They're low-maintenance and critter-resistant. Early spring blooms last for weeks, starting out in shades of greens, whites, pinks and purples then fading to brown. The foliage stays green all year. 'Blackthorn Strain' is 2005's Perennial Plant of the Year.

Iris Irises are traditional Midwest favorites, coming in many forms: tall and dwarf; bearded and beardless; Louisiana and Pacific Coast natives; Japanese, Siberian, species and spuria. Though the flowering season only lasts a couple of weeks (unless you plant reblooming types) and the rhizomes can be somewhat tricky if you don't grow them in the right conditions, when they blossom all is forgiven.

Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) These native prairie plants are cute as buttons when pink bud-like flower heads form, and Dr. Seuss-nifty when buds transform into trailing 1- to 2-inch pink wisps that resemble tiny puffs of smoke. After flowers die back, the foliage stays lush and green all season. They're tough as nails, too, thriving in almost any soil.

Solomon's seal (Polygonatum odoratum) These elegant, arcing plants are a boon for moist soil and deep shade (they tolerate morning sun). Grow them for the foliage (try 'Variegata' with a slice of ivory lining the outer edges), though you'll see tiny white fragrant flowers dangling from the stalk.

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) I'd grow them for the luscious blue flowers even if they weren't easy and hardy to the northernmost areas of the Midwest. The plants, which love moist soil, spread naturally when they're happy. But once warm weather strikes, they die to the ground.