Plant These 7 Perennials in January and Your Garden Will Be Buzzing With Pollinators Come Spring

The start of the year is a perfect time for garden planning. When the conditions outside may be far from desirable (which is common for many of us in January) grasp the opportunity to come up with new ideas for tweaking border or pot displays for the season ahead.

Possibly one of the best amendments you can do is to make any space more wildlife-friendly, so your garden becomes a haven for essential pollinators and beneficial insects. It needn’t be an expensive transformation, as some of the best perennials you can choose to do this with are available as bare-root plants at this time of year.

Adding a diverse range of plants for pollinators can make any garden a beacon for essential bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and moths. These pollinators will, in turn, reward you with more flowers, vegetables, and fruits throughout the growing season. If you are wondering what to plant in January, you can’t go wrong with bare-root and pollinator-friendly, easy perennials. Here we reveal seven perfect choices you can make for perennials to plant in January.

Perennials to Plant in January: What Makes Bare-Root so Great?

Bare-root perennials offer gardeners a more budget-friendly solution to buying container-grown plants from garden centers, nurseries, or online retailers.

While they won’t look like much, arriving dormant as a set of roots with just a little bit of green top growth, they are cheaper as a result, and are also a more environmentally friendly choice without a plastic pot.

Any bare-root perennials will have been grown in a field and dug up ahead of being sent out, and the roots wrapped in a protective material. They establish quickly once planted, and can last for many years in your garden.

1. Yarrow

Yarrow (also known as Achillea) is a beautiful, versatile, low-maintenance, and long-flowering perennial, available in bare-root forms, which can be planted early in the year. It is so simple to grow that it can be classed as a perennial that thrives on neglect, making it ideal even for inexperienced gardeners.

Yarrow has fern-like foliage and large, flat umbels of blooms. The shape of the flowers makes them ideal landing spots for many pollinators and beneficial insects, including bees, butterflies, and hoverflies, to visit and enjoy the pollen on offer.

The perennial comes in many colors. You can grow common yarrow (Achillea millefolium) in shades of white, cream, or yellow, while other species and cultivars offer gardeners a kaleidoscope of bright colors to pick from.

For a subtle yet beautiful addition, I like this Yarrow Crème de la Crème with cream petals and yellow centers. You can get bare-root Crème de la Crème plants at Dutch Grown to add to your flower beds.

2. Coneflower

Coneflower (also known as Echinacea) is a fantastic summer-flowering perennial with distinctive petals that are backswept from the flower’s central cone.

If you're interested in growing coneflowers, there are many different coneflower varieties available now. They come in a rainbow of colors and varying sizes, and many can be purchased bare-root in January. Plant coneflowers somewhere sunny and in fertile, well-draining soil, and they’ll thrive for years to come.

It is an excellent plant for pollinators, attracting lots of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Plus, if you refrain from deadheading coneflowers at the end of the season, the dried seed heads make it a great native plant to feed birds during the winter months.

Smaller varieties of coneflower can make great container plants for pollinators, and this Echinacea Blueberry Cheesecake, available bare-root from Dutch Grown, is a stunning double-flowering maroon and magenta variety that grows just 20 inches tall.

3. Astrantia

Astrantia is a late summer-flowering perennial with gorgeous small flowers that have a pincushion-like center surrounded by an outer ring of longer petals. It comes in shades of white, pink, and dark red, and these long-blooming plants can flower all the way through to October with regular deadheading.

Astrantia often takes a supporting role in flower beds, but it deserves more attention as the star-shaped flowers will boost biodiversity and attract huge numbers of pollinators and beneficial insects over their long flowering season. The delicate blooms also make excellent cut flowers, which is something many growers don’t take advantage of.

This perennial is ideal for sunny and part-shade spots in the yard. I like a darker Astrantia, such as this 'Sparkling Stars Pink' Astrantia that you can get bare-root at Dutch Grown. This variety has pink outer petals surrounding a darker center.

4. Red Hot Poker

Red hot pokers, or Kniphofia, are dramatic plants with tall flower spikes made up of hundreds of individual blooms that demand attention from late spring into summer.

Different red hot poker varieties can be fiery shades of red, orange, or yellow. These blooms are rich in nectar and irresistible to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, who can easily find the flowers thanks to their bright color. Indeed, if you are after a show-stopping perennial to attract hummingbirds, put a red hot poker at the top of your shopping list.

Red Hot Pokers are suitable for US hardiness zones 5 to 9 and will thrive in a full sun position in the garden. If you cannot make up your mind on what color you want to grow, why not try a mix? This ‘Breeders Mix’ of bare-root kniphofia plants at Dutch Grown offers a mix of red, yellow, and orange blooms.

5. Sedum

Sedum is a wide and varied genus of perennial plants, and different varieties can be suitable for distinct uses, ranging from flower beds to rock gardens to being underrated ground cover plants.

Sedums are drought-tolerant perennial plants, and larger border types offer late summer and fall color. Sedum’s flat-topped flowers also make a convenient spot for bees, butterflies, hoverflies, moths, and other beneficial insects to land and enjoy the plant’s rich nectar. Dried sedum seed heads are also a great food source for birds in winter, so hold off cutting back sedum until the spring wherever possible.

A rarer and more unusual sedum is ‘Orange Xenox’, a hybrid of two types that transforms in color from yellow through orange and finally pink over the seasons. It also has darker foliage that stands out against the unique blooms. You can get bare-root ‘Orange Xenox’ sedum at Dutch Grown to grow in borders or container gardens.

6. Eupatorium

Eupatorium maculatum, also known as Joe Pye Weed, makes a great fall-blooming native plant to add to your wildlife garden. The large nectar-rich blooms it produces are adored by bees, butterflies, and moths, plus the seed heads make great food for birds during the colder months.

This perennial is suitable for hardiness zones 3 to 8 and likes to grow in full sun or partial shade. As a moisture-loving perennial, it is suitable for growing in rain gardens, bog gardens, or along the edges of a garden pond or stream.

Some varieties of eupatorium are giant plants that can reach up to six feet tall, but there are more compact versions so you can enjoy Joe Pye Weed in smaller yards.

This includes Eupotarium ‘Snowball’, which will grow 40-50 inches and produce clusters of white flowers that will attract pollinators and beneficial wildlife. You can get bare-root Eupotarium ‘Snowball’ plants at Dutch Grown.

7. Delphinium

The tall spikes of flowers that you get when growing delphiniums act as a beacon for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds as they are rich in nectar and pollen, plus come in vibrant shades of blue, purple, pink, and white that insect visitors easily see.

If you want to maximize the impact the flowers can have on local wildlife, opt for single-flowered varieties of delphiniums that are easier for bees and other pollinators to access for nectar. Double-flowered types are also likely to contain less pollen and nectar than single flowers.

These classic cottage garden plants start blooming in spring, and, if you cut back delphiniums after the first flush of flowers, you’ll likely get a second set of blooms late in the summer.

You can get a bare-root purple delphinium plant at Amazon to add to your garden this month.

Do you want some more monthly gardening inspiration to go with these perennials to plant in January? Luckily, we’ve got you covered, as our in-house experts have put together in-depth guides to flowers to sow in January and vegetables to plant in January. If you wish to up your sowing and growing game this year, you’ll find expert planting advice to help you have a bountiful season of flowers and crops.