Rainbow Perennials

05/30/2024

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    39 years and still going strong!   Hi! This is Mark at Rainbow Perennials. It’s raining today, and so I hope you will find the time to read this notice of our Spring opening! Spring weather do

09/02/2022

Unfortunately, we will no longer be growing Hardy Mums here at the farm. My knee surgery last winter, and the second one planned for this winter, forced us to give up that part of our production. Thank you for having been a Rainbow Mums' customer, your support over the last 37 years has really meant a lot to us!
We will still be growing the finest and freshest Perennials, ornamental Grasses, and Shrubs for the foreseeable future, and we hope you will continue to come to visit our Farm as our business evolves.
For the Fall, we have enhanced our production of Native Grasses, Native Shrubs, and Native Fall-flowering Perennials. All of the Fall Asters we grow are Native as well! We will display some of our coolest new Native selections in our front sales area. Be sure to stop by to see how you can add fall blooms, colored-foliage plants, shrubs and grasses to your yard this year. Mark and Kathy

Below are a few snaps from today in the main Sun Nursery. Many of the plants pictured are Fall Blooming, drought tolerant, and long-blooming!

03/29/2021

It is sunny today, but so blustery! Fortunately, I am busy as can be inside our greenhouses making some of the plants we will sell this year and next.

We make our perennials in two basic ways. Many different plants are propagated from last year's stock over the winter. But some plants are produced from baby plants that we either grow ourselves or purchase from other growers. Black eyed Susans are so popular that we often have to make all of the plants from seedlings as I did just yesterday.

05/16/2020

Yes, We are open! After the impossible early Spring weather, and the difficulties everyone is facing today, we feel so lucky to be able to do what we have done for the last almost forty years, create a seemingly unending palate of perennial colors and textures to help bring a feeling of serenity, well being and pride to your property! Though the cold spring has slowed the growth of virtually everything, you'd be surprised to know, that the nursery that you see when you come is only five short weeks away from being a virtual riot of colors, interesting forms and shapes, and loaded with the little happy creatures which make summer gardening so special in New England! Everything for sale is located outside in the naturally disinfecting sunshine. All aisles are twenty feet apart, and the main path is 10 feet wide for easy social distancing. You can wear a mask, and pick your own plants as you normally would. Or you can email [email protected], and place an order to pick up "curbside" in our parking lot. We will tell you the price of your order in advance, and you can bring a check or cash when you come. Be sure and check out our new line of flowering shrubs and evergreens along with our Hydrangeas which are half price or less than anywhere else. Also there are four popular Hosta and four daylilies on sale for about 25% off, thru Memorial day, and other "daily specials" available as we go along. Below are some pictures of the nursery starting and coming along thru the summer. See you at the farm!

02/25/2020

I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like we are not going to get very much more of a winter than we have already had. We deserve it! 2012 was the last fairly nice winter when we had a break from outrageous heating, snowplowing and other hard-winter expenses. On the nicer days, when the mud subsides, you can look forward to getting all the twigs and branches, and last fall's leaves cleaned up, and maybe size up the job of cleaning the perennial beds, and cutting back grasses. Get the lawn mower sharpened, put down some crabgrass control, and all the other projects which are completely stifled when there is a still foot of snow on the ground! Here at the farm, we are preparing for our biggest year ever, by continuing to expand our variety list, and not by a little. In the last few years, we have made it a rule to add at least 50 new varieties of plants to the ones we already grow. We are determined that whenever you visit Rainbow Perennials, you will see not just one, but many new perennials shrubs and grasses, that you haven't seen before. We are also always adding cultivars to currently grown popular families. Though it seems far away, it's just right around the corner, OPENING DAY is May 5th this year.

09/05/2019

Rainbow Mums' Fall Festival Has Begun! For those of you who have not heard, our beautiful crop of Hardy Mums and Perennial Asters, in many different sizes, are in the front circle, and selling briskly! Come right away to get your favorite colors. Though there are over one hundred choices, the number of each color that we sell is limited. The display sizes of every variety this year are so perfectly shaped and full of buds that, well, we can't remember any year that they have been better! Prices are the same as they have been for at least Ten Years - No one else can say that! And 35 years of quality production assures you that they will look beautiful all Fall!

08/05/2019

We have hundreds of great late summer combinations for your garden, mailbox, porch or deck. All fresh, ready to bloom, or in bloom. This is a good one: Japanese Anemone, paired with Rubrum Fountain Grass. Add a couple of late blooming perennials. Striking!

07/28/2019

The absolutely horrible spring weather made it impossible to do any posting here. I apologize, as it was either use every spare hour to battle the elements and get the nursery ready, or throw up my hands and surrender. But now that the summer has settled in, I will show you a few pictures that will demonstrate how it has all been worth it...again! Now, maybe the hottest weather of the summer is behind us, oh a couple of days here and there, but I assure you that if you venture out to our nursery with the intention of improving your surroundings, that you will be shocked at what Kathy and I have been able to accomplish this season. Producing over one hundred new varieties of perennial plants, trees, flowering shrubs, evergreens, hosta, grasses, and Hydrangeas, has not stopped us from having the best quality and biggest inventory in mid summer that we have ever had! Right now is the best this nursery has ever looked in our history, we implore you not to miss it.

04/13/2019

Well, we're about to have another warm weekend, which should help to erase the memory of just how cold it has been in March and April so far. We will be open Saturday May 4th, and every day after until the 1st of November. First things first, it has come to my attention this winter that the USDA Hardiness Map has been redone. So maybe some of you have noticed it previously, because I think they, rather quietly, made the changes in 2012! But now it has started to show up on the printed plant tags that we use for some of the perennials and shrubs that we sell, and I don't want there to be any confusion about the winter hardiness of the plants that you purchase here. So, suffice it to say, this entire area of Massachusetts, up to southern New Hampshire, is now Zone 6. Technically, we are 6a, and 6b(another 5 degrees warmer) runs from Gloucester through the middle of Middlesex County, through Providence, RI, and Hartford, Connecticut, all the way to the seacoast. Again, this is big news to me, as the Zone map hasn't changed since 1990! FYI, they said it has nothing to do with any purported theories of climate change, but rather they are making use of improved temperature measurements, and more copious data collected from much larger numbers of personal and other official weather stations around the country. So, get used to seeing it, we always have thought of ourselves as Zone 5, and would shun growing plants labeled 6. Now, we are considered Zone 6, and our new minimum temperature for winter hardiness is minus 10 degrees. This is the new map: F.

09/03/2018

Mother Nature is waiting for you at Rainbow Mums. Yes, we are open for Hardy Mums, Perennial Asters, and hundreds of varieties of Perennials, Ornamental Grasses, and now, Flowering Shrubs and Evergreens, all of which will make your Fall decorating and planting a snap to accomplish. No other nursery carries this number of fresh plants of all kinds into and through the fall season. No other nursery in all of New England grows ALL THEIR OWN PLANTS! Come on out today to get started with a great sale on Hosta: Buy 10 plants, get not only one free of your choosing, but get a nice two year old June Hosta FREE AS WELL! That's a savings of $36.00! Choose from over one hundred Varieties. See you at the farm.

07/07/2018

Folks, this is even surprising me. Even after all that insane heat, our plants have never looked better! Don't miss this, I don't think I can do it any better. Example: Heucheras checkerboard. All only $12.95.