Perennials are those wonderfully herbaceous flowering plants that return to our garden year after year all by themselves. I look forward to primrose, pulmonaria and other perennials of early spring. I can't wait to see the colors of chrysanthemum and asters in the fall.

But the perennials I really must have are the big, bright, bodacious sun loving perennials of the summer days of July and August. Rudbeckia, echinacea and phlox bear their colorful flowers on tall stalks that make them perfect for big bouquets. Monarda, buddleia and asters are magnets for butterflies. Physostegia, boltonia and hemerocallis have a rich, warm and earthy fragrance.

All the perennials for summer bloom and easy to grow, they are resistant to all but the most devastating drought, they are not plagued by insects and diseases and most of them bloom for at least a month and some longer.

Now is a perfect time to add summer blooming perennials to your garden. You can plant perennials anytime the ground is not frozen, even in July and August. Just be sure to give them plenty of water to get them going.

You can buy perennials in small 4 inch pots for $3 to $5 or you can buy bigger plants in gallon pots for $10 to $15. The little plants will grow and become big plants in one to two years. The larger plants are already there and you get instant garden. Either way you will have a great looking garden.

Here's a list of some of my favorite sun loving perennials for summer bloom:

Rudbeckia - Black-eyed Susan is well known to millions of gardeners by its bright yellow petals surrounding a dark black center. Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldstrum' is probably the best all-around cultivar in this family because it produces compact and bushy 2 to 3 foot tall plants that are covered with blooms for at least a month during July and August. It will self sow and you may find yourself surrounded by this wonderful plant.

Echinacea - Purple coneflower is native to the prairies but it blooms quite well here in the Northeast. It grows 2 to 4 feet tall and produces purple daisy-like flowers with dark orange-brown centers. It is a magnet for orange/brown fritillary butterflies. It is the root of this plant that is used to make the medicinal herb. E purpurea 'White Swan' is a very pretty white version of this purple plant.

Monarda - Bee balm or Oswego tea is a member of the mint family and the leaves do make a fine herbal tea. It grows 2 to 3 feet tall and is topped with pink, red or purple flowers depending on which variety you choose. It is very attractive to butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. It spreads like crazy and you may find yourself ripping it out of your garden to keep it under control. Another fault it has is the plaque of powdery mildew some varieties get each summer. New varieties including 'Marshal's Delight' are not prone to mildew and they are very pretty with their bright red/scarlet flowers.

Physostegia - Obedient plant gets its name from its supposed characteristic of staying in place if you bend its flowering neck. I haven't seen this attribute at work, but I do love this plant. It grows 2 to 3 feet tall and is topped with spikes of pale blue flowers in August that resemble snap dragon. There are white flowered varieties of this easy care plant as well as variegated selections that can add to your garden design.

Boltonia - Sometimes known as false aster, B. asteroides is a late summer bloomer that can grow up to 4 feet tall. It is like a big overgrown daisy with tiny white flowers on top that are so dense and sparkling, one can see why it resembles an asteroid to some people.

Buddleia - Butterfly bush looks like a shrub but in our area is a herbaceous perennial that needs to be cut back every in the early spring. It will grow up to 6 feet tall and 6 feet around can will produce scads of purple, white or pink flowers that look a lot like lilacs. There is a bank of Buddleia at Riverbank State Park in Harlem that attract so many butterflies it is actually difficult to walk past the plants on a warm summer day.

Hemerocallis - Day lilies are the most reliable of all summer blooming perennials. Once their bloom cycle starts in early July, they just bloom and bloom until they are stopped by frost. There are more than 2,000 registered colors of these hardy lilies but most are in the yellow, red, pink and orange range with lots of variations. A lot of people plant daylilies as ground cover around swimming pools and along embankments, but one well-placed is just as pretty. .

Aster - Both New England aster (A. novae-angliae) and New York aster (A. novi-belgii) are also known as Michaelmas daisy because they come into full bloom near the feast of St. Michael in late September. These are the premier late summer flowers for your garden. Most asters are quite tall, usually from 2 to 6 feet in height and covered with 1 to 2 inch wide daisy-like flowers in shades of red, blue or purple.

Phlox - Garden phlox (P. paniculata) is an old-fashioned summer flower that produces clusters of blossoms in red, pink or white on 3 to 4 foot tall spikes. They love full sun but will tolerate a little bit of shade. They can be susceptible to powdery mildew but keeping the clumps thinned to no more than five stalks per clump will help as will choosing those varieties such as "David' that are not as prone to the disease.

Sun loving perennials need to be planted in a garden site that gets at least 8 hours of sun each day. They will grow and prosper in as little as six hours of daily sun, but you won't get the dramatic beauty of these plants in full flower. They also like a site that is well-drained that is not boggy or soggy after a rain.

Dig the soil to a depth of 8 inches and add plenty of compost or other organic matter. Work in 5 pounds of natural organic fertilizer per 100 square feet and you are ready to plant.

Remember, these plants will get a lot larger than they look in the pot. Give them plenty of room. For instance, set the rudbeckia plants 2 to 3 feet apart. Set all the plants out over the garden area before you plant them. This gives you an opportunity to create a mental image of how the garden will look spatially before you put the plants in the ground. I think perennials look better when planted in clusters of 3 or five or another odd number depending on how large you want your garden to be.

Dig the hole deep enough to hold the root ball comfortably. Turn the pot upside down and gently pull the plant from the pot. Loosen the root system a little and place the plant in the ground at the same depth it was in the pot. Firm the soil around the plant and water until the ground is soaked. Try to plant late in the day or on an overcast day to protect the plant from sitting in the hot sun all day which will cause it to wilt under stress.

Water the plants at least once a week during the first year. More perennials die from lack of water the first year than any other cause. Keep the weeds pulled or spread a layer of compost, r shredded bark or another natural organic mulch to stifle weeds and hold in moisture.

Cut off the flower heads after they fade or die to encourage new blooming. This is called dead heading. In the fall, the plants will begin to die back. Let them go dormant naturally and cut off any remaining stems after the ground is frozen, usually after Thanksgiving.

Every 3 to 4 years your perennials will have grown and multiplied. You will need to dig them up and divide them by pulling the now much large clump apart to keep the plants vigorous. This is not as difficult as it sounds. The plants really do pull apart easily with a little effort. You can expand your own perennial garden or pot up the extras and sell them at a plant swap or give them away to your envious friends.

There have been dozens of books written about perennials over the years, but two recent publications do stand out.

Armitage's Garden Perennials: A Color Encyclopedia, by Allan M. Armitage, Timber Press, $49.95, is one of the most useful gardening book to be published in years. A professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia. Dr. Armitage has given us profiles of over 100 perennials complete with 1465 color photos that actually look like the plants as they are growing in the garden. If you want to learn more about the world of perennials, this is the book for you.

Perennials for Every Purpose: Choose the right Plants for Your Conditions, Your Garden and Your Taste, by Larry Hodgson, Rodale Press, $29.95 is another exhaustive compendium of probably more than you will need to know to grow perennials. This time the book is divided up into categories including Everblooming Perennials, Groundcover Perennials and more. There are tips on designing, taking care of perennials and soil preparation, as well.