Garden centers make it dangerously easy to buy the same plants every spring, even when several reliable garden favorites can keep coming back without another trip to the checkout counter. A handful of herbs and ornamentals can return for years, spread naturally, or produce enough new plants to make that annual shopping habit look a little silly.
That does not mean every plant belongs in every garden, because climate, soil, sunlight, and winter temperatures still matter. The good news involves a simple shift in strategy: choose plants that return on their own or learn a few easy propagation tricks, and the garden can start producing some of its own replacements.
