I have a lot of serially blooming perennials in my garden,  but most of the blooms are very short lived as is usually the case with perennials.  So I decided to investigate echinacea purpurea (commonly called Purple Coneflower) because it blooms from June through September in my zone with little maintenance - no deadheading required.  It is a serious "attractor",   a favorite of butterflies and other pollinators and beneficial insects.

 I have a pair of 4 year old apple trees that haven't produced much and I am planning to create an apple tree fruit guild to provide a more supportive environment.  Echinecea parpurea looks like it would be a good choice, delivering pollinators to the scene all season and also delivering some wonderful medicinal benefits to us.

I really enjoyed this activity,  so much so that I plan to work on developing this kind of documentation for all of the plants in my garden, as my time permits.  I think one could end up with quite a nice library!