Look long enough and you'll find perennials suitable for any growing condition your garden may offer - sand, clay, loam or any in-between weird conditions.

Perennials offer many advantages. You don't have to set them out each year, you can choose varieties that will give blooms year-round, and your extras can be shared with friends.

They do, however, come with some disadvantages. Perennials need to be pruned, fed and divided as needed. Some have to be deadheaded - their spent blooms removed - so they will keep blooming. And some have to be disbudded - small side buds removed, such as on peonies - to produce large blooms.

But before ever heading to your local garden center to buy perennials, get your soil good and ready, says Khaki Whelahan, a Virginia Beach master gardener who specializes in perennials in her Great Neck gardens.

``You need 12 inches of good soil so the roots reach down and grow healthy,'' says Khaki.

After 10 years of gardening in soil that ranges from sand to loam to clay, Khaki has learned it's advantageous to move perennials around until they find a happy home.

She's also learned that most sun perennials do best with some light afternoon shade to protect them from this area's sweltering heat and that sedums grow just fine among tree roots.

For interest she mixes herbaceous perennials with bulbs and shrubs, covering all with shredded hardwood mulch, which breaks down and enhances the soil.

In March and each month throughout the blooming and growing season, she fertilizes her perennials with a light application of 5-10-5. And she regularly deadheads most of them so the growing vigor goes into the plant and not into seed production.

Just don't read English gardening books and think all those perennials are going to do great here, warns Khaki. We don't have nearly as much rain, and we do have much more heat.

LEARN MORE

Perennials and Annuals Edition II - Horticopia on CD-ROM offers full-color photographs and plant reference on more than 1,800 plants. It runs as a Windows application. Cost: $120, plus shipping and handling. Horticopia also offers computer software on trees, shrubs and ground covers. Call: (800) 560-6186.

Simply Perfect Perennials - Special-interest publication by Better Homes & Gardens, $4.99 at newsstands.

Art of Perennial Gardening - chapters devoted to each season of color and all space sizes. $25, Firefly Books.

What Perennial Where - Divided into five sections - soil and exposure, specific uses, floral effect, foliage effect and specialist plants - this 160-book by DK Publishing offers perennial selections for any plant in the garden. $25. Call (888) 342-5357.

BLOOM TIMES

Early blooming - Columbine, hellebores, creeping phlox, oxeye daisy, snowdrops, wood hyacinth, daffodils, grape hyacinth, bleeding heart, Virginia bluebells, anemone, foxglove, primrose, dianthus, ice plant, hollyhock, astilbe, oriental poppy, balloonflower, yarrow, Sweet William, candytuft, tulip, violet.

Mid-blooming - hardy geranium, gaillardia, lychnis coronaria, lady bells, bee balm, alstroemeria, stoke's aster, garden phlox, hosta, lilies, daisies, coreopsis, mums, loosestrife, coneflower, daylilies, hibiscus, iris, rudbeckia, salvia, artmesia, soapwort, scabiosa, catmint, verbena, lantana, obedient, butterflyweed, maltese cross, coralbells, cannas, lamb's ear, ornamental grasses.

Late-blooming - mums, asters, seashore mallow, Joe-Pye weed, hardy ageratum, goldenrod, fall anemone, ironweed, gingerlily, hardy begonia, coneflower, stokesia, autumn crocus, ornamental grasses.

Late winter - snowdrops, candytuft, Christmas rose, crocus.

Plant of the Year - Echinacea purpurea Magnus, named by Perennial Plant Association. Pink petals around dark cone. Likes full sun to light shade; sandy, well-drained soil. Tolerates wind and sun. Feed lightly, water moderately. Divide clumps every 3-4 years. Other varieties come in white and red-purple variations.

For 1999, Rudbeckia fulgida Goldstrum will be the honored perennial.

NEW PERENNIALS

New perennials you will find at local garden centers include:

Eupatorium Chocolate - Joe-Pye weed features leaves and stems in a rich chocolate color, making it a good contrast with white, yellow or any golden-colored flowers. White blooms in September attract butterflies. Plant in full sun, grows 2 1/2-3 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

Variegated holly fern - Evergreen prefers partial shade, grows 24 inches tall and 24 inches wide. Glossy green fronds with a streak of creamy white in center. Use in shady woodland garden or in container with impatiens.

Chrysanthemum Maximum Becky - Large white flowers, long-lasting blooms good for cutting, very sturdy, heat-tolerant shasta.

Polygonum cuspidatum Crimson Beauty - Knotweed with white tassels that turn a fiery red before fading back to white, 7-foot deciduous bamboo-like stalks, heart-shaped leaves. Likes sun; upright clumping habit; good for cutting and drying. Blooms August-November.

Coreopsis grandiflora Flying Saucers - Large yellow flowers. Likes sun; blooms June-September. Very compact.

Mildew-resistant phlox - Phlox maculata Natasha, rose-pink and white bi-color flowers; fragrant; likes sun; flowers May-June. Phlox paniculata Nicky, deep purple flowers; likes sun; blooms July-August; compact. Phlox paniculata Nora Leigh, pale pink flowers with pink eye; white and green variegated foliage; like suns, blooms July-August.

Euphorbia Fireglow - Commonly known as spurge, this cold-tolerant cousin to the poinsettia emerges in spring with pale green leaves and pink stems. Fireglow produces sprays of volcanic orange flowers in early summer. Foliage reddens in fall. Great with ornamental grasses and ferns. Likes full sun to part shade.

Polemonium caeruleum Brise d' Anjou - Jacob's ladder with creamy variegated foliage with violet-blue flowers late spring to mid-summer. Likes rich, moist, well-drained soil; shear plants after flowering for later flush of blooms or simply enjoy foliage. Divide crowns spring or fall every 3-4 years.

Hemerocallis, Lovely Lady daylilies - Lady Eva, repeat bloomer, ruffled violet flowers. Others: Miss Victoria, fragrant creped, repeat lemon-yellow blooms with chartreus throat. Miss Amelia, fragrant white to cream flowers. Miss Tinkerbell, repeat-blooming pink flowers with rose-pink eye. Miss Mary, yellow-gold flowers. Fertilize in early spring and fall with 5-10-5 or 10-10-10. Drought tolerant once established. Divide every 3-4 years.

Plant sources: Anderson Garden Center, McDonald Garden Center, Smithfield Gardens, White's Old Mill Garden Center

CARE TIPS

* Feed spring and fall with light applications of 5-10-5, 10-10-10 or an organic compost. Place in rings around plants; can repeat at 6-week intervals. Water plants thoroughly after feeding.

* Mulch perennials during the winter to protect plant roots. Plants are often pushed out of the soil when the ground alternately freezes and thaws. This is called ``heaving.'' A 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch protect roots from this condition; check plants and use your fingers to gently position them back in the soil if needed.

* Deadhead flowers so energy goes to the plant's growth and not to making seed.

* Stake tall, drooping plants to protect stems.