I am partial to Yum Yum Mix:

http://www.soilmender.com/products/fertilizers/yym.php

It's mild, natural and no animal products. I feed it to all my perennials and roses in the Spring and once in the Summer. Just sprinkle around the base and gently dig in. Then water.

Certainly high nitrogen and looks like what they call it, a grass "turf" fertilizer.

Time release makes sense for any perennial. About all I can say, Valygirl.

I use conventional fertilizers for ornamentals and will have some 16-16-16 on soon. Then, it is just a matter of getting the miracle gro on them several times thru their season.

Steve

Even though high N fertilizers make the most sense because N is usually the nutrient most lacking in landscapes, the truth is, no one can offer you meaningful advice about what to use without being able to analyze the results of a soil test or being able to follow the recommendations that are based on that test. Without a soil test, anything you add to the soil in your landscape that isn't needed has the same potential to limit plants as a deficiency, so fertilizing becomes little more than a crapshoot.

If you're playing the odds, the 25-3-3 slow release makes better sense than 1:1:1 ratio fertilizers like 20-20-20 or 16-16-16, if only from the view that plants use about 6X as much N as P, and 3/5 as much K as N. If you want to supply nutrients in the ratio at which plants actually USE them, fertilizers with a 3:1:2 ratio fit the bill. Examples of 3:1:2 ratios are 24-8-16, 12-4-8, 9-3-6, etc. Still, that you would be supplying nutrients in the ratio at which they are actually being used isn't indication it's the right ratio for your application. If, for instance, your soil was high in K, you might be instructed to add N and P, no K, plus whatever secondary macros or micros that might be deficient. There is no doubt that following the recommendations of a soil test are going to be a much more efficient and probably less expensive way to get the job done.

Al