Bulbs are the star performers in my garden right now, I’m glad I add some each year.
Daffodils are generally my favorite, though I often have strong feelings about whatever is in bloom.
I don’t discuss garden design often in this column, but I enjoy writing about ideas that I believe are relatively easy to implement. A sunny mixed border of daylilies and daffodils fits in this category.
Both of these plants are easy-care, not needing a lot of fussing nor the rich moist soil many plants seem to need in order to flourish. Early daffodils will bloom nicely before tree leaves emerge in an area usually shaded by a tree. I don’t water this bed: it does pretty well with just natural rainfall.
The daylilies should be planted on the front edge of your border, with the daffodils back at least a foot behind the centers of the daylilies. As the taller daylily leaves emerge, they will cover up the all-too-persistent foliage of the daffodils. Spring is a good time to remove any weeds. The daylily foliage will help shade out emerging weeds. Three inches of mulch will further reduce weeds and preserve moisture.
Depending on your available space and interest, a variety of daffodils will bloom for at least two months, generally April and May. They are sold as early, mid, or late season bulbs. I have all three bloom times, but find myself adding more early-season varieties, since I have fewer perennials in bloom at that time.
When I plant daffodils, I like to plant bouquets by placing three bulbs around the edges of a large hole, with 3 to 4 inches between bulbs.
Daylilies also have varied bloom times: beginning in June, peaking in July, and continuing at least through August. Some reblooming varieties will bloom in both June and late August/ September, and some long-blooming varieties will produce blossoms for several weeks.
A few fall perennials like asters or chrysanthemums along with a little ornamental grass will complete the season for this garden.
Livingston County has an excellent resource for daylilies: QB Daylily Gardens on Sand Hill Road in Caledonia. In order to plant a long- bloom daylily garden, you could make three trips to their acre of daylily gardens: the first week in July, late-July, and mid-August. At these times you can make selections from plants blooming in their field of daylilies. They will dig up your selections, you will pay and take them home. Plant them right away and they will continue blooming in your yard. These plants are larger and more affordably priced than plants you will find online or at garden centers.
There is also a daylily garden closer to Lake Ontario, in Medina, called Cottage Gardens. They grow more than 4,000 registered daylilies, but I haven’t visited there – yet.
Julie Brocklehurst-Woods has been a Master Gardener Volunteer with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Livingston County since 2002. She enjoys helping all gardeners become successful gardeners, especially helping people identify tools and strategies to prioritize and simplify their gardening tasks. She will answer gardening questions by email: JulieBW48@gmail.com.
April 24, 2021 at 10:32PM
https://www.thelcn.com/lifestyles/master-gardener-creating-an-easy-sunny-border/article_f3648f07-70b2-514b-873b-474aae411414.html
Master Gardener: Creating an easy, sunny border | Lifestyles | thelcn.com - The Livingston County News
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