Putting perennials into dry area with wild daylilies

15 years ago

I need some advice on this:

I have a strip of wild daylilies I have planted on either side of the house. It is about 3 feet wide. It is beautiful when those bloom but there is nothing going on except leaves most of the time. The hose canÂt reach there without a lot of trouble, so I need to plant things that can live on mostly rainfall. My plan is to gradually pull some of the daylilies and put in plants to give a wider season of interest. I put in Sedum Autumn Joy at one end, it is doing very well. I bought some salvia on clearance too.

Since the wild daylilies, unlike the better behaved cultivars, send runners under the soil to colonize, I know that anything I put in there will have a daylily poking up through it in time. I donÂt want to pull out the wild daylilies entirely: my husband REALLY likes them, plus they came from my grandmotherÂs garden. Also having pulled them out over time in one garden, I know what a chore it is. You think you have them all then another pops up.

For that reason I donÂt want anything valuable there or that would annoy me to see that happening to. If I stick mostly with plants with similar foliage it should not bother me too much. I bought a load of mixed daffodils to plug in, since bulbs like it drier. No tulips since the leaves are wider. I love irises but most of my yard is too damp for them and they are not doing well. I will probably put some of my existing irises in and see how they do. If the irises are really happy there I may just plan on pulling up the daylilies whenever they encroach too far. I could use a tall grass or two as well, to hide a couple of ugly utility meters, and have more height variety.

Does this seems like a good idea or do you think the wild daylilies moving into other plants is a recipe for an untidy mess? How will these plants do with only rain? I will water of course until things get established, then they are on their own.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

grandmachris
15 years ago
I think some of the wilder helianthus, yucca, other tall fall sedums (Purple Emperor, Matrona), ornamental grasses
would enjoy those places. Keep to the big things.

Chris
laceyvail 6A, WV
15 years ago
The ditch lilies will eventually choke everything else out. But if you restrict them to just one end of the planting, there are a great many wonderful perennials that like it very dry--sedums, agastaches, pardancandas, belamcandas, euphorbias, Iberis (evergreen as well), Stachys (several other types as well as the "lambs ears" types), etc.

As for your damp yard, Siberian Iris would love it as would many other wonderful plants.
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gldno1
15 years ago
Could you dig down and create a barrier of some sort to keep the daylilies contained?

The iris will do better if not crowded. My gaillardias get no supplementary water and do well. Lavender does great in a dry space with lots of sun. What about one of the newer perovskias that doesn't get so big. They look great with orange. Just a few ideas that I have used. Rambling, I know.
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the suggestions. I will have to look up those ones I donÂt know (the pardancandas, belamcandas, euphorbias). I picked up an agastache yesterday (Black Adder): didnÂt know they liked it dry: lucky pick! Do the taller sedums stay upright or do they flop? I have been tempted by Black Jack.

I was thinking of perovskia: I like the form, but it gets too big for my main garden: here it might work. I didnÂt know there were smaller ones; like how small?

My main garden has mostly pastels with lots of pink: I was thinking about doing a hotter color combo here with oranges and deep blues and purples. Then I could take advantage of all those great fall bloomers that seem to be more orange (gaillardia, helianthus?). I keep looking at this great orange lantana I see in public places: is that an annual or perennial? I have annual lantana in my deck pots but itÂs basically over, whereas this orange one IÂm seeing everywhere is going strong at the end of September.

What about grasses? I have never grown any. When I see them in nurseries they all look alike: itÂs hard to tell which one will grow up to look nice in the fall with attractive plumes/ seedheads.
steve1young
15 years ago
Hi Linnea,

The smaller Perovskia is called 'Little Spires.' I like it a lot, but I've found that it has a tendency to lean away from other plants if not positioned well. It gets to be about 22 inches tall. When I first read your posting I was thinking about Perovskia the whole time. Some of the ornamental grasses sound great, too. Next year you'll see an awesome grass on the market called 'Ruby Ribbons.' It's a switch grass and the burgundy coloring on it is really cool. That could be great for contrast. High Country Garden's website/catalog has good pic's of mature grasses. That might be a good place to get more ideas, too. They have a lot of veriscape recommendations. Even if you don't order from them, you may get a lot of good ideas for plants that tolerate drought well.

Best of luck!

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: High Country Gardens

Putting perennials into dry area with wild daylilies

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grandmachris

laceyvail 6A, WV

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Putting perennials into dry area with wild daylilies

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grandmachris

laceyvail 6A, WV

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linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)Original Author

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