I'll start by saying I don't know the answer to your question, and now I'll just babble for a bit. In general, many plants will go 'vegetative' again if you cut them back before they flower. Right now I have 3 types of kale that are 1 year+ The first is a tree collard - so that's expected to live 5 years. The others are lacinato & standard curly green kale. All three are now enjoying their second winter with lush growth. The tree collard has been flowering and now the lacinato is about to flower. I was told to take cuttings when the tree collard goes to flower, so I snipped them and have a bunch in a rooting mix (peat, fine woody compost & potting soil). I don't see any roots yet, but none of the small leaves have wilted, so I think they will do fine. There are also another bunch of florets coming up, so I guess I'll take more cuttings. I could eat them like broccoli, but I'd rather make more plants. I could't resist to let at least few flowers go to seed, even though these are generally propagated vegetatively. What I really want to do is hybridize the tree collards with the lacinato, to improve the taste of the tree collards. Now it looks like they will both be flowering at the same time, so I might just have a chance at it...

My reason for having a garden is to have fresh flowers in my house and in the garden. I start the year with a small vase containing my miniature irises, Scillas, libanoticas etc. Then I move on to tulips (in the house now)specially planted for this reason because the squirrels will get them. Later I get loads of Peonies, perennial poppies; roses, irises, and daylilies. Dee, if you cut the daylilly stem with all the buds, they will open one day at a time in the vase. Delphiniums,phlox, and Heleniums are other favourites, and this year, I'm looking forward to Lupines - I've had good success WSing them this year. And then, the asclepias - there are more than I thought.

are they all the same variety lavender? do they all get the same sun exposure? If you feel that the plants are unhealthy, removing the flower buds would redirect energy to roots and leaf production. But some lavenders are more silver than others, so its hard to tell you if the difference in leaf color is a sign of a problem or just...a difference. pictures??

Hi Carolyn, I doubt daylilies will ever be popular with florists because of the one day bloom period. But they do work well in personal arrangements, especially for 2 to 3 days, when they can be cut and arranged immediately. I prefer slender scapes with 5 to 10 buds. As the buds bloom, the flowers pale and shrink in size, so I only count on around three days before discarding the arrangement. I can imagine a big massive scape, maybe 36" high with 7" blooms would be very striking, but kind of a waste if it only bloomed well for three days. Very few daylilies are fragrant, but I have never smelled any that were over powering. All had nice delicate fragrances. One of the Kirchhoff double 'Truffles' is the most fragrant I have ever observed. Ed