Isn't it just the gardeners life of constructing and then deconstructing garden beds. Sounds like your new space will be stunning next season. I know how much work goes into reorganizing, eliminating, etc. One of the main objectives for me here is to think, rethink and then rethink again what goes where before I do anything.

I had to google Confederate Jasmine to see what it looked like. Nice selection.

Oh, Kay, I so need to do this!! I have the room to have several beds this size but the time always seems to get away from me and my lilies need dividing and I still have a few in pots from the spring and some of my older beds are now jungly (new word, I think). I did not get my brush trimmer this week end as planned because it rained again off and on all day. By the time summer is over I will have an actual rain forest type vegetation in my garden! Kudos to you for a job well done.

Kate

Julia, I never seem to wind up with fewer daylilies, but having so many fewer iris will almost if not cut my weeding in half. You are right too, I am always rearranging my plants...I have a few coming in September to add a little variety. Kate, I have an are in back that will match your rainforest. The rain is supposed to be back tomorrow but I have to have mulch, rain or not or the lat week and a half of work will be all weeded up. (another new word). I have moved out three plants and moved three in, but I feel as I have accomplished something for a change.

kay

Kay, I truly may have rain forest proportioned jungle after next week. Weather Channel is predicting 4-6 inches of rain next week from the hurricane hitting Texas coast. We got another half inch last night. Oh my!

Kate

Oh my goodness, I am so sorry! We are supposed to have just an inch this week which would be perfect. We got just under a quarter inch last night. I feel for you, and my back area is pretty much like that right now....rain forest. That is the bed that is totally going away.I hope to move the remaining plants out to their new homes today after we get he load of mulch..

Kay - good job! An incredible amount of work, I know. Very soon now, I get to set up my new daylily bed, about the same length as yours, but half the width. It's where the garlic was this year (I rotate crops - not sure yet where garlic will go when I plant this fall for next year's crop). My vegetable beds are fast becoming flower beds. :) I won't have the job you had, though, as the bed is now empty and just needs tilling and some compost.

Alex

Ah me Alex! I cannot remember seeig an empty bed in forever, so I am enjoying this. At this point, I have left several of the zinnia plants for the butterflies, but there are others around the bed, and I think most of them will be leaving today....I can identifyl with veggie beds becoming flower beds...the story of my gardening life.

kay

What happened to your irises?

I moved some of them into a smaller round bed in front, but I literally cannot keep up with the large bed any longer because ou cannot mulch them and the weeds are so aggressive that I have cut way back on them. I also have a few here and ther in other areas. The daylilies are my main interest, so them I am consolidating but keeping the ones that perform well and that I like and adding others. But I have to just have what I can maintain now so, something had to go.

kay

Kay - I'm in that place now myself, of deciding what I have to let go. Daylilies are going to be the "last big thing", I think. I'll gradually move out/replace some of the existing plants in the corral garden with daylilies.

Alex

Alex, My garden had just continued to groe=w, but it is beyond the point where I could take care of everything. When my knee went bad and I had it replaced, I knew I had to make some changes. I really enjoy the daylilies and they grow very well here. The iris are beautiful, but they require very frequent weeding and you cannot mulch them as it would kill them. Also they need to be rotated to another bed every two or three years for optimal growth. I am not getting any younger and I love the daylilies, so they will be the main thing. I am going to attempt coneflowers again. The confederate jasmin has a wonderful scent and the little creamy blooms are lovely so it is in the new bed, and I like the butterfly bushes which are not difficult. And I have azaleasa and old garden roses so there is still plenty to do.

kay

Kay - Iris are gorgeous, no doubt, but they always seem to have some issue in my garden - at least the bearded ones. The Siberians aren't bothered by the borers, but they do grow thick and matted, and it takes a lot of strength to dig and separate them. I'll leave some of them in place because they are so beautiful, but I'm moving the German bearded out, I think.

Echinacea (if that's the coneflower you mean) I'm growing as a crop for tincture and tea, but also have been doing selective breeding to see what forms and colors I can get from seed acquired here on GW - specifically Harvest Moon and Cheyenne Spirit. The various offspring have been pretty, but when they're not anything special, I pull them up for herbal use - a win-win scenario. :)

Wish I could grow jasmine here, and the buddleya as well. I've started it (the buddleya) about 3 different times over the years, but it eventually gets winter killed. We're Zone 5a, so there are many things sort of "iffy" here. I could grow it in a pot and haul it in and out of the greenhouse every year, but what a pain that would be!

Yep, I think the daylilies have got me. Pretty hardy, pretty looking!, pretty easy to hybridize and grow. Oh yeah.

Alex

yes,
Alex, there are things I can grow that you can't, But there re so many beauties you an grow that I can't. Lupines, and lilacs come to mind, but there are many others that I would mention if I weren't brain dead. Gardenia, and butterfly bushes do well....in fact, I have a volunteer that came up in the back...nothing special, just the light purple. And the jasmines do beautifully...but lots of roses are happier with you than me. And it is a pain going in and out of the greenhouse...and if the heater quits, it all dies anyway. The trials of gardeners!

kay

Alex, the only buddleia I can grow successfully here in zone 5a is Davidii, the large white flowered ones. I've had too many losses here, won't try anything else. Mine is about 6+ years in the garden. One more thing, they are REALLY late to emerge, patience is required

Sherry