Today’s photos are from Ann Redmon in Manhattan, Kansas. She says, “We garden on a 2/3 acre lot. When we first moved here in 2000 there was quite a bit more grass to mow although there has always been a significant portion of the yard that is wooded. Gardening in Kansas is quite a challenge with hot, dry windy summers and winters with lots of freezing/thawing and little snow cover.”
Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Ann Redmon
I’d say you’re doing just fine, Ann. Beautiful!
AND THE WINNER IS….
The winner of last week’s giveaway was Joan DeRosa, whose garden we featured on Thursday. Congrats, Joan! After Joan picks the book she wants, I’m going to dream up another awesome giveaway, so stay tuned….
Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Ann Redmon
Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Ann Redmon
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Comments
Ann, what a beautiful garden in such a challenging area, my daughter lives right down the road in Junction City. The curving beds really show off the vibrant colors of your daylilies. Daylilies are the workhorses in my garden, holding their own in all kinds of weather. I like the photo with the verbena poking through the daylilies and that is a huge planting of Shasta daisies!
Would love to know where you do your shopping in that area. I didn't have much luck finding nurseries around Junction City.
Regina
Well, Ann, if some country western singer wants to write a song titled "Daylily Heaven"...I know where they should shoot the music video! There is no such thing as daylily colors clashing, is there? Too bad the world can't get along in the kind of harmony daylilies do? Have I mentioned that I, too, love, love,love daylilies and their bloom season is one of my favorite times in the garden. Thanks for your delightful pictures.
I agree meander1--daylilies finally gave me a reason to look forward to July in Kansas. Still haven't figured out a reason to look forward to August though....
Regina--not a lot of nurseries around here. Lee Creek Gardens is nice-out in the country south of town on McDowell Creek road. East and West Side Markets are pretty good for annuals and perennials. Most of the daylilies I get either from the club or mail order. Earlier, when I had room to add lots of perennnials I would make a trip to Arnold's Greenhouse in LeRoy, KS south of Topeka--they've got a large selection of perennials and annuals.
Thanks both of you for the wonderful comments!
Ann, thanks for the nursery locations, I just put them on my list of nurseries to visit. I got an Ipad for Christmas last year and keep a list of places I have seen that I want to visit on it so it never gets lost and i have it for those imprompu trips. I love my Ipad!
Like you and Meander1, I look forward to that first bloom and then watch as the last bloomer heralds the end of summer. This past summer we were about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule so my October bloomers were done in September--very disappointing but then when we got much needed rain, I got re-blooms on many that had went dormant. Don't know if that will affect their next year's bloom or not, any ideas on that?
Again, thanks for sharing your garden. Send Michelle more photos for us to see!
Regina
Ann, your array of daylilies add great color. Please don't eradicate more grassy areas, those large swarths of green are what highlight your other plantings and cause your property to be considered landscaped. I will never understand why so many seem to abhor lawns, mowing is the least laborious gardening chore and I find it most enjoyable, and if one doesn't water lawns just go dormant and turn brown, but with a little rain rapidly become green again. I mow ten acres of lawn and look forward to dry spells so I can miss a few mowings, because with the price of diesel I save $50 each week of drought. A dormant period is actually heatthy for a lawn, when it greens up again it's mostly the true sod grasses that come back... folks living in Kansas would know that. I never water, never fertilze, and never add any chemicals... really couldn't afford to with ten acres and I don't want to harm teh critters... mostly my lawn is bright green and from a distance I can't see weeds. Even now with freezing nights my lawn is green, the Canada geese still stop off all day on their way to wherever to rest and fuel up. Thank you for a peek into your garden, Ann.
Those daylillies are beautiful, Ann. I too love daylilies and have lots in my garden, but I find that they get pretty ratty looking after they finish blooming. What do you do at that stage? I've seen some of the landscaping companies around town trim off all of the leaves, leaving stubs, but I don't really like the look of the stubs. In my front bed, I have a largish swath of daylilies and they looked great up until about mid-August when they were done flowering. At that point their leaves slowly turned brown and they looked worse and worse. The bed became a bit of an embarassment - maybe I should have done the shearing thing with them, but that would have left a big hole in the bed (probably better than the ugly daylilies, though). Just wondering if you have the same problem and what you do about it.
Ann, I absolutely love your colorful, curvaceous garden! Like Garius, though, I have had a problem with spent daylilies looking horrid as they go into dormancy. Cut down, and they look ugly, leave standing and they look even worse! I finally gave up on growing them altogether. What do you do to keep your garden attractive when the daylilies wane?
Since I have outed myself earlier as a big daylily fan, I will make a confession...I have to laugh at myself because I sometimes make my carefree daylilies a lot of work. However, I do trim them down to about 6 inches after the leaves and stems start to look ratty. In my defense, I find such grooming must tap into their inner vanity and they always flush out with fresh new leaf growth fairly quickly. Then the clumps look vigorous and healthy and I don't have to feel embarrassed on their behalf. I don't think it affects the robustness of the following year's bloom.
When it comes to mail order sources, I think very well of Oakes Daylilies which is north of Knoxville, TN. I have attended their June festival several times and their display fields are a visual delight. I have bought from them via mail order and have always been pleased with generous sized fans they send.
I agree with other posters that especially here in Kansas where it's very hot and dry by August that the daylily foliage is less than attractive. If I have the time and energy, I do cut the foliage back to 6-8" or so and new growth fairly quickly comes back and things look much better. Having the daylilies mixed in with other perennials also helps to minimize the 'awkward stage'. I think most perennials look somewhat less than their best after a period of heavy blooming and need to be cut back if a well groomed look is important. Frankly there is nothing I can do to make my garden look really good in August and I'm not out in the 100 deg. weather enjoying it anyway :~)
tractor1 I agree that having grass areas highlights and sets off the flower beds and I wouldn't want to eliminate them. I'm not so sure that my grass is low maintenance though. I don't water or fertilize it, the maintenance issue is keeping it out of the flower beds. Most of my grass is bermudagrass which spreads vigorously by underground rhizomes. So I spend a lot of time edging the beds in an effort to keep the 'lawn' in the lawn. I do kind of enjoy mowing and everything looks so nice right after the lawn is mowed! The weeds are much less obvious.
annred97: to keep your grass from spreading you need to install barrier edging. There are many types and of different materials; wood, plastic, metal... making a slit with an edger and sinking in aluminum roof flashing will work.
I too love your daylilies. I pull the yellowing outer leaves off the clumps I have, every week or so. They finally get away from me late season and i cut them back. The ones that are not in prime viewing area, I rarely deadhead. They look just fine from a distance. However, I probably do get more rain here in CT. I have to agree with Tractor1. Garden beds are rarely less work than lawn.My bigger problem is with the deer. I find myself respraying the new buds, every other day in Jun./Jul. I need a deer fence around my main garden area. I refuse to give up on daylilies. They are too wonderful. Some of my favorites are White Temptation, Siloam Double Classic (peachy pink), a yellow with a maroon throat that I didn't buy, Planet Claire ( a huge ufo type yellow), Primal Scream (bright tangerine), and African Diplomat (a near black). The black one I carried around the supermarket last summer, because I did not want to leave it in a hot car. Every other person in the market commented on that one. Thank you for letting us peek at your garden. It is beautiful.
Yes, deer can definitely be a problem. We live in town and still have had deer come through. They love daylily buds! Seems like they wait till the daylilies are just about to bloom then chomp them off. I've had success the last couple years with spraying the plants with a mix of cayenne pepper and sirracha hot sauce in a hose end sprayer. My theory is that deer don't like spicy food. My evidence was a bite of daylily buds dropped on the ground and no more browsing. I spray a couple times early in the season to get them used to the idea that the neighbors' plants taste better than mine :~) Of course, every time I think I've got them fooled they come back.....
Ann, I've never grown Daylilies but this picture with the meandering lawn and the lilies lining it make me want to try some here. Cutting them back as you do Meander1 sounds like the ticket to make me like them even better.
Ann, your wide grass paths lend an air of serenity to your garden. I love the way they meander. Lovely garden!
Chris
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