Cait's Garden

I admit it, I am not a fan of daylilies. I have limited garden space and they have too big of a footprint. Plus, I’m not a fan of their messy, spidery foliage. Instead, I have successfully turned my focus to Asiatic and Oriental lilies (such as the adorable “Orange Pixie” shown at left, a dwarf Asiatic lilium now in bloom in my garden). I have several dwarf lilies in orange, red, pink, and white, as well as a 4-foot showstopper of an Oriental Lily called “Royal Sunset.” The benefit of these plants (other than the huge blooms, tropical colors, and heady fragrance) is their neat and compact foliage. They rise up on narrow but hardy stems from between their larger, messier garden mates, bloom fabulously, and then stay relatively incognito the rest of the summer. No matter how crowded your garden, believe me, you have room for these! I hope to add more next season.

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I added a dash of frugality to the pots of flowers by my front door. I splurged on some lovely, large geraniums and reddish colored leaves. But I was left with the feeling I needed a splash of yellow-green, too. Instead of going back to the nursery for sweet potato vines, I turned instead to my favorite perennial filler plant, Feverfew (see May blog entry), which is the same color. I have so many clumps of feverfew in my yard, it was easy to find a couple to use in my planters. They give the perfect dash of color, and when the season is over, I can put them back into my garden.

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“Red Baron” Grass (also called “Japanese Blood Grass”) is a fabulous, easy to grow ornamental perennial. Unlike large clump-forming grasses (such as Miscanthus and Fountain) which require much maintenance due to die-out in the middle, each blade of Red Baron Grass grows individually out of the soil, fresh, every year. So what you get is airy, elegant, foot-long blades of bright green grass tipped with red that become fiery red-gold in autumn. Fairly slow-growing (I started with a small clump and six years later, that clump is about  two feet wide), it’s easy to pull out unwanted stalks or to divide. It is, however, difficult to find in the store, so grab it when you see it, or ask a friend who has it to donate some!

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