Northeast Gardening: What I did this past weekend . . ., 1 by Seandor

Seandor wrote:
Yes - I was thinking of daylillies. Alas - colours I prefer are purples, hot pinks, and whites.

I was thinking of maybe an island bed with maybe butterfly bushes in the centre (height about 6+ feet). Because the butterfly bushes emerge late, I thought I could underplant these with flowering spring bulbs and Oriental poppies - fruit punch; these will bloom in late spring, then go dormant before the butterfly bushes overwhelm them (I hope!) In front of the butterfly bushes, I would like to plant groups of "mystic Merlin Malva - which will grow to about 4 or so feet tall. these are supposed to be various shades of purple and blues. Amongst the Malva, or maybe just in front, I would like to plant groups of Casablanca Oriental Lilies (which will bloom in August) and some form of pink Asiatic lily that will bloom earlier.

Then maybe in front of these grouping of iris, blue geranium (have this, can collect the seed), or Veronica Sunny Boy (have this, can collect the seed), or maybe some groupings of Agastache Golden Jubilee (have this, can collect seed)

Then, I am stuck on what to do for the edging. In my own garden, I use white wax begonias like flowering boxwood - but I can't afford to buy that many annuals, so it had better be some form of easy to grow perennial. Maybe white clips campanula. Or some form of short daylillies in pink, mauves, or purples.

Anyway, the idea is to do this with almost no money (anybody can have great landscaping if they throw enough money at it - just hire professionals.)

What ideas do you have?