Would this look really wierd?

I'm considering this for one of my new beds, but I'm wondering if it would look really bad or strange.

I have a bed that I want to flower all summer. Just built it and nothing in there yet, so it's not too late to change my mind. I'm thinking of putting in Iris for early summer blooms, daylilies for summer blooms, and mums for fall blooms. Haven't figured out what I could use for spring blooms yet. This bed is in full sun, and I can layer it, I think, so the smaller plants are in front of the larger bushy ones, (daylilies). I think the iris can be planted amongst the daylilies?

Any reason that you can think of that I would hate it later on? Will these plants work together?

Sounds like a plan to me. You could plant some spring bulbs for early spring color. As thee foliage of the daylilies and other plants grow up they'll hide the bulb foliage.

Joan, I tried a similar planting strategy some years ago with mixed results. My bed curves along the edge of some woods with native dogwoods arching out over it. I limbed up the dogwoods and planted three rows of plants which I hoped would give me color throughout the growing season. Bearded iris in the background, daffodils in the center, and daylilies in the foreground. The daffodils and daylilies worked out fine, but the iris were a disaster. They got very leggy due to the filtered sun and just fell over,and looked awful. Their rhizomes created a dense mat that out-competed the daffodils; so, I've eliminated the iris from this bed. Now I have daffodils intermixed with mums in the background and daylilies in front. I get spring and fall color from the back row, summer color in front and no competition. Next spring I intend to add columbine to the mix. Good luck!

I'm in the midst of planning a very similar bed. Full sun, Lilies (all manner of lilies!) and Iris, trying desperately to have blooms at all times.

I know raisedbedbob is right about the iris smothering out other plants, as I've just had to deal with that issue. I still intend to plant iris in with daylilies and lilies, but I'm giving them plenty of room. Even so, I won't leave them un-divided for more than a year. I'm trying to use as many reblooming daylilies and iris as I can, for fall blooms.

Let me know how it turns out for you.

Maybe toss in seed from hardy annuals (larkspur, etc.) to 'blend' everything together, and to return each year as reseeds. They would, if tall enough, also cover the lilies as they ebb and wane. Nothing worse than perennials that are finished blooming and then slowly fade away. Not giving a seasonal performance.

Thank you for all the good advice. I'm so glad I posted this before actually doing it, because now I have some things to think about before I actually plant this. I really don't want it to be a problem/eyesore that I have to deal with in the future.

I wasn't aware that the iris would compete with the daylilies and get leggy. This bed is in totally full sun. Would that still happen? Not a tree in sight. I thought that the iris would be almost done blooming by the time the daylilies got big, and then the daylilies would hide the fading iris leaves. Maybe not though, that's why I asked, and I'm so glad I did.

I thought about putting some annuals in there too, and I may do that for the first few years until the perennials get bigger, but after that, won't the daylily leaves cover up the annuals? This bed is about 6 foot wide and about 30 foot long.

I've been looking/drooling over John Scheepers spring blooming bulb catalog and I've fallen in love with some of the tulips and daffodils. Maybe that would work in there too?

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions. You will probably save me lots of stress in the future. :)

I don't know if leggy iris are an issue in full sun, it hasn't been for me. The iris I had planted behind some tall daylilies were squeezing out the daylilies the second year. 'course, I'm in zone 9a, and most iris seem to love it here. That might have something to do with it. :)

Do iris multiply quickly in your area?

Silly me, I thought the daylilies would hold their own, since they are pretty good spreaders, too. But iris spreads on the surface, which gives them the advantage.

The daylilies did not deprive the iris of sun, but the iris were as tall as the daylilies. It may be that they would get leggy if the plants in front of them hogged the sunlight. I dunno ...

Lucky you, spring bulbs - *sigh*

Cheri'

There are beautiful pixie irises that bloom early spring and again in the fall.