Hi - I'm new to this site, just came across it a few days ago and wish I would have found it sooner! I have a new house/yard (almost one year old), about 1 1/2 acres with maybe 3/4 of it with partial or full shade. I do have lots of newly landscaped areas around the house and on the edges of our wooded areas (lots of bark, not lots of plants yet). I have put in some lilies, and have a lot more on order for fall. What suggestions do people have for perennial companion plants that can hide some of the leg-iness of the lilies and serve as a bit of wind block, without blocking them too much? I'd like some companion plants that extend the color a little into late summer/early fall. Some of the areas have full sun, but most have at least some shade part of the day. (zone 4b)
Lily garden companions?
hardy Geraniums, Asters, Baby's Breath, Chrysanthemums, Potentilla (espaecially like Monarch's Velvet), Sea Lavender (Limonium), and Veronica, all sorts of Veronica. Just a few to start.
First of all I should have said Welcome. I hope you enjoy the time you spend here at Dave's Garden.
lyn--
Welcome to DG. Hope you like it here. (Be sure to post on the Welcome thread, too, --and you'll find lots of Wisconsinites posting on the Upper Midwest forum so don't forget to have a look there
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/region_umw/all/
I am learning about lilies, too, and found this thread useful for companion plant ideas...
if you haven't seen it already here it is...
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/604399/
Welcome!
I've found Stokesia and Sedum Matrona are doing really well for the front of my lilies this year.
Thanks, everyone. Lots of good ideas - The link from Tabasco had plenty of ideas. I do find that there are so many threads, and some are rather long, that it's sometimes a little hard finding what I'm looking for.
I picked up a lily today at our farmer's market and tucked it into a spot by our front walkway when I got home. Most of what I've planted this year is too new to be blooming much (the yard is new), so can't help but buy some that are a little more mature and give the yard some instant color.
HI and Welcome to DG. This isn't a perennial but it sure was pretty. A lady in town with beautiful gardens has a lot of tiger lilies blooming right now and one of the plants interspersed among them are cleomes. The white and purple plants look great with orange lilies.
Nothing wrong with that, Lynette. I usually get bummed after all the lilies are done and the only cure is to go out and buy some potted ones that haven't bloomed yet. I must have been really depressed last year because I think I bought about six or seven different ones, LOL. This year I'm going to try to redirect my interest towards something else, I have way too many lilies.
*GASP* *GASP* Beaker!! What? You can never have too many Lilies, or chocolate!! ;) Send both to me ASAP!! :) lol
Diann
I'm just in a grumpy mood this week,Ticker. I know I shouldn't buy any more because I do have quite a few, and even though I say I won't, I know I will. I stopped at one of the little nurseries by me last night and walked out with 5 more geraniums. I picked up a huge regal and huge ivy for 6.00 apiece and 3 zonals for 1.00. All beautiful plants that I did not need. Just too many temptations for me to resist. How can you refuse sale prices on plants that are drop-dead gorgeous? Maybe I need some chocolate. I have a bad day at work and it seems like my car just drives itself and suddenly I'm at a nursery.
Beaker, You mean you're not supposed to have plants sitting all over the place waiting for you to plant them? Heck, I have like 300 hundred dollars worth of hosta sitting around waiting to go in the ground. There are 9 Renaissance Spirea, 2 Weeping Norway Spruces, 60 pots of daylily (from last years divisions), 6 clematis, 3 mock oranges, unknown amounts of coral bells and astilbe and other things.... Oh well, you get the idea. Meanwhile, the weeds just keep coming and coming..... Chocolate would be easier and cheaper... Cheer up, you are at least spending your money on something gives you pleasure, exercise, improves your property and doesn't make your rear bigger. :)
Diann
Welcome, lynetterl. By the way, you are in Zone 5a. Yes, global warming has it's perks. There is another forum in lilies with ideas for companion plants and a lot of folks have posted their gardens with the plants they like. So check that out too.
Don't be depressed beaker_ch. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in the potted lily- greenhouse addiction. People tell me that it is a healthy addiction. Addiction? Healthy? Hmmmmmm. Well, I'm sure you make your part of the work beautiful, so smile and be proud of your talent and love of plants. (Chocolate never does the trick for me)
These alliums grow with my lilies and are a nice counterpoint in color to the warmer shades of lilies. As long as I water them, they bloom all summer, unlike many of the alliums that are planted as spring blooming bulbs and die back for summer. I also grow iris, hardy geranium, dahlias and daylilies with my lilies. I grow annuals like pansies, and alyssum along the edge for more color.
This was the first year I had some alliums and I just loved them, even after the flowers faded they still looked good. I still have some of them here and there.
Pard, do you know what kind of alliums you have? I'd love to have some that bloomed all summer. I suppose what you have is probably not hardy in my zone, but sure would like to try them.
Beak-- I'm pretty sure they are A. nutans. I purchased 4 different allium specie seeds back in the late nineties and these are the only survivors. Last year when I paid buggycrazy Lisa a visit I saw a whole patch of these and a yak session about them ensued. She is really knowledgeable about natives/species and since L. nutans was one of the 4 I purchased I'd say that is it. Notice in my first pic how it is unfurling new heads of blooms.
Since the bees have been real busy I should have seed I can send you if you are interested. I took this photo earlier this evening.
That's a thought. I guess four years isn't too long to wait. Let me see if I can find bulbs first.
Beak-- four years? No. They will start blooming the year after you get them in the garden. I don't think you will find bulbs, they are more like leeks with a basal plate and roots just underground. Looks like they are native to Siberia and Central Asia according to my new and way too expensive bulb manual, which is getting used for the first time here lol. So they would probably be ok in your zone.
Well then, I'm up for getting seeds. Let me know when they are available and maybe we can trade for something or I can send you postage.
OK Beak. I'll post a note on the wall above my computer so I don't forget. Will get your address then.