daylily 'little grapette' Archives - The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Daylily Little Grapette lives to see another day

Posted on June 21, 2016 by jmarkowski Posted in Perennials .

Before we discuss Daylily Little Grapette, a few important items as a backdrop for this post.

I first wrote of my frustration with the daylily here.

I did a feature on the ‘Joan Senior’ daylily here.

And eventually swore them off for good here.

Now a current day update:

I still have a bunch of Daylily ‘Happy Returns’ and in fact, just divided a bunch to fill a new section of the garden. You’ll never see any photos of these plants because they suck but I can’t bring myself to dispose of them because they take up space with no effort. They will be eradicated one day but that time has not yet arrived.

‘Joan Senior’ couldn’t hide from the deer for long and she met her untimely death in a fit of rage back in 2012. I was an angry gardener back then.

The only other daylily in my garden currently is Daylily Little Grapette which I’ve had since 2007. There have been many times when I was close to disposing of these as well since the deer consistently ate the blooms but they some how held on. And I think I’m glad that they did.

The current home for all of the Daylily Little Grapette is in front of Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’ and I love the color combo.

I think the deer ignored these last year as a means for the universe to tell me that this combo was killer and I got it right. It may all fall to shit soon and we’ll see in a few weeks.

Daylily Little Grapette put on a massive flush of bloom in late early/mid July here in zone 6B and they keep on coming for a good two weeks or so.

I try my best to remove the “one day lasting” blooms during the blooming period to keep them looking neat and tidy, but be forewarned, your fingers will be massively stained and it isn’t all that easy to remove said stains.

This daylily is considered to be a dwarf daylily since it gets no taller than 16″ and while the claims are that it is a “rebloomer”, I’ve never witnessed it. Beyond that, it is like all other daylillies, kind of nice in bloom and then eh, the remainder of the gardening season.

Now having said that, here is your chance to sell me on a daylily you love. Put it in the comments and I promise, at a minimum, to research it and let you know what I think.

Will I ever add it to my garden?

Baby steps my friend.

Plants I’m bullish on this year

Posted on March 25, 2016 by jmarkowski Posted in Blooms, My garden, Perennials .

Here are 9 plants I’m hoping show big improvement this spring/summer over how they performed in my garden last year. 8 are relative newcomers, 1-3 years in the ground, so time alone should aid their jump in prominence. And 1 has been around my parts forever but only last year managed to avoid the wrath of the deer herd. Here’s hoping this is a new trend.

Coneflower ‘Sunrise’: Full disclosure – I’ve moved this three times in three years. And to the shock of no one, it finally bloomed last summer after a full year in its current spot. The flowers arrived later than all of the other coneflowers (late July) but that is OK. I expect taller and fuller plants this year, assuming the itch to move them is fought off successfully.

Abelia ‘Bronze Anniversary’ – Another oft moved shrub but one where I’m happy with its current destination. I love the golden leaf color, especially in partial shade and especially in spring as the foliage emerges, but I can do without the clashing white blooms. In fact, the plan is to immediately remove the flowers for fear of ridicule from the neighbors.

Daylily ‘Little Grapette’ – This is the oldie I referenced above that always suffered at the hands of the deer in summer. For whatever reason (my intimidation factor?), they were ignored last year. While I’m not a big daylily guy, I do like how these combine with other dark leaved plants (As seen with Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’) below.

Ninebark ‘Amber Jubilee’ – No, not an exotic dancer or My Little Pony character, but the best foliage color of any plant I own. But as you can see in the second photo below, the deer get it each winter and in effect, prune it back hard for me which ultimately compromises the size of this shrub. If I can remember to defend her better this year, the sky is the limit. Remember though, “remembering” is not a strong suit of mine.

Allium azureum – I blew it with this one. I mistook these for wild onions and yanked them out without much thought last spring. This is the only one that actually bloomed. Luckily for me I was lazy when pulling them so the bulbs remained in tact. No such error will be made this spring.

Peony ‘unknown other than it is white’ – This is as good of a lock as any. First flowers appeared last spring after two years in the ground and we all know that the peony is indestructible once established.

Baptisia ‘ Carolina Moon’ – Based on the success I’ve had with my other Baptisia plants, I’m counting on this one to fall right in line. Big, big things this year from this one. I cannot wait to photograph it and share it with you all.

Clematis – This appeared out of nowhere last year after I stuck it in the ground and completely forgot about it. There appears to be new growth this spring so I remain optimistic for a repeat showing. And this time, I’ll even use a real trellis to maximize the show.

And last but not least, the fickle …

Cimicifuga ‘Brunette’ – For three consecutive years, this perennial has looked great in spring only to fall apart when the weather really heats up and when it attempts to bloom. I’ve stayed on top of the watering and it, along with its 7 other siblings (I’m way invested at this point) get plenty of afternoon shade. The pessimist in me says, “wrong plant for you John” while the optimist says, “give it time to get established”.

Cheers to optimism.