Front Curb Planting (aka The Front Woodland)

Our daylilies are all in bloom this week in our curb strip

July has brought the daylilies (Hemerocallis). The catmint, Nepeta 'Walker's Low' is just finishing up around our corner, but still has twinges of blue and lots of attraction for pollinators.

Sedum 'Acre' fills the edges of this curb planting. Wood spurge Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae, known commonly as Mrs. Robb's bonnet, is semi-evergreen and fills in quite a bit of area now that it has been planted in this garden for about five years. Baby tulip trees, Liriodendron tulipifera, are already growing here to take the places of these mature maples.

The taller orange daylilies (named so because each bloom lasts only one day) are Hemerocallis fulva, the common ditch lily that is often seen in the countryside. They multiply very quickly by digging and dividing the rhizomes. They are a great example of a plant that can do beautiful job in the garden, even though it is incredibly common, depending on its treatment. Gardens can be made beautiful by the correct placement and care of their plants, not just the amount of money invested. All of these type of daylilies on our property came from one large clump.

The shorter daylily is the one that is commonly seen at shopping centers, Hemerocallis 'Stella d'Oro' ("Star of gold").  It is a reblooming daylily, which is something to seek out in modern cultivars. Its yellow is just a bit brassy, so in some situations you might prefer Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns', which has a lighter yellow bloom.

Hemerocallis fulva in the afternoon sun.

When you stand on the sidewalk, you can look into the garden proper to the Circle Lawn and Shade Path gardens. The Cherry Corner garden, on the right, still has some daylilies growing beneath the weeping cherry tree. These will come out when we move our garden to its new home. (We will be moving our home at some point in the future, though it is not yet decided when.) In place of the flowering perennials here, I will be planting green ground covers that should really bring out the beautiful form of these gardens, even though their flowers will start to be parred down.

Bee enjoying the catmint! It makes my heart happy to see pollinators enjoying what was previously a barren patch of turf.

A view of the Front Woodland, curb planting, from the road toward Cherry Corner. The daylilies just glow in these sunny days of summer! And once the flowers are done, you might read about pruning daylilies to keep them from ruining the rest of the summer garden. :)

I hope you have sun and rain in your garden this week! If you have more rain than you wish, you might enjoy sipping some tea and viewing my favorite photos of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2013, which is going on this week in the UK!
~Julie

To read more about our small corner garden, start with the tour!
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