Daylilies

We've lived in this house for over ten years and this is the first year we're noticing some of the plants that came with the house. Like these daylilies, for example. We actually had to go back and look at old photos to find them, because we had no recollection of them even being there. We certainly didn't plant them.

Here they are in the remodel chaos in Jun 2012.

We've done absolutely nothing to care for these plants. In fact, during the remodel, they had all kinds of remodel debris piled on and around them. And we've certainly never divided or watered them. They've probably gotten a little water when we water the blueberries.

Anyway—the point of the post—Sharon was thinking, those daylilies look so great after more than ten years of neglect, I should look into getting more for our landscape project. And maybe I should see if they come in different colors...

Well, holy cow, was she ever shocked to discover absolutely thousands of daylilies in a rainbow of colors and in lots of different shapes. There is an auction website solely dedicated to selling daylillies. Folks obviously are serious about their daylilies; they must collect them. We aren't to that point (yet). We were just looking for some dry part-shade tolerant flowers for our backyard.

Sharon found a business online, Schreiner's Iris Gardens, located in Salem, Oregon. When she discovered they were having a summer sale on their daylilies, she decided to give them a try. (Their sale lasts until 9/1/2019 in case anyone else is interested.) She spent hours scrolling through their daylilies and, with Jeff's help, managed to narrow it down to four to order. There were so many more that made a tour through her shopping cart, but she decided to keep the budget to $100.

The flowers we picked, because they went well with our other plant purchases, were

• Ledgewood's Jumpstart
• For Aunt Marian
• Burnin' Down the House

Here is our current plant collage. Not everything is purchased, so some plants may change.

She also ordered a purple daylily for the parking strip up front, Blue Racer. Plus she had insufficient resistance and bought a few purple irises. The order, with shipping, was just over $100.

Hidden Garden Plans

Sharon spent quite a bit of time during the last week planning the area behind the garage. We have taken to calling it our hidden garden. Sharon did most of the research because it's the kind of thing she likes to do.

We don't have any kind of software that helps with this process, so we winged it with pictures of the plants laid out on photographs. Excuse how unprofessional they look. LOL

We ended up choosing a Japanese maple to plant in the planting bed in front of the wall. Our current plan is to get an Acer palmatum ‘Sherwood Flame,’ but we could probably be persuaded by a 'Bloodgood.' We like them both.

We're going to go ahead and list the plants because it helps us later when we go shopping, or have questions about the plan, so here goes...

The Japanese maple is mostly transparent so you
can sort of see the plantings behind it.

In the planting bed directly behind the garage—in keeping with the color scheme—we're hoping to put in two hellebores: one burgundy, and one apricot. Of course, since most of the varieties out are patented, we're not really sure what we'll be able to find this fall when we go shopping. At the moment, Sharon thinks she could buy:

• Helleborus x hybridus 'Red Sapphire’ OR Helleborus 'Rome in Red' Honeymoon® series OR Helleborus 'Red Racer'
• Helleborus x ‘Apricot Blush’ Winter Jewels® OR Helleborus 'Tropical Sunset' Honeymoon® series OR Helleborus x ‘Golden Sunrise’ Winter Jewels®

Apricot Blush Group

Red Sapphire Group

We're also going to plant quite a few Heucharas because they provide some great color and tolerate mostly shade. Sharon actually already ordered some on clearance (oops); she could not resist $6 a plant. She ordered the Heuchera ‘Cajun Fire’ because she liked that the color changed throughout the season. Also, the color change will be out of sync with the Japanese maple, which will hopefully be really fun.

She also ordered a couple of Heuchera x 'Carnival Peach Parfait'. And if we run across them, she'll probably buy a couple of Heuchera x 'Caramel'.

The iris in the corner is an Iris x pacifica ‘Big Wheel’.

The larger shrubs we plan to plant along the back fence:

• On the right side, we're planning to plant a Rhododendron 'Seaview Sunset' OR Rhododendron ‘Honey Butter'. (The picture is of the Seaview Sunset Rhododendron.)
• To the left of that, we're thinking about putting in a Ribes x gordonianum (Flowering Currant). It has coral-colored flowers that are really pretty.

In front of the wall, to the left of the maple, we plan to plant a Physocarpus opulifolius 'Hoogi018' (Angel® Ninebark).

We would also like to install some sort of trellis on that ugly cinder block wall. If we manage to get something put up, we're expecting to plant a Lonicera ciliosa (Orange Honeysuckle) because it is a native, and will tolerate dry shade once it's established.

The rest of the beds will be filled in with a variety of plants, as we can find them. (This is a list of possible plants, we won't end up with all of them. This is just a starting point for when we go shopping.):

• Adiantum x tracyi (Tracy's Maidenhair Fern)
• Aquilegia caerulea 'Swan Pink-Yellow' (Columbine, wild honeysuckle)
• Aquilegia oxysepala (Oriental Columbine)
• Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Bordeaux Barlow’ (Columbine)
• Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata 'Ruby Port' (Columbine)
• Asarum caudatum (Wild Ginger)
• Athyrium filix-femina  (Lady Fern)
• Blechnum spicant (Deer Fern)
• Cyclamen persicum (Dreamscape™ Deep Burgundy Cyclamen)
• Dicentra x Hybrida 'Sulpher Hearts' (Bleeding Heart with yellow flowers, if we can find them)
• Dryopteris erythrosora (Autumn Fern)
• Epimedium × rubrum  OR Epimedium x ‘Supernova’ OR Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum' (Bishop's Hat)
• Gymnocarpium dryopteris (Northern Oak Fern)
• Polypodium glycyrrhiza  (Licorice Fern)
• Polystichum munitum (Sword Fern)
• Polystichum setiferum var. divisilobum (Soft Shield Fern)

We'll be adding more as we go shopping and as we find more plants that tolerate dry shade. We might also try a few plants that prefer full sun just to see how they do.

Echo Valley Natives Nursery Visit

We went on an exploratory adventure to a new-to-us nursery in Oregon City, Echo Valley Natives. It was hidden in the forest at the edge of Oregon City (18883 S. Ferguson Road Oregon City, OR 97045). It was a really beautiful setting and their prices are excellent for being so close to Portland. (Most one gallon pots are $7; we were paying more than that for 4-inch pots at the other nurseries we've been to this spring.)

If it's a native, they probably carry it; they have an extensive selection. They were out of a stock of a couple of larger shrubs we were looking for, but the helpful employee, Renee, said they'd have them back in stock later this summer, which works fine for us because we'll be buying the bulk of the natives in time to do a fall planting.

They had the plants arranged in among the trees in their natural setting. We really enjoyed walking around this nursery.

Nice woodland setting

Took a panorama to try to capture the immersion. 

Look forward to going back.