Dusty Miller is one of my favorite annual companion plants. I love the fuzzy silvery-gray foliage that complements any color of annual or perennial it is planted next to. Occasionally it has reappeared in the same location it grew the year before, but only if our winter was very mild. Dusty Miller grows best where afternoon shade is available during the hottest months of summer. I plant mine in an eastern exposure and it does well. Dusty Miller care is minimal when the plant is established. It is adaptable to many soil types, from acidic clay to sandy loam. Dusty may need a midsummer trim if the plant becomes leggy. Best of all, the lacy leaves are resistant to deer, and rabbits dislike the fuzzy leaves as well, which is an added bonus!

Here are a few photos of the fluorescent marigolds growing by our home. They literally glow in the sun. People don't believe us when we tell them that every single marigold they see has re-seeded itself from last year's flowers. I know it doesn't appear so, but we really did try to thin them out. They have been re-seeding like this for years. I originally bought three or four 6-packs of 'Bonanza Gold' 8-10" marigolds maybe five years ago. They are super hardy and pop up all over, so we relocated a few of the seedlings where we wanted them. We even rescued some seedlings from cracks in the sidewalk. These are some crazy, happy plants!

Tip: We planted marigolds in front of our daylilies so when Fall arrives all the daylily foliage is covered up completely.

Photos by Ange and Jade Anderson

I'm not at all fond of orange ditch lilies (Hemerocallis fulva) as I've spent countless hours digging their invasive rhizomes out of my flower beds, but I'll be the first to admit that they look pretty darn good in roadside ditches.

'Eramosa Skies' is the most unusual colored iris I grow. It's difficult to capture the beautiful light blue-sapphire shade in photos. Visitors to my garden always comment on its unique color. This award-winning Standard Dwarf Bearded (SDB) iris was hybridized by Chuck Chapman (1996) in Ontario, Canada. So with Canadian genetics this iris grows like gangbusters in western Wisconsin. You'd never know this large clump was divided last fall!

My friend Sally gave me a division of Eramosa Skies from her garden about five years ago. It's an awesome border plant that grows up to 13 inches tall. It typically begins to bloom at the end of April or first week in May, depending on the weather. Dwarf bearded irises bridge the bloom gap in my garden between the daffodils and tall bearded irises.

In case you wondered, Eramosa is a township in Wellington County, in midwestern Ontario, Canada. Hence the name 'Eramosa Skies.'

This April I have really enjoyed my deep purple hyacinths. Their fragrance is amazing! Most of them grew about eight inches tall and four inches wide. These hyacinths were originally part of a large plant pot I received filled with a variety of bulbs, including daffodils, tulips, and scilla siberica. This was a perfect gift that truly kept on giving, as I continue to enjoy these bulbs every spring -- and I received them over 20 years ago! I wish I knew what variety the hyacinth is, but oh well.

Introduced in Europe during the 16th century, hyacinths are easy-to-grow spring bulbs that are still popular today (US hardiness zones 4-8). They like six to eight hours of sun each day and soil that drains well. After the bulbs have bloomed, be sure to cut off the flower stalks (not the leaves) to encourage the plants to store energy in their bulbs. Every fall and spring I sprinkle bulb booster fertilizer granules over my bulbs and gently work the granules into the soil. Rain will disperse the fertilizer. Hyacinths are best planted in early fall, about four inches deep and six to eight weeks before the first frost.

Hyacinth bulbs contain oxalic acid, which can cause a skin reaction in some people. If you are sensitive, wear gloves when handling the bulbs. Oxalic acid is also toxic when eaten, so keep your pets away from the bulbs. All kinds of rodents will chew on hyacinth bulbs. An easy organic method to deter them is to interplant hyacinths with daffodils, which rodents tend to avoid.

Hyacinth info from www.thespruce.com
Photos by Jade Anderson

Ahhhh...September....the month we Northern gardeners try to remedy our planting fails from the previous spring by juggling daylilies around the yard. My friend Sally and I like to refer to this as the 'Domino Effect' because in order to move *one* daylily to a new spot, it seems like an entire chain reaction of plant-moving needs to take place before that *one* daylily can be put in its place.

The Domino Effect reminds me of these three Murphy's Laws:

• #5. Nothing is as easy as it looks
• #6. Everything takes longer than you think, and
• #11. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something

Why move daylilies around? A daylily's registration information can vary greatly as to how that plant grows in your garden, due to differences in sun, soil, temperature, and location. Planting is definitely a trial-and-error endeavor until you get to know how a particular plant behaves in your unique situation.

Here are just a few examples of why you'd want to move a plant:

• A daylily may need  more sun because it has a low bloom count
• A plant could be crying out for more shade because the color fades in the sun
• It grew taller than expected and obscured the plants behind it
• It grew shorter than expected and disappeared within the flower bed
• Bloom times were off -- one section of the garden somehow ended up with all early bloomers and by the beginning of August there were no blooms at all
• You may want to change-up color combinations to make your garden more aesthetically pleasing
• Finally, every season plants arrive and plants depart from the garden; when replacing daylilies, the size or bloom time of the new plant rarely matches that of the previous one

I have yet to encounter a year without experiencing the Domino Effect. And as a gardener, I suspect you haven't either!

Daylily pictured: 'Techny Spider' with a companion ant

Watch out for this plant! While it may look dainty and smell deviously fragrant, it has aggressive, unmanageable behavior. When I was a gardening newbie, a 'friend' gave me a tiny kiddie-shovel full of Lily of the Valley for my shade garden. What an epic mistake! Lily of the Valley has these invasive underground runners that spread out of control and get tangled up in the roots of the well-behaved perennials. After twenty-five years of digging Lily of the Valley roots out of my flowers, I am still trying to eradicate it. Every year when I think I have completely removed it, a survivor shows up.  It has even popped up in the grass outside of the flower bed. Aargh!

This plant may be good for erosion control, far away from flower gardens, but to this day I still shudder when I see Lily of the Valley for sale at garden centers. I mean really...should you spend money for this kind of aggravation?

Picture courtesy of Pixabay

Here are a few daylily hacks that have helped me grow healthy daylilies over the years:

• When bare root daylily divisions are purchased, I always soak them in a 10 to 1 bleach solution (10 cups of water to one cup of bleach) for an hour or two to sanitize them.
  
• After bleaching, I wash the plants thoroughly with a clean water spray.
• I typically hydrate newly purchased divisions overnight in a bucket in preparation for planting the following morning. If they have been shipped, it may have been 6-8 days without water for the plants.
• Cut the division foliage to about 4-6" above the roots. The daylily can focus on root growth instead of foliage growth.
• To accelerate root growth of new divisions, I plant them in a dark black plastic pot and place the pot on my warm patio brick. In about one month the pot is usually filled with new roots. At that time I plant the daylily in its permanent spot.
• This one's easy. I keep a huge black garbage bag full of dried up manure stored in a big garbage can that's hidden behind the garage. I routinely sprinkle dried manure around my daylilies - they love it!
• Be sure to deadhead the old daylily blooms. It's discouraging to find a pink bloom in a clump of yellow blooms. A seed from a dried up pod can fall into a clump and grow a completely new plant in the middle of your old one. Worst of all you may not discover it for two or three years until the new plant ultimately blooms. By that time, it's well established and you will have to dig the entire plant out and do surgery to remove the interloper. Not fun, in case you're wondering.
• I plant temperamental/finicky  daylilies by the house for protection or in a terraced area surrounded by rocks for extra warmth over the winter.
• When you initially plant new daylilies, be sure to give them at least 2-3 feet of space between each other. I know a double fan division looks tiny and you may be tempted to put two plants in that one space -- resist doing that at all costs! I guarantee it will save you extra digging in a year or two.
  
  

Pictured: Daylilies 'Wayne Felgar' with 'Heavenly Starbrite' in the background

Here are photos of the field next to our house where I have regularly dumped wheelbarrows of weeds over the years. As it turns out, my weeds weren't all weeds! I do remember tossing some rotted irises and a few daylily crowns that felt soft and mushy when I was dividing plants, but not any other plants. Who knew?

In addition to the 'Garden Scarlet' Bee Balm, 'Purple Sensation' Allium, and Narcissus/Daffodils pictured, our field boasts quite an assortment of irises, some hosta, a few daylilies, and a spirea that are all thriving. In late summer the field morphs into a fiesta of multi-colored tall garden phlox.

So our field has transformed into a perennial garden of sorts. Surprisingly, the perennials are successfully holding their own mixed in with the weeds. And what a bonus to have a colorful field!

As much as I love my daylilies, Picky-Patty-Me harbors a few pet peeves. Here are my top ten:

• Daylilies that multiply too fast. Sounds crazy, right? Truth is, I get tired of dividing the same plant every year or so, and then trying to re-home the discards. (Why can't I just throw them in the ditch?) At one point in time, I'm pretty sure every friend I've ever had received a division of 'Mary Todd.'
• Blooms that have poor substance and slick-off in the sun (wet, slimy blooms).  In my 100% sun yard that calls for instant removal.
• Scapes that droop and/or fall over. I refuse to prop up any plant in my garden. Away you go!
• Daylily bloom petals that canoe (when the flower petals turn inwards) Ick!
• A cultivar that puts out exceptionally beautiful blooms alongside of inconsistent blooms. Why put up with that? There are thousands and thousands of daylilies available that always have consistent, beautiful blooms; those are the ones I keep.
• Some daylilies have roots that are so densely woven together and tangled up that I have had to resort to a small saw to get divisions!  It must be genetics, because most daylily roots are not saw-worthy.
• Daylilies that periodically send out traveling roots to new fans that are far away from the mother plant. Then Picky-Me has to dig out the traveling fan to keep the plant contained in its allotted garden space.
• Plants that bloom inside of their foliage instead of above the foliage.
  
• Ratty foliage. Enough said.
• Daylilies that exhibit scape blasting. I've had some cultivars that routinely did this every year. I've said goodbye to all of them but one, and that daylily (Virginia B. Hanson) is so perfect in all other aspects that she gets a pass.

In spring 2019 this dainty, 12" tall fringed tulip arrived unannounced in my garden. The odd thing is that I have absolutely no idea where it came from. However it got here, I love it and it's staying! Note the neat white eyes in the first photo. This is also my latest tulip that bloomed through May 12.

Also known as Crispa Tulips, fringed tulips have lacy petals and crystalline-like fringes. Some have fringes in the same color as the petals, but others have contrasting fringes. They come in a wide variety of colors and sizes. Like regular tulips, it’s easy to grow fringed tulips. Plant the bulbs in autumn, in well-draining soil that gets full sunlight and add a bit of bulb booster. That's it!

You can read more about fringed tulips at Gardening Know How:
www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/tulips/fringed-tulip-information-and-care.htm

Stratford-upon-Avon is a quaint medieval town in England's West Midlands. Stratford-upon-Avon was founded by the Saxons when they invaded what is now Warwickshire in the 7th century AD. In the late 12th century it was transformed into a town.

While in Stratford-upon-Avon, I visited the 16th century home of Shakespeare managed by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.  Although the garden re-creations were not done to current standards of historical accuracy, I still enjoyed them. I found the huge holly bushes particularly beautiful. They clearly thrived in the English climate.

I also enjoyed spending a leisurely afternoon exploring the unique shops in town, seeing all the Tudor houses, and watching the boats lazily float down the River Avon.

What better time than February to reminisce about last summer. Looking outside today, these photos hardly seem real! So far this winter we haven't had all that much snow in western Wisconsin (not complaining--just stating a fact). In 2019 our bloom season was a bit shorter than usual because of the excessively cold spring weather and the sudden 85 degree temperatures that followed. Nonetheless, the daylilies did quite well with the abundant rain we had.

Last year's photos will keep me going for the next couple of months as I dream about the upcoming 2020 daylily bloom season.

Daylilies pictured: 'New Series,' 'Firestorm,' 'Heavenly Curls,' ' Patty in Pinstripes,' 'Lotus Position,' 'Shores of Time,' 'Sharky's Revenge,' 'Frances Joiner'

I usually hype annuals and perennials that I like, but today I want to talk about an annual that I think was an epic fail -- Red Double Wave Petunias. I expected that they would bloom profusely like the regular Wave Petunias that I love. Uh...no, far from it! After giving them three months to do something, the Red Double Wave Petunias were dug out and disposed of. Marigolds were planted in their place that are happy, blooming like crazy, and look 100% nicer.

I'm sharing this so you don't have to experience the extreme disappointment that I did. And just so you know, it wasn't only me. My good friend, an avid gardener, also bought these annuals and felt exactly the same way I did. She disposed of her Double Waves as well. Simply put, we would never purchase these again. In fact, we don't want them even if they were free!

Tomorrow the calendar turns to July and there are no daylily blooms to be seen anywhere in my garden. None. That is definitely a first! But instead of whining on that topic, I will instead talk about what is blooming...this gorgeous Dwarf Asiatic Lily named 'Tiny Skyline.' The color on this one is sublime. Photos hardly do this beauty justice.

Developed in the Netherlands, Tiny Skyline was originally bred for containers, so they are also great front-of-the-border plants. The large golden-orange flowers are between 5-6" in size. These Asiatics are super easy to grow in full sun or part shade in just about any type of soil. Wisconsin bloom season is usually from the end of June and into July.  These dwarfs can grow up to 14-16" tall, but at my house they typically stay between 12-14" tall. I'm just happy that something is blooming in my yard! The Asiatics definitely bridge the gap as I wait for my daylilies to take off.

Recently I visited Sunset Gardens in Galesville, WI. What a fun place to go! They have absolutely anything and everything garden related: annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, whimsy, plus they offer landscaping and floral services. I'll let the photos do the talking.

After visiting Sunset Gardens, Ange and I enjoyed breakfast at The Garden of Eatin' cafe in the Galesville town square. I'm pretty sure this is only place around where you can eat a great breakfast while listening to Led Zeppelin -- and how perfect is that?

Visit Sunset Gardens website: http://www.sunsetgardensgreenhouse.com/
Visit the Garden of Eatin' website: http://gardenofeatinwi.com/

Ange and I recently demolished our rock garden with the help of our neighbor. I will miss the garden, but the demo was necessary for a few reasons:

• Ever since we added an extra garage and widened our driveway, the rock garden was an obstacle to drive any vehicle in-or-out of the new garage.
• Snow plowing was difficult. Since the big boulders were right next to the new driveway, there was no place to push the excess snow.
• Black Walnut trees grow behind the garden and even though the plants tolerated the juglone toxicity, they never really thrived.
• And I can't lie, I'm okay with having one less garden to maintain.
  
  

We have fond memories of building this garden well over 20 years ago. All of the boulders came from a stone quarry in Minnesota. Since each boulder weighed a few hundred pounds we constructed a home-made rock harness and hauled the boulders with our John Deere lawn tractor, taking turns harnessing rocks or driving the John Deere. Once we got the chosen boulder close to the spot we wanted to put it, we used huge crowbars and 4x4" wood segments to leverage the boulders into place. And believe me, you have to be very mindful of your fingers when you do work like this. After working all day at our jobs, the garden came together very slowly, a few hours at a time when we were able.

Now the garden is gone; the dirt has been leveled and seeded with grass. The perennials were relocated or given away, and the boulders are by our neighbor's fish pond. We did keep a few of our favorite boulders to incorporate into our landscape at a later date. After pondering this demo for a couple of years, this was the year that it finally came to fruition. Happy face/Sad face.

The dwarf bearded irises are in full bloom! It's always exciting to see big bursts of color in May. Dwarf irises are a wonderful addition to any garden because they fill the bloom gap between the daffodils and tall bearded irises. I grow about ten different varieties of minis. Today I'm showcasing one named "Jazzamatazz" that came to me from my friend Sally's garden. It has a fragrance that is reminiscent of chocolate. If this showy perennial has one fault, it's that it multiplies too fast!

Jazzamatazz was hybridized by Heidi Blyth in 1986 down under in Pearcedale, Victoria, Australia, but it also grows in the U.S. Zones 3 to Zone 8b. It is very hardy here in Wisconsin. Jazzamatazz is happy in full sun to part shade. Mine is in an east-facing location. This iris is registered as growing up to 15" tall, but mine rarely gets taller than about 10." In my yard Jazzamatazz reliably blooms in mid-May every year.