Pages - AHS Region 2

One Step Closer to a Mixed Border
By Lynn Purse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
C
ompanion planting is near and dear to my heart; I’ve grown
daylilies in what is known as mixed borders for years. I
grew up on an organic farm and monoculture was
considered a dirty word, even in the 1960s. “The more diverse the
plantings, the healthier the garden,” “feed the soil, not the plants”
and so on. After gardening intensely for many years, I have
found those litanies to be true. It also makes for a more interesting
garden with a very long period of color and texture and evokes the
artist in me. Having moved to a new place a few years ago and had
the overwhelming experience of building large garden areas in one
season instead of over a period of years, I have this to share.
To anyone wanting to diversity their daylily gardens, I would
recommend starting with small shrubs that are mixed into the garden
beds. Annuals and other perennials can be added once the structural
plants are in place. As I was building my gardens the first year, I
spent 90% of my plant budget on small trees and shrubs, knowing
that these needed to be in place first to build a woody structure that
would show off the daylilies and other plants to their best advantage.
By the end of the first season, the garden looked like it was in its
third year rather than its first. Medium to tall shrubs are great
background builders but what I look for in shrubs that mix right into
the border are polite beings that mind their manners in the garden,
stay reasonably small, respond well to pruning and shaping, and
offer great foliage from spring through fall. Flowers are a bonus,
though I do use small shrub type roses in the same way, especially
the polyantha types. I rarely use needled evergreen shrubs mixed
in the border, as their foliage can be permanently damaged if they
are shaded too much by other plants.
Most of my “backbone” shrubs are hardy in Zones 5-8, but it
pays to visit botanical gardens in your area to see what would grow
well for you. The following plants form the foundation of my Zone
5-b garden and work quite well as part of a garden featuring daylilies.
many small and beautifully colored ones are now available and
they rarely self seed like the species types. Favorites are Berberis
‘Crimson Pygmy’, which stays 1.5-2', and emerges in spring with
almost black foliage that turns a dark burgundy. B. ‘Bagatelle’ is
very similar. Both work very well with hot colored daylilies, the
deep red foliage acting as a foil to the brighter flower tones of red
and orange. A new red barberry on the market is B. ‘Concorde’,
another dwarf that has more of a purple cast to the foliage instead
of burgundy—this one looks great near the dark rose purple daylilies
like Hemerocallis ‘Nosferatu’ (Hanson 1990) and H. ‘Round
Midnight’ (R. Mercer 1992). A particular favorite is Berberis ‘Rose
Glow’, which has mottled rose and burgundy foliage that I like to
pair with dark eyed daylilies like Hemerocallis ‘Siloam Merle Kent’ (P.
Henry 1984) and vibrant rose lavenders like H. ‘Chance Encounter’
(Stamile 1994). Barberry ‘Rose Glow’ needs more pruning in the spring
to keep it a manageable size; just cut out any long straight stems at
the base and keep the short twiggy growth (protect yourself with
long sleeves and gloves—these plants are thorny!). B. ‘Helmut’s
Pillar’ is another burgundy leaf cultivar that grows in columnar
form, very useful for a punctuation point at the end of a bed. Being
new and unusual, it is still somewhat pricey.
The golden barberries are useful as well; the yellow Berberis ‘Aurea’
is best in some shade while B. ’Bonanza Gold’ can take full sun but
is a brassier shade of gold. Both of these combine beautifully with
yellow selfs and whites edged in gold, like Hemerocallis ‘Wedding
Dance’ (Joiner 1983), as well as purples and lavenders with yellow
throats.
Spireas are another great plant for the daylily garden, offering
foliage color from early spring to late fall and sometimes some great
flowers as well, depending on the variety. Two of my favorites are
Spirea thunbergii ‘Goldflame’, which can get to 3', and S. ‘Magic
Carpet’, which stays closer to 2'. I prune both types back to 1-1.5' in
early spring as soon as leaf buds begin to show. The foliage color
on these plants are their claim to fame; they emerge a brilliant blend
of gold, coral, and bronze, transform into soft chartreuse in May,
Hemerocallis ‘Nosferatu’ in front of Berberis‘Rose Glow’
I have limited myself here to the small inexpensive border shrubs
that are easy to grow and easy to add to a daylily bed.
Barberries (berberis) are an extremely useful group; the green
ones were used in town gardens in Pittsburgh for years as hedges,
known colloquially as “jagger bushes” and were good for keeping
the neighbor kids out of your yard. Fortunately for the gardener,
AHS Region 2/Great Lakes Newsletter
A pink carpet rose,
Spirea ‘Shibori’
and Hemerocallis
‘Berlioz’
(Moldovan 1983)
and H. Wind Frills’
(Tarrant 1978)
Fall 2005 - Winter 2006 Page 39