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No idea what to do with my flower beds


allboys

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First, my lilies. I had bought 6 orange lilies a few years ago and planted them. The second year they were no longer orange and I've had blood red lilies every year. Not only do I have blood red lilies, but they've multiplied faster than bunny rabbits. I truly love them, but is there any way to control where they grow and how they multiply?  I need something else to plant in the flower beds with them also and I need something that hopefully prefers shade and isn't orange or yellow. One side and the front pretty much get full sun and my tulips and lilies thrive there, but the one side is almost in shade all of the time.

I also have 3 bushes in the front flower beds that I took the shears to today and butchered half them off as they were choking the lilies and going out of control. They are hardy, easy to deal with, don't mind the butchering, but they are royal pain.  I don't kill plants that go in the ground, but I do have a tendency where they go out of control, haywire, and take on lives of their own. I need something that requires little care, beyond a simple snip and trim, that won't breed like a cache of bunny rabbits. :duh:

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Got some pictures of the areas?  Got pictures of what is already there? Got an idea of what you would like to have there? 

 

Depending on the drainage and amount of sunshine you have a lot of choices, but first you need a general idea of what you want to have there.

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The only way to control lilies is to dig them up. We should all have your problems! Do you have daylilies or Asiatic lilies? I'm betting daylilies as they multiply a lot quicker than the Asiatic variety.

 

As to how your orange lilies turned red. What usually happens in these cases is that among the orange lilies there  are some roots or bulbs that  actually produces a red flower. This root or bulb is more cold hardy or is just better adapted to the area than the orange variety. Over the winter some or all of the orange variety will die but those red ones being hardier keep right on growing. What you wind up with are all red lilies.  

 

If you have a shady area and the lilies are the focal point I would go for an under-planting of hostas. There are so many different colors and leaf patterns that they are coloful all year. Unless you want to spend a lot of time coordinating plants that bloom at different times during the year your best bet is to plant something that has pleasing leaves.

I have a shade garden that is planted for leaf color and texture. The blooms are a nice bonus but the garden is pretty and colorful even when nothing is blooming.

 

If you are looking for shrubs that will need less pruning go for the dwarf or miniature varieties of evergreens. Or slow growing shrubs like boxwood. If your shrubs have been in a long time they are probably the rampant growing older varieties. Many of the newer varieties don't grow over 4 feet tall and you won't have to hack them in half. Check with a local nursery to see what is available. 

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The lilies are asiatic lilies. The bushes I was trying to get something that wouldn't grow any higher than 18 inches to 2 feet at the most. It's a really small area in between the front porch and sidewalk.  It used to be covered in morning glory. It took me 3 years to finally get rid of that completely. I have to add some more soil to it, especially after getting rid of all the dead leaves and cutting off about half the plants that were there and taking care of the weeds. This is just the front part, the sides are similar, but they are ground level and not built up at all.

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Do you want annuals or perennials?

a perennial would work best, I'm afraid of digging up the bulbs already planted there as it is. The lilies are absolutely beautiful, I'm going to try to get my other laptop started up so I can get those pictures.  I've been working on it today on and off. One of the lilies came up between the bricks. I have tulips planted on the one side of the porch, and nothing planted on the side that is almost all shade because I don't know what would do well there. I have some crocus bulbs I wanted to plant but not sure the best location in all of this for them.

 

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What you have in there now is euonymus. It will sort of crawl up a structure when placed next  to one otherwise it is more of a creeper. I don't trim mine and it makes a good ground cover.  I'd use Blue Rug juniper or one of the other horizontal junipers if you want a spreader.   If you want something more rounded  try Golden Glow yew or Eastern arborvitae.  Here is a list of low growing evergreens. http://www.mortonarb.org/tree-plant-advice/article/885/low-growing-evergreen-shrubs.html

 

 Why not put the crocus among the lilies and add a few of the shorter daylilies to prolong the flowering season and for leaf contrast. What you grow in the shade depends on what look you want. . 

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I cut the living daylights out of that thing. I'm not real thrilled with things that creep, crawl, and choke other things. Along with that there was morning glory that took me three years to get rid of.  I can live with these things, I'll just have to mindful to keep them trimmed and cut back to only where I want them. I think I'll look into the low growing evergreens for the shady side.

Once I dig up these lilies this fall to separate them, what do I do with the extra that is going to come out of them? I'll gladly part with them to anyone that wants them, if I'm lucky enough they will continue to do as well as they have. I wasn't expecting 60 plants from 6 in 3 years.  :o  

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You can transplant them now but they may not bloom.  This fall you may want to really pack that area with bulbs.  Specimen plants of differing heights would be nice too.  You may want to haunt Lowes sale area and just pick out what you like.  Odds are they will be blooming ahead of our season but you can see the colors and sizes that they reach.

 

If you don't care for the antics of the lilies then I would suggest steering away from reseeders or anythingthat spread by an underground root. 

 

If you ever want to get rid of some of the lilies I can put them on the round mound at Charlie's Alternators.

 

I have the Star Juniper and have found it to be both beautiful and non-aggressive.

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