So, for the past couple of years, I've tried to go all perennials and bulbs. I thought I had a pretty good plan for this year. I planted well over 1,000 daf and jonquil bulbs, probably about 4-500 daylilies, 200 dutch iris, about 40 crinum, and smaller amounts of various other bulbs such as siberian iris, true lilies, spider lilies, etc. Well, right now I've got a big gap in blooms. My pre-existing roses are blooming and I still have some quail jonquils hanging on for dear life. I have a row border of about 5-6 shasta daisies that are just starting to get some blooms. But that's about it. Azaleas are quickly fading. Dutch iris are all but gone. I thought I had at least a few bearded iris I planted but if so, none bloomed this year. In keeping with my sort of bulb/perennial/pass-along theme, does anyone have any suggestions for next year to fill the gap before my daylilies start blooming? I guess I could get more roses and bearded iris?

"B" I can sense your disappointment. I too have had this problem in the past. I'm a half zone cooler if that can be said for the south but here's what I have going on now. @Seedfork Larry what do you have blooming now while waiting on the daylilies?
Good old amaryllis. Even though our crinum are in the same family, they are later blooming except for bulbispermum crinum.

I got these echinacea from Larry and they are a blooming machine, all summer long too.
I
Veronica
I
Clematis
I
Tiny Monster geranium

Some iris finishing up, some just getting started.


Not blooming but dark leaved Gingunda canna and some variegated giant reed behind it.

Variegated hydrangea

Shade plant strawberry begonia.

Allium Ambassador about to burst forth.

Poppy anemones, have been blooming for weeks, starting to slow down now.

Also salvia is blooming now.
I have found 2 daylilies with scapes, usually 3 weeks til bloom.
So don't fret, I know you have done a lot with your yard!

Great plants! Yep, I have some amazing amaryllis we were gifted a couple of years in a row as forced bulbs for Christmas. I planted them not expecting much and they are incredible bloomers. I only have a couple of offshoots, though. I guess I need to buy some more! I have the traditional white "cemetery" iris but it finished blooming long ago now. I definitely need more bearded iris. My mother has some I need to steal from her. They are incredible old heirlooms. I did buy some various Louisiana iris but I guess they need another year under their belt before they bloom. I'm scarred by iris because the house's original landscaping included yellow flag that quickly overwhelmed the two beds it was planted in. There must have been three or four layers of rhizomes by the time I pulled it up. I replanted a handful along an empty wall on the side of the house and now have another thicket of it. But at least it can't do any harm there.

Can't believe you already have echinacea blooming! I have some well-developed buds on mine but no blooms. My original intent was to go with all native perennials but echinacea and rudbeckia were all that really thrived. That's when I started branching out into bulbs. My neighborhood is a relatively new one, carved out of upland pasture and pine forest with a thin layer of loam on top of red clay.

I do have some cannas but I have them planted around my pool in the back yard.

My amaryllis! Need more!

@Kabby,
Pretty much the same things here. I cut way back on the different types of plants in my beds this year, just to give me more room in the beds to work with my daylilies.
Here are a few photos, I do have a few other plants blooming but missed them when taking photos, but not nearly as much diversification as previous years. I have gotten much more selective in the types of plants I want to grow and maintain.


















As you can see the foliage on some plants add as much color as some blooms. I do have some Caladiums up already, and over 80 named cultivars of daylilies now have scapes. The yellow noid daylilies were the first to bloom, and the photo shows 'Femme Fatale' trying to open, it will be the fist named daylily to bloom this year.

It's always tempting to plant a lot of spring bloomers. But once they've finished being spectacular, it's then what?

I have no idea if any of these native perennials would work with your design, but they're usually reliable and many will bloom from now through fall.

There are many salvias/sages that I bet you could grow. For example, here's a recent picture of my Salvia Greggii (Autumn Sage). It will bloom all summer and into fall



There are so many salvias in various colors. Reds, hot pinks, light blue, dark blue, white, etc. You can always flip through our database that's specific to them.

A year or maybe 2 ago I planted some fall asters. I 'think' they don't get terribly huge. Mine are already greening up but I'm thinking they won't bloom now. Here's their first year bloom.



And greening up now. Think maybe they're planted too close together. Will wait and see.



Can think of many more but have to get off the computer!

@tx_flower_child
Sadly, I have had no luck with salvias OR asters. I planted a lot of both the first year after I cleaned out my beds. They didn't fair well. I don't know if my soil is too moist or what. The only aster that did survive and thrive is a climbing aster. Not sure if that's a true aster or not but that was it's name.

@seedfork, what's the white bloomer? Gardenia or what? I have TONS of daylilies but only a two have scapes so far and only one has bloomed. When daylily season gets here in earnest, I'm set! I just don't have much going on til then... I do have about 8 roses blooming but only one is a good size and it's in my back yard. I really overdid it on dafs and jonqs so I guess my yard just feels a little barren now, lol.

@bkrell
The white blooming plant is a 'Mary Washington' rose climbing on my chain link fence.
A few white azaleas still blooming.

I also have a Chinese Snowball bush blooming that is white.

Yes my white azaleas are technically still blooming but waaay past prime.

Larry I am positively amazed that you have 80 cvs in scape! I had a few beds that hadn't been weeded so I got busy and almost finished those. The rains will start tomorrow afternoon so that will help, I need to fertilize too.

"B" I belong to a co-op on Facebook that is selling amaryllis for $9 apiece to be delivered in the fall. Let me know if interested. They also sell bearded iris.

I have a Black and Blue salvia that I had to move out of my fertile flower bed and put it under the eaves of the house. Not good soil and the rain pounds the heck out of it. Hummer magnet. Not blooming now but had to throw that in there. I hope you have a lot of rebloom on your daylilies!

@Kabby,
Up over 90 cvs now, soon I hope to be to the halfway point. If we get the rain we are predicted to get I expect the scapes to just explode out of the ground.
The Amaryllis this year were hit by late frost but they still are managing to put on a great show, starting to die back some now with a lot of spent blooms, but more showing up everyday still.
I hope to have some lilies start blooming in a few days.

To fill such a gap in blooms you need to visually determine what is growing "right now" in your area. I would not recommend buying by going online or from some of us that are far away. Instead, drive around and see what do people currently have blooming in their gardens... as long as the shrub does not look like it was just planted recently this Spring.

Another suggestion is to visit the Norton Art Gallery Gardens in your city, the LV House and Gardens in N. O. or drive to Tyler, Texas and see roses/etc there.

You could repeat some existing shrubs with others of the same that just bloom a tad later, like some irises, roses, azaleas can do. But seeing them blooming in person will be very helpful. For example, Indian Hawthorn and irises are blooming here but you need something just about to start blooming.

A word of caution... rose rossette disease is now active in Louisiana so I am not sure of it is wise to get roses. RRD just hit my garden this winter so be advised. :o(

A discussion tracking what is blooming last month & this month:
https://garden.org/thread/go/7...

I'm starting to see a lot of scapes go up on the daylilies. I finally did a long overdue mulching of two of my beds yesterday. I had at least 10 daylilies w/ scapes.

@luis_pr, good idea on the Norton. I usually just think azaleas when I think Norton because so much of their grounds are hidden from the street. I occasionally run through there. Although, on the whole, their grounds are more shaded than most of my beds.

I do worry about RRD. I already have several roses. I just don't have them in prominent, massed locations.

Amaryllis is definitely in bloom right now. I have a few red lion amaryllis in my back yard that are spectacular right now. I guess I had never thought about more for the front. I'd love to grab some of the St Joseph lily variety.

You already mentioned bearded irises, which was going to be my suggestion. I've had a similar issue with a lag in color in the garden between spring bulb time and when a lot of late spring perennials put on a big show. I have found Intermediate bearded irises (usually just called IB) fill that gap beautifully. They're shorter than tall beardeds, but still tall enough to be seen well in a big garden- 16" to 27.5" in height, and the bloom size is comparable to those of tall bearded varieties. While everything starts earlier in your area, I think the progression of bloom time is similar.

So my plan for next year:
More red lion amaryllis
St Joseph's lilies
other mixed amaryllis
MAYBE replace my oleander w/ double knockouts

@gemini_sage and others
I went back and looked at what I bought/planted last fall and discovered that I actually did plant some bearded iris that should be blooming about now. I guess they maybe need a little longer to get settled in? I'd forgotten about them because I had more recently bought some Louisiana and Siberian iris. I was looking in my beds and found ONE little bearded bloom but for some reason, it bloomed down in the follage and didn't make a stalk. But I'm definitely going to supplement the ones I have with some old heirlooms from my mother's garden.

Also, I think I felt a lot better about my beds once I got the mulch in them. I had put it off because I have so many more plants this year verses previous and I knew it was going to be a bear to work the mulch in around the daylilies. Plus, I've got to make sure I didn't stack it up around these bearded iris I just remembered I have, lol.

Bearded irises typically take a couple of years to really get going, so you should see lots of blooms next year. I see that short bloom down in the foliage from time to time, and usually that is with blooms the first spring after planting. Sometimes late freezes and other weather issues can cause that too, but it usually isn't a frequent occurrence. Historic varieties are often quite vigorous and trouble free, traits I love about them! They also have a classic, graceful form I find particularly charming.

I was hoping that was the issue and not some sort of issue with my soil or something!

I have clematis, baptisia, amsonia, siberian iris and columbine that help fill in that gap. Allways gaps to fill...😁

bkrell said:So, for the past couple of years, I've tried to go all perennials and bulbs. I thought I had a pretty good plan for this year. I planted well over 1,000 daf and jonquil bulbs, probably about 4-500 daylilies, 200 dutch iris, about 40 crinum, and smaller amounts of various other bulbs such as siberian iris, true lilies, spider lilies, etc. Well, right now I've got a big gap in blooms. My pre-existing roses are blooming and I still have some quail jonquils hanging on for dear life. I have a row border of about 5-6 shasta daisies that are just starting to get some blooms. But that's about it. Azaleas are quickly fading. Dutch iris are all but gone. I thought I had at least a few bearded iris I planted but if so, none bloomed this year. In keeping with my sort of bulb/perennial/pass-along theme, does anyone have any suggestions for next year to fill the gap before my daylilies start blooming? I guess I could get more roses and bearded iris?

You might try to add a variety of earlier blooming irises. Border Bearded and Intermediate Bearded irises aren't as tall, but they bloom earlier and they have some beautiful colors and patterns. Along with my daffodils, I grow a variety of irises beginning with the little Standard Beardeds and ending with the Louisiana Irises. By the time they are done, I have a gorgeous spread of lilies to add to the color palette before the rest of the perennials kick in.