Vic, divided 'Forty Second Street' last fall, now have more than I need! Are at least six divisions of it here.


Mike you were right.
Must have planted (in a group of three) more divisions of 'Forty Second Street' in Front North Bed, but not recorded it. The plant you questioned was in that group and another of those plants has bloom today (below). Flower: was a misformed 'Forty Second Street' flower.


Rainbow Rythym series 'Ruby Spider' today.


Purchased (from Brecks), as 'Bela Lugosi'.

Vic, our old friend, Sharon (major contributor to this site before it was called NGA) pointed that out to me. Frustrating purchases: switched to buying plant, in garden centres, in flower. Was lucky that our location made it possible.

Terri, you mentioned your deer problem with oriental lilies as well as daylilies. In a way, I feel that I really shouldn't have been comparing the destructive power of deer and rabbits. On the other hand, we just can't keep oriental lilies here either. In our case, it's the result of being overrun by generations of tiny lily beetles.

All so pretty and colorful Charlies - yes, Sharon was a huge contributor to so many of us. I still miss her.

I feel your pain, Terri! I am having the same deer issues and have given up on daylilies, phlox, hostas - a losing battle. I am content to enjoy browsing Charlie's pictures instead. I have also migrated a lot of my gardening to my porch to avoid deer. On the porch, I only have to battle the raccoons. In the yard, I have starting limiting myself to just the plant plants which I know from my own experience to be close to deer proof - solomon's seals, hellebores, amsonia, agastache, achillea, nepeta, lobelia, caryopteris, allium, aconitum, syneilesis and ferns. I'm sure there are others escaping my memory at present. Much less frustrating to stick with plants you don't need to spend so much effort to protect from wildlife...

Charlie, the daylilies are stunning.

Scott, ditto for me! From your list, I have solomon's seals, hellebores, aconitum, and ferns. Other perennials on my list are brunnera, pulmonaria, bleeding hearts, digitalis, sweet woodruff, pachysandra, cimicifuga, thalictrum, siberian and japanese iris, peonies is what I came up with off the top of my head. I used to count in astilbes, but they are hit or miss these days. And of course some bulbs - specifically daffodils, hyacinths, snowdrops, summer snow flakes. Some shrubs too - calycanthus does well, as does callicarpa, and for some reason the paniculata hydrangea does great but the macrophylla hydrangeas get decimated. I'm getting used to gardening with what the deer leave alone, but I sure do miss some of the old standbys.

I keep thinking of more - clematis, polemonium, boxwood, sweet box. I need to add a field for deer resistance in my inventory database so I can quickly throw a complete list together!

Me too, Vic.

Scott, it's so interesting to read about the experiences and the responses of other perennial gardeners; notably based on their hands-on knowledge derived over periods of time. I've always loved your own posts, covering a wide range of spring-flowering perennials, numbers of which were quite new on me. I'd think the list you give can be very useful to other gardeners who are working to establish and maintain a perennial garden in deer country.

Myself, here, I've now come to feel it's silly (a waste of money as well as time) to keep planting lots of hybrid crocuses, each fall, as much as I love their spring colour range. Most of my past effort, in that regard, has effectively been stocking the winter pantry for a vole population (presumably grown, over years, by me!). I guess, in your case, it's about providing provisions for deer. In my case with voles, it's about providing lodgings as well.

Terri, thank you too. Great idea!

Scott, I had to look up syneilesis. I had forgotten that was the real name for shredded umbrella plant. I actually have a small clump of that which started with one plant from a master gardener sale. I am really partial to shade plants (mostly my garden conditions anyway), and that has always been one of my absolute favorites. Can't seem to find it for sale anywhere though.

Also another shrub that the deer don't touch is lilacs.

Terri, your list remarkably correlates with mine - - I agree with the other ones you mentioned. (Astilbes definitely wouldn't make the list around here.) I don't want to further hijack Charlie's forum with my deer grousing. I'll just keep lurking to see more pictures from his beautiful garden!

Today:

Just beyond perfectly beautiful!

Wonderful sights, Charlie!

😍😍😍💖

Charlie, so pretty. I love the 1st photo showing the long border. Your username is so spot on! What is the yellow flower in the second photo? I guess some kind of daisy, but I've never grown them so I don't know. I really like that one.

Looks great Charlie!

Thanks.

Terri, it is; but a Realflo series Shastra daisy. Series: Flowers start yellowish. My records show that cultivar as 'Real Charmer', but am pretty sure it's 'Real Dream'.

Re Username, Terri: absolutely. Have always been a (northern) sunshine gardener. Over the years of my small hobby perennial gardening business, have only installed and maintained perennial gardens in sunny spaces. Reason: aim to garden for flower colour in summer and fall, as well as in spring (latter: viz. ephemerals). Happy to have a green canvas, but not big on green-on-green.

Today:
'LaSpider'

'Santé'

'Real Galaxy'

'Party Girl'

'Primal Scream'

'Nosferatu' ('South Seas' behind)

'Pro Baby Doll'

Love that Pro Baby Doll!

BEAUTIFUL Blooms

A beautiful mix of blooms, Charlie. Do the designer daisies live long for you? They often don't come back for me or if they do, they only last a couple of seasons.

Loretta - Mine didn't last long either.