I arrange my daylilies two different ways - I have some raised beds with just daylilies in them [these were to be for seedings, but I filled them up with things I "had" to have off the Lily Auction.....] I don't have them in any kind of order except a few, like from Gayle Story, are in the same area. They all look great together as the lilies don't all bloom at the same time.

The other way I place my daylilies is among my roses, annuals and perennials. They really look fabulous when they bloom along with the roses and other flowers. I am picky about my beds - they are edged, weeded and watered and I keep my daylily foliage trimmed to look neat. These beds are really showy in spring when the lilies bloom. When bloom time is over, I intersperse annuals that bloom all summer and the foliage adds depth to the bed. In my "just daylilies" raised beds, once bloomtime is over, no more color so I have started putting big pots of annuals at the ends of the raised beds to continue to have some color. Next year, I think I will grow some potted hot peppers as well.

I think daylilies look good just mixed - the dark ones look good next to the light ones. I don't know that there are any bad combinations - just individual preference. Guess you could do an all yellow bed [with different varieties], an all red bed, an all purple/lavender bed........I happen to be partial to lavenders and pinks.......keep the pinks in a bed where I have contrasting lavender flowers like salvia - really pretty. I think the daylilies look so pretty with other flowers with contrasting colors that I really prefer a mixed bed - yellows with lavender salvia or red petunias, purple with white lantana, etc.

I can hardly believe I still have lilies blooming here on Sept. 24 - my gorgeous Karin Cooke [new for me this year and a real favorite] and Magic Amethyst. What a treat! I couldn't help it, I dabbed pollen...this will no doubt be the last cross of the year.

Have fun with your lilies - no matter how you place them, they will be gorgeous!
Judith

I like big drifts with different hues of the the same color. I like pastel beds of mixed colors and hot color beds where you want attention. Ed

Love to tell you I plan my beds, but I won't lie. I plant them anywhere there is space. I have too many and am in the midst of the difficult task of downsizing a bit. I do like to plant favorites where I can easily see and access them for photos.

Your plan sounds very nice.

kay

Keep in mind that dark colors tend to recede into the background. I love the purples and blacks but they need to be planted either with other perennials that will brightly contrast or near other daylilies in the bright colors ( oranges and yellows) so that they will show up. I prefer the mixed borders, arranging daylilies by height. If something seems to clash badly, I can always move the entire clump.

One speaker at a recent symposium I attended mentioned his plans to add an entire bed of nothing but daylilies in purples and dark purples. Although purple daylilies are my absolute favorite, a bed of daylilies all planted in this color would need another perennial with brightly colored flowers planted with it, or it would be quite dull. I thought of this when I saw the recent cover of the Daylily Journal which featured only purple daylilies. Sorry but all those purples looked lifeless and dull together with nothing to contrast them with .... IMHO of course.

I agree with Floota regarding an all purple bed. I put together a bed with mostly purples, with a few peach/orange color a few years back. Even with the other colors it still did not stand out enough for me. All the purples still blend in with one another. I have added and will be adding next year more colors into that bed to mix it up a bit.

My favorite bed that I put together has a nice mix of daylilies,echinacea, liatris, lilies, ballon flowers, poppies and columbine. I also try and go by height with the daylilies. If I had enough time and energy I would redo 2 of my beds. Just too much work for my liking!

Thanks for the responses everyone. Unfortunately my big Gilbert Wild order came right after I posted this - I should have posted earlier. They said to soak them for 4-6 hours. It was too late in the day to do it, so I soaked them Tuesday am and planted almost all of them Tuesday afternoon and evening - I was even planting in the dark so I didn't "oversoak" them. I didn't see these responses until later that evening.

I put the last ones in the ground this afternoon. Still awaiting four from Blueridge which should come next week.

Lots of good information here though. It sounds like you really can't go wrong, except maybe an all purple bed. I love purple, but have spaced mine out with some bright colors - mostly orange - so hopefully that will work. I'll see if they recede.

I'd love to mix with other perennials but my sunny spots are pretty limited. I did have a number of shorter ones so they went in the front, grading back to the tallest ones.

I have to say I was pleased with the Wild order. They weren't huge like the ones from Maryotts, but seemed big enough. I was actually happy that they weren't huge - planting them was tough enough as it was! We'll see how they do next year. I plan to put chopped oak leaves and maybe straw over them for the winter.

They did send me a substitute for one that they ran out of. At $10 it was the most expensive one. The substitute is very similar in looks, but I actually bought it for the name - Cowgirls and Indians (my husband is part native American). They very nicely said they'd credit me, and didn't ask me to send the substitute back. Unfortunately they said that they wouldn't have any more of the one I wanted (bought from a friend, no more left).

One more question. I know you want to have a few fans to get flowering. I've gotten several where there are more than two fans, but the fans are separated. Will that diminish the flowering?

Now I can't wait to see them grow next year and hopefully flower!

You can buy Cowgirls and Indians from Browns Ferry Farm daylilies. It is $30/double fan. I have ordered from them in the past and always got great lilies and generous gifts. It is by Gene Tanner and they carry his daylilies. Check out their website.

Thanks Judith. I checked out their website and requested their catalog for winter drool time.

I'm still in cheap mode though - haven't gotten anything over $20 yet. I want to see how things do in my garden first.

I too am a new "daylily fever-ite" this year! I wanted to begin hybridizing so I built 2 beds to separate the diploids from the tetraploids. I have transplanted some multiple times this year and they seem to be very forgiving! So, since you "even planted them in the dark" you still have time to arrange them the way you want them.

Fair warning: you will probably want to leave room for expansion for your beds!