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sresutek

Daffodil overplanting?

sresutek
18 years ago

Hello!

I am located in Central Texas, zone 8. I am planning to plant daffodils, and am wondering what I should plant to go with them once they die back? I fight deer constantly (use liquid fence), and would need the plant to be pretty hardy, weather & water-wise since it's in a part of my yard I don't visit all that often.

I "was" planning to plant yellow lantana with the daff's (fall planting for daff's, April/May for lantana). Would that work? What about future years - will the daff's be squeezed out somehow or is lantana a great companion b/c it's dormant when the daff's are out?

Any other ideas of what I could do?

Thanks!

Comments (4)

  • meldy_nva
    18 years ago

    Hi, SarahTX - a wee bit early, but happy B'day!

    Is lantana a perennial for you? If so, I'm not too sure about using it for overplanting, since the daffies will need to be dug/thinned at some point. Which is the problem with using *any* perennial in the immediate neighborhood of a daffy planting. I compromise by using those perennials which will require thinning themselves, or are very short-lived in my area. Daylilies work very nicely, usually needing to be divided in 3 or 4 years, just like the daffies. I've tried iris for the same reason, but it doesn't do as good a job at hiding the dead daffy foliage. Hostas (if you have some semi-shade) are very, very good at hiding the dying foliage. I have some bulbs planted under trees, and more around azaleas -- bad, bad idea. Trying to get over-crowded bulbs away from roots is an exercise in patience and frustration. Anyhoo, my favorite set-up is to layer daffies, tulips, hyacinths, crocus, and aconite; using as many different early-mid-late season varieties as I can get. In my area, this provides sequential bloom from early March through the end of May (actually it's usually from mid-February through mid-June but that depends on the weather cooperating). I then over-plant with annual plants, including marigolds for their nematode-deterrent properties, and easy-care petunias such as Wave. Since I have clay soil, the bulbs are layered on top of gravel & sand, which means both good drainage and that any annuals on top had better be very drought tolerant. This year I put angelonia in the rear of one bed (it's annual for me) and geraniums & heliotrope near the front, zinnias & marigolds in the middle. I was aiming for brightly-colored, easy care, & drought-tolerant (thank g, we've not had rain for almost 2 months!), and that combo was fairly good... the geraniums (Maverick star) sulk unless they are watered weekly but that's been the only consistent problem- actually the geraniums just like getting the extra fertilizer:) Note that I do mulch heavily as soon as the daffy foliage is dead, so that helps with the watering needed.

  • gardenspice
    18 years ago

    Sarah,
    I'm not sure how far south into Central TX you are, but I'll warn you, daffodils don't repeat reliably in the Austin area. Be sure to get varieties that do well for your climate. I believe King ALfred is one of the more dependable ones.
    Also, I would not wait for Spring to plant the lantana. Fall is actually the best planting season here, as long as there is time for the plant to get settled before the first hard freeze. At this point, you have plenty of time.

  • sresutek
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Ok, so maybe I won't do the lantana... planting annuals seems to make sense. I may try cosmos. Never worked with them before, but it seems they'd do well not being taken care of... :))

    Thank you, Meldy & GardenSpice!

  • elgrillo
    18 years ago

    I have to agree with Meldy about overplanting with annuals. In addition to petunias, marigolds, and geraniums, think about verbena, baby's breath, snapdragons, and violets. Petunias, baby's breath, violets, and verbena will put out runners over the area after the daffodil foliage is gone.

    Marigolds come in so many sizes, that you can get some that get up to 24" tall. I would plant the giant ones very close but not over the bulbs.

    I personally prefer verbena because of the variety of foliage and colors, they spread so well by runners, and seem to require less maintence than the others.

    Did someone mention heliotrope? As a perenniel, it might spread without overtaking your bulbs.

    Best wishes

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