I'm inside right now cooling down from my early fall chores.

Weeding is way easier from all the rain we've had lately, so they're getting pulled up.

Dug up, divided and am replanting a lot of oriental lilies and iris. Transplanting a couple of rose bushes and getting rid of several others that just didn't do well. My favorite rose of all is Auguste Renoir, a modern "Romantica" rose that has a heavy perfume and cabbage blooms like old Bourbons, without the disease problems.

I love it when I dig up things and see that rich black soil with worms everywhere -- all the hard labor of tilling and amending that nasty clay soil has definitely paid off.

Will plant some bulbs for spring in late fall. Tulips are annuals in this region so am not sure I want to go to the trouble (but they are lovely!) but will plant my favorites, which are the heirloom variety tazetti narcissi.

I'll hate putting everything to bed for winter in about six weeks. And now, back to work...

I am awash in daylilies. After dividing a bunch, I had to make some new beds because I have to throw them away.

A three year project to to plant a 3 foot wide row of daylilies underplanted with daffodils and narcissus all along the road--about 100 feet of more. In order to make the beds I am having to clear off the few inches of topsoil, dig out 8 or so inches of gravelly dirt and then fill with additional soil, compost and peat. That is why it is a three year project.

The daylilies are mostly yellow Hyperion with small clusters of red every now and then. Yhe narcissus will be mostly white.







jf

You divide and re plant your daylillies in the fall.

Mine are in desperate need due my travel = neglect of the last five years. Even stopped blooming. But I was going to wait till next spring. It has been teasing at the back of mind that I need to look this up, erg...was it fall or spring, erg?

That is so pretty JF.
erg is big bulb and tuber fan.

Erg,

I always divide daylilies in the fall. They are pretty tough and they do fine....a bit too fine. Need any?

jf

Good - I was hoping to find a gardening thread, and here it is!

I've found listings on the net for a "Confederate Rose" and a "Rose Mallow". Both say they are a type of Hibiscus, but they don't look much like the hibiscus commonly grown around here (rosa-sinensis). The flowers look more/less the same, but the leaves (and maybe the growth habit?) are different.

Does anyone grow these? I like the flowers, but I hesitate to plant any more Hibiscus because the ones I have are infested with Giant Whitefly and I can't seem to get rid of them. Do Confederate Roses/Rose Mallows have this same problem?

What do the bushes look like when mature?

Rose Mallow is such a confusing name. I've seen several plants with it, the one I planted is an annual ( Lavatera ) and it is related to the one you are talking about (which I am assuming is a perennial shrub?) There is also a short lived perrenial called Tree Mallow which I also have. Both are quite pretty.

Jodi

JF, I got tired just thinking about your daylily project. Those things are a b*tch to divide!!!

Steve, have you ever considered a rose shrub, like this one?

How pretty!

Does it bloom all summer or is it one of those old roses that only blooms once per season?