Perennials: How do you wind down a perennial garden?, 2 by pirl

pirl wrote:
I'm in the same spot as you, LAS, and just turned 72 the day you began this thread. My husband is 83 and only gave up vegetable gardening last year after the four heat waves and the crows attacking the tomatoes. I had the path lifted and relaid in that garden to make it a haven, protected from deer invasions, for a very few roses, some clematises, hydrangeas (all deer favorites).

We had over 2000 daylilies just a few years ago. Some DG people dug whatever they wanted, I sent many boxes off to other DG people, gave to friends and then ended up going to the dump with many and still have much more than I need but the ability to dig to send out is too much work and too many people don't realize it until they have to do it.

I like the idea of peonies, too. They can be left in place for 50 years so I guess I won't have to worry about ever dividing them! I'd also vote for lilies, maybe some Japanese irises only because I'm partial to them but they still will need division, sedums and heuchera if you don't have deer issues, and anything that is slow growing but investigate each choice thoroughly before you buy anything.

Hostas are good and with enough compost in the planting hole many can take sun. Some hostas will demand division or they can die out. I've had it happen with Love Pat.

Some of those Butterfly Bushes that are meant to be low have gotten to the gutters here so investigate thoroughly and don't believe what a nursery tells you.

I agree about asking at nurseries and hardware stores, home improvement stores, if anyone does part time work.

Listen to happy_macomb and feel free to supervise and dismiss anyone who doesn't follow orders or those who don't know a weed from a plant that's valuable. We just went through that in May when I told our guy to remove weeds in the asparagus garden. I just happened to go back there and spotted him with a spade as he went to remove the asparagus plants! We'll still hire him for chipping and compost but not for garden work.

Preen and 70 to 80 bags of mulch have saved me from insanity this year!