Seeking advice

Here's my under deck bed. Full sun, western exposure. I like the color combo of shasta daisy, coreopsis, and soon to be blooming crocosmia. Stella daylily to the left of the bench. All good. BUT, the daisies are becoming over exuberant and instead of nicely being a backdrop to the coreopsis, they are now splitting and flopping over the top of the coreopsis, which are being overshadowed and will likely be fairly wimpy this year. This is a very generic shasta daisy, expands aggressively. Should I yard the daisies out and plant something a bit shorter? Cut it back earlier in the season? Thoughts and suggestions welcome.

I had "generic" shastas planted in front of my picket fence at my last house and they looked adorable early in the season. However, I grew to hate this variety as they do get very tall and flop not to mention the ones I had were very stinky . Not good to welcome all who come to visit. Not sure on the scent yours have, but If they stink..it will travel into any open door, window or rise up to your deck in warm weather. I would vote for moving them as far back in the yard as you can. There are many varieties of shasta's that do not stink and grow shorter. I have a white wall flower in my front yard(ordred the lavender colored one) that,,prior to the deer giving a taste test early this spring is actually quite nice . I cut it back after the deer munched it growing and blooming like crazy . That could be a sub plant idea for you to look at. I have since, by the way had to resort to deer netting all around my front yard. Who doesn't love gardening surrounded by a cage.LOL!
If you are lucky and they don't stink..can you build some sort of support system cage that they can grow up into ..perhaps made of chicken wire? (next season) They do look very nice where they are.

What about this new Ligularia called Dragon's Breath. Has neat foliage that would contrast with the coreopsis. It say it would take sun but needs a moist location. Maybe a perennial Lobelia or Agastache? Some nice new ones out there.

Penstemons would be perfect there.

I have similar problems with my shasta daisy bed. The daisies sometimes flop over, especially if it were to rain right now. The penstemon grows just as exuberantly in the same bed, but doesn't flop....so loves the same conditions. I have many penstemons, but my favorite is 'Sour Grapes'. It blooms from now until frost. Dark purple.

pic 1)
shasta bed with coreopsis

pic 2) same type of coreopsis in a different bed.

>> Maybe a perennial Lobelia

Whcih ones come back for you? I tried many varieties last summer, and just today found that a FEW blooms came back. Literally just 1-2 blooms along the edges of a few rasied beds. But they are so scattered, I can't easily tell which varieties came back ... and they might have re-seeded.

The only survivors I've identified are:
Lobelia siphilitica "Great Blue" L5
and probably
L. erinus "Palace Blue With Eye" L8 (or some blue Lobelia with eyes).

I need to root around in the other plants that came back in thios spots and try to find left-over ID stakes for Lobellia that I thoguht died off 10 months ago. I should make more maps after sowing, including plants that went "anywhere there was room".

Some of these varieties made it from trays into pots or into the yard:

Lobelia erinus "Crystal Palace" L3
Lobelia erinus "Cambridge Blue" L4
Lobelia siphilitica "Great Blue" L5 *
Lobelia erinus "Crystal Palace" L7
Lobelia erinus "Blue Moon" - - - L9
Lobelia erinus "Sapphire" - - - L10
L. erinus "Regatta Midnight Blue" - L12
Lobelia pendula "Blue Cascade" - L13

Lobelia erinus "Cascade of Color" - L14
Lobelia cardinalis RED 'Cardinal Flower' L2

I've been happy with the way many Violas come back. Not profuse mounds of blooms, but clearly Not Dead Yet.

I love Shasta Daisys also but always get rid to them. They do stink and are not good neighbors.

Love that Lingularia, I have the other one.

kosk you do have beautiful flower beds. Kudos

BH,
I seem to remember reading on one of these threads about you looking for a seed mix. I saw this tonight. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1278824/

Thanks, SC, I've sent off a request. I am very hopeful for next spring, still gathering wildflower seed from the roadsides.

Bonehead-What did you end up doing with this space?
I have 2 thoughts. My sister has the identical situation, She made the bed deeper so there was room by the deck for really tall stuff, then the daisy-like things and some short stuff in front. Another option is to keep the daisies (they are so easy, bright and cheerful), and put a little fence about 2 feet tall as the edge of the bed and get rid of the coreopsis. There is a house in my town where they did just that and it looks great, the daisies lean on and peek through the picket fence.

MLM, thanks for resurrecting this. I have done nothing yet, but will likely take some sort of drastic action when the plants start emerging. I am leaning toward yarding out the shastas and putting them on my hillside where they can grow and expand and flop at will. Replacing with a shorter more well behaved shasta or perhaps a rudbeckia. I do like the white splash with the golden yellow in front and red coreopsis behind. There is usually a time when all three are blooming and it's quite jolly. Still pondering. Even though it has western exposure, I think there is just enough of the deck overhang that anything 'full sun' will tend to reach toward the yard, so I may want to rethink and go with a part-shade plant.

I think the picket fence idea is kind of nice if you decide to leave the daisies there. You could paint it any color you want to complement them.

The daisies are emerging, so I'll need to make a decision soon. I'm liking the idea of a fence of sorts - perhaps a rustic wattle fence between the daisies and coreopsis. I might toy with that idea before yarding out the three rather huge clumps of daisies.

HI there,
If you'd like the same effect without the aggressive daisies, try a white Echinacea in the back.

I like that idea too. I've been ogling Echinacea "Milkshake". It has these little orangey centers that might go well there.

I've never seen a white ech, willl have to keep my eye out for that at my nurseries. Milkshake sounds perfect - I like the white and yellow of the shastas blending with the coreopsis and daylily (Stella) and contrasting with the red/orange of crocosmia Lucifer. Might just be a good replacement, in which case I can yard out the shastas and relocate them in my outer fringes where they can compete with the field grass and flop around to their hearts content.

They had some 'Milkshake" last year at Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville. Check out websites for White Flower Farm and Bluestone for pics including some other white ones. "Milkshake' is far from a daisy shape which might be too weird for you.