Add colorful perennials to summer-blooming beds
With its vibrant orange summer blooms, ‘Mighty Chestnut’ daylily glows against the dark background of the urn in the garden plan above. The coppery foliage of 'Brass Lantern' foamy bells accentuates the warm colors, while 'Blue Skywalker' spike speedwell provides a cooling contrast. Sweetshrub's burgundy blooms age to brown by late summer, blending right in to this color palette.
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Plant care tips
Plant this combination in full sun for the most blooms, but part shade during midday can help prevent scorched leaves on the foamy bells. These plant companions appreciate more water during hot, dry weather to keep the foliage looking fresh. In early spring rake out dead foliage from the daylily and shear off dried stems of the spike speedwell and foamy bells an inch or two above the soil.
'Mighty Chestnut' daylily has a high bud count, so you'll get several weeks of successive flowers. Blossoms are long-lasting — up to 16 hours — more than the average daylily. Every day, snap off any withered flowers to make room for new buds that open on the same cluster. Once all the blooms are spent, deadhead the daylily by cutting the stalk off at the base of the plant.
Deadheading the spike speedwell can encourage a light rebloom. Snip off dried flower spikes of the foamy bells below the foliage to keep this plant looking tidy.Prune sweetshrub after it flowers only if the plant needs to be shaped.
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Garden Snips
Meet the plants in this perennial bed
A) Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus Simply Scentsational®)
Shrub; fragrant burgundy flowers in late spring to summer; full sun to part
shade; 6 ft. tall, 4 to 5 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 4 to 9
B) Spike speedwell (Veronica ‘Blue Skywalker’)
Perennial; blue flower spikes in midsummer to fall above dense, upright foliage; full sun to part shade; 28 to 30 in. tall, 18 to 20 in. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 4 to 8
C) Daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Mighty Chestnut’)
Perennial; ruffled dark orange petals with burgundy eye and yellow throat in mid-to late summer; full sun to part shade; 24 to 30 in. tall, 18 to 24 in. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 3 to 9
D) Foamy bells (Heucherella ‘Brass Lantern’)
Perennial; white bottlebrush flower spikes in late spring to early summer above coppery mounds of foliage; full sun to part shade; 12 to 18 in. tall, 18 to 24 in. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 4 to 9
