GreenBayMike
Full Member
Posts: 48
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:08 pm
Location: Green Bay, WI - Zone 5a/4b border

Winter Preparation - daylilies, aster, coreopsis, hydrangea

:? Help I need some tips! I'm a newbee when it comes to flowers. In preparation for winter I have been looking in books for some info on how I should treat certain flowers I have, but I'm not getting any good solid ideas. :?

Here's what I have and what I have heard. I need some advice...

Coreopsis (Moonbeam) - cut to about 1 inch tall and cover w/mulch?

Daylilies - cut right down to the ground and mulch over? Right now they look very healthy vertical, with bulbous ends. How do they handle winter in nature?

Asters - cut to about 1 inch tall and cover w/mulch?

Endless Summer Hydrangea- deadhead, don't prune, cover with burlap or mulch?

Lastly, although not a flower: Goldmound Spireas - cut to 2" tall, and don't cover w/mulch?

We usually get ample snow here and that provides an insulating effect, so I would think mulching over flowers to be unnecessary. Educate me, please.

opabinia51
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 4659
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
Location: Victoria, BC

I have read that you do that with Daylillies but, I tend to just cut the flower stems to the ground and leave the leaves as is and I get wonderful blooms every year.

I do add mulch around my daylilies (in the form of sheet compost).

Newt
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1868
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 10:44 pm
Location: Maryland zone 7

Hi Mike,

If you think about it, plants like coreopsis, aster and daylilies don't get any attention in the wild and do just fine. After the first hard frost you can do some clean up and maybe prune by half or wait until spring, leaving the browned leaves and stems to be the mulch for the plants. I'm guessing you are in zone 4 and the ground will stay frozen most of the winter. Then in spring you can prune them closer to the ground when danger of hard frosts are over.

I would probably insulate any tender hydrangeas with leaves piled on top. Here's a site on hydrangeas that most folks find helpful.


I think I'd wait until spring to prune back the spirea. If you prune too close to the ground you could get some winter dieback on the stems. If you've pruned too close the the roots you might lose the plants.

Newt

daylily
Newly Registered
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:41 pm
Location: Benton, Pa

Hi Mike!

In my garden, after my daylilies bloom, I cut off the flower stalk. I read somewhere that unless you want the spent blooms to produce seeds(the bulbous ends) the stalks should be cut, so the plant starts gathering energy to produce new flowers next year and not the seeds.

I leave the foilage until it turns brown and starts to die back. The leaves are what gathers energy for next years blooms.

In my zone 5 garden I do not add any extra winter protection and (knock on wood) have not lost any yet.

Good Luck!

GreenBayMike
Full Member
Posts: 48
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:08 pm
Location: Green Bay, WI - Zone 5a/4b border

A lot of what you all say makes sense. I think I'll just let everything be, except I will insulate my hydrangeas a bit and cut off the seed bulbs on the lilies. I know they don't have someone caring for them in the wild, so they must have natural ways of protecting themselves. I just don't want my 'perennials' to become 'annuals' because I do something wrong. :cry:



Return to “Perennials”