Are you a daylily guy? 'Happy Returns' is a smaller daylily that is tidy and blooms its head off right about now. I've found that the pleasing clump form works well in corners like that.

Or maybe a peony?

I agree that something taller between the lilac and the edging plants would fill out the space a little better.

Agastasche would look great there IMO. Tall and long blooming with many varieties to choose from.

A couple of dwarf fountain grass also to soften the look...

This post was edited by lilsprout on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 10:38

How much space is it? Full sun? Were you wanting perennial, or open to another shrub? Evergreen?

It looks like you have a number of spring bloomers there. What about a summer or fall perennial like...

Short n' Sassy Helenium
Dwarf Balloon Flower (Astra series is nice)
Asclepias tuberosa
Stachys 'Hummelo' (not 100%...he looks a bit odd after cut back, so maybe not since this is front and center?)
A dwarf goldenrod- maybe 'Golden Fleece'?
CMK

I was just commenting to DH yesterday that this is one of those inconvenient 'gap' times when fresh bloom is sparse - early summer flowers are fading and later summer flowers are not yet ready to put on a show... Looking around the garden, the best performer that just started blooming this week is my favorite daylily, located in the 'moat bed' along the ditch by the road. The daylily has a nice tidy, dense foliage clump and short, neat flowers that, together, make an impressive little group that would look great in your empty spot :-) It's called Siloam Stinnett's Delight (I had to look that up in my tag binder!) Coincidentally, in the picture below, the bits of shrub foliage you can see on the right is 'Boomerang' lilac! The daylily looks great with dark the heucheras too (and I can't tell you what those ones are as I have a mix of them along there.... any dark one would do.)
{{gwi:246729}}

Nice combo Woody! I might copy that color scheme somewhere, as I have all the ingredient plants, but not near each other. Hmmm...

rouge, can you give the rough dimensions of that one section? I'm having a bit of trouble with the height, because I'm assuming the lilac is pretty tall but then the alliums look as tall as the lilac! How tall is the lilac, and will it grow taller?

In the meantime, I have a heliopsis Summer Nights, and I really like it. It has been in bloom for a couple weeks now, and it will continue to be in bloom for a few more weeks, if memory serves. It's about 4 feet tall, and has darker green leaves with reddish stems. It is almost no-maintenance and very hardy and hearty!

I might also consider an evergreen in there somewhere, for winter interest - I see steps there, so can we assume this area gets traffic? Might be nice to have something there in winter.

Dee

Here is a link that might be useful: Summer Nights at Bluestone

Traffic?

Icksney on the agastasche then, too many bees....

What about a hydrangea? My annabelle is just putting on a real show right now in a spot that gets a fair amount of sun. My neighbour has hers in a bit more shade and hers look beautiful....I almost like hers better in the shadier spot as they are a bit more compact and the flower heads are not as huge and so don't get top heavy. A hibiscus would be nice if the sun is right, and some of them should be about to bloom.

I have agastache Honey Bee Blue, and I used to cut it for bouquets for the market while bees were buzzing all over it. They never bothered me, as long as I was gentle with them. I doubt they would be interested in people just walking by! They are too interested in the flowers!

I was thinking hydrangea as well, greylady, although didn't know a) if full sun would be too much for them, and b) thought something evergreen would be better for winter interest. But a hydrangea would indeed fill this space nicely, IMO.

Dee

can you give the rough dimensions of that one section? I'm having a bit of trouble with the height, because I'm assuming the lilac is pretty tall but then the alliums look as tall as the lilac! How tall is the lilac, and will it grow taller?

Excellent questions 'dig'.

The distance between the two green leafed asters left and right is about 4.5 feet and given that I will not allow the "Bloomerang" lilac to get any taller or wider, the distance from the front aster to the front of the lilac is about 4 feet.

And so there is room to plant something right in the middle but not as much room as I might need to have options such as a...hydrangea.as I don't want to over run those asters.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 15:20

Dee the bees never bother me either. I was just thinking if there was traffic, as some people are scared to death of bees.

This post was edited by lilsprout on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 15:25

Woody, I just this year ordered a bunch of 'Siloam Double Classic' daylilies.....not knowing where to put them.......I like your daylilies paired with the dark heuchera.

Rouge, I use astilbe in full sun in my garden and it does just fine. That might be an interesting spot for a few in a large clump. I also have a dwarf filipendula that forms a really nice mound with pink flowers usually right about now....a little late this year.
The other thing I've been doing lately is actually filling in very specific areas of the garden with colorful foliage annuals. I don't do a whole lot with annuals, but lately they've really been appealing to me in specific spots.

Did you have a specific bloom time you were looking for?

perhaps hibiscus moscheutos-it comes up late-medium height dahlias-some of the somewhat hardy new coreopsis-short but expansive geranium-mavis simpson-snapdragons in different heights for all summer colour

I have enjoyed yellow yarrow next to shasta daisy this year. It is either moonbeam or coronation gold . I had a few blue alliums blooming late spring which looked nice with it as well.

Blue Veronica, pale yellow coreopsis?

taller asters to go with the existing ones?

A couple lilies poking up behind whatever you go with would be a nice midsummer splash. Or white liatris as an upright feature too?

Often I 'shop' from my yard, looking for complementary plants that could use some dividing. Do you have anything else in the yard ready to be divided that would fit the area?

geranium mavis simpson and callirhoe-how about iris for earlier and hemerocallis would be good with everything else-great eryngium by the way-i have bourgattii right next to copper king

'thyme' and 'david' the suggestion of annuals is a good and safe option. I have annuals in other areas in and amongst perennials.

Having a hard time loading photos.

this is a section about the same size that was delphiniums poppies and peonies in the spring and is now summery

Boy, the possibilities are almost endless, so I won't suggest anything specific..

but..

I would take out the edging plants and fill with something taller - maybe about 2 feet max. Because the bed is kind of shallow, I don't feel there is enough room to do the traditional transition from low in the front to tall in the back. Maybe you could do a taller grass in the rear and then something slightly smaller to fill out the bed.

or

My first though was : This would be a perfect bed for a pedestal and pot on top or even a birdbath surrounded by plants or even a very large decorative pot with plants.

or

Do a seasonal bed of all mums or late blooming stuff. I've always liked these. It looks nice and green all year and then you get the big bang of blooms in the fall. Nice way to end the year.

Kevin

How about a nice season-long-interest small shrub like a spirea? I've got some Gold Mounds that are really quite attractive all season, even though they bloom in spring. To be honest, I would plant them even if they had no blooms at all. I will warn, however, that they are supposed to be about 3 to 4 feet wide, and mine have grown well over five feet wide! But I believe they can be pruned. That would look nice with a few purple-leafed heucheras around the edge.

I'm guessing the asters are going to spread.... do you plan on keeping them somewhat controlled or do you want them to spread into the bed? Either way, I might consider moving that very front one to the back, depending on what you plant in the middle. If the middle plant is shorter, it may look a bit odd to have the asters in front of it and taller than it. (I'm going by my asters, which get quite tall. Not sure what you have or how high it gets)

Dee
P.S. lilsprout, you are right, if people don't like bees, it won't matter whether the bees pay attention to them or not - they just won't want the bees around either way!

I plant perennials, shrubs, etc. for the express purpose of attracting and sustaining pollinators so don't concern myself with passing them while they're busy on the plants as I walk through the garden. They ignore or bump into me but I've yet to be stung. After observing them these past 8+ years, I know they just don't have time to concern themselves with anything other than the flowers. I finally stopped cutting the bloom scapes off my many hostas after seeing how busy they were on them.

Thuja 'Rheingold' might be small enough to work there.

I'd also think about adding a smaller to midsized hard prune clematis near enough to the 'Bloomerang' lilac that can crawl up into it. If you time it right it might fill one of the spaces when the lilac isn't reblooming, or you could time it to bloom with the reblooming for a mixed bouquet effect.