For Marilyn, a plantaholic gardener in a leafy neighbourhood on Montreal’s West Island, colour is what it’s all about. “I love painting with flowers—I’m always moving plants around so the colours interact.” She takes art classes in winter and spends a lot of time “just staring at the snow-blanketed garden and planning for the next year.” It has been time well spent. Here, one sweeping border is a pointillist study in pink, mauve and purple; there, another glows with a vibrant palette of orange, gold, peach and scarlet; yet another is a cool composition of greens—all designed with an eye to proportion, harmony and balance.
Running through this artful garden like a leitmotif are the stars of the show: Marilyn’s collection of daylilies (*Hemerocallis*). “I have about 62 varieties now,” she confesses. “Daylilies are such satisfying plants. You rarely get a dud and I think they are as stunning as roses.” As the name implies, each exquisite bloom lasts only a day but a plant can have 40 flowers at a time and a well-established clump can produce 200 to 400 blooms in a single season—talk about flower power!
**Montreal gardener Marilyn shows off a bountiful bouquet of her favourite daylilies.**
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