Of course, the collection didn’t happen overnight. Marilyn has been gardening on the 150-by-150-foot plot for 35 years; she and her husband Jim moved in when their son was a baby. “The garden grew with me, and I learned as I went along,” she says. Beds were enlarged each year; stone paths and shrubberies were installed; a sunny spot was found for a vegetable garden; and a pond was put in. Gardening is a process and “every year is an experiment. I’m 61 and I love it more now than I ever did.”
Her love of daylilies was the outcome of one of her experiments: she tried a few and was not only wowed by the flowers but also impressed by their easy care. Now they are the signature plants in the shapely perennial beds that define this Zone 5b garden, and Marilyn takes frequent day trips to daylily growers to seek out new colours and varieties.
**Marilyn says the trick to incorporating a collection is to create cohesive borders. Here, bright daylilies with their strappy leaves are knitted together with yarrow, coneflowers, vari-coloured heleniums, balloon flowers and Russian sage.**
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