Perennials for Your Daffodil Beds
Bills' topic was illustrated with slides from his home just outside of Cincinnati. Those slides characterized perennials that inhabit daffodil beds and need to be hardy and not needy. These plants need to flourish in relatively full sun and dry soils because you don't want be adding a lot of supplemental water to your daffodil beds when the bulbs are dormant.
Cincinnati has had a "very dry" summer and Bill's list of preferred companions definitely contained some Xeric (waterwise) plants. Some of my favorites included Achillea, Agastache, Companula, Liatris, Perovskia, Rudbeckia, Solidago, and more...
Thanks Bill...we really enjoyed your presentation. Your knowledge and experience was much appreciated.!
Biography for Bill Lee, our July Speaker
Bill Lee attended a daffodil show in Cincinnati in the mid-1970s. The South Western Ohio Daffodil Society members, who are particularly aggressive about membership, latched onto him and wouldn't let him go. The rest is history!
Bill was already growing some older cultivars that were family heirlooms, and started ordering newer cultivars. He became active in the local society, which had several members on the board of the American Daffodil Society, and took on editing The Daffodil Journal when Lee Kitchens asked to be replaced. He also took judging school and continues to be active on both the local and national level.
Bill and his partner Hurst Sloniker garden on eight acres in the middle of the woods just outside of Cincinnati. There are both specialized daffodil beds as well as naturalized daffodils throughout the property. Their plant collections include more than 125 conifers, 85 different epimediums, wildflowers naturalized in the wood areas,spring-flowering trees and shrubs, clematis, and various perennials.