Tell us the name of your favorite plant and why it outperformed all its garden counterparts this year. We’ll compile a list of your favorites and share them in the December issue of O&E (available mid-November).

- Best performing plant
- Why it stood out
- Your name
- Your city and state

E-mail your input to editorial@ornamentals-edibles.com.

Only her hairdresser knows for sure

Most of you know 'Annabelle.' She's the hydrangea with the big white balls of flowers in late spring and summer (top photo). But some of you may be wondering if you have an imposter in your garden. Does your Annabelle seem shy and have small clusters of flowers? If so, you may not have Annabelle, but rather her cousin, plain old Hydrangea arborescens (bottom photo). While it is possible that your plant could be suffering from bad light or soil, it is more likely that the two plants are being confused in the trade and mislabeled.

'Annabelle' is a sport of Hydrangea arborescens and has become the most often-sold form of this plant. So, much the same way we say 'Kleenex' when we mean tissue, the trade may be saying 'Annabelle' when they are referring to any Hydrangea arborescens. Until they flower, it would be nearly impossible to tell the two apart.

If you have one or more 'Annabelles' whose flowers are small, you may try moving them to more sunlight (half day), or improving the soil. If that doesn't work consider replacing them with new plants.

My favorite daylily

With thousands to choose from, naming a favorite daylily can be difficult, especially for daylily lovers. Never the biggest fan of this perfectly garden worthy group, I find it easy to name a favorite. Well, okay, four favorites.

'Autumn Minaret' would be the daylily chosen if I were limited to one. For you daylily aficionados, this regal beauty was introduced in 1951 by Stout and is thought to be a cross between H. altissima and H. fulva. (For those of you who are not aficionados, H. fulva is the common roadside lily so you can count on it to have lent a prolific gene.)

'Autumn Minaret' is considered to be the tallest daylily at 60 to 70 inches and bears slender flowers on tall stems late in summer. Some gardeners report theirs blooming until frost; mine quit somewhat earlier last year, but it definitely blooms a long time. The flowers are soft yellow with bands of pale orange that give the overall effect of a straw-like color.

Speaking of H. fulva, the roadside daylily, count it as number two on my list of favorites. Sometimes called the tawny daylily, this ubiquitous July feature of the rural landscape is under-appreciated and under-used. The tall, graceful flowers brighten alleys and lanes, but the tawny is also the only daylily that spreads rapidly by rhizomes rather than forming clumps. This makes it invaluable as a bank cover or to fill in difficult spaces. I have literally seen plants thrown out behind the garbage cans, grow and flourish.

'Sammy Russell,' another old cultivar has nice clumps of slender foliage and tall stems (gotta have those tall stems to look good in a border) topped with deep orangey/rust-colored flowers that manage to look good with anything. It blooms mid to late season.

For early bloom, look no further than the lemon lily. H. lilasphodellus (sometimes called H. citrinus or H. flava). This slender beauty has the most refined foliage of any daylily and bears heavily scented, deep-yellow blooms atop 36 to 40 inch stems. It blooms briefly in May and has a svelte enough profile to fit nicely in any one square foot spot.

Look for daylilies while they are in bloom and don't forget to consider the foliage, not just the lily.