Daylilies because I am obsessed with them, they are easy and so pretty.

Roses because they are just to beautiful to ignore.

Bulb lilies because they are very pretty and fit easily into tight spaces.

Daylilies because as Rita said above "I am obsessed with them!"

Salvias because they are easy to grow, bloom all summer and compliment the daylilies well.

Coneflowers, because again, they're easy, come in lots of new colors, and look great with the daylilies.

Jan

Early botanical crocus. I need a cheer after the long winter.

Lilacs. I have about 15 varieties of lilacs. I'm a sucker for perfume. 'Maiden's Blush' is without a doubt the most outstanding lilac on the market. Noticeably more fragrant, more covered with blooms from top to bottom, skimpy with suckers, and blooms above the foliage for a long time.

Peonies. No bugs, and weeds don't like growing around them.

Butterfly bushes. I have a dozen of those. Fragrant, late flowering, and oh so many butterflies.

Hosta. They look so tidy.

Lady In Red Salvia coccinea and scarlet runner beans. For the hummers.

Daylilies. THE late garden perennial. No bugs or diseases.

After daylilies, I'd say...

1. shasta daisies - because they multiply quickly and can be divided and replanted in other parts of the garden

2. balloon flowers - I like the blue ones the best - they self sow and multiply easily

3. bulb lilies - long lived and lots of varieties to choose from

Kathy

Daylilies,now, as I have gotten obsessed with them, also.
Bearded Iris,some thing the deer won't eat.
Roses, b ut am cutting way down on them.Too much work with them,trying to keep the deer from eating them up.
And every year I have Wave Petunia growing in planters and baskets.

Jean

1. Daylilies (outnumbering other plants by a huge margin) -- they're so easy and there's such a variety.

2. Tall bearded iris -- I need something blooming before the daylilies, and they tend to grow fine in the worst dirt I have.

3. Poppies -- Again, because I need a fix of color before the daylilies bloom. And who doesn't love a huge, bright-colored bloom?

Hmmm, I'm beginning to see a pattern emerge:

1. Irises
2. Lilies (bulb, callas, cannas, alstroemeria and daylilies)
3. Roses

Renee

Daylilies, of course! I'm just getting started with hostas, since we have a lot of shade. Impatiens come next - those little darlings just bloom and bloom all summer long, reseed and make more of the same the next year. I even have some in hanging baskets. When they start getting scraggly, I can cut them back and they pop up anew. Last come the bluebonnets - they really put on a show in our front yard. People stop and admire them as they drive by.

Nancy

daylilys...love the follage, easy care, beautiful flowers.
hosta.....love the follage, easy care....hummingbirds love the flowers
Peony...love the follage, easy care, beautiful flowers...untill it rains.
All three have difference types of follage that I like together.
I also love siberian iris with them as well.

Daylilies- easy and cheerfully sunny
Tall bearded iris- easy and dramatic (have collectorphobia)
Hostas- need that visual in the hottest part of the summer of dark, cool, green shade.
(4th,sorry) Coral bells-great filler foliage and blooms

Dani, Happy babying, the time goes by way to quickly. My first planned flower bed was done with my daughter when she was 4, brother who was 6 just started kindergarten, and she was so bored. I thought it would be a great activity to do with my daughter. So, we put in flowers she liked to, which was (SIGH) lily of the valley, and a 'wild' daisy that grew in the fields across the street. Really wanted her to be a part of it. We took the wagon down the road and found rocks that we stacked up for one side of the border, it was great fun. now, every spring when the lilly of the valley are growing everywhere, and I do mean everywhere and that wild daisy, which I found out later is Ox Eye, and very invasive, I have fond memories.
The 2 best garden plants by default are the lily of the valley and that daisy.
My 3 garden plants that I couldn't do without are, of course the Daylily, variety and beauty.
Tall Bearded Iris, fragrance, variety and beauty .
Daffodils, just make me happy cause they start the 'show'

I could add lots others, oriental lilies, (fragrance)
balloon flowers, love the blue, OOps, I broke the rules, cant stick with just three, so I'll stop.

Cindy

:o)

Yes, it does go way too fast! I have 2 kiddos, and I can't even remember him being a baby (he's only 2!).

My 2 year old likes to "pat" the flowers when he goes by them. Or step on them, which ever his brain likes best. Good thing I have hardy plants!!! Oh, and likes to drive over them with his cars. *sigh* Hang on plants!!!!!

Dani

My picks:

1. daylilies
2. hosta
3. daisies, garden phlox, bulb lilies

you did say three didn't you??

In my garden, the most used plants are:

1. daylilies (just got 4 very new ones at the AHS Nationl)
2. bromeliads (require NO care)
3. crotons

Even though I love daylilies, my garden still has to look somewhat tropical!

I grow these three because they flourish in my amended clay soil, take the heat and humidity and are fairly drought tolerant.

1. Daylilies - If you're on this forum you know why!
2. Becky Shasta daisies (great multipliers with stout rain/wind proof stalks)
3. Balloon flowers (short Sentimental Blues, medium Mariesi blue, double Hakone blue) I grew them all from seed and they have a very long life.

Its too hot and not enough cold to grow hostas or peonies here. I first started growing irises in 1985 because they were easy and could survive drought well. Although most like more cold than we get here, I grow about 200 varieties, I haven't counted them in several years. Then after I retired I saw Stella at Lowes and fell in love. Then I started looking online for daylilies and now have way too many to water in the summer. Then my son bought me a lily for Mothers day amd I got interested in those, but I have very limited space for them.
So number one: irises
number two: daylilies
number three: lilies

Dot

1. peonies
2. daffodils
3. iris (tall Bearded)
Because I haven't managed to kill any yet. Just plant & watch grow. Are quite drought proof. Well, I do clean up the dead foliage before spring.
I love roses the best, but they take too much time for me to tend to. I have managed to kill quite a few roses!!!

Well I have lots of different plants, but my favorites that I have to have in almost every garden are,
1.Daylilies
2.Irises, Tall bearded, Miniature bearded and Siberian
3.Columbine, mostly blue.

Nancy VB

Hi, mine would have to be:

1. Daylilies
2. Roses (although they drive me nuts keeping them looking nice in this darn humidity that we have here!!! I still love them too much to get rid of them.)
3. Hydrangeas (I love them tucked into all the shady areas I have.)

Yes, I know.....3 only, right?? Well, a close 4th. would be my hedge of plate size red hardy hibiscus and all the roses of sharons I have. I love them and they are so darn easy and not fussy about anything. I just fertilize occasionally, water them occasionally, and enjoy the beauty!!

I also have lots and lots of all the different kinds of lilies, from Toad Lilies, Cannas, and all the other bulb types. I added the Tree Lilies to my collection 2 years ago and also last year. They are looking great now and getting so tall. I love too many Perennials to be able to just stop at 3!! LOL Jan G.

Well just so you know, I had a hard time stopping at 3, too!

I love my Clematis, bleeding hearts, and bulbs for filler, too! I'm going to get a huge order of bulbs for the Fall- I'll be a planting fool. In my obiturary (sp?)you'll see "the lady who planted too much died today. But her garden looks great!".

I'll take the challenge to list 3 more plants that haven't been mentioned yet.

1. Hardy geraniums make great fillers and front of the border plants. My favorite is probably Striatum, which is a lovely pale pink. I also Hampshire Purple, Rozanne and Johnson's Blue but those are a little leggier.

2. Love in a Mist. A beautiful blue self-sowing annual that never competes with or overshadows the other plants in the garden.

3. Poppy Mallow. I love the bright fuschia pink flowers winding their way through the other plants. This plant loves it hot and since it is a native prairie plant is tolerant of dry conditions.

I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who has a lot of Hardy Geraniums. I have about 17 different kinds.

So I grow:

1. Hardy Geraniums. Their foliage always looks great. Some of them bloom an awfully long time (ie. Ballerina, Rozanne, Brookside) and such. Some of their foliage turns bright red in early, early Spring and Fall (ie. Biokovo). My Striatum never bloomed very much, though, and it finally got overrun by grass and weeds. I'm not sure if I'll bother to replace it, even though I loved those sparse little flowers.

2. Daylilies. THE late garden perennial. I've been more actively collecting these since I fell in love with Jolyene Nichole and have since had the chance to visit some daylily display gardens.

3. Red-leaved Heuchera and/or Dianthus (blue-leaved). Both of their foliages look great and provide excellent contrast.

I also tend to stock up on the earliest bloomers I can find: Aubrieta, Arabis, Lenten Rose, Primroses, Crocuses, Daffs, other Spring Bulbs, etc.... By the time our long winters are over and done, I'm good and ready for Spring to finally come. (I also like Roses and Peony foliage, but I only have 3 of each.)

I haven't been able to keep Balloon Flowers alive, so far.

Ohh gardengirl I love the hardy geraniums too, but they're still not in the top 3.
1. Daylilies specifically Munsons,UFs,minis,and then general population daylilies in that order.
2. Hedychium gingers for mid to late summer color and oh those scents!
3. Crinum, huge mounds of cornlike foliage for the most part but when they bloom! Explosions of color and also scented. Scott Ogden in his book Garden Bulbs for the South said to think of them as giant rain lilies, frequently they will rebloom after heavy rain.

It occurs to me that Daylilies should be #1 and Hardy Geraniums #2. I have nearly 40 Daylilies, but only 17 Hardy Geraniums.

#1 Clematis, I have over 60 in my small garden
#2 Daffodils, I need their cheer after our wet gray winters
#3 I'm really not sure, I have many Huecheras, many grasses, many heathers and heaths, many Oriental Lilies, many Hostas, many dwarf Rhododendrons, many waterlilies, many hardy fuchsias all previous obsessions.

I've haven't caught up yet with daylilies.

I'm not up to date with my plant lists so I'm not sure by the numbers, I get so obsessed with different plants, different years.

Clematis are outstanding vines with many colors and forms. I plant the non vining integrifolias in my mixed borders and they just scramble around. We had cedar fences and arbors already that needed decor. I have some blooming from March to October.

Daffodils are so easy and so many forms and colors too, not just yellow though the yellow is very cheerful so early in spring. Their foliage is easier to hide than tulips and they are more perennial. I have a lot of crocus and dwarf iris too.

Huecheras have great foliage colors though root weevils are a problem here.

Grasses come in so many colors and sizes, I just love their blowing in the breeze.

Oriental lilies have fantastic fragrance and take up little space.

Hostas have great foliage and some are fragrant. They light up the shade.

Dwarf Rhodies stay small without pruning and bloom early with the daffodils. Many are grown and hybridized here they do so well.

I have about ten small ponds so waterlilies are a natural.

Hardy fuchsias do really well here with almost no care and they bloom and bloom and bloom. They don't need shade and as much water as the hanging basket types and aren't whitefly magnets either.

I love the hardy geranium Rozanne. What a long blooming workhorse without the scraggly wilty growth of Johnson's Blue.

Heaths and heathers are evergreen and some are blooming year'round. They are very easy and mix well with dwarf conifers.

Daylilies, well I didn't realize that they all didn't bloom for just a week. Stella never did that well for me and she was supposed to be the longest bloomer so I didn't ever bother with them. I just don't have room for something that blooms a week. Then I moved Always Afternoon and was also intrigued by your posts here........I'm up to a couple dozen I think....

1. Daylilies Obsession. Long bloom time.

2, Tall Bearded Iris -Spectacular bloom: bloom before daylilies

3. Roses - fragrance and beauty. And I'm a glutton for punishment.

4. Clematis - delayed gratification.

Oh my...its hard to say....i have so many different plants all over this place....
1) Daylilies of course! Lots of them, more than I even realized one I took a head count! LOL
2) Zinnias...don't think anyone else mentioned them. They last so long once they bloom and are so colorful. I grow them from seeds too. I grow lots of things from seed and wonder where am I gonna plant this now??? (I'm running out of space!)
3)Hostas---have some but not enough shade to have as many as I'd like! They are so pretty! Also Amaryllis!
Also have 2 Rosebush boxes in the backyard but I dont give them the attention they deserve. I seem to be focused on the darn Daylilies! LOL Hmmmm aren't they lucky!

Well, most used in my garden are

1. Daylilies (shocking....I know) -- why? so many color combinations you never get bored, easy to grow and fun to hybridize

2. Bearded Iris -- why? so many colors, easy to grow, foliage adds height and interest to beds. Oh, and did I mention the pretty colors?

3. Roses -- some are a little work but it's hard to beat a rose for beauty and versatility because it can bush up, cover the ground or climb depending on type/variety.

And because I can't stand just naming three...

Honorable mention
1. Creeping Phlox and Hardy Geraniums. Great fillers as someone mentioned and spectacular blooming in mass.

2. Asiatic and Oriental Lillies -- so pretty they absolutely demand your attention when in bloom.

3. Heucheras -- LOVE the mounding foliage and variety of leaf colors. Don't have many now but plan to remedy that.

4. Hosta -- what shade bed would be complete without them?

5. Azaleas -- may not bloom long but WOW what a show.

Danielle