Try Centaurea dealbata.

That’s it. Thank you so much.

Ken and floral_uk, thanks for responding. I was stuck getting feedback on whether to hack it back. I cleaned out some shasta daisys that had been close by for 20 some years and understandably looked pretty bad. I renewed the soil and planted Chaerophyllum hirsutum roseum and in the process tromped all over its’ neighbor, the Centaurea. I love the plant even though it is a slow spreader, very cheery. But it does tend to look pretty scraggly after bloom and even more so after tge “tromp”. So unless anyone objects, I think I will try cutting it down and give it a good drink and await new foilage.

I think it is so funny how that whole task was not on my to do list yesterday but I just couldn’t avert my eyes from those shasta daisies one more time!

My goodness golly. This is a prime example of how plants behave differently in different gardens. I would never describe Centaurea dealbata as a slow spreader in my garden . . . it’s a seriously thuggish plant, having covered a 30’x15’ slope in a matter of perhaps 3 years from a few small starts, outcompeting orange daylily with ease, and is now doing its best to move over and under the root barrier to invade the neighboring bed. Just wanted to give a heads up that this won’t behave in everyone’s garden as it does in Cercis’s.

In my garden it resprouts from cutting back without problem, but won’t put out more bloom stalks this year.. Mine is just starting to bloom now, and gets visited by a variety of butterflies, and the goldfinches visit it for the seedheads.

LOL, NHbabs. The Centaurea has been in for quite a few years and has spread but in a resonable way. But - I will now keep a sharp eye on it. Here in the PNW, mine is just finishing its’ bloom.

Do your orange daylilies bloom with the Centaurea? If so that must be a knock your socks off combination.

There is a tiny bit of overlap in bloom, but mainly the Centaurea blooms first and then the daylily. For me the plant choice was mostly about finding a tall groundcover for a steep slope across the back of the house.