I have gone gonzo with the daylily crosses this year. I seriously had all good intentions to keep things minimal but I definitely failed at that. It was just so fun to see the early successes.
The daylily I probably taxed the most is Naomi Ruth. She will definitely need daylily food. And next year she needs to be only a pollen provider, like Pink China Doll got to rest this year. South Seas and Cedar Waxwing also have a lot of seed pods from crosses. All of this has made me realize, I am reaching the end of my free knowledge gathering era and I need to start investing for deeper dive info. Things like I know the good pollen providers in the gardens here, but from my reading online it looks like not all daylilies are good pollen providers. And things like exactly how much does seed production tax the energy of a daylily? A recommended number of crosses per scape? A percentage related to the bloom count? And what truly is the longest time worth waiting for a seedling to bloom?
Today I only did crosses with Naomi Ruth (pollen). The Pink Tirza out front has three successful crosses from Purple D’Oro but there are so few buds left that I can now easily keep track of the two from Naomi Ruth, and that will be that for crosses to Pink Tirza. Same with two red daylilies, both on one scape and no buds left and no self seeding on that scape. And I have LOTS of notes and pics this year.
Tender Love has two scapes. One scape has already been earmarked for crosses with Pink Tirza. The other Tender Love scape will be earmarked for crosses with Naomi Ruth (Naomi Ruth providing the pollen). And did I mention a sister Tender Love is on the way this fall? Need … To … Stop (maybe next year)
Cedar Waxwing also got a rest yesterday and today while she wrapped up. Today she bloomed her last bud of 2024. Rest well dear Cedar Waxwing. You shall get some daylily food for sure too.
The cross with Just Plum Happy and mystery yellow freebie looks like it is forming a seed pod, so it looks like she is a tetraploid, which I suspected. Dang! A cross with Pink Tirza was SO in my mind! Mystery yellow freebie will bloom her last bud tomorrow (I know her very unusual pattern now), so unless the previous cross clearly fails overnight I will assume it is a tetraploid and hope Marque Moon blooms tomorrow. I want to see about taming some of the curl and ruffles, and South Seas probably wouldn’t do that … although it would be a pretty combo.
mystery yellow freebie (below)
Marque Moon (above)
South Seas (below)
Oh, did I mention, a free Marque Moon is on the way this fall? I know, I know. I said I wasn’t going to buy more Marque Moons, and I didn’t. I seriously didn’t. OK, maybe I did see I could get a free one and tailored my order to match that level. But I was already getting more than enough (for the historic cemetery garden) to qualify. It actually ended up being a “take things out of my cart” situation to get the Marque Moon. So that’s good, right?
Meanwhile, back to seeds, either Bunimous Rex (very large bunny) or a very naughty squirrel saw to making my decision for me as to whether or not to harvest the Purple D’Oro self seed pods. Clearly the answer was yes I was going to harvest them or I would have trimmed them off lol. Anyway, all 3 seed pods are gone. Little evidence remains except below. I suppose it is their fair share. I suppose I should consider it my easy out.
Tomorrow is going to be warm and so it will be a work in the townhome gardens morning. I can do some pulling of forget-me-nots and I have the 10 week countdown (now nine weeks left).
Fingers crossed, early Sunday is a planting morning at the historic cemetery. Cooler weather and some rain is forecasted the early part of next week, so far, so I’m hoping that holds. If not, I can just weed.
Susan's Daily Garden 