I did an intentional cross with Purple D’Oro, which only had one bloom yesterday. Wasn’t sure if they were a good cross option but I decided to just wing it. I have now found a good source of ploidy and parentage info and have found that Purple D’Oro is diploid and Marque Moon is tetraploid, so the cross I did will probably not succeed. But hey, I am now farther down the path to educated decisions for potential crosses.
Yikes! Yet one more thing my poor non-geeky husband and friends will now endure in our conversations. Hopefully I can pay it back with a successful beautiful cross.
What I thought was the Purple D’Oro pollinator created seedling bloomed yesterday and again today. It sure looks like Tirzah, only much shorter and smaller – like Purple D’Oro short. I used to have a site I could use to identify hosta parentage. I can’t find a site like that for daylilies – so far. So, I need to get my act together and remedy that.
It all started with our now 2 year old grandson. I am not very schmaltzy and I never envisioned I would be utterly taken in by one very little person – haha – but it happened. Turns out grandparenting is WAY more indulgent then parenting. Who knew? Days where daycare backup was needed, events where he (absolutely adorably) sat in his wagon and charmed everyone we met while we shopped for vegetable plants at the University Extension plant sale, neighborhood walkabouts, and eventually sleepovers. And that first birthday where Grandpa agreed to make ribs for 40 people. What??? Grandma said Grandpa needed a much bigger grill for that! So here it came, on a delivery from the hardware store, in all it’s techno gigantic (to me) glory. Grandpa cooked those ribs and they went like hot cakes. And then it was time to incorporate that new grill into our patio area. Yah. But it is awesome, we use it a lot, and I love the smoky taste and even start-up ambiance. Hey, you do stuff to make great experiences, right?
So the new grill moved into the older smaller wood fired grill’s space, and I cringed a bit, but “it was worth it”. The features! It can be started from hub’s phone! Who wouldn’t love a grill you can start from your phone??? But a grill that casts a much larger shadow on the garden?
We moved some overcrowded daylilies that were now in much more of a shadow, and I made a daylily seedling bed. Seedlings need more protection, right?
I have had 4 garden season months to assess. I do not like the seedling bed at all 😂 Not one bit. It looks like a weed patch 👎 I like seedlings mixed among other more mature plants. Soooo … Enlist the help of hubs, reassess, and rearrange to fold in the requirements of our ever changing life. Weed patch (er daylily seedling bed) out – they need more sun anyways – and hostas that also need to move anyways, in, to that newly shaded area.
In a way it will simplify my life. Big, more maintenance free hostas close to the house, and daylilies farther out where I can enjoy them while sitting on the patio after a long work day, enjoying a beverage with hubs, winding down as the smoke from the grill starts up and our dog asks to come up and sit on my lap.
Yah, we can do that.
And on Saturday I will get after that clover – again 😉 But I kind of like the Linden leaves covering up the rock. Looks more natural, “path-y”, right?
Under the linden there is a wonderful garden of hostas and daylilies. The hostas are getting very mature and are encroaching on the very polite daylilies, who are saying, “Alright, here are some greens, but not many flowers for you. Get me some new digs, please. Or maybe just get that guy out of here, please.” Hahaha! I cannot decide on the message. Move the daylilies, or move one very large (5′ wide) hosta. Hubs says move the very large hosta. He may win out. But not sure what I would do with the hosta. No good shady place at the historic cemetary. Deer will eat it up north. It’s almost like I should make a new shade garden. But where?
This one escaped detection when we transplanted the red daylilies last fall. When I saw the buds I did suspect it would bloom red – the buds have a very unique shape, that I am familiar with in our gardens. It was nice to confirm.
The seedling planter is off the patio. It will soon go back into the garage until next spring. The seedlings are looking more and more like daylilies and are in pots in the “pepper garden” area, with the lavender. Oh yes, and a stray sunflower. Doggone bird seed! 🙂
They will stay there until fall and then find their new home. Their new home will probably not be the seedling garden from last year, as that does not get as much sun as it seems they may need. Hubs got a bigger grill that casts a larger shadow, and I need that area for hostas that are burning – with the tree gone in front and the clematis removed in back. Change, change.
The hostas are also getting love this weekend. I have made the decision not to harvest any hosta seed pods this year, so the ones that are done blooming got a haircut. Here’s an example.
The bees so love the blooms, so I left the few that were still in that category. But soon.
Trimming the hosta scapes as they go to seed will help them preserve energy for the plant. Not sure that is needed – hahaha – as they are getting huge, but just in case. And I may divide a few, if energy allows. We shall see.
The second side of the historic cemetery fence garden also got lots of love this weekend – 32 bags of mulch. Lots of love from way more than me – WAY more!
Removing rock, pulling plastic, laying landscape fabric, sourcing mulch, which is rapidly disappearing. Incredible effort!!! It looks SOOOOO good!!! This picture doesn’t even do it justice. It just goes on and on and on down the hilly slope.
7 more bags of mulch are in storage – in the back of my husband’s truck, which he wants back haha – to go on that side, and then quits for the season there. Mulch is getting harder and harder to find, and $5/bag is not my jam. Hopefully, fingers crossed, the 7 bags will do it.
Next up for the cemetery garden is iris transplanting. But talk is not do, so I will wait to share on that til I have pics of the completed pieces.
I will wrap up with more daylily love. Yesterday the Purple D’Oro had 7 (!) blooms.
Today 3
Today South Seas is also blooming.
Yesterday morning also brought early morning bloom pretties Tirzah and South Seas.
It is mid-July, and the daylilies surrounded by the hostas in the townhouse gardens are starting to roll. An early morning walkabout is the perfect wake-up.
The third daylily to bloom in the garden this year is Purple D’Oro.
That was yesterday. Today I already see Tirzah has three blooms opening and I expect when I go out on my walkabout I will see Just Plum Happy will bloom for the first time.
Susan's Daily Garden 