Category: Daylilies

So what about those seeds?

So much has happened in the past 6 months. We decided the little house on the north shore, although a long-term bucket list experience, was not a long-term option, we condensed all the things we had up there and let go of a lot of that as well. Soon after, my husband went hunting and came home with a really bad case of influenza A that laid him up for weeks. In Feb we went on our first ever planned “down south” vacation, had an absolutely fabulous, peaceful, relaxing time – and then came home with COVID immediately after. I have heard it said, and it seems to be true, the “stories” are in the unusual, the unplanned, the whackadoodle.

Now it is spring, and it is time, once again for outdoor time. Thoughts turn again to the gardens. I am going to try out the whackadoodle theory with the daylily seeds.

Last year I once again harvested our pollinator created daylily seeds. Hundreds are viable and have been in the refrigerator for many weeks (for stratification). At the end of April/early May I will sow them directly into soil in pots, where they will stay, and hopefully germinate and grow, for the summer, in the covered seedling planter – because we have cute little diggers with grey furry tails. In the fall, whatever did well will graduate to our tiny little seedling garden here, and whatever seedlings from last fall made it through the winter and spring and summer will go — up north.

I know, I know. But they are bird and butterfly created, and I have decided I do not want to leave them in the townhouse gardens. So up north they will go, in a sunny spot, that gets a decent amount of natural watering, and hasn’t seemed to have attracted deer munching – at least on the bulbs we have planted there so far. The deer have plenty of osier, and we also have hundreds of pictures from our trail cams of the deer eating the abundant wildflowers. They LOVE them! I do have daffodils to deter eating in that area in spring, and I will plant other deterrents as well. If I can, I will see about a fence with a gate. But that may be down the road a bit. Short-term, I am letting them go, to blossom in their natural environment with woods floor mulch.

My joy with harvesting seeds is in the activity. The seeds, if left unharvested, would have become bird or squirrel food. They are progressing farther. And if something weird, or funny, or just plain whackadoodle happens along the way, I will share 🙂

Bonus – When a bear likes your solar lights as much as you do

When a bear likes your solar lights as much as you do, but nevertheless leaves it behind, semi intact, and still working, and you discover it while clearing the ferns from the area that will house next year’s 1 year old pollinator created daylily seedlings. You use a shepherd’s hook – that wasn’t bent by said bear – and holds it (kind of), hoping you will find the hanger, somewhere.

The bird feeder was not quite so fortunate.

Better stuff

I say no to some very “good” stuff, so I can make time for better stuff. Sometimes there isn’t a choice, but when there is – think. Time is finite. Use your voice. Make that choice. And then … Rejoice!

Here’s some Rejoice in the Garden time

Walk around the garden. Maybe sit right in the middle of the garden
plant seedlings
Future beauty
clean the lilies up
see everything
enjoy a past propagation from a broken stem

It was 3:30, now it’s 6:00

How fast the summer has gone! How fast the year has gone!

It seems like I was just waking up at 3:30 am, hearing the birds start to sing, going back out at 4 am to watch as the day began. So beautiful! Now, the birds start singing at 6am. The Cardinals love to sing loud and clear. It is all still very beautiful. Just less sun time. And that’s ok too. Rest is good.

Today’s picture is an early morning picture of the second to last daylily bloom in our gardens this year – a beautiful Marque Moon. She sits next to a bloom from a couple days ago, which I do not remove, as it may produce a seed pod. If that happens, it would be the first Marque Moon seed pod of 2022. Some years are like that. You never know.

Update – no Marque Moon seed pods this year. Each year is different 🙂

Cedar Waxwing and Coral Majority

Coral Majority has been in our garden for a couple years, but just bloomed this year. It is a super interesting daylily. The first bloom stayed partially open all day. I liked it – just was surprised. The next bloom opened almost flat, but it took all day, and that day had a late rain.

The “outside” of daylilies are as beautiful (to me) as the inside. When this bloom opened flat, the only way to capture the “outside” of it was up. And what a treat, to capture Cedar Waxwing’s seed pod in that process! I did not anticipate that 🙂

Cedar Waxwing was also in its second year in the garden here. Wow! I am pretty excited about the future of that daylily! In the “olden days”, I would have ordered a couple more Cedar Waxwings to accompany this first one, but alas, there is no more room at the inn. Although … there are a few fading hostas …

Nah, better keep a good balance.

I did try a cross with Marque Moon, but sadly, that one failed. The pollinators we’re successful though, so hopefully those seeds will survive and be viable and germinate.

Hey, what are you going to do with those seedlings?

We recently carved out a little seedling bed in the back of one of the gardens at the townhouse. Whoa! In only a week, the seedlings we moved look so much better! Location, location, location!

Queue the needle of the record scraping …

Location, location, location …

Let’s look at that a little more. As in a Sunday morning, into mid-morning. And see – is all of that space truly all a great place for seedlings???

The answer – kind of. They need a ‘tich more sun. Just a smidge, tiltling the seedling bed at an angle, which has been floating around in my analytical brain anyway.

Step one, remove a hosta. Not really remove. More like move. And then repurpose that space, for one set of seedings. And use a few other, sunnier, spaces.

The sun’s progression, in a variety of months, coupled with the sprinkler’s proximity, velocity, and trajectory. Add the need to move some hostas that are crowded and some that are getting slightly sunburned. More to come.

Is it sustainable? We will see. The longer I go, the more I know.

There are a lot of life lessons in a garden.