I am growing quite fond of taking all the pictures and then sitting out with no way to take any more pictures – just walking the garden, enjoying the blooms, and then sitting and relaxing on the patio and looking some more. It is a good discipline – to enjoy the moments, to take it all in, and consider the wonderful gifts.
Saturday – what a glorious day!
Wake up, check the gardens, make coffee, head outside. Wake up some more, look around some more. Think a little. Form a “day of” plan. An ambitious version. A minimal version. Avoid any longer term planning. Drink my coffee. Sit with the dog.
Take some pictures.
Get all the tools ready – clipper, gloves, bucket, maybe shovel.
Do some trimming. Do some weeding. Have some coffee. Sit with the dog. Chat with my husband – who is now awake.
Rinse. Repeat.
Saturdays are THE BEST!!! In any of the gardens. March- October.
Saturdays in the woods are pretty awesome too.
Here’s to Saturdays!
This year the only red daylilies that bloomed were rooted offspring from an established daylily clump.
Time to get out the shovel this fall. Hoping to not repeat.
I recently tried some deliberate daylily crosses.
Here are my observations:
It was fun on day one, day two I thought I definitely needed to document and have a better tagging system, day three I started thinking, “what else should I cross”, day four I did one cross and started realizing that I was looking at the day’s blooms for crossing options, and not enjoying the blooms. I stopped.
If I do more crosses I will need a much better system – tags, methodology to keep crosses documented, and limits so I don’t stop enjoying the blooms first, and then the crosses, because already one cross failed. 6 more tbd.
My original plan was Pink China Doll to Marque Moon. Maybe that is the key. Keep it simple.
Next year, better plan.
The daylilies are winding down. There are less than a dozen Purple D’Oro buds left, and way less than that on almost all the others except Marque Moon. The cross I did this weekend from the Marque Moon to the South Seas did not take. But the Purple D’Oro have 17 seed pods – all created by pollinators. The (6) remaining intentional crosses we did are tbd. I think I will stop at that. I was starting to see blooms as potential crosses, and I didn’t like that path. I am in a place right now where I really, really, really just need to enjoy the small moments of peace. “Plans” keep reminding me that they are just that – plans. Gifts, on the other hand, like the pollinator creations are a special, abundant treat, at least at this particular time. I am not sure I have ever had 17 Purple D’Oro seed pods. But I will gladly accept them.
No pic today. I am going to walk out in the garden tonight without anything but a heart full of wonder at how beautiful July was, and thankfulness for what is winding up today, one day, as a gift of beautiful daylilies. And hope that the little baby bunny we have been watching will enjoy a few more patches of clover I have saved in the rock.
Around about this time every year I get photo fatigue. I know – horror! But this is how it goes – The first daylily of the season has been so long anticipated I want to take a dozen photos, from every angle, to preserve it for “daylilyless” season. And to share.
The first set of multiples is like a bouquet – it is so wonderful together, and each daylily also has to be remembered for it’s individual joy.
The wide swaths of daylilies also absolutely have to be captured.
But then … I just want to enjoy them.
Yesterday I was in my office, and my husband said to me, “Do you smell that?” “Oh no!” I thought. “That doesn’t sound good!” But you know what? He was out on the patio relaxing, with our dog also relaxing, and the breeze was perfect. He was catching the scent of one of our few fragrant daylilies – his favorite, the “Just Plum Happy” daylilies. My husband doesn’t try to capture the daylilies in pictures. I don’t think he has ever taken a picture of a daylily. He just enjoys them.
And that is where I get about this time each year. There are so many, they are so wonderful, the camera just can’t capture the beauty. Time to stop thinking, “Oh, I need to take more pictures!” Time to throttle back and just enjoy.
In the front, the Blue Mouse Ears got their annual haircut today. I snapped off all the scapes, as they are done blooming for the year. 2 dozen Blue Mouse Ears hostas would be just fine by me – they require very little maintenance, and in fact, in the fall after they beautifully yellow, the leaves can be pulled out just like the undercoat of a chow chow when it is shedding. Believe me, I know that too!!!
That black lab puppy we adopted oh those many years ago??? Yah. But I digress. (She still has a super special place in my heart.)
Back to the picture –
The Just Plum Happy daylilies in the center are the ones that make my husband Just Plum Happy. And on landscape maintenance days he now sits out and greats the guys as they come through with their blowers. He says it is for me, which I partially believe … 🙂
The Touch of Class hosta (to the left) is, sadly, one of three remaining. Two died suddenly maybe five years ago??? One year they were huge, the next – gone. I can only guess it was the sunflower seed casings from the bird feeder we had there for about a month and a half at the end of winter.
The empty space is from things that have been moved up north or gifted.
Then behind there are the daylilies that need a new location – probably up at the camping land, but tbd.
Oh, and the Pink China Dolls to the right? They came to live here when the Touch of Class hostas disappeared. They have been cavorting with the Marque Moon daylilies. We introduced them to each other, and we hope they really hit it off. But more on that this week.
The hostas are really starting to come into bloom now. One of my favorites is First Frost
How it does so well in the afternoon sun is a tiny miracle to me. It took a few years to establish – years when there were four or five leaves and one scape. But is is super happy now in that spot.
It makes me wonder –
Before I started adding daylilies, I had A LOT of hostas. I seriously don’t remember them getting stomped on. Hosta scapes blown, but not stomped on. Maybe hostas, even littles ones, are more universally recognizable? I don’t know.
Another favorite is the Patriot hosta
I have one left here, one was moved to the little house up north, and one was gifted to our next door neighbor who moved this spring. Our new neighbor, to my delight, is also a gardener. Hooray! Patriot hostas grow and prosper!
We also had news this week about the townhome garden “refresh”. It is pushed to next year.
I have 7 daylilies that definitely need to move – the 4 out front that keep getting stomped on and 3 red ones that have been relatively safe all these years as they are up against the house. But this year they did not bloom. I think it is because we got a new, larger, grill, and they now have too much shade. Or they need to be divided. Either way, moving is planned. One of their offspring did bloom this year. It is a rooted offspring and very small. But beautiful.
And in Bunimous news, Bunimous has gifted us baby Bunimi (is that a word – haha!) who are adorable, and far more genteel. They are clearing a lot of the clover in the gardens. I scared one poor little one a little past dawn mid-week. I hope they begin to eat the hosta leaves as they get bigger and we move into fall. Less work for me.
In the spring the hostas get coffee grounds and ant-bunny treatment, so minimal destruction ;)A little, but tolerable.
So, the little house up north can boast a new homeowner. She was a delight and a dream, but so much changed in such a short time – for great – that it no longer made sense. We never ever ever intended to have three places. Something had to give, and it was the little house up north.
So I am back, for now, until we find an alternative, at “what can I creatively do at the camping/hunting land up north?” Clearly some things at the townhouse need a new home.
Poor things! They are 3-4 years and they just keep getting stepped on, cut, blown, and pulled out. Time for new digs.
The “garden” up north looks like this (cringe/avert gaze at the raised bed garden area).
The good news is … the asparagus I planted 3 years ago survived!!! 😉 Even the deer left it alone. And the non-blooming iris and the forced daffodils from a “watch em grow” garden are thriving in a depression just to the left, outside of the raised bed area. We think the deer might have enough food with the dandelions, and then the wildflowers, until they can browse on new shrub growth. The bears have raspberry bushes way down the trail… WAY down the trail, and they will stay WAY down the trail. Because we don’t need them up at the campsite, at least when we’re there.
It will take some work, and some investment in something like a protective area, but I could, at least, have an area for reasonably mature seedlings that need safety and protection from their current situation.
For two years of a detour, it also feels good to have left some garden creations at the little house up north. 7 of 12 pollinator created daylily seedlings survived, and 3 of 4 Blue Mouse Ears divisions survived. Plus some more mature daylilies and the sedum divisions of course. Given some love, in a couple years it should start to fill those spaces very nicely.
And the winner of the First Seed Pod of 2022 award is – the South Seas daylily!!!
My favorite!
Coincidentally, the South Seas seeds from 2021 did the best at germination and survival this year. Thanks, in part, to my milestone birthday creation from the kids. Notice the evidence of it’s effectiveness 🙂
Not so fantastically, the South Seas “seedling”, if you can call it that, did not have any scapes again this year. Maybe year 5 will be the charm? No worries! I have a plan for daylilies like that. They will get lots of space to stretch out and show their potential too. Similar to irises that didn’t bloom at the townhouse, they will go to the camping/hunting land. The iris that never bloomed, and the watch ’em grow garden (forced) daffodils are doing great there! The key is they need to be mature, not babies. But more on that in another blog.
Today I will just enjoy the appearance of the first seed pod of 2022.
The bunny is is a large bunny, but not tall enough to bite these off. Same with the squirrels. There is no sign of squished leaves. Bird?
Susan's Daily Garden 