This morning I have a half day of PTO, so I got a chance to putz around a bit and take inventory after a sleepover weekend with the oldest grandson. No gardening when he is here, yet. But he does show potential. Mama is a gardener and he helps her dig lol.
So this morning after grandchild-ville got packed up and tucked back into storage until next time, I went out and did the last crosses of the season – Tender Love x red dailies.
I was thinking the two would not bloom together and that mid-last week was going to be the last crosses, but I got one last chance. We shall call it an opportunity to compensate for a bit ‘o damage the squirrels/bunnies/potential deer have done to the seed pods. Not too bad, but eyes on you now squirels/bunnies/potential deer in the format of trail cams to figure it out.
And now also starts transplanting. Next up on the 10 week countdown is planting seedlings at the historic cemetery – and one division has been added. There are boatloads of Stella D’Oros over there, and we are planning on a low profile, so I have thoughts on crossing Purple D’Oro and Stella D’Oro. But that means I have to bring Purple D’Oro over there, because there are none. I’ll bring one transplant and some Purple D’Oro seedlings to start and see how it goes. It also means the taller daylilies (like the South Seas seedlings) are out as options over there, so I’m adjusting that plan for which seedlings go where.
I just love Saturday mornings in the garden, a slow start, just relaxing and taking it all in, getting up to take a pic, making a daylily cross, letting the dog back in the house, or back out again lol, watching the birds, the squirrels, thinking about fun stuff. It’s the best!
Last Saturday morning I got to do that. No deadlines, no strict agenda. Just enjoying what is happening in the garden. There were 2 Pink Tirza blooms, the second to last Marque Moon bud bloomed, a couple Naomi Ruth blooms, a few red daylily blooms, the last mystery yellow freebie bloom of the season, and two glorious Tender Love blooms. And the beautiful hostas are continuing to bloom. Some daylily crosses were done, some trimming and cleaning up was done, of course a whole lot of pics were taken, and a whole lot of sharing and catching up and rejuvenating. Sunday was an historic cemetery garden morning. I love early mornings in that garden too. They are very different though. When I go over there, I have planned, I know what I want to accomplish. I don’t sit and relax and daydream. I “do”. Last Sunday I brought the 5 sedum rootings and got those planted. I watered them as I went, I discovered as I dug – where rock was still a bit under the landscape fabric, and plastic under that lol. I discovered ant colonies too, oh yeah. That was definitely “in the moment”. No snakes this time though haha! The end product for the morning didn’t look like much, baby sedum rootings amid a sea of beautiful mulch, but this morning as I looked at my 2014 – 2023 “this day in years past” photos, it reinforced to me exactly how fast things grow. My 2014 gardens at the townhouse barely resemble my gardens there today. So on Sunday they looked like this
but they grow fast. Next year at this time, conditions permitting, they will look much fuller and taller. Next up for planting at the historic cemetery is the daylily seedlings. Then the one side will be done for the year, with space to grow for quite a few years. Don’t forget space to grow 😊 The other side cannot be planted until this year’s daylily order arrives, should be in September.
After I wrapped up the planting at the historic cemetery last Sunday morning, I did take time to wander, the full length of the fence garden, a few times, and when I went to empty the rock I dug out, I also took a look at the large overgrown garden that will be (hopefully) removed this September. That moment will also be very special, a transition to just the fence garden go forward. A good moment. A long planned and awaited moment.
Over the past week, the daylilies in the townhome garden areas have really wound down.
The diploids are getting some crosses with Tender Love.
But the best surprise of all in the past couple days, so far, fingers crossed, is that mystery yellow freebie might actually be a diploid. The start of a seed pod from a tetraploid cross very quickly failed, overnight literally, so the next morning I decided to cross her with Pink Tirza. That now has a seed pod that doesn’t look like it is failing, yet, fingers crossed. Lots to go but that would be very exciting.
There are so many seed pods and so many crosses and so many notes and hundreds of pictures, but the daylily season is winding down now and will soon be a wrap. So far I am seeing a few seed pods from Purple D’Oro and some Marque Moon crosses fail, but Pink Tirza, Naomi Ruth, Just Plum Happy, Cedar Waxwing, Coral Majority, Tender Love, and the red daylilies have all been very successful. And the self seeders are Coral Majority, Just Plum Happy, a bit of the red daylilies, and one Pink China Doll. What I will do with those seeds is tbd. The historic cemetery will be full, the garden areas at the townhome are full. I think the self seeds will have to go up north.
This morning, as the dawn arrived and I took a look at what the new day had brought, I am very thankful for so many things. For the gardens here, today, in the moment, I am thankful the last Pink Tirzah bud of the 2024 season is starting her one day bloom on the same day as the last two Naomi Ruth buds of the 2024 season are beginning to bloom and a Tender Love bud has already also started to bloom. If I want to try another cross with the red daylilies, they are still blooming too. I have many choices this day, of many types of diploids. Only one tetraploid is still blooming – Coral Majority. South Seas bloomed her last bud of the 2024 season yesterday, no crosses.
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.
Fortunately, very fortunately, Pink Tirza is also blooming. It may be my only chance this season to do a cross, so cross it was.
It looks like our first daylily seedling to bloom in the townhouse gardens is a tetraploid. I crossed her with Just Plum Happy and it looks like it was successful, so far. Many more mile markers to go but she has a seed pod.
Monday morning we said Sweet Dreams to Pink China Doll. She bloomed four buds on Sunday and now she is done blooming for the year. Well deserved wind down for her.
Monday the large Just Plum Happy bloomed profusely and yesterday the sole remaining bud bloomed. The same on the medium Just Plum Happy – the last bud bloomed yesterday. So yesterday was the last day of bloom in the 2024 garden here for Just Plum Happy. She truly has been a joy again this year. We are leaving all three in place, no dividing, for next year. And the last bloom of the medium Just Plum Happy was crossed with the mystery yellow freebie, to see if the mystery yellow freebie might be a tetraploid. I suspect so, but I am wishing for a diploid. But doubtful.
If the Just Plum Happy cross fails, there is one more mystery yellow freebie bud, and I will cross that with whatever diploid blooms on that day. If the cross with Just Plum Happy succeeds, I will have much less choice for another tetraploid cross for the last mystery yellow freebie cross – maybe Cedar Waxwing, maybe South Seas. Or maybe Coral Majority lol! Could be nothing.
The diploid cross between Pink Tirza and the red daylily succeeded, so I did two more yesterday, same scape.
And at the historic cemetery we have a wrap up plan for the excess irises and daylilies from the large overgrown garden. They will be going to the historic mansion in town. There are two rain gardens there that have room. September should be a good month for that activity.
So now we begin August. The beginning of August always feels to me like a mini version of the first week of January, when the holidays have wrapped up and we throttle back to a more “normal” routine. But there is so much more of gardening season left. 3 months 🥰 Still lots of daylilies to bloom, but not July’s intensity, all of the remaining transplanting and then new planting work, the 2024 seedlings need to be planted, the remaining hostas will go to bloom, the sedum, the seed pod work … plenty still to come. Just a bit of a slower pace again now.
In addition to normal maintenance – trimming, weeding – I am now working on my 10 week countdown checklist. That is my planned garden adjustments, broken down into bite sized pieces. That list is bold. Digging things out, moving them around, even some disposing. Some annual adjustments are easier than others, for a number of reasons. So week(end) 1 was to dig out three self seed daylily seedlings from 2022 and plant them at the historic cemetery fence garden. I put this as week 1 because they are getting bigger and are now in my husband’s direct path to the hummingbird feeder.
Oops! And oops again. Too hot to move seedlings this weekend. That clover companion would never survive. (Just kidding! About the clover 😉) I was optimistic with some nice weather we had been having, but carting water to the cemetery at least once per day so I could check that item off the list? Heat wimp here. Aina-gonna happen. And then I will feel bad they didn’t do well or even died (like up north with only rain). Nope. They can stay in the ground with their clover buddies while I keep an eye on them here. Move that to week 6 and move week 2 up.
Week 2 was pulling out stuff. This was another wimp week because I knew I would hem and haw and feel bad tossing them out. The items were a failing hosta and a failing clematis. I was going to “feel better” by transplanting a clematis without a trellis into that spot. Here’s how that went. My husband had a theory that the issue causing the failure was lack of rain getting in that spot due to the roof and gutter overhang. I doubted that because I had a huge (5’) Aureomarginata (hosta) in that spot years ago and it had gotten that big from a very small plant bought at the garden store. Apples and Apples, right? Those Aeromarginatas moved out of my gardens as a donation to some other gardens in the association. I have gone through a variety of plants in that spot since then. Some were mildly successful. But in thinking about it, the Aureomarginata was more forward, and the sprinkler range at that time was hitting the windows (since then adjusted). So, back to the list. Pulling out the failing part of the current hosta was not bad, and pulling out the failing clematis was not bad, but the clematis I was going to transplant into that spot – not so much. Dead-a-ronio. I know how that happened too. But we shall not rehash that trauma. Cross that transplant off the list.
Told you today was a bold day lol
So week 2 is now done and I get a free week because it looks like we are in for heat for another week at least. Transplanting other things will resume after this hot spell subsides.
On to another bold thing. Hello Yello, the year 2, first year to bloom, yellow self seed seedling bloomed its last bud for this season. Right next to it, the smallest Just Plum Happy, the one I used for the Marque Moon x Just Plum Happy crosses that were so successful (100% so far), was just smiling away, sporting its last bloom of the season, happy as could be. They looked so cute together. I am assuming Hello Yellow (her name so far) is a tetraploid, but I need to test that. So – Just Plum Happy x Hello Yellow today.
Both are their last blooms of the season, no crosses with Hello Yellow so far, super easy to track. I hope it is as successful as my other crossing whims. Still laughing about Coral Majority x Cedar Waxwing. Just watch! That will surpass expectations, be way nicer than the other planned crosses …. Hahaha!
No Marque Moon blooms today. But Pink Tirzah keeps blooming away and today there were two Naomi Ruth blooms so I made those crosses. At this point Naomi Ruth has so many seed pods – x Purple d’Oro on one scape and x Pink Tirza on the other. Hopefully the seed is good. So many points still to pass.
And for a final boldness. Pink China Doll is blooming her last four blooms of this season today. No self seeding on either plant, with multiple scapes and a plethora of blooms. I deadheaded her spent blooms this morning, and one was particularly strong. I cringed. “Maybe it was going to self seed”, I thought. But last year I had 38 seeds from various seed pods after Marque Moon x Pink China Doll crosses, and 11 of those made it to seedling. I am hoping to see the results in 2025 or 2026. All that to say, I probably don’t need Pink China Doll self seeds. I can probably let that idea go. And then, having done my week (2) project, in addition to trimming, weeding, and cleaning up, as I was sitting sipping my tea in the shade, I saw I missed deadheading a Pink China Doll bloom. I did not get up off the reclined chair. “That one gets a chance to survive in case it happened to self seed”, I thought. You never know. Here is that view I was enjoying, minus the spent bloom that has since fallen off 😂
Today, garden wise, is a JEG day – Just Enjoy the Gardens day. No crosses because Marque Moon does not have any blooms today and only one diploid is blooming. Super nice!
I have figured out what is “throwing” me about Coral Majority. It is in the “pastel” garden area. That area has vanillas and light pink, and even South Seas sometimes goes toward salmon. Coral Majority is bold, and almost looks frayed not ruffled and seersuckerish and approaching marbled in color. Today three bloomed together and they were nice.
It has a lot of pollen, but I really don’t have anything I want to cross it with. I did a “one time” test today with Cedar Waxwing, as I haven’t crossed anything else with Cedar Waxwing this year and it is not self seeding so it will be super easy to track. If that one-time test fails I will not try again, but I am half expecting it to work lol. Something about light pink and bright coral makes me think I won’t like the cross, but maybe …
Sadly the Naomi Ruth x Pink Tirza cross to the last bloom of the smaller Pink Tirza failed only two days after the cross. Quick answer, and not unexpected.
I have taken to notes on my phone notepad to keep quick info, and that is helping. Today I accidentally made a Pink Tirza to Naomi Ruth cross on the wrong scape – one that already has two seed pods from Purple D’Oro, but I made a note and took a bunch of pics so I have it documented if it does form a seed pod, but I am guessing no. Because of that I disciplined myself to stop for the day, a good thing.
I am really, really, really hoping for good weather on Saturday morning. I have week one of “the plan” – transplanting three South Seas self seed seedlings to the historic cemetery garden. They are from 2021 seed, 2022 seedlings, and are starting to get big enough that they are blocking the path to the hummingbird feeder. I will not replant seedlings there. I also need to do weeding over at the historic cemetery, although I will say the mulch is doing a fantastic job keeping weeds down. And now today’s highlights:
I am getting the Blue Mouse Ears scapes trimmed, always an incremental job. The large Just Plum Happy is in the Grand Finale stage. The hosta in the far back needs to be disposed. I have tried a number of things, including moving it, but it is failing. It happens. I think it is about 18 years old. It has lived a good full life.
Pink Tirza out front does not seem to be a great seed producer. Seeds look like they are forming, and then disappear. I am not surprised, as this has also happened the past two years. It is GORGEOUS!!! It just may not naturally be a good seed producer, or it could be that it is too close to the sprinkler, or it could be something I don’t yet understand. I may get a viable seed pod and maybe some seed, but I think, with its track record, and with Purple D’Oro now confirmed wrapped up for at least this year, a strategy change might be worth a test. An idea is forming in my mind – Could Pink Tirza be the interim Purple D’Oro? I see Tender Love will be blooming soon. I would love to see if a cross between Pink Tirza and Tender Love would work. Yesterday, on a whim, I crossed Naomi Ruth with the smaller Pink Tirza. What would happen if I did the opposite cross? We shall see. I tried today. I will say, this is getting a tich carayzee. All the rooms at the inn (the seedling box capacity) are already reserved for 2025, and I will need to start adding on if I don’t stop. I may need to start a seedling resort! Well, there could be worse things I suppose.
Yesterday and today brought the first blooms of Coral Majority.
I don’t know … I can’t remember if I liked it last year. Maybe blooming next to Cedar Waxwing it has an unfair comparison. (I would take 10 Cedar Waxwings.) But I just am not “in love” with Coral Majority so far, 2 blooms in, this year. I should be. Its parentage includes South Seas, one of my faves, but I just don’t know. It is pretty, kind of like someone else’s cute baby, but it might not be “mine”. We shall see. Maybe if I cross it back with South Seas, or with Marque Moon …. Stop! Just stop! 🤪
The first daylily “done for the year” inevitably comes about this time in July. This year it was a bit early because the Purple D’Oro really need new digs. There is one bud left but it doesn’t look viable, and then that is it. A total of potentially 3 self seed pods. I should pull them, but I know I won’t. If they produce seed I might even start them indoors in a pot next spring, but they would go up north as soon as the thaw went out.
It will probably be a few years now until the Purple D’Oro bloom here again. Transplantation shock is real. I will so miss them. But they live on in a plethora of pics, and they will make their comeback. Just look at these beauties. 3 years ago they had stopped blooming. They got a new, sunnier location and look at them now!!!
Today I broke the rules AGAIN and added another diploid cross – Naomi Ruth x Pink Tirza. It is not a combo I can say I would have chosen as a primary or even a secondary option, but what the hey! It might turn out fun. And it will be easy to keep track of – the Pink Tirza bloom was the last one on the scape, and all the other spent blooms had come off, so …
But that has to be it now. I can only fit five pots in the squirrel and bunny proof box, so if the five different types of crosses I have made “take”, the seed “inn” is full for 2025.
It is usually about this time of year that I start to put all my garden observations for the year together into a plan for late summer/early fall adjustments. There are, of course, the seedlings in pots that need to get into the ground, there are usually some plans for additions somewhere, there are often swaps or transplants, and sometimes there are even things that get pulled and disposed. This year there are a bunch, and some in each category. Yesterday was an absolutely glorious day, and I spent 5 hours just putzing and thinking and planning in the townhouse gardens. I love those days. They challenge me in a variety of ways. And they evoke both discipline and hope. By noon I had a full, but realistic list.
Today dawned rainy, and kept on that way, even adding periods of heavy rain and some periods of thunderstorms. I had been out early during a break in the action and even determined there was no pollen source for my designated crosses today, so “let it rain”. Indoors, I took the time to putz, unpack some deliveries, do some laundry, have multiple cups of tea (after one cup of coffee 🥰) and … put together a week by week garden adjustments/additions plan. Now, remember I still work a very full time job, and we have lots of life stuff, so this 10 week plan is really just 2-5 hours per week. Sometimes it is expected to be relaxing and slow – remove a failing hosta and clematis for disposal and transplant another clematis and 3 smaller, groundcover hostas into that space. Sometimes it is expected to be kinda exhausting and dirty and sweaty, like dig out remaining daylilies in big overgrown garden at the historic cemetery and transplant them into the fence garden there. Both examples are “one week”. They may even be broken up into separate segments or even days, but they are “one week” of work. It takes a little thinking and adjusting to get that plan firmed up. I go through a lot of iterations. But in the end I have a plan that I know I can work, that I have both time and energy for, and that is timed to match the usual temperatures – for both my sake and for the plants’ sake 😉 That plan is now firm, and pics are even taken of those notes on my phone so I could potentially reference them from multiple devices. Uh-huh. For real. Now I can rest and enjoy the various gardens and also just “work the plan”. Something this very analytical mind does well with lol.
So, about enjoying those gardens. The Purple D’Oros are starting to wane, both this year, and in relationship to its lifetime in its current locations. It definitely needs to be dug, divided, moved out of what has become an increasingly shady filled location under the linden, and moved into much sunnier digs. And it has already got those locations, thanks to the plan discussed above. But I expect it will need to reestablish, so I added a second cross this year to my list for Purple D’Oro pollen – Pink Tirza. Naomi Ruth wasn’t blooming one day Purple D’Oro and Pink Tirza were so …. I am also happy to say it seems both Naomi Ruth and Pink Tirza have seed pods from those crosses. Now we wait to see if anything happens beyond that. I have had LOTS of Purple D’Oro self seeding and even some crosses, but never had a seedling from Purple D’Oro that produced a bloom, in 4 years of trying. Admittedly, some of that was neglect (up north with no water but rain, and here with too little sun). Some is also unknown (they may be blooming at the little house we sold). But here they have not bloomed. So we shall see. It will be interesting, that is for sure.
And I may need to do more researching this winter on pollen. This has been a very iterative process for me. I am loving it now that I have a few years in, and a much nicer, simpler organization system. And oh, by the way, nature has had mercy. I have not had to dead head. I have had either one or both of my diploid chosen crosses available or the spent blooms have fallen off the Naomi Ruth and the Pink Tirza pretty quickly. That was going to be hard for me because I also like the self seeds. I know, I’m working on it. Also, oddly, the Purple D’Oros only have one seed pod formed so far this year, and they are almost done blooming. There are usually at least a dozen between them, sometimes more. Another indicator, they are ready for division and new digs. The Marque Moons had two scapes survive the squirrels, bunnies, (deer?) and they have started blooming so I have started two crosses. So two diploid, two tetraploid. I did allow a little scope creep, but I may not save harvested self seed this year. If I do harvest those, I think I may just plant them right into the ground in spring, up north. TBD on that. A no weeding daylily space? Would be interesting I suppose. Free, and that part is good. Not sure yet. We shall see. One of these years I probably should cure myself of allowing self seeding here, but I don’t think this is the year. It is at the historic cemetery though. I trimmed all those dayliles. I want them to preserve all their energy for a number of reasons – 1) they are not watered so they do sometimes have to go through drought, and 2) I just bought a bunch of diploids to match the diploids that are there so eventually, maybe when I semi-retire, I can spend more time in those gardens, and maybe even do crosses there. But for now I mainly need them as beautiful soil and mulch holders for this space.
Yah, I know. But that is only after a super rainy and lots of downpours season. Still, I decided daylilies were much nicer, way easier, and way cheaper than more border. Fingers crossed, it works long term. For now, we cope. Now on to this weeks bountiful beauty
Above: Third bloom from self-seed 2 year old seedling. It even held up to the thunderstorms and absolute downpours this morning – a very good sign.
Above: ”Free” Autumn Joy sedum rootings! Lemonade out of lemons. When they get broken off I root them. So far I have quite a few. I will plant them at the historic cemetery.
I have done this sedum rooting for well over a decade – super easy. Here is a sedum that looked like the small rootings just two summers ago
Above: Purple D’Oro
Above: Marque Moon
Above: I need to reach out to the breeder and find out what this freebie is. It is not anything I ordered nor a match to what the two freebie tags said.
Above: Just Plum Happy
Above: The Bluebells clematis reblooms all summer. Love this one. It blooms on old vines so super easy and full.
Susan's Daily Garden 