“Last” daylilies (for the season) are starting to occur. Purple D’Oro bloomed her last today (for the 2023 season here).
She has been cavorting with China Doll, with some good initial results. Amazing what happens when a diploid gets together with a diploid 😉
We shall see.
South Seas also bloomed her last for the season here today.
She has been hanging around with Marque Moon lately.
We shall see how that goes.
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 🙂
Where do I separate daylily seeds from pods?
Outside on the Traeger of course 😉
Well, most recently, that is.
Because if I don’t, the pod will sit on our clutter hot spot, the dining room table, for maybe days, and then I will deliberate – Save the pod? Or just the seeds? Is this thought related to save the clothes tags until you wash up the clothes the first time? Should I save the pod until the seeds germinate? Oh, the things I do!
Discipline, GF!
Separate the seeds from the pod, gather the seeds, put them in the envelope that is already labeled, put the envelope back in the safe storage space (not the dining room table ;)), where they will be joined by siblings until all seeds are gathered, and put the pod (which you, on purpose, out of discipline, left outside on the Treager) in an enticing place in the garden, to be eaten by – whatever eats empty seed pods. Bugs?
Clutter prevention 101, or is it 2 by 2? Or 19 by 19? Because that’s how many viable Purple D’Oro seed pods we got this year.
And now there are 5
Plus 1
Because a plus 1 is fun. Right?
OK, I will stop 😊
Oh boy! I was afraid of this! My garden blog ideas got together for lunch with my decluttering thoughts, and collaboratively raised a question. A very small one in the grand scheme of things, but nevertheless …
“Are these seeds worth putting in an envelope and saving for next spring’s planting?”
There – it’s out there.
These are seeds from a 2 year old, first year blooming daylily that enticed pollinators, and then enticed the bunny, probably “Gigantus Bunimous”, to try it’s luck at midnight dinner, and, alas, must have been driven away, or preferred something better. It was left on the ground 5 feet away from the daylily, but I knew where it came from because I was watching, hoping, the pod would produce viable seeds.
Remember, I am a gardener, not a landscaper. I rescued that seed pod from being breakfast for the squirrels, and put it in the seedling box, on the off chance it was mature enough to somehow produce viable seeds. And seed it did produce. But they do not look viable. And they are sitting, where? On my clutter hot spot – the dining room table.
Discipline!
Will they go in an envelope, or out to the garden for critter enjoyment?
Look closely.
One of my favorite times of the day is the first look outside at the gardens in the morning. The sun catching the colors. The dew still on the leaves and pine branches. So beautiful!
Summer in the garden is incredible, but fall is still pretty doggone good.
This morning I ventured outside and what did I see? A ripened South Seas seed pod! I suspect I would have more seeds had I gone out yesterday, as one chamber was already empty, but 4 is still good. Thank you pollinators! I stand in awe of your skills! Enjoy the Autumn Joy sedum!
A beautiful sight – a ripened daylily seed pod. The spiders seem to like it too. Hopefully, the seeds are viable.
Funny story, and good lesson.
During the very busy time of working to get my husband retired, while preparing for one son and now daughter-in-law’s wedding, and awaiting the arrival of our other son and daughter-in-law’s baby, our first grandchild, and also doing a renovation of the little house up north, I bought 10 daylilies. It was a me-to-me gift, but my timing was all off. The renovation took way longer than expected, we ended up realizing that although I love the little house up north, it is way too far from our grandbaby, and it is not a match for my husband.
Fast forward a couple years, my husband is retired, our grandson is now 1 year old, and the little house up north is finding a new owner. Life is still crazy busy, but I have more time to garden, for sure. And think … was that a Persian Market?
5 of those purchased daylilies ended up going to the little house up north. My husband put them in the ground on one of the trips up for materials to our contractor. It was a stressful trip, and I said to just put them in the ground and I would sort it out in spring. I only got to see one of those bloom, and it was partially either eaten or something else happened. Persian Market was one of the 5 that went up north. I think it was the one I saw partially bloom.
I planted the other 5 at the townhouse. 2 perished to digging squirrels 😦 but the other 3 and one bonus survived.
When we did our big garden day last Saturday, one of the smooshed daylilies I dug out in front still had a tag in the ground. It said “Tirzah”. It was then that I remembered the daylily I have been thinking was a Persian Market, and a twin to the smooshed daylily, was also a Tirzah.
It was really bugging me. So I looked in my journal – no diagram. Of course! I was way too busy. I thought I’d do that “later”. But I did think to quickly jot the daylily planting location of the 5 plus bonus I planted at the townhouse … into my notepad on my phone … which the kids replaced for me as my Christmas gift last year. But … I kept the old phone because some data did not port over. So I dug that phone out, charged it up, and Lo, and Behold, I discovered the Persian Market was never planted here. It went up north. I confirmed that with the saved tags. The tags from the 5 that went up north were stored separately from the 5 plus bonus I planted here.
So I present to you “Tirzah 1” and her two children pods, deliberately crossed from Marque Moon.
Tirzah 2 went to the seedling bed to rest and recover after many years of trauma, and Lord willing, it will stand for many years, opposite the oldest daylily in my garden, the peach daylily. Two of the original 3 of which now beautifully bloom each year in my mother-in-law’s garden.
These things matter 🙂 Especially when she is parent 1 of the first two deliberate crosses that I did that took, so far, fingers crossed.
And, angels sing, I did print out a picture of the newly carved out seedling bed, and map out where each thing was planted, including tulip bulbs and Asian lilies we dug out and I just couldn’t quite send to compost … yet. But I tell you, if they know what’s good for them, they better bloom next year 😉
Yes, I crossed it – from Marque Moon. No, it did not take. But there are a couple dozen pollinator created pods between the three Purple D’Oro, so lots to work with again next spring.
VERY busy day today, that started with rain in the garden this morning until noon, but …
It looks like the last two crosses from Marque Moon to Persian Market took. The doubles. Now whether it was the crosses or if the pollinators made it there first, I cannot say. But it is promising. If it holds. I have already seen a pod fall off that lily 😦 So fingers crossed. 2 for 30 something attempts.
What do the Marque Moon and the Persian Market have in common? The both have sparkles you can see in the sun.
Note, the Marque Moons are representative. I don’t remember/can’t tell which ones I took pollen from that day. But these were from that day.
If they hold, it will be extra special because this is the daylily where I stood and watched the landscape guy blow on the buds until the most mature one flew off.
Fingers crossed.
Of the early deliberate crosses we did with daylilies over the past few weeks, all but one failed. That cross is questionable in my mind because I cannot for certain tell if the seed pod is on the bloom I crossed.
I was also thinking another cross was successful, but then I looked at the pictures and realized the seed pod that appeared is next to the one I crossed.
Next year we need a much better method.
I did another cross, just for fun. But that one did not take either. I did enjoy the bloom tremendously. And that daylily – South Seas – has two pollinator created seed pods already.
Then I gave in and did two more crosses – from Marque Moon to Pink China Doll, and two separate days of one each – from Marque Moon to Purple D’Oro (which I didn’t even want as a combo, but hey! Who knows! Maybe!) Of those four, three are tbd. And I also did two more crosses – from Marque Moon to Persian Market. Those two are still tbd. If they all fail, I will figure Marque Moon is not a good candidate because I surely tried!
On the pollinator crosses side, there are a lot of seed pods this year. A lot! Like “plant them up north en masse next spring if even half of them are viable and germinate” a lot! They clearly did way better than us. Maybe my roll is simply to be a pollinator encourager! I do enjoy watching them move from bloom to bloom. Very peaceful!
Here is just one plant with pods.
I might need another seed starting planter. And next spring WAY better dirt.
Susan's Daily Garden 