What is the data telling me?

I am a (relevant) data junkie. And I admit, yes, I am one of those people that have to bite my tongue when I need answers and I am being fed baloney sausage. Thankfully, there is no baloney sausage in the garden. Oh I love it so 😊

The data from 2024 is telling me the hostas under the linden are healthier than ever. They are giving me that woodland garden backdrop I so love, with mostly shade and dappled sun.

They are a bit affected by the Japanese beetle bugs about this time of year, but I can’t do anything about that.

The data is telling me the Purple D’Oro daylilies under the linden don’t have enough sun any more. The ones that can be dug out are on the 10 week countdown.

The data is telling me the Blue Mouse Ears hostas need dividing, and they would probably be happier with more shade. They will start to do a swap-a-roo with the daylilies under the linden and are on the 10 week countdown.

The data is telling me that, although some daylily crosses were initially looking successful, some daylily type’s pods consistently failed. I soooo feel a delightful spreadsheet coming on to identify all the patterns. Notes and verbiage are great, but this girlfriend likes to plan intelligently too. All those crosses deserve analysis. For sure, I know I can can cross Marque Moon X South Seas and Marque Moon X Just Plum Happy off the list. The pods get to a point, and then start to deteriorate, and it is like a beacon to whatever is eating the pods to pull the whole scape down. But the healthy pods seem more chomp safe. Go figure. Still, the data says so.

The data says I need to put chicken wire around shorter, late season bloomers. Because the data says the baby squirrels seem to think they are gourmet.
And the data says Pink Tirza and Coral Majority (yes, intense Coral Majority) have crazy good pollen.
And the data says, even though I thought I had successfully typed Hello Yellow, it started to look a bit like it was dying off after a couple weeks, and then something got the pod. I tell you, failing pods are like a munchie beacon.

So, the data also says I need to buy myself some reference info that gives me a deeper dive, and maybe join an organization to knowledge share. Nothing too intense. But better than unfruitful internet searches.

It’s all good. Next July will bring another level. Who knows what crazy crosses I might try in 2025. Hello Yellow x Coral Majority? Egads!!!

It’s a wrap!

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.

See? If you wait a bit, the plan always refines.

Bold

Today has been a bold day.

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 😂

See, sometimes it works out to just sit and wait!

First daylily seedling with scapes

Albeit fun, and a great challenge, it has been a multi-year process to get the first daylily seedling to produce scapes in our townhome gardens. And even so, it is pollinator created, from Marque Moon, not an intentional cross. But I am very C C pleased. It is progress. And I have learned a bunch that should help get our intentional crosses from 2023 on better footing than their predecessors.

Here was my happy discovery today

I am expecting blooms that look like Enchanted April or Admiral’s Braid, the parentage, but we shall see.

I have taken a bit of a meandering path to get to today’s happy discovery. Here is a bit of history and my personal experience so far:

Planting direct sow, into the ground, is a slow boat. My first daylily seedling attempt was doing that with pollinator created seeds from our South Seas daylily 5 years ago. Those seeds were viable, but produced a very slow growing daylily clump. Less than 6 hours/day of sun exposure probably also had a small impact. I moved it into more sun last fall and it now looks more robust, but still no scapes.

Planting daylily seedlings in a raised bed, in a sunny location, without watering beyond rain, even if it is hugelculture, does not work. Also not protecting from deer does not work. I did that combo 4 years ago. None survived. I wish I had that money back! Those frames are now disassembled and what was remaining of the hugelculture decomposing has been smoothed out.

Planting daylily seedlings in a sunny, perpetually somewhat moist area probably did work, but we sold that little house so I cannot say for certain. It looked successful when we were there.

Planting daylily seedlings into a well watered garden with less than 6 hours of sun produced slow growing seedlings that are now only turning around because they were transplanted into more sun this spring.

Transplanting daylily seedlings into a well watered and well drained very sunny location produced very robust 2nd year plants this season so far. One of those is the daylily with scapes, year 2.

Trying intentional crosses without planning and looking up ploidy doesn’t work. Nuf said there.

I stratify in Feb/March, and then after Easter, I plant the same type/species/crosses seeds together in a pot, indoors, covered with plastic. Yah, I know, unconventional. I have tried all the conventional methods without success. Can you say gross, mold, dead seeds? In May I usually put the pots out in the outdoor seedling box, covered loosely in plastic, with the screened cover over top. I have been fooled, and put them out too early (think late snow), but the seeds and seedlings seem to be smart. They just take their good sweet time, and commence growing when it is consistently warmer again.

I do need to get back to being much more diligent with my labeling and record keeping (diagrams). For labeling, I was careless this year and tucked the empty envelopes with the seed info into the seedling box. The ones written in pencil washed off in the rain. That I do regret. I also need to keep diagrams of where I plant in the garden. My record keeping workaround is going to be a printed out photo with labeling. My planting is in clumps, so that should be a satisfactorily resurrected method from my past to re-employ 😊

Hopefully more of the seedlings will produce scapes this year.

Success, Squirrels, and Pencils

Last year was my second year of trying intentional crosses to create new daylilies. This is something just for fun for me, and an opportunity to learn more and try out new challenges. I am not doing it to create anything certified. Nothing fancy. I put all the “same cross” into one pot. This is, as the old saying goes, “for kicks and giggles”.

The crosses between Marque Moon and China Doll were definitely the most successful last year. Of 38 seeds, we have eleven seedlings. We also have other seedlings – of the pencil mishap variety. I labeled some batches in pencil and it got washed away. On those I can guesstimate, but I cannot say for absolute certain what they are. Although a bummer, I’m still happy those worked, and if/when they bloom I will have fun guesstimating what they were.

And then there are the squirrel mishaps – where they seedlings were outside the box and the squirrels dug in the dirt. Those were a loss. Those very naughty squirrels!

Learning as we go here. This year I will do only two or three types of intentional crosses so that everything fits in the planter, protected by the screen.