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.
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?
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!
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.
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.
Bunimous (named because he is dinosaur sized as rabbits go – haha 😂) decided which Asian lily blooms I should have in a vase. He must have started his munching but then left a broken stalk for me. Thanks Bunimous!
In the background is the daylily seeds result for this year – one for sure. I think the other two are grass – I think. Those two will go up to the camping land in a spot that gets enough sun and does not totally dry out. If they surprise me, AWESOME! If not, they will be in good company. More to come on that and change of seed soil in future blogs.
The asian lily below just bloomed. That plant is one that fell in the category of “tulip” syndrome. It bloomed strong year one, faded year two, and is now “iffy,” for blooming each year. Like the faded tulips, I leave it in the ground just to see if it will do anything. And it provides early greens when the garden is first coming up in spring.
The clematis could be trimmed, but hey! It covers the boring bare rock 🙂
I recently had a milestone birthday. The kids, as always, asked what I would like. I told them I wanted something special that would be fun for years. I asked for a long rectangular planter with a squirrel and bunny proof lid to grow my daylily seedlings each year.
Wow! It is beautiful, and perfect for me!
They bought the planter part, and put that together, and then designed and built the squirrel and bunny proof part. The top is built with a lip on the frame so it doesn’t slide around, and it just lifts off, so no hinge, no chain, and no tipping if there is no weight in it yet each spring.
I want to be able to move it at leisure, so no dirt directly in it either. (They brought me 3 buckets of dirt from the local garden store.)
I used to plant the seeds indoors in March, and have a table of seedlings indoors for 10 weeks, but last year I said no to that, and now plant all of the seeds from the same parent together in a pot (or two if there are a lot from that plant). I do that in late May, because we can get frost even until Memorial day, and I want those plants to be hearty. They get covers until germination and about an inch or so of seedling, and then – open air. I know – but last year I had a bumper year compared to other years with other methods.
This year I used five plant pots – two pots with seeds from Purple d’Oro, one with seeds from Marque Moon, one with seeds from China Doll, and one with seeds from South Seas.
I identify the parent plant just for fun, but, in reality last year’s seedlings all got planted in one new garden, with no markers identifying the parent plants. I know! 😦 But I’m not the propagator. The bees and birds are. I’m just in it to see what happens. So far a lot of greens, but no blooms. Yet. Still fun 😊
I only have one daylily from the direct sow years. It is four years old. I am hoping it finally blooms this year.
“Baby” from “South Seas” parent, surrounded by forget-me-nots that will bloom next year.
I have 15 plants from the potting method – three from two years ago when they were started indoors, and a dozen from last year when they were started in a “community pot” of same parent, outdoors. All still waiting to bloom. Some still tiny.
The buckets and plant pots that protected the daylilies, hostas, and sedum during the roofing project are off, but will have one more appearance in the next couple weeks when the gutter and fascia work is going on.
After that very long, hard to wait but dreading the potential collateral damage May, it was great to get back in the garden.
First up was removing the remainder of the tree seedlings. That got done yesterday. The total of buckets this year was down from the past few years – 5, compared to the usual 7. Hurray!
The dying tulip greens that got smooshd also got pulled. They were done anyway. sadly, also a daylily piece from the project smoosh, but next year …
Then the pollinator created, harvested daylily seeds from 2021 finally got planted. Another post on that coming soon.
The sunflower seedlings also all got pulled. They were an experiment, but the rolling roofing dumpster made that decision for me. My husband was very happy – hahaha!!!
Today my thoughts turned to the front entry garden. It needs love.
One of the Blue Mouse Ears hostas out back also got a little smooshed with the roofing project. That was ok because it needed to be divided anyway, and the flowers get hit by the sprinkler, so moving the whole plant is probably a good idea. Blue Mouse Ears are the perfect size for the entryway area, and with dappled sun due to the Amur Maple they will look great for years to come. That area also had the remnant of a Rainforest Sunrise hosta I mostly moved up north, but it got a bit smooshed too so this will not be it’s shining year. I had to cut away the smooshed leaves. No worries, it will pop back next year. But besides a center hosta and the few Blue Mouse Ears divisions, and the low growing sedum, what to put in that area for color? No to annuals I think. Daily watering – ugghhh. That is for bird baths – haha! No to sedum divisions – the two low growing sedum are enough. Asian lilies seem to die out there, and the stems are not great after bloom either. They require layering to cover those up. So it may be daylilies. I am concerned about the dappled sun, but maybe. Still contemplating.
Finally, the center of one of the back garden areas was pretty bare. Plenty of baby forget-me-nots that will bloom next year, but it needs something additional. I pulled a nice daylily from there to go up north last year, and right afterward I saw how bare that area was and regretted it. Bummer. So that area needs love. But low investment. Trying out the green shamrock. Not sure. Might need a trip to the garden store.
So that was the weekend garden fun. Super enjoyed it.
The last of the 2021 daylily seeds came from one of the Marque Moon daylilies. These, like our other seeds, were not intentionally crossed. They were purely the work of our local pollinators. 1 pod, 4 seeds.
I have never had Marque Moon seeds germinate. These also look a bit iffy, but I will try. If the seeds are viable, and the seedlings survive, in 3-4 years we will see what they accomplished 😉
One of the 2021 Hush Little Baby daylilies had a successful seed pod with 5 seeds in it. I was very happy to see that. I wonder what the pollinators accomplished? It will be a few years until we find out, but hopefully it is something wonderful!
Susan's Daily Garden 