Category: Garden

Their Portion

I have an acceptance that I actually have come to embrace. It is called Their Portion. It goes like this –

The deer at the little house up north got to eat the hostas without me putting up a gate or fence. They brought me so much joy all year, and especially in the winter when there was no gardening (except planning).

We had a compromise – one where they set the terms, of course. They ate the hostas and they left the sedum alone. I could have claimed a planned decoy, but truly, they held all the cards.

Hey, hostas were kind of like perennial lettuce in that scenario 🙂 Acceptance.

The bunnies are more than welcome to start eating the hostas in the fall at the townhouse. Please do! Less for me to cut back! Even chomping down on a hosta bloom or too. Have at it!

Where it gets dicey is digging and chomping of new plantings.

IF we don’t find a little house in the cities where I can freely garden, AND I am relegated to townhome landscaping, I think I will need more “safe places” like this to grow things to bring to the camping/hunting land up north.

So seedlings and new plants are protected from this

Notice the soil “aeration” and the liberal “deadheading”.

Our outdoor buddies bring us joy.

They get their portion.

The first seed pod of 2022

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 🙂

Who? Me? Nah, I am just curious!

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.

Decisions, Decisions

This hosta is the first to bloom almost every year, and it loves to throw seed. Every year I have to decide – keep, or trim. Still deciding. Probably trim. I do like the look of the seed pods, but it also does pull energy from the plant. I have harvested the seed in the past, but have never been successful starting hosta plants from seed. Multiplication from dividing the hostas has always provided plenty to fill empty spots, and gift as well.

oh yeah!

Yesterday I walked out to the start of Just Plum Happy season. True, my husband’s favorite daylily, “Just Plum Happy” had it’s first blooms Tuesday. But yesterday …

Persian Market opened

That is the one who’s sister bud got blown off by the landscape maintenance. She shined bright today. Even at 9:45 at night she was still gorgeous.

Tuesday the peach daylily wrapped up the season

and yesterday was saying goodbye til next year

wherever that may be. I am hoping what this picture also shows is the first day of a pollinator created seed pod. If possible. Her season was only three blooms long because her sister scape was one of the very few scapes damaged during the roofing project. We are thankful for the three blooms we got.

The South Seas daylily was taking the day off after a magnificent display Tuesday.

And the Blue Mouse Ears hostas have reached their crescendo and are winding down for the season. They, like us, are not fans of the heat, and are settling in to be a lovely green/blue backdrop for the rest of the season.

The spiders love to use them for web making, and when they are blooming the spiders get their way. All bets are off when they start to go to seed.

Finally, one of my dozen 2 year old daylilies also bloomed yesterday. I have to look up the name. For now it is Beautiful, Early Morning Tulip Shaped before it opens, Gorgeous Peachy Pink daylily.

Yah, that’s it. For now 🙂

oh, okay …

The forget-me-nots continue to co-exist with the clover, continues to co-exist at the base of the daylilies, and next to the Blue Mouse Ears hostas.

So much prettier than just landscape rock. Reminds me of old English gardens. Depth.

It all began here

Bonus story today 🙂

Yesterday we were talking with my mother-in-law and she asked, “Did you give me some peach daylilies?” Indeed I did.

I have one here as well. I bought three and put two in front oh those many years ago – 16? Those two out front did not do as well in that location, so I pulled them out. I didn’t have a place for them and my mother-in-law was tearing out grass along the side of her yard and putting in a new garden. Those two daylilies have done so well there!

Oh the gardens that have grown at her house! The creations, the fish pond, cyclops the one eyed fish who wintered in a big aquarium in their basement, flowers, fruits, vegetables, my first iris rhysomes were from her. My in-laws showed up after we bought our first house – with a tin garden bucket of 40 purple iris rhysomes. It all began with that, my friends. Those 40 iris rhysomes were 400 3 years later. I gave them to neighbors and got others back. Some of those gardens were still going strong when we moved. I leave a trail of gardens all over – hahaha!

The soil of my gardening mind had been tilled at a very early age with weekend visits to my own grandmother, and work in her vegetable garden. My mother also had gardens along the way. And my dorm room was full of houseplants that moved through to our first apartment. But my mother-in-law gets the credit for giving me a love for perennial gardening, almost 40 years ago. And now, she is enjoying my gifts back to her. The sister to the two that are blooming in her garden right now is blooming in my garden right now. In fact today.