This Beautiful, Very Different Fall!

Howdy, Pressers! I thought I’d better get back online after over a month off 🙂

It has been a very different fall experience this year. Some of that was planned, and a large portion was not. It has been good to take the time to reflect, adjust, and plan forward.

As I have shared, in 2025 I fulfilled a bucket list item. I pretty much exhausted the opportunities that presented for propagation work with my daylilies. I researched and planned and did a boatload of daylily crosses. I also harvested every daylily pod from the work the pollinators accomplished. The result was a lot of seed. Hundreds and hundreds of seeds. I was not ready for that, and I did not enjoy what followed – a lot of time storing the seeds and then starter planting and finally transplanting them into the garden. That full experience taught me that I had exceeded my threshold for where I wanted to go with annual propagation work. I knew that volume was not going to be for me. I made a decision to cut way back this year, and I did. WAY back. The result was very good. Save one pod, all of my seeds from this year’s harvest were collected and in storage by the Autumnal Equinox. The last pod was a self-seed (pollinator created) on an Autumn Red (our oldest historic daylily in the garden). It was definitely worth harvesting, and I did that on the day after the Autumnal Equinox. All seeds are now in storage.

So, on the daylily side, the revised scope of my daylily propagation work this year was very manageable, and definitely the way forward for me. I set my goal of not spending time harvesting and storing daylily seeds when I really wanted to be out and enjoying our Minnesota fall, and I accomplished that goal.

This year I also made some pretty transformative changes to the townhome garden areas. Quite a few of my recent posts chronicled the townhome garden reno. And, by mid-September, with that done and all but the Autumn Joy sedum rootings planted, it was such a blessing to just “be” during this beautiful, and this year, unique, time.

Additionally, with the garden at the historic cemetery wrapping up its 4th year since the reno, nice and full now, with a known, established cycle of needs, my work there is also changing. The community has embraced that garden, and often when I go to weed, there is very little to do. Replacing the heaving rock with mulch was pivotal for that garden, and a large part of why weeding it so much easier, but not all. We are definitely getting unenlisted help 🙂 So my more intense work there is winding down. I expect next year I will still do the spring mulch topper, periodic weeding, and the fall cutbacks that are needed, but that garden is established now and has multiple caring, attentive, hands tending it 🙂

The Autumn Joy Sedum are very pretty right now in the historic cemetery garden

But, as I mentioned, this year, fall is unique.

In August I shared that my Mom passed. My Mom was not the person we were intensely praying for on New Year’s Eve of 2025. That was another close family member. Praise God that He is blessing that family member with healing. We are extremely grateful! So grateful!

My Mother’s passing was unexpected. My Mom was 85. Of course, I knew she was aging. But when Mom passed, my world kind of tilted, and I had to work hard to find new footing. I did find that, and it is definitely very new footing. God allowed a very different plan than what I could have ever imagined, and some of my efforts have shifted to new things. I’m not sure how much I will share about that. Still praying.

For all who have gone through loss, you know it is not linear. There are a lot of ups and downs, and they can be very unpredictable. But I am confident God’s plan is good, and I am listening and working what He shares. Another hint – Often we only get direction for our part, not the whole plan 😉 Faith.

So, back to the gardens – The townhome garden reno was very influenced by my Mom’s passing. I was already feeling a need to refresh those garden areas, spiff them up a bit, but with my Mom’s passing, and having spent so much intense time in prayer sitting looking at the garden in its old configuration, I knew it had to substantially change. Emotional triggers are real, and I did not want to encourage them come next spring. I knew I needed a new “go forward” look for where I spend so much time. And I went about it.

I had a number of ideas for dividing and transplanting. I ended up pulling out the entire path and doing a renovation of the look. I went slowly. The plan changed daily. And I love the new townhome garden look! It takes previous looks and melds them with what I like best, plus where I want to head next (focusing my future work on historic daylilies and self-seed daylilies and returning a bit more to the hostaville I had in the past).

And now we are half-way through October.

The hostas are starting to put on a show.

The shamrocks that the squirrels were having fun with are now moved closer to the house. They will stay there until we consistently have nights under 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Then they will come in for the winter.

Sandy’s corner is moving closer to cutback time.

The Autumn Red daylilies are also moving toward cutback time.

And the Sedum are wrapping up their magnificent fall color morph.

We have quite a bit of fall left, but the color show is definitely winding down.

Next year will be very different. The gardens are different. My efforts are different. And my focus is slightly different now too. But I feel good about the plan, and we will see how it goes.

I will leave you with this: My Mom knew I had earmarked some daylilies to “name” for specific people. I did not tell her I had done a daylily cross in 2025 with her in mind, and that it made a lot of seed. A lot. I also did not tell her only one seed of that cross went to seedling. That “1” message seemed to be a theme with the 2025 harvested seeds, but I knew it was probably just for me. Maybe like “slow down” lol. Maybe “It only takes one”. Anyway, that cross I made with my Mom in mind, with only one seedling from all of those seeds, is in my garden doing very well. And the pod parent was way overdue for a move. It does not escape me that I moved it to a much better place the day before my Mom passed.

Now, do not think I am saying my Mom is in those daylilies. I definitely do not believe people become plants.

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9: 27-28

I don’t even talk to my Mom. I pray to God and thank Him for my Mom.

I am excited, however, to see the first blooms from that daylily cross I made with Mom in mind.

And so, as I consider the past few months, what always comes to mind is that God has His plan, and it may be very different from our plan. We can accept that He is in control and watch and cooperate with His work. And we have the opportunity to choose wisely. If God tells us to do things, we can do that confidently, absolutely with love, but also boldly. He will provide.

For now, for this fall season, I am giving myself a lot of grace. Enjoying friendships, old and new. And enjoying the beauty of our Minnesota nature.

This is a picture I took, up by our land in Northern Minnesota. I finally got back up there. It was hard because the last time I was up there was when our sweet dog Darby was still with us. No, we are not getting another dog. I have a plethora of grand-dogs and friends with dogs. And God is saying No to us having another dog. He’s got things for us to do. He’ll let us know bit by bit 🙂

Be Blessed!

The Garden Reno is All Done – Like Really, Really All Done ;)

The full garden reno is all done 🙂

It turned out way better than I even imagined, and yet … it is a very different look than before. Intentionally.

Since I last blogged, the Bend got one major addition – the very large daylily stand in the center back of the picture above. It was the daylily stand that bloomed and bloomed for the days my Mom was in the hospital, and it continued to bloom through last week. I actually thought last weekend that it was going to form a pod. It held onto that last spent bloom for 3 days. If it had formed a pod, it would have been on the last daylily bloom of the season for the whole garden. But it did not, and that probably was a good thing. I’m not sure we have enough season left to mature a daylily pod.

With that last bloom shed I went ahead and moved the entire clump. It is now the centerpiece of that area.

Once I got to Sandy’s Corner my plan changed daily, but for the better. I now have something I can imagine working with quite easily for the next 10 years.

The hostas have a greater presence again, and yet, the daylilies still have plenty of space.

And the specific corner Sandy used to sit in has been cleared for 2027s daylily seedlings. Potentially there will be four varieties. Yah, one from my work survived. The pollinators have three 😉

I am working on that birdbath, but it may go. I am on a garden doodad removal kick. A few months ago, I got rid of the clematis and trellises out back. With Sandy’s Corner and the bend, I got rid of the hanging bird bath on the short shepherd’s hook, and, after more than a decade I also removed the double shepherd’s hook with the hummingbird feeder. I was tired of cleaning the hanging bird bath, and we have another hummingbird feeder out front that is the one the hummingbirds prefer. Out back they most often choose the blooming flowers.

Out front I moved a hosta out of the entryway corner (to the back) and in its place, I moved in a Chocolate Drop Sedum that was long overdue for division.

It should begin to fill out that corner nicely.

And then at the historic cemetery I planted all of the seedlings I had grown this summer from seed I harvested there last fall.

And, on the one-month anniversary of my Mom’s passing, I donated and planted three fans of historic daylily Autumn Red from my garden to the historic cemetery garden. The Autumn Red daylily variety was registered 85 years ago, the same year my Mother was born. It was a special, dedicated trip over for me, and a special moment of planting. That planting is now the oldest registered daylily variety in the garden there, and it matches a huge stand of Autumn Red daylilies we found between some oak trees on the perimeter of the property this summer. Very special all around.

It is a pivotal year. In many ways it has been a very tough year. And yet … we move forward. God still has work for us to do, and that we shall, according to His will.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that you are truly Blessed!

Historic Daylilies

This year I began my focus on historic daylilies. I am absolutely enamored with how old homesites can have barely ruins of what was once there and still have daylilies coming up.

This year we found some historic daylilies that had naturalized at the historic cemetery. Autumn Reds and Fulvas, so far. AI tells me seeds would not survive birds digestive system. Those Autumn Reds and Fulvas were probably planted there by a loving family member or friend or a volunteer gardener. Can you imagine the stories they could tell?

I got to thinking – those daylilies have probably survived grass cutting and deer munching for decades, maybe longer. Fulva could have been planted when the historic cemetery began. A testament to their endurance.

We had a drought this year. The historic cemetery does not have sprinklers. The garden looks rough. But the daylilies bloomed and even made abundant pods (which I pulled and put in compost). The greens are fine.

And I thought of the Autumn Reds out front at the townhouse. They are not part of the sprinkling pattern. They survive on rain, and even through drought they look beautiful.

I looked at my daylily inventory, and also my own seedling list. A vast majority of the seedling varieties have at least one historic parent. Many have both. Which ones would survive drought and low to no maintenance best? I am guessing the historic ones would fare best.

And I thought to myself, what would happen at the historic cemetery if I replaced fading plants that are not very drought tolerant to historic daylilies? What would it look like in 10, 20, 50 years? Would they still come up and bloom? Would they naturalize if the cemetery volunteer program faded, as has happened various times during the cemetery’s history? I am guessing the daylilies in the garden would be there, blooming away.

Daylilies, Daylilies. Yes, please, more historic daylilies 🙂

Fantastic Friday Find and Lots of Pics from Today

This new bloom at the historic cemetery was a wonderful treat as I walked the gardens before beginning to putz (deadhead, weed, trim). I believe it is one of the Lullaby Baby daylilies I planted in fall of 2024, but I am not absolutely certain. Either way, it was definitely a Fantastic Find.

We have a lot of Stella De Oro daylilies in the historic cemetery gardens. They bloom profusely and look very cheerful.

Stella De Oro daylilies at the historic ccemetery

The cloches are gradually coming off the seedlings 🙂

Blessings to you and, in America, wishing you a fantastic 4th of July celebration – 250th Birthday!

What’s Up Wednesday – Asian Lily Blooms Starting – Daylily Seedling Box Countdown – Seedling Germination Successful – Garden Fun and Surprises

Happy Wednesday!

We are now coming into the latter part of the daylily seed germination watch and moving into the bloom season for the Asian lilies.

Two seedling planters remain.

As I sat on the patio this weekend, relaxing in my rocker after reducing seed plantings, I looked over at the two seedling planters and realized that is what I want next year. Enough capacity to be creative, but also a nice limit. 32 of the silicone base medium seedling pots I love to work with fit perfectly in the grey box, and 4-5 medium plant pots fit in the cedar box.

I am thankful for the expanded daylily propagation experience last year. Doing all the crosses in 2025 was a boatload of fun, something I had to try. And I am grateful for the result of that harvest as well. I still have a few stragglers so there may be additions, but I currently have 15 new daylily seedling varieties from last year’s work. Lots of potential to work with in my future daylily crosses – when/if they bloom in the years ahead. That’s good.

My garden thoughts and my garden words and my garden pictures are now shifting into well-worn territory – with a few surprises, but nothing too crazy.

This week the Asian lily bloom season started. The peach ones are consistently first, but this year, the pink ones under the Linden have returned right along with the peach ones. I thought they were in decline in our gardens, but I got a happy surprise this year. They were just rebuilding.

A couple years back, on a very hot September day, I sat with a plethora of Blue Mouse Ears hostas I had divided and needed to transplant. I had an idea. The pink Asian lilies under the Linden had been fading to almost nothing over the previous years. The Linden provided some nice afternoon shade. The Blue Mouse Ears hostas might look nice along the path at that corner! But I was whooped. Like getting dizzy whooped. My husband agreed to help. As we dug the holes for the Blue Mouse Ears divisions, we removed the few pink Asian lily bulbs we found and that was that. It was time to stop. I later transplanted the pink Asian lily bulbs to the historic cemetery, along with some fans from Purple D’Oro daylilies I had also divided at the townhouse. I made a quick little note, went to water them every other day or so, and then pretty much stopped thinking about those plantings.

Last year, 2025, I did notice some Asian lily greens were returning at the historic cemetery and at the townhome some pink Asian lilies did bloom. That was nice. But when I saw the pink Asian lilies at the historic cemetery this week, I was delighted. Even more, I was surprised to see greens from daylily “seedlings” planted with the Asian lilies. Maybe there was hope for seedlings, I thought. But today as I was planting some donated hostas, I found the marker for the Purple D’Oro self-seed seedlings. Those seedlings did not make it. The Purple D’Oro divisions did. It’s all good. I am hoping to see Purple D’Oro daylily blooms at the historic cemetery this summer. Or next 😉

Additional fun in the townhome gardens:

The Malva Zebrina Hollyhocks are growing very nicely, as is the sole seedling of my experiment planting one daylily seed at a time in tiny little pots in 6 pk trays. I am equally happy to report that the wave 2 plantings of seeds from that same cross yielded much better results – see pot next to the cloche on the ground. I am not a professional propagator by any means, but, for me, multiple, same cross seeds, planted in one pot – Golden.

And we continue to get Currant seedlings. This one may not stay. I think I need that space for daylily seedlings.

But this one probably has found a home.

And at the historic cemetery:

The historic cemetery has quite a few Stella De Oros. Last year they hit their stride and then had a lot of self-seed pods. I harvested the seeds on a whim but doubted those seeds would do anything. This spring I dumped those 80 seeds in soil in one big pot, put dirt over them, put a cloche over the top, and made sure they got water. Well … they must be meant to be! They are coming up! More every day! We’ll see what the count looks like in a few weeks. Where I will put them is very much TBD. The fence garden, both sides, are getting nice and full.

And that brings me to another fun thing – we had a nice donation of a variety of hostas for the historic cemetery. Some are already allocated for a new project, but there were a few spaces on the left side of the fence garden where I have repeatedly tried to plant seeds and seedlings, and for whatever reason, they just don’t make it. So today I officially threw in the towel on that idea and used those spaces for some of the donated hostas. Amazingly, even though that garden is in full sun for almost the full day, hostas do well there. I hope the new ones follow that pattern. They look very nice in their new location!

Full Days – Pics with a Tiny Bit of Narration

Another “Bouquet” with a few of my seedlings – that I hope will bloom this year (in front) and some Forget-me-Nots in between

We are growing one “edible” this year – “Basket of Fire” hot peppers. Mainly, they are ornamental 😉

These “Snow in Summer” blooms are exceptionally pretty at the historic cemetery this year.

And the icing on the cake – the purple irises are starting to bloom at the historic cemetery.

This is one I transplanted from the old garden

Beyond that, the daylily seedlings are popping up at a pretty good pace now with the warmer weather. We have our first seedlings from crosses with South Seas self-seed daylilies, and we have new crosses from our regular stock, including two new crosses with Red Volunteer.

Wishing you a wonderful day ahead!

What a difference a week makes!

We are at the end of April now, and what a difference the last week has made!

Sandy’s Corner is really filling out.

The daylilies look great.
Last year’s seedlings are much farther along than in previous years when I was still working at finding out what they liked best.
The hostas are even looking much fuller this year.
And our volunteer shrub does indeed look like a currant. It can stay, at least for now. The birds will probably love it.

On the flip side, I could kick myself for buying those tiny little 6 cell seed planting setups. They definitely fit perfectly into the grey seedling boxes, but the seeds are not germinating like they do when I plant medium pots of up to 20 “same” seeds together. I think I know someone who might appreciate them for starting veggie seeds next year 😉

Overall, I am finding that I really like what I have going on in the townhome gardens this year. It has been fun to see the new look and focus come up, and I am more convinced than ever that scaling way back on the crosses this year is the right plan. I can always scope up if I want to, but I am definitely not enjoying that I have so much work yet to go on getting last year’s seeds going. A lighter scope next year continues to sound fabulous.

The historic cemetery gardens are really filling out as well.

This past weekend my husband and I went over and did some spring cleanup at the historic cemetery gardens. They are really looking good! I do suspect our phantom weeders have been helping as well, because I kind of remember it being a little messier a week or so ago. So, thanks to them!

There is one sad thing. Over the past couple years, I have added purchased bare root daylilies to the historic cemetery gardens, as well as added seedlings from crosses I did at the townhome gardens. When I walked though a week or so ago, it looked like they were not there. This past weekend that was confirmed. There are moles or gophers over there, but the markers are almost all missing too, so that is odd. At any rate, I do have the seeds I harvested from there last fall, and I will direct sow those to do one final try with seeds and seedlings, but I think I have my answer. Bare root planting is a no go there. And probably seed and seedling planting as well.

On the upside, the daylily from South Seas self-seed that I planted at the historic cemetery last fall is thriving, so additions like that may be an option, go forward.

That’s the gardens updates for the week.

I hope you have a great week ahead!

The year to start some daylilies up north

I have a lot of harvested daylily seeds from 2025. If even half of them germinate and go to seedling I will be in trouble in a few years when they start to mature. I have run out of room.

But I knew that last fall. I knew I had harvested 521 daylily seeds and did not have room for them. I knew I didn’t even have enough seedling boxes to germinate and bring them to seedling properly. I have been slowly, steadily, chipping away at a plan.

99 of the 521 seeds were self-seed from the historic cemetery, to be added back this summer. 78 of those seeds were from the existing Stella De Oros there. The Stella De Oro seeds will be direct sown in groups in that garden. I just don’t have capacity in the squirrel protected seedling boxes to germinate those. The other seeds I will attempt to bring to seedling in the seedling boxes, and then transplant them in late summer, as is my cadence. There are already other daylily seedlings I have added at the historic cemetery in past years, and they did pretty well with that method, considering that garden survives on just rainfall for watering. I have hope for another successful set of additions.

In a perennial garden a plan is needed to keep the plants healthy, not overgrown, and also always have a variety of interesting blooms throughout spring-fall each year. We are going into year 4 with the historic cemetery garden and year 23 at the townhome. As always, some dividing will be needed this year. The seedlings from years past should help to keep things interesting while the divisions reestablish. And the rotation will continue each year.

Just as I love working on the townhome gardens, I love working on the historic cemetery garden. It is a great pleasure to have made a beautiful garden to honor those who are interred at the cemetery, as well as delight the neighbors and passersby. But the historic cemetery is not either of our family’s history. We are invested in this community, but we are the first generation in our family with history here. We don’t own that land. We are not even community property owners there as we are at the townhome. Those gardens could be, or may need to be, moved at any time. They are part of my hobby for this snippet of time. A lovely hobby and a lovely snippet of time. AND, at the same time … it is time to plant our own garden. On our own land. Even separate from the townhome gardens.

It will not be smooth sailing. I failed before at a garden up north. It was a colossal weed patch ending fail from an over $300 investment. Back in the day. But quite a few years have passed. I have been studying the topography. I know the area that has decent groundwater. I know the deer have far more nummies elsewhere. A fence will be needed, for sure, and I already have some heavy-duty landscape fabric from my DIL to keep the weeds at bay. I am telling myself, “These are daylilies. They are hardy. This is the year.” Hopefully they survive. The other option is to feed the seeds to the birds lol.

Up north I will start with 80 seeds from the 116 that I have of the cross between the red daylilies and Pink Tirzah. It is the opposite cross of what worked to make seed for the seedlings I named Molly Cowles in 2025. I have a name in mind for the new cross already but first they have to succeed up north. It will not be easy. I am going to do direct sow just like with the Stella De Oro seeds at the historic garden. But I will grow the other 36 seeds (of that same cross) here at the townhouse, just in case. (Seedlings can be grouped until they crowd.)

And we will see. It just takes one to get a field full in the years ahead.

And with that, the rest of the 2025 harvested seeds will have room in our seedling boxes at the townhouse. We are a go. I have the pots, I have the soil, I have some chicken wire to cover the open seedling boxes and can easily get more. We’re set.

Time for spring!!! Yah, I know. Not quite yet.

For now it is the shamrocks.

And maybe I can bring this poor orchid back to life.

Be Blessed!

It took “a bit” today

It took a bit today to finally get this blog decided on. There was “Envelope, Please” where I started to share about harvesting the daylily seeds, what was looking good for next year’s potential. There was “Very little left to do in the townhome gardens” where I had started to share the pre-fall progression for the gardens over the past couple weeks. There was “A snapshot of this ‘n that” where I had some pretty things in the gardens to share. All of those were started in the past few weeks and then left to sit. Our aging dog with a heart condition took a few continual turns for the worse, a family member got a very tough medical diagnosis, and the US and world news is … horrifying. Maybe things like this continually happen and we just don’t get a view to it. But it has all been heartbreaking. Praying about it continually, and then doing positive things has been the only way. Our dog is now on medicine designed purely to make his life as comfortable as possible. Our family member is undergoing extensive treatment. And the world, and us in the world, continually mourns losses, but most certainly with the hope of peace for eternity.

And we are still in this world, so we have work to do. And work we will do. Sharing beauty with the gifts we have been given. And experience. And wisdom. And sometimes, as other bloggers have reminded me today, just good old belly laughs. In proper time and measure.

So, for today, I will share a lot of thanks and praise. And some experience, and, hopefully, wisdom.

At the townhouse:

The daylily seed harvest is plentiful. Hundreds of seeds. Some self-seed, but even more through intentional crosses. I have no idea what I will do if even half of it germinates. But I’m guessing I will figure it out.
I have finished all my transplanting, and I am truly truly truly out of room. Some stuff will have to go elsewhere with next year’s divisions. I keep thinking up north but maybe something else will come to mind. We shall see.
The townhome gardens are winding down. The sedum is in full bloom. The late blooming hostas look awesome, and soon I will start cutting the daylilies back (but that will definitely be a different blog post :))

At the historic cemetery:

The self-seed I harvested in the “Shirley” and the “Mahala” gardens – 78 Stella de Oro seeds plus the 2 Red Volunteer seeds – if they germinate in spring, will need a home over there. Possibly at the Fischer site.
The Fischer site test garden is started and, so far, is doing well.
Yes, we have lost Mahala daylily seedlings in the “Mahala” garden. Yes, I am sad about that. Yes, I knew it could happen. No, I will not replace them. What did Grandma say? “Ve get too soon oldt and too late schmart.” Which leads me to –
The historic cemetery gardens are ending their third year in their renovated state and I could not be (much) more pleased. Yes, I wish the Mahala daylily seedling situation was a bit better. Yes, there have been some other challenges. But I have learned soooooooooo much about things that are unique to public site gardens. WAY more joy than “ugghhh”. AND – those gardens are now fully in maintenance mode. Self-sustaining for stock through division of existing plants and seed harvesting propagation from the site itself, and only doing self-seed, no intentional crosses there. It is fully self-sustainable with one exception –
It will need mulch topper each spring, but that should be the only spend 🙂
This is a HUGE milestone. I am very excited about that – the joint accomplishment and the ability to confidently call that decision.
And now we can do extras, like the Fischer site, as the ideas and resources present themselves. We truly do have an awesome team vibe established for those types of things 🙂

So today I am not going to endlessly sit in front of our tv watching horrifying things, dotted with advertisements for things I do not need nor want. I am not going to worry about things I cannot do anything more about. I can choose to use that time for more beautiful things, and still know enough to know how to pray, and for what. And that is what I shall do.

Wishing you peace ahead.

The daylily seed is all harvested at the historic cemetery

Yesterday I harvested the last of the daylily self seed at the historic cemetery. It was self seed from Red Volunteer, the only purchased and planted daylily from last fall that bloomed. One other Red Volunteer came up late but did not bloom this year.

A few weeks ago I harvested 78 Stella De Oro self seed from the historic cemetery, and those will be direct sown there in spring. It will all be in one patch, and then “survival of the fittest”. For the two Red Volunteer self seed, I will plant each seed in a seedling mini pot for germination and season 1 growth.

I do not do intentional crosses at Oakwood so there are none of those seeds to harvest.

So with the daylily seed harvest now done at the historic cemetery, all efforts turn to any remaining transplanting and then to starting the fall cutback.

It is hard to believe, I am wrapping up year 3 in those gardens!