I say no to some very “good” stuff, so I can make time for better stuff. Sometimes there isn’t a choice, but when there is – think. Time is finite. Use your voice. Make that choice. And then … Rejoice!
Here’s some Rejoice in the Garden time
The intentional crosses we did with daylilies this year have all have failed.
It got me to thinking – crossing daylilies is like buying a lottery ticket. Winning big will probably not be the outcome. But it is a dreamy idea for a while.
We will try again next year 🙂
How fast the summer has gone! How fast the year has gone!
It seems like I was just waking up at 3:30 am, hearing the birds start to sing, going back out at 4 am to watch as the day began. So beautiful! Now, the birds start singing at 6am. The Cardinals love to sing loud and clear. It is all still very beautiful. Just less sun time. And that’s ok too. Rest is good.
Today’s picture is an early morning picture of the second to last daylily bloom in our gardens this year – a beautiful Marque Moon. She sits next to a bloom from a couple days ago, which I do not remove, as it may produce a seed pod. If that happens, it would be the first Marque Moon seed pod of 2022. Some years are like that. You never know.
Update – no Marque Moon seed pods this year. Each year is different 🙂
Soon the Autumn Joy sedum buds will start to turn, slowly, from green to pink to magenta.
We need some September color in the gardens. And Mums are not my thing 😉
It is Amur Maple seed time. The squirrels are going bonkers. The seeds are all over the sidewalk and the lawn. Can’t say I mind. Aren’t those colors gorgeous?
I hope the squirrels eat a lot!!! Come spring, they are all over in the rock as little tiny forests of germinated baby Amur Maple seeds. They are, indeed, invasive.
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.
There are a lot of life lessons in a garden.
There area only two Marque Moon buds remaining, and neither bloomed yesterday, so, sadly, no intentional crosses available for Coral Majority.
I was a bit sad about that. I was hoping. Maybe next year.
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 😉
The daylilies at the townhome are almost all wrapped up. Fall is at the door. With the garden refresh pushed out to next year, it was time to come up with a plan to address the gardening challenges.
Here is a recap of the weekend.
Friday:
Two priorities were top of mind for me:
Saturday:
The three red daylilies, at the back of one garden area, that needed more sun, swapped places with the seedlings, at the front of another garden area, that kept getting stepped on, “weeded”, and blown apart.
We did our own labor for this gardening project. My husband, bless him, did the digging out part for the mature, deeply embedded lilies, and I did the pulling, dividing, moving, replanting part.
I set the garden up for a look I have always wanted out front – red daylilies next to and complemented by the white/cream in the Marque Moons, and in the spring preceded by the BlueBells clematis. The red daylilies we moved are mature, and, even divided, they are still hardy. They are also super recognizable as a plant, not needing to be plucked 😉 Fingers crossed.
Then (angels sing) the seedling bed. It is safely tucked behind the mature garden of daylilies, Blue Mouse Ears, and other “blue” hostas. Noone but us sees the seedling bed, unless they are right up to the house. Noone has to worry about accidentally stepping in the seedling bed. It is not anywhere close to where grass clippings would land and need to be blown. In the fall when shrubs need trimming and leaves need blowing, it will be ready to be cut back. In the spring, for leaf blowing, the lilies will still be in the ground. I am so hoping this works.
There is also a new configuration of another front area. 3 red daylily divisions now fill the space I emptied out last fall. To me, right now, it is not very exciting. It feels like landscaping. But it could be snazzed up a bit to cover up all that rock – maybe a few Blue Mouse Ears divisions. We’ll see. That will have to be another Friday night planning session.
This hosta, Rainforest Sunrise, is also a favorite. The colors are fantastic, and the scapes, when they arrive, are also beautiful.
It also seems baby bunny is hiding under there, and maybe trying out his bunny teeth. Do you see the evidence? Happens every year. A popular hangout and eatery 🙂
Susan's Daily Garden 