For the past few weeks the Asian lilies have been blooming, the remaining hostas have been scaping out, and every day I have seen more daylily scapes. The spots where we lost all the hostas have been reassigned to match our new phase of gardening here, clover has increasingly been removed, and bunny deterrents are in place.
Did you know that forget-me-nots don’t even need to bloom to deter bunnies? It is the leaves that emit a scent that the bunnies don’t like. So I am plucking away on blooms as the stems start to fall over. The flowers are pretty, and make nice little bouquets with the daylilies, but the leaves are what deter snacking bunnies.
That being said, I am also judiciously pulling the forget-me-nots where I want paths to legacy daylilies I want to use for crosses. Lots of transition in place, and the forget-me-nots are at the very top of that list. They will definitely stay, just more strategically placed.
Another fun fact – Did you know that gardens also bake donuts? Yes indeedio! Here is proof.
I have a number of layering (bouquets) in the garden, and I am embracing them more and more as I move into this next phase of the townhome gardens. Maybe the donut will get some friends. We shall see.
On the daylily scene, all daylily seeds harvested here in 2024 are now planted, and the seedling boxes are full, protecting them from the squirrels. I also still have a tray of planted seeds inside. I could make room in the current seedling boxes, but I want to give the Mahala seeds that haven’t germinated just a little more time. You never know.
Sadly, a few of our legacy daylilies don’t seem to be scaping out this year. That means it is division time for them this fall. More shifting. More adjusting to this next phase. And as the garden ages out on legacy plants and adds more daylily seedlings, eventually there will be a whole new look. Free as far as buying plants. And neat to see what is created. Kinda fun.
We are in the middle of rain, rain, rain here for the past week or so and now we are heading into almost another whole week of rain lol. But Saturday I got a bunch of work done on the garden. That felt great!
Recently I shared that we lost a bunch of hostas. Those losses have spurred on change. Those losses made me rethink a lot about our garden set up. We lost those hostas because of of a number of reasons – fertilizer and herbicide overspray and then a few of them were expected because I knew tree roots were getting quite close. And because those reasons will not be going away, I am not replacing any of what was lost.
But that was not the end of the story. The space did not look “right”, and because there had been so many hostas there, other things that were previously minor parts of the garden – the forget-me-nots and the clover – began to flourish. Think no barriers like plastic underlayment under the rock …
Saturday I spent time paring back the forget-me-nots and the clover (and quite a few bunny planted raspberry seedlings) in prep for where I want to go with my next garden phase – expanding my daylily propagation work, needing more planter space. Just like anything, times are changing. I am in a new phase of my gardening, just like we all get to new phases of our life, and I need to have a little bit of reassessment of what will work for this.
Saturday I cleared all clover and forget-me-nots out of the front, left very little of it in the corner where the linden is, and cleared it away from the path out back.
I was unsure of what I wanted to do in the area that sustained the largest number of hosta losses, so I left just a little patch of clover and forget-me-nots there. This morning I decided. I moved the green shamrock into that area, and I like it, so the remaining clover and forget-me-not patch in that round of the corner will go.
And then I will tackle this.
I planted the forget-me-nots the year my father-in-law and a sweet neighbor friend passed weeks apart. The forget-me-nots are sentimental. And I have kept them inside the paver trim. Inside 😊 But I hardly think that stepping on forget-me-nots is a great way to remember those we have lost, and stepping on forget-me-not is definitely not part of my daylily propagation “vision ”, so, as they bloom and begin to fade, they will be pared way back. A heartwarming sprinklng that enhances the daylilies and remaining hostas out back.
I took a couple weeks off garden work when our 2nd grandson was born. Yesterday was “get back to it” day. 4 1/2 buckets of clover and forget-me-nots left the gardens and it looks great again.
As the Asian lilies wrap up
and the Elegans hostas stand in the background
The Blue Mouse Ears are starting to steal the show
The big Just Plum Happy daylily is getting it’s scapes
The daylily seedlings are starting to outgrow the seedling box and are gradually getting exposed to the wider world
And the lavender from the old seeds is standing guard as a deterrent to bunny munching
Oh yes, it’s a thing
The coneflower in the back is completely gone, and this is what remains of the one in front.
It was a season of daylily abundance here. Day after day there were 30+ daylilies blooming everywhere I looked. An incredible treat coming out of a now mature daylily garden.
Up north at the little reno house, success! It doesn’t look like much in pictures, the front porch needs love, and the old shed needs paint, but the deer are now staying away from the new plantings. What worked? It could be that our dog likes to “leave his calling card” right outside the “entrance” to the two areas, or it could be the mulch. Time will tell.
So after so much trial and error with up north gardens in the past 3 years, how did I settle on what to do? It was actually a “happy accident”.
The association board at the townhouse (from which I am now retired), decided to have all rock gardens between the garages pulled out and replaced with asphalt. In the rock garden between our garage and the neighbor’s garage there was some history I decided to preserve. There were rocks from a previous neighbor’s parents’ farm that we had used to keep the landscape rock somewhat contained, and there was an alpine current bush that my father had given me 15 years ago that had thrived there, providing many a happy day for our neighborhood birds. The rocks went up north in two batches in big bins (which are now quite beat up from the weight but oh well, it’s for the new garden!).
For the foundation, because the soil at that little house is rocky and needs some gardening love, I chose to do a modified lasagne garden, putting a layer of heavy cardboard down on the very old lawn, adding soil where needed, securing the cardboard in place with the rocks, and putting a good 6″ of mulch on top of that. I worked the cardboard around the plantings. Then I trimmed the areas with the smaller rocks.
Because I was tentative on how well things would work, and because the results of my previous up north gardens were less than optimal, I built in sections. I brought up plants from things that needed dividing or saving from the townhouse gardens. The Rainforest Sunrise hosta needed to come out of one of the areas in the townhouse garden because it was getting crowded. The shrub start was from rootings off the alpine currant that was removed. The sedum were cuttings and divisions. The daylilies were from last year’s purchases and plantings, and the daylily seedlings were from last year’s Purple D’Oro seed harvest.
The plants I put in before I decided on the modified lasagne method took a bit of a hit from the deer, but since I put the mulch in the deer have left everything alone. Fingers crossed.
There is so much more that needs to go up in the next 8 weeks. Two trellises went up because we had to replace the ac at the townhouse. The new ac unit was bigger, necessitating the removal of the trellises. I cut back that clematis, and it will be moved next. Beyond that, the Blue Mouse Ears desperately need dividing, a Patriot Hosta has really burned this year in the landscape rock and drought and needs moving, and I should move some crowded hostas out of the area across the path from the weigelia. That will probably fill the current garden up at the little house, and then I will finish putting the rest of the mulch in. After that, sleep new little garden. Rest up for next year.
There is something about an early morning walk in the garden that stirs the soul, makes the mind relax, evokes thankfulness. Wait, define garden.
Sunday morning, after having been up to the land that is now designated “camping”, I thought, “Why do I enjoy an early morning walk there, but not through our extended neighborhood in town?” I used to. So off I went, sans dog who declined the opportunity.
Once I got going, I decided to take an old route. That route is a tad bittersweet. It is past an area that used to be a beautiful long garden on an edge of one of the park areas. The original homeowner who was adjacent to the park area had petitioned the city to plant a beautiful garden there and invested quite a bit of time and energy. It was a delight to many, and I was one. When the original owner of that beautiful garden moved, the new homeowner did not have the same love for gardening. It began to return to a wilder look. For a while I spent time on the weekends trying to maintain it. In the end, although my mind wanted to save it, my body could not. Working away from the home during the weekdays, and having other weekend responsibilities, it was just too big of a project. I took time to heal my body after pushing it way too hard, nature marched on, and eventually I altered my walking path to avoid that garden. I remembered its prior beauty and had a hard time watching it return to wild. That was quite a few years ago.
This morning I decided to walk by that area. It has returned to it’s natural state. It is a different look. Not bad, just different. Whatever thrives, dominates. And the weeds and lilac bushes won.
Enter garden one – on our “camping” land. It is many years past my experience with the park garden. My perception has changed because my personal gardening experiences have broadened. Evidenced by tens of thousands of ferns that thrive and dominate the “camping” land, there is not much chance of keeping a cultivated garden without daily care. Goodness knows I tried! But I have made peace with that. We cut the living area back in May – September so I don’t (hopefully) get a tick born illness (again) and we enjoy the natural state. We bought it in a natural state, I tried to tame a small portion to exercise my hobby, and I lost. That trial.
Enter garden two – Back to the townhouse neighborhood. “Goodness!”, I thought on my Sunday morning walk, “Our lawns, our trees are looking mature this year.” Two weeks ago many of the trees were still budding. The cherry trees were blooming and a delightful treat. Now they are wrapping up and the maples and lindens are starting to shine. I cannot claim working on those. They are the work of hired professionals on behalf of the association. But I enjoy them immensely. A different kind of enjoyment than the “camping” land.
The gardens at our townhouse are also thriving. The hostas, daylilies and sedum are my daily effort, and are continuously cultivated. The large amount of rain we had this week, along with warm temperatures for a few days in a row made the garden flourish. Literally things tripled in a matter of a week. Including the carpet of maple seedlings, which I will also “cultivate” – right into compost.
It’s all good.
1 1/2 weeks ago
Sunday
I would like to move more of the townhouse garden to garden three but … we have deer … bedding in the back yard … at the tiny little house we plan to retire to … some time … to be determined. Maybe it’s good that they don’t seem to like a little area where I hid a Rainforest Sunrise hosta? It is 9′ x 7′ there. Is that nature’s way of reining in my gardening endeavors for the future? Out front of that little house I lovingly planted sedum this spring. Morning one after planting, I looked outside to see if the deer had feasted overnight. “Success!” I tentatively claimed. Morning two? Yah. Not “Success!” And the same with the five daylilies we planted there. They will all have to move to the 9′ x 7′ area.
So that is the tale of my three “gardens”. I’m learning with each new experience. One could say I’m actually down to two gardens now. Except for the iris and daffodils that are naturalizing at the “camping” land, the rest remains wild.
I wonder sometimes – when we move to the little house, will the daily maintained gardens at the townhouse remain in a tended state? I hope they will. Time will tell. Time a little ways out yet. We just welcomed our first grandbaby. Gotta hang around the townhouse neighborhood for a little while yet.
Last week it felt like fall, but it was still summer. This week it feels like summer, but it is now fall. And so it will go, as the days get shorter and cooler and the gardens here slowly begin their rest. For now, though, the pollinators are still happy – our sedum are in full bloom.
And at the little house up north, five daylilies have been added to a yard absolutely devoid of any plantings. A completely blank slate front, back, and sides. Only an old lawn and a couple trees. Mind is going, but for this year, while other projects are prioritized, this humble fall planting will have to do. A little sunny corner to make a start. Next spring I’ll pull the grass, the first bit of lawn to be replaced by the start of the gardens.
August is one of those months – the daylilies wrap up, but the hostas are super full. The days are shortening, but the morning air is right on the edge of crisp – perfect! The crickets sing and the monarchs start showing up much more, but the robins are scarce again. The feeling starts to turn the corner into fall, but with plenty of warm days still on the horizon.
I have noticed once again I don’t have a lot of mid to late August blooms in the garden. I need to do something about that. I have also noticed I have plenty of weeding and trimming to do in the garden after a couple very busy past weekends, and I need to do something about that.
A few weeks ago I accepted a more challenging role at work, and at the same time we started to really think about how we want to downsize again and work on some more bucket list items. This whole year and all its events have brought priorities into sharper focus. So my thoughts are turning again to simplifying the things we can so we are able to amplify the things that nurture us. It is once again a time of both weeding out and filling in.
The last red daylily of the 2020 season in our garden bloomed yesterday.
Other daylilies have already wrapped up or are wrapping up.
Our attention remains on their beauty, both this year and in future years, and also turns to the potential of the gardens around us. It is time to start planning to “dig and divide” – a good thing.
Friday a fellow gardener and I walked the association with the purpose of planning the plantings for the final projects this year. In that discussion, the topic came up of what divisions from our garden will go to other gardens. My friend has a saying, “We garden for others”. There is wisdom in that perspective. Gardening fills our mind and gives us hundreds of happy hours each year, and part of that is because it gets us thinking of what others may enjoy.
This year we are dividing some of our “Blue Mouse Ears” from the garden here and giving them new homes when we rehab the Welcome Garden. Another hosta, an “Elegans” is being divided and going into a neighboring homeowner’s garden. Our garden stays fit and trim, our association’s landscaper does the heavy lifting of digging and dividing 😊, and if I make room, I get the opportunity to consider what new (ahem daylily) additions make sense to introduce next year 😊😊.
About this time of year I start to assess fall moves to optimize next year’s garden. Last fall we moved out two large Aureomarginata hostas from our garden. They found new homes around the association where they weren’t crowded and could really shine, and did really well this year in their new locations (yeay!). My repurpose for that newly empty space in our garden, unfortunately, did not go as planned. The tulips did “meh” and the asian lilies gifted to me did not do well at all. Reason? Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel and friends thought they were their food. I have since purchased repellent, and that seems to be working. There is still, however, a large empty space in two areas of the garden.
Meanwhile, in another area of the garden, a delightful Ivory Queen hosta gets overexposure to the sun each year.
Time to give it a new home, in the more shaded area where one of the Aureomarginata hostas was. It will fit that space well, and look nice amongst the other “blue” hostas.
Maybe I should move this Patriot hosta too – to the more shaded spot where the other Aureomarginata hosta was.
It will fit in well and brighten up an area that gets pretty unremarkable after the asian lilies bloom.
With two hostas moved out of sunnier areas, does that mean that I now have spots for two new sunshine loving daylilies? Possibly … Hard to say …
And now for a few last pics of the mid-July daylily blooms.
Susan's Daily Garden 