Category: Lilies

Restless

Something about the garden at the townhouse has me restless right now.  I should be content to sit in the lawn chair on the patio and enjoy the view.  The garden is lush and full.  But I’m restless, looking and saying it needs adjustments.

Up north this would not bother me at all.  But the scope here is so much smaller, drawing attention to planned symmetry and proportion that seems to be stretched this year.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been looking at new gardens, the refreshes that we’ve done in the association.  They are at the start of their life and nothing is crowding anything.  Nothing is blocking the view of anything.  Their full potential is ahead of them.

That’s part of it.  But there’s more.  Things are looking good in parts of the garden here, but “missing” in others.  Moving the aureomarginata out of our garden here last fall, and into other association garden refreshes, left an odd empty space now that the tulips and crocuses are fading – one I don’t like.

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There are hostas I wish I had moved/divided last fall that are now overgrown in their current space and that I wish we had divided last fall and put as a post-tulip layer in place of the aureomarginata, like the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ out front.

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Under the tree is bothering me too.  It feels hodge-podge this year.  I love the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ hosta there, but other hostas there feel crowded and random.

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Maybe it just needs some daylilies to start blooming 😊

And then there are irrigation patterns that I need to consider, like how the sprinkler hits daylilies that have gotten tall.  And there are mysteries – like why two ‘Just Plum Happy’ daylilies aren’t doing well this year, but everything around them is.

This weekend I know one decision for certain will drive some planting.  The lavender I planted last year definitely didn’t survive.

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There are two to be pulled out that  will make way for the remaining two daylily seedlings from last year’s Purple D’Oro’ seeds.  The other two I planted here are doing fabulously, and the two available spots are right around the corner, making a nice pattern.

Wait!  Back up!  Is that a new “mini rock feature”!  Why yes, it is!   The old two pavers at the bottom of the downspout were not enhancing that space, so I gathered a number of rocks we have collected and previously scattered in the garden, and put them together for a new look.  Really liking that.  We’ll see what else this weekend brings for ideas.

 

 

Clematis blooming, settled on daylilies up north

The clematis are beginning to bloom at the townhouse. First the white ones bloomed, and now a new pink volunteer we haven’t seen blooms on before is starting.

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I had a few volunteers over the past few years that really took off this year, so I had to buy a couple extra trellises.  Not easy in the current shopping environment, but it turned out ok.

Last weekend we went up north.  I tell you!  It’s amazing how fast things grow up there!  You might say it’s wild – lol!  The ferns that were fiddleheads last time were waist high!!  We have thousands, and unfortunately some have to get cut back so we have a homesite/campsite that is reasonably free from ticks.

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The butterflies and bumblebees were enjoying the dandelions.  It was a fabulous sight to see.  We don’t prevent dandelions up north so they have a nice supply of food.

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A walk through the farther trails taught us we have an abundance of wild roses we didn’t know about, and even some scrubby maple trees.  (I thought we were too far north for maples.)

By far, however, the big news is … the baby daylilies are doing well up north!!  The deer are leaving them alone so far, and they are holding their own with just the natural rain.  I am hopeful!  The asparagus also survived the winter, and it looks like one asclepias.  I cleaned up the raised beds, and put more black dirt in one.  Man, I wish I had that $300 back!  I don’t like the steel and boxy look nearly as much as I thought I would, and they heaved in the center so they look weird, but oh, well.  Live and learn.

The fact that daylilies are doing well up there makes my harvesting decisions much easier going forward.  It means I will probably harvest seeds from our townhome gardens again this year, and sow some in the ground up north as well as start seedlings in the winter again.  Probably.

It’s also about this time of year, as the summer garden comes into full form, that I start to realise what fall divisions will be needed.  The townhouse garden is getting pretty mature, and I will need to divide and split quite a bit this fall.  This ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ hosta has definitely overgrown the space.

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I love the coloring, and the leaves are a bit more tender, so I will keep the divisions at the townhouse.

I’m tempted, however, to try some of the ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ hosta divisions up north, as the leaves are deer resistant.

So many ideas … but a bit of time to chew on them.  For now, the daylily seedlings are all planted except two, which will go into the townhome garden in the next day or so.  The lavender seeds are starting to sprout in pots – we’ll see how far they get – and the tulips are fading back and making way for the Asian lily blooms to come center stage next.

 

Cherry trees and tulips

The cherry trees in the association stated blooming a couple weeks ago.  Who doesn’t love their blooms?

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They are stunningly beautiful for two-three weeks and then fade to the background to start building for next year’s show.

Similarly, the tulips take center stage at the ground level at about the same time.  Immediately following the crocus, they put on quite a show.

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I love it all!  Here’s my dilemma – Unlike the cherry trees, the tulips are more of a “one and done” most years.  Essentially they are fall planted annuals that bloom the next spring.  In the years after the initial bloom year they are awesome at growing … leaves, but no blooms.

This spring, last years tulips looked like this.

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As beautiful as the tulips are, I have another plan.  I am going to dig them out, reclaim that real estate, and plant some of the baby Purple d’ Oro daylily seedlings in that spot.  If they take off, in future years they would look absolutely lovely in front of the sedum.

Having repurposed that space, when the spring bulbs start showing up for order and purchase later this season, I have an alternate option.  I have, in past years forced tulip, hyacinth, and crocus bulbs in large plant pots.  Maybe I’ll do that this fall again.

 

 

A year to transplant

I started the gardens at our townhome 17 years ago.  They really transformed 8-9 years ago when I expanded the space, and expanded again.  Back then, the gardens were maintained by the homeowners, and maintain them we did – my husband and I – outside our place.  I went through a massive hosta phase.  Lots of varieties.  Then I started in with daylilies, and got hooked.

The hostas in the gardens here are starting to show their age.  I have divided some and given them to neighbors.  This year I need to divide my favorites – 9 ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ hostas.  They are getting fairy rings.

More decisions – where do the divisions go?  Onto new areas here?  To other gardens in our association?  Up north?  All of the above, I suspect.  But for now they sit undisturbed until after bloom, which is highly anticipated, at least by me, every July.

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Spring again!

It is finally feeling like garden season, and some hope after a tough few months for the whole world.  The pandemic has brought so much fear and sadness, and our hearts go out to all the families who have been affected and all who have lost loved ones.   It is sometimes hard to imagine it has only been a few months.  The heartbreak is incredible, and it seems like much longer.  I just couldn’t get motivated to share garden news amid all of the tough news.  But as sad as this sounds, at some point I decided reading and listening to so much aweful news and fearful projections was not good.  I started to trust it was ok to severely limit partaking in media coverage and updates.  It took a few weeks, but now some joy is starting to overcome the awfulness of this pandemic.  And as the gardening season is fully arriving, it is bringing some positivity, very much needed during this difficult time.

Through the winter I dreamed and planned gardens.  The association board work took form and the garden refreshes for this spring, now being done by an incredible local professional, are underway – 22 gardens at homes, and removing bricks, pavers, plastic trim, and various rock and mulch from around 42 trees and putting in only mulch.  We hear it is healthier for the trees.   A couple larger gardens integrated around trees will remain with rock, to be done in future years.  The garden outside our home is one of those, and our landscaper reports the tree is well established and very healthy.  Mulch may come in future years.

From my personal overwintered plants, the hibiscus is now back outside, as is the green shamrock.  The green shamrock has mostly gone through its spring die off.  I watched as the robins do what they do every year – pluck the dead stems by the beakful, and fly them up to their nest.  It is the annual cycle.  The robins get their materials, and the shamrock gets hardy and fills out again.

Of over 100 daylily  seeds I planted this winter in pods indoors, 13 daylily seedlings came up.  11 daylily seedlings survived.  In previous years I have direct sown our harvested seed in the ground at the townhouse.  A few lilies have grown from that and this year I am anticipating seeing what the pollinators produced three years ago.  For the extra work, this winter’s results were not awesome (I don’t think?) but it was an experiment.  We’ll see if I do a repeat.

The gardens here are popping back like crazy right now, and it looks like everything made it through the winter.  It’s pretty full, so of the daylily seedlings from this winter,  I’ve decided to keep the 2 ‘South Seas’ parentage seedlings here, and 4  of the ‘Purple d’Oro’ parentage seedlings.  5 ‘Purple d’Oro’ seedlings are going to be in the year 2 test garden up north, with chicken wire the first year, to give them a safe start.  I am hoping they eventually naturalize, and am optimistic, as I see entire fields of lilies up north that have made it.  We’ll see.

More to come.

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January

It’s January.  I’m missing my gardens.  I’m missing any gardens.  Off to our local gardening center I went today.  This is a thing I do – wander around, maybe buy a watch ’em grow garden, and maybe something additional.  I suspect, no I know, I am not unique in doing this.

Today I got both.  I could not resist.

The watch ’em grow garden

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And a beautiful cyclamen

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So fun!

I also bought a set of seed pods for when I start my daylily seeds.  Now I’m committed to that because I have all the materials.  I had started down the path of saving toilet paper and paper towel rolls to cut up as soil holders, like last year, but then I saw that the pods are ok for daylilies, so I’m going to try them.  This will be my first year of growing only daylily seedlings.  I had a bumper crop of ‘Just Plum Happy’ daylily seeds last fall, so I’m hoping to get something from those.  Plus a few from our other daylilies.   I’m also hoping this is the year I see flowers on the seedlings from the daylily seeds I planted out in the ground the past couple seasons.

And I’m playing again with the idea of trying to find a way to have daylilies up north.  I know!  How many times will I go back and forth on this?  It’s just that I dream of naturalizing them. I know, however, they are deer yummies, and our trailcams have lots of deer on them.  I have the two (failed hugelkulture) raised bed gardens up there from last year.  I may try a seedling or two in there – from the ‘Just Plum Happy’ abundance.  I could recycle some of my chicken wire from last year here to protect them.  I know – ugly!  We’ll see.  Lots of time to decide.

Additions

Yesterday was an overcast day, with a bit of breeze, and rain on the way.  Perfect day to put additions into the garden.

Saturday I visited the local garden store.  I decided to bring home three additions.  One was a chocolate colored sedum, to fill in a spot that previously had a chocolate drop sedum.  It did not return last year but I held out hope.  It did not return this year so I decided to get another chocolate colored sedum to match one we alread have (SUNSPARKLER Plum Dazzled) and see how that goes.

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The other two additions are coneflowers.  Years ago, at our house, I had a 20′ x 20′ wildflower and daylily corner.  I really enjoyed that.  We need a bit of late summer/early fall color on our path by the linden, so I tucked the new coneflowers in there (POWWOW Wild Berry).

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Today also started the daylily wrap up.  Our last ‘South Seas’ daylily bloom of the season was today.

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I suspect the last ‘Hush Little Baby’ bloom of the season will be tomorrow.

It’s all good.  Today I watched as the bees and butterflies flitted from bloom to bloom on the hostas.  They do the same on the daylilies.  Next year they’ll do it all again.  And maybe those seed pods that are forming on the daylilies have something beautiful in store for us down the road.

A hint of fall, daylily abundance

The past few days have had just a hint of fall – a bit of crispness in the morning air, a few early leaves dropping, the seeds from the amur maple turning pink.  (I will be pulling hundreds of seedlings again next spring, but right now they are beautiful.)

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And the ‘Marque Moon’ daylilies are blooming abundantly – 28 blooms a few days ago!

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The hummingbirds are also beginning to come by much more often, so both feeders are back out, and the butterflies are stopping long enough for me to catch a pic.

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I am also starting to see the daylilies produce seed pods.

There will still be plenty of very warm days, but fall is starting to peek around the corner.

 

 

August

August is here.  The grass starts to look tired.  Every corner crevice needs to be swept at least once per week to prevent a webby effect, and it’s going from warm to nice to warm to nice.

This week was gorgeous.  This weekend was a bit warm – high 80s and humid.  Tomorrow is supposed to be 10°F cooler.

The dayliles are still beautiful and the hostas are in varying stages of bloom.  The sedum look very full.  Soon they will start to pink up.

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