Sticks, Stones, Coffee Grounds – and Early Indications

The snow is finally all gone here. Even the snow from the “blizzard” last week, although crummy at the time, is gone. We are firmly in April, with some enduring March winds.

More daylilies are coming up each day, and all of the sedum are now up. It is better than waiting for Spring, but I am still having such a hard time waiting to get the seeds outside in the seedling planters. For now:

Annual Spring Cleanup continues.

The daylilies and sedum are getting their annual sprinkling of used coffee grounds. It gives them a little boost and seems to repel critters and slugs. Eventually the hostas will get the same treatment when they start popping up.
The sticks that fell from the Linden over the winter are pretty much all picked up and the birds are starting to sort through what we saved for them to make nests.
We are continuing to move back any landscape rock that migrated over the winter.

Hints of what may change this year are emerging.

Something that is surprising me a bit this year is that the 3 Autumn Red daylilies closest to the Linden still haven’t shown up. They should be up. The other Autumn Reds are up. The tulip greens around the Autumn Reds in that area are well up. I know the sun exposure very well in that area, it is perfect for daylilies, and they have done well there in the past. Last year their flowering, compared to the other Autumn Reds, was a bit lighter, so it may be time for a move, but not because of roots or sunlight because the Marque Moons are even more challenged with roots and sun exposure and they are up. Something is going on. I’m just not sure what it is. For now, it is watch and wait. We can move them if need be.

I don’t see any sign of surviving clematis seedling transplants. It was a fun, multi-year experiment, but it is time to move on. Surprisingly, for that area my mind is wandering back to a time when, many years ago, I grew huge (5 foot plus) Aureomarginata hostas there. I think, for that mostly shaded area it is time to go back to that type of easy solution. Something substantial like a large anchoring hosta will be a nice backdrop to the daylilies further out in Sandy’s (sunny) Corner. I think I have the perfect hosta, already in our garden, that needs to be divided and moved this fall.

I am also a bit surprised at how few Asian lilies are showing up out back. Sometimes they are late, so we shall see. Unfortunately, the area they are in is not sunny enough for daylilies, but I already planned to move more of the Blue Mouse Ears into that more shaded area this fall. They would be perfect next to the hosta transplant mentioned above. It would be great if the Asian lillies came up. They have been in the garden for around 20 years. But if not, that area will still look nice with the Blue Mouse Ears.

A final surprise is that the volunteer seedling berry bush from last year is back, and much stronger. I think it was a bird “donation” so I am not sure exactly what it is. I will let it stay for now and see how it fits in.

Speaking of birds – the mornings are so wonderful again with their full surround sound chorus, and over the winter we even added an owl to the mix. It is truly delightful!

And finally – the daylily seeds update. The longer I go, the more I realize – I am not set up to grow daylily seeds indoors. We have a moderate townhome, and I am not willing to store a lot of supplies. Definitely not grow lights and shelving for the seedlings. So … the daylily seeds I planted indoors are still not coming up. There is simply not enough sun and heat. I cannot wait to get back to the medium pots in the seedling planters – outdoors. Unfortunately, the forecast is still a bit sketchy yet to start those. We’re probably looking at another week, at least.

Other than that, we did a quick pass by the historic cemetery, and the garden there is starting to pop up. Soon it will be time to add the annual mulch topper. This year it will be a “daylily seedling additions only” year at the historic cemetery while I see how the daylilies shape up from the past two years’ plantings. Quite a few of the purchased daylilies I planted in fall of 2024 never showed up in 2025. I am, probably a bit optimistically, hoping they will make an appearance in 2026. We shall see. Either way, any daylily seedlings that I add to that garden this year will be self-seed I harvested from that garden last year, so that will be a fun “first”. I am looking forward to that!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Be Blessed!

Well, hello there!

The daylilies are continuing to pop up, and the sedum are coming along.

We have snow coming tonight and tomorrow, but they, like the daylilies, are hardy and should be fine.

I don’t see any hostas up yet. That is because they are mostly in the shadier areas. It takes a while longer for those areas to warm up.

And I am still on seedling watch for the 84 seeds I planted in the mini-greenhouse trays and pots. I don’t use grow lights so the only sun they get is through the windows. In a few weeks they will go out into the seedling planters outside, and then they will get much more sun.

The spring kickoff checklist of maintenance items has also begun. This week it was:

Pick up linden sticks, leaving the smallest sticks in the rock for the birds to make their nests, and
Start putting coffee grounds around the daylilies, sedum, and hostas to give them a boost and repel slugs and four-legged buddies.

I hope you are having a good week so far!

Be Blessed!

Sandy’s Corner

I have been thinking about how many daylily seedlings from the 2025 harvest I can realistically fit in the various gardens. High level, I am looking for space for whatever low volume seedlings I get from the seeds from last year’s harvest. Practically, I am looking for a way to enjoy groupings of the different daylily lines I have going.

Perhaps a 30,000 foot description on how I designed the gardens at the townhome would be a good idea to begin with.

In front, it is very much “landscape garden” style. Neat rows, lots of repetition. Not very creative, but it looks nice and uniform. And I don’t allow forget-me-nots out front. I keep it more formal. Increasingly I have also considered curtailing the number of crosses I do out front. It gets warm out front in the afternoons, and I much prefer to be out back at that time of day. I also have those same daylilies out back now, so in reality I don’t need to be out front doing any crosses.

Out back is where I have my actual “garden” areas. It is where I relax, where I have my coffee in the morning sun and where we sit out and chat as the shade begins to cover part of the patio. It is way more creative, and daydreamy. It is often where neighbors stop by to chat. And it is also where our dog Sandy used to sit with us, basking in warmth until the shade arrived. He so loved that. We will definitely miss having him with us there.

I have been considering naming the part of the gardens where Sandy most often sat, “Sandy’s Corner”. I am thinking “Sandy’s Corner” will be where the South Seas and Coral Majority self-seed and crosses will be planted go forward. Coral Majority is outrageously fun, and South Seas is very relaxing to look at. I like the idea of that combo.

I have a sneaking suspicion “Sandy’s Corner” will be my favorite look, and I will allow that to be the predominant results that remain in the townhome gardens, but we shall see.

As for the historic work, I am hoping to have those results primarily up north. Maybe some at the historic cemetery. Time will tell.

And the rest of the crosses, I think they can go by their parents. The forget-me-nots will be greatly reduced, but that is ok.

Take care! Be Blessed!

Firsts for 2026 Gardening Season

We have firsts in the 2026 garden!

We still have a few tulips in the back garden that come up each year. Those started to pop up a few days ago.

And then the first of the daylilies are up.

On ‘Autumn Red’, the various clumps out front are starting to show greens.

‘Autumn Red’ is our oldest (historic) daylily in the gardens. It had a bountiful harvest of seeds from 2025 crosses (84 of which are already planted in seedling trays). It also has 2025 seedlings from 2024 crosses I did.

I’m not surprised to see the “Autumn Red’ daylilies are already up this year. They are super hardy.

The daylily I am calling Equal Opportunity is also starting to come up.

Equal Opportunity is from my work with ‘South Seas’ self-seed, and it bloomed last year for the first time. Equal Opportunity did not accept a pod parent attempt last year. It is slated to be tried again this year, as both a pod and pollen parent.

And then, of course, ‘Pink Tirzah’ is up.

Now it will go fast with new greens popping up daily.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Seeds are started

Well, I was going to plant just a few 6 cell seedling trays and put on the greenhouse covers but I got a tad ambitious today. 84 of the daylily seeds are now planted. Still a lot to go, but it’s a start.

Today’s planting work was exclusively with the Autumn Red crosses. And 3 Autumn Red self-seeds 😉 I will stop there until last frost has passed. The bulk of the daylily seeds always get planted then, and that is my favorite way to handle the seeds. Then they go directly into the seedling boxes outside and get way more sun 🙂

It definitely was a fun day. An accomplishment day. It was also a very confirming day. Every priority and decision I have been sharing regarding the daylilies was reinforced.

My best decision, hands down, was all the research and documentation work I tackled over the past year. It saved me from a lot of stress today. Throughout the day I found myself thinking that if I had not done all that work, I would have been sunk. It was just way too much to go on memory and pictures and a few journal notes like I used to. The practice of ongoing research and documentation will be a keeper, even though it is extra work. The payoff is huge.

Secondly, I absolutely confirmed today that both the scope and the volume of what I did for crosses last year was too far for my ongoing comfort level. A stretch year, ok. I was still toying at that point with a number of ideas I have now counted out. I am not going to start a daylily farm lol. I am not going to ship daylilies around. I am not going to grow volume and sell at farmers markets – egads! No! Just No! Not at all me. So today as I was planting dozens of seeds from the same daylily cross, those activities went even further to confirm my decisions are right-sized and me appropriate. I now have a pretty good idea of what I can do with crosses between what we have – what consistently makes seed, which daylilies play well together … Now I am looking to see what I can do with specific crosses at low volume and then working with the results of those crosses and also the self-seed. I like to putz, and putz I shall do going forward 😉

Third, after I researched more on historic daylilies, and the intersection of what I like for form and color, I am super comfortable with where I am with the historic idea at this point. If I can get some daylilies older than Hyperion, that would be great, but I’m still also good if I don’t.

So, indeed, putzing is a great word to describe what I envision going forward. That, and seeing if I can finally get a garden going up north. I think if anything will make it, the older daylilies should. The Autumn Red seeds are planted. If they come up, some will go up. Little by little.

I hope you have a great week. We have plans with one of the grands tomorrow, so no Tuesday post. My next post will probably be Friday 🙂

Be Blessed!

Brunch, and then time to get the seedling mini greenhouses set up

It is time to start getting ready to plant daylily seeds. But first, the chef made brunch. Lots of vegies, and cheese, of course.

After that delicious sustenance, it was time to start putting the new seedling mini greenhouses together.

I have decided to decorate lightly for Easter this year. I remember all the work it was to put away the full “everything out” Christmas decorations in January, and I am just not in the mood for an Easter version repeat. Seedling trays will make an early appearance this year, where the ceramic Easter eggs would normally go. But don’t worry, we still celebrate the actual meaning of Easter, every day, in our hearts 🙂

One last look before planting wave one of the daylily seeds. These seedling planters will never be this clean again 😉

I will share as we go.

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Happy Spring!

The temperatures are rising, the snow from the blizzard is melting big time, and soon, very soon, seeds will start to get planted. Sadly, I don’t think the old Malva Zebrina Hollyhock seeds are going to germinate, but that’s ok. I supected they were too old.

For now, we wait. But not much longer. And then we will be very busy indeed.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Be blessed!

Fill In Friday – Irises, Clematis, First Daylily Scape, and some shenanigans

Let’s see … where did I leave off last week? I think it was with the discovery of the first daylily scapes of the season.

Last Friday I was weeding at the historic cemetery. I was down to the end where there are some mature Stella de Oros. Full disclosure, Stella de Oros are not daylilies I would buy. I do like the color. The size is not the issue. It is just that they are everywhere – in residential gardens, commercial landscaping, everywhere. But … they are daylilies, they are improving in health since the rock was switched out to mulch, and they were gifted to the historic cemetery garden before I started in earnest, so they stay. Stella de Oros also bloom fairly early, so they are a harbinger of the start of the daylily blooms on the way. So, last Friday, as I was wrapping up weeding, I looked over and there it was – a scape, on a Stella de Oro.

Which means the scapes will soon start showing up on other daylilies. And that is my start of the daylily season. Scapes hold buds that bloom and blooms can be not only enjoyed, but crossed, by birds, bees, butterflies … and humans.
It’s almost here!!! Hurray!

While daylily gardeners everywhere await daylily season, irises are in full bloom. The iris bed I made two years ago at the historic cemetery is starting to really shine! Almost all the irises in the lower part of the bed came from a smaller overgrown old garden. They were not blooming there, so I took my chance on color. I lucked out. Last year all those that bloomed were yellow, and this year as the iris bed began to really shine, the color yellow was predominant, save for one purple iris in a line of five that I had added last year from the big old garden. That purple bud showed up late. We shall see what comes next year.

Now here is where I get to share the joys of a community, public garden. 99.5% of the experience is AWESOME. People are so kind and thankful, and it is so fun to meet them and see them over and over. But there are, shall we say, occasional shenanigans. And herein is this week’s shenanigans story. I shall say it did not make me smile and say “silly turkeys”. So here’s the story. I was all excited about the yellow irises because we have 14 veterans buried at the cemetery who came home safely from war. Think yellow ribbon for safe return. We also have a Civil War soldier, James Akers, buried at the cemetery, and he was killed at Gettysburg. I wanted at least one purple iris in remembrance of him, amidst the yellow irises. Think Purple Heart.
And one came up! But it was not meant to bloom there. You see, within the past day and a half someone/something came by and snapped off a bunch of yellow irises and the one purple iris. The yellow ones – in various stages from bud to bloom – they threw around in the mulch and even on the ground,

but the purple one was totally missing. Now what possesses an action like that, I cannot imagine. Irises don’t even smell good, and animals usually leave them alone, so … my guess is shenanigans. Now, I have been putting the best construction on missing plant markers and missing plants, thinking maybe it was squirrels or turkeys, but now I am thinking along other lines. And what is my logic? The turkeys that live inside the fence have a big old garden of irises, even one that made it to bloom. And … they aren’t touching them. Soooo …. probably shenanigans. Decision? The Mahala daylily seedlings definitely aren’t going to the historic cemetery quite yet, and I will not be purchasing any additional plants for the historic cemetery. Just out of wisdom. We shall watch and assess. No big. Just prudence.

For now, we enjoy pics, and see the one purple bud in front.

In the townhome gardens the clematis out back are blooming beautifully,

following the Bluebells clematis out front that just wrapped up.

The Weigelia has also started blooming, and, soon, like the clematis, the hummingbirds will be found enjoying those blooms.

Do you remember the variegated sedum I pulled out and then saw it had a few tiny green buds? I potted it in an old terracotta pot, and it is growing new buds. Yeay! Sedums rock!

The Ninebarks are also doing wonderfully, and, along with the Weigelia, they remind me every year why bushes do have their place.

But, there is a shenanigans story in the townhome gardens too. I suspect they are of the bird variety. After over fifteen years of birds being helpers in cleaning up the shamrocks, we might have a crop of mess makers this year. They have decided to make quite the mess of all the purple shamrocks. No worries. There are so many shamrock rhizomes. I brought them in and will restart them in the house. Sorry birds. No more purple shamrocks fun for you this year.

And that was our week. I hope yours was fun! Catch you next week!

Change, Big Change

As I looked at my photos of previous years this morning, it became crystal clear – the townhome gardens are changing. A lot.

It is a bit of a shock this year with the loss of a number of hostas. OK, 11. A large number of large hostas. The full realization is here. The edges of the gardens probably are not the safest place anymore – fertilizer and herbicide overspray and drift. And the aging of the garden by the linden, with its roots, has arrived.

I should probably be more upset. The big beautiful hostas! Why am I not very upset? Did I not really care about the hostas?

And then it occurs to me that nature is giving me cues. It is time to pivot. A pivot I have been thinking of accomplishing in other ways. Nature just beat me to it.

Likewise, a big portion of my time allocation has also pivoted this year. Again, the change outcome is something I was already working toward. It is just different timing and a different path.

So, where am I with the gardens?

At the townhome gardens, I greatly miss the 11 hostas, but I will not replace them. Something benefitted from them and they returned to nature. Their time here is done.

I am firmly on the path with the daylily propagation. I don’t expect that to change before I hang up my gardening hat, whenever that may be. I have longed for a space to daylily “farm” for a while, and my mind is reminding me words have power, be careful what you put out there, what you share as your desire for next steps, what you wish for.

So the space is now there, admittedly needing a new configuration or format. More portable if I want. But the timing. Is the timing right? It feels like nature has run ahead of me this time. I need to make the next move but I am not quite ready. I am not “for sure” on what I want as the next step format. I am going slow, checking things out, how I want them longer term.

So let’s see – What is right in front of me? What do I already have in motion?
Let’s start with the “Mahala” seedlings. What???, you say! Did some seeds go to seedling? Yes, but only two. Out of 25 seeds. Not my usual yield ratio, but ok. And maybe nature is saying that is enough. One for either side of the historic cemetery gate. But wait! Mahala was not about the historic cemetery. In fact, nothing I have read about her mentions her involvement in the acquisition or care of the historic cemetery. I wished. I was hoping it was part of her and William’s homestead, but I cannot find anything at all to support that. Everything I have found leads to an understanding that it was entirely someone else’s land before it became the historic cemetery. So then – the “Welcome” is like the welcome she extended to those who stayed at the Buckhorn. The Buckhorn was not on William and her land nor was it their building, but where they were based out of, where their presence was first established in this area. Perhaps my tiny part was to decide which harvested seed was to be dedicated and named for Mahala, and then nature decided, and will decide, how much “presence” those daylilies have. Perhaps a very simple “Welcome” duo of daylilies in Mahala Felton’s honor have been initially chosen by nature to move forward. I have done my part. Now we wait a few years and see how they develop.

And that may also be the townhome garden message overall for this time. I have done my part, I have things still to do with the daylily seeds harvested in 2024, and the seedlings from previous years. Now we see how things develop.

For sure the rest of the 2024 daylily cross seeds need to go in the seedling box by the beginning of June. That means the Mahala seeds need to get into the ground by the beginning of June, and for that I invested in cloches. I bought a set of 20 for long term planning, so I have plenty. A couple could even go to the historic cemetery. But watering there is manual, and markers for the daylilies I planted last year are also disappearing, so I may keep the seedlings here until fall. TBD.

One thing is for sure, I am done with the “one seed in a little pot” method. I have done it my last time. I should know better. There is a reason I stopped doing that. It is way too tedious and, for whatever reason, for me it yields way less results. It looks nice, little pots all lined up in a tray, with covers to start, but no. Done with that. All harvested daylily seeds, intentional crosses or volunteers, will go in a pot – one pot per type. Easy peasey lemon squeezey 😊

That I know for sure.

Fill in Friday – It’s Bluebells time!!!

Happy (fill in) Friday. Here’s what’s going on in the garden this week.

The Bluebells clematis is strutting her stuff. Serious strutting. And her “kid” from last year is mini strutting lol. The birds are going bonkers around mama Bluebells. Absolute bonkers. It probably doesn’t hurt that they also have a mini birdbath nearby. Hubs reports that the birdbath seems to be more noticed this spring than in years past. Now we just need to keep it filled. And yes, that is one of our hummingbird feeders. It is just about hummingbird time. We are expecting to see them any day now.

I dunno what the hostas are doing. They are almost all super sluggish this year. Did they get a telegraph from the hostas at the historic cemetery and now have mulch envy? Seriously. The Elegans are totally MIA, and a bunch of others are very diminished compared to prior years. I’m not sure what to think.

The hostas that are doing super well are the Blue Mouse Ears divisions. Yeay Blue Mouse Ears!

Only two tulips bloomed, and they are done.

And this is what crowded daylilies do 😭. I need to get them moved this year.

For comparison, this is the same type, but divided last year.

Update on the daffodils? Still no blooms. Definitely no bags of 50 this fall. Final decision. Shifting to grape hyacinth 💕 Final decision.

And lastly … dadadadahhhh! The shamrocks are all now out. The last one went out yesterday. But very naughty squirrels are digging on the smaller pots.

My thoughts are repeatedly going to – Why do I feel like the townhome gardens are shifting? They feel so different this year. Are they turning into my daylily “farm”? Do I not need a bigger space to continue my projects? We shall see.