I pulled open the blinds this morning and peeked out hoping to see our first daylily of the season. I suspected it would open today. Last night it looked like this.
It took my breath away.
Close behind it are two more just starting to open.
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Another benefit of daylilies.
Today I was reminded of one more extra benefit of daylilies – they bloom and bloom and bloom and bloom and then they go to seed and THEN, in fall, I harvest the seeds and then cut them back when I cut back the rest of the garden. Soooo easy!
I absolutely love the massive bloom of asian lilies. They are gorgeous! But when they are done blooming I trim them back before they go to seed, some in back parts of a fully stacked garden, sometimes precariously balanced to avoid harming other plants, in the July heat.
Today was that day. It’s very much worth it. Daylilies are just a wee bit easier.
Trading
Up north we traded seeing waves of purple lupines alongside the roads in June for fields of yellow buttercups and white daisies in July.
(The haze is from the Canadian wildfires.)
Back at the townhouse, we are starting to trade asian lily blooms for gladiola blooms.
There are two sets of asian lilies still blooming. The rest will be trimmed back to greens tomorrow. I do not harvest those seeds.
The potted gladiolas are starting to bloom. The hummingbirds love them, and we enjoy seeing them visit. For now we have put away the feeders until fall. There is an abundance of natural food coming up in the garden.
More lilies
The waves of asian lilies are continuing. While the red asian lilies have pretty much faded, and the early pink ones have hit their peak, others are just starting to boom.
And over the weekend dozens of daylily scapes appeared. Cannot wait for the first bloom. What will it be?
A weekend of enjoying the asian lilies
Over the weekend the asian lilies continued to bloom. Last night we had a doozy of a thunderstorm, for hours and hours. They got a little droopy with all the water, but still look beautiful!
Our linden
Our last tree to leaf out each year is our linden. Next it flowers, and then the little green leaves that held the flower cluster put on a great show. That has been our view for the past week or so. So pretty!
The Weigelia is blooming
The weigelia is blooming at our townhome. Every year it puts on a fabulous show. 16 years old and it just keeps going. It was a very long, tough winter and not surprisingly this spring I am seeing some bare spots. Hopefully they will fill in. After it is done blooming I will give it a good trimming. That should help for next year.
Plum trees and raspberry bushes and strawberry plants and ferns galore
When we were last up north at the land, things looked very different. The nice winter clean look has given way to a jungle-like appearance!
We are learning more about what we have up there now. If I was a bird or an animal I would be delighted. The place is overgrown with raspberry bushes, strawberry plants are everywhere, and there are small plum trees. A friend told us we may not ever harvest the strawberries and plums. They are small and the birds and animals get them pretty quickly. As for the raspberry bushes, I did not feel bad about cutting some of those down to get a clearing. They are all over the land!
Just like the tall ferns that now line everything! They, too, need to be tamed a bit.
I think it’s going to be a very gradual process. Taking some from the land so we have a place to be without a crazy amount of ticks and mosquitos and black flies, yet leaving a whole lot in its natural woodsy state that we fell in love with.
Tulip update
The tulips I planted out front last fall came up beautifully.
A single survivor out front from years past and another bunch out back were mysteriously cut off. The ones that were cut off out back totally disappeared. Bunnies? I did see a deer wander through the neighborhood very early one morning a few years ago.
There are a few more bunches still coming up. We’ll see how they fare.
That’s no lily
Last year I saw what I thought was a daylily volunteer from our ‘Marque Moon’ trio. I pulled it originaly thinking it was grass, but then second guessed. I planted it in our garden and this spring I have been rewarded with – grass. Out it goes. Maybe the bunnies willl enjoy it on their nightly hop-through.
Susan's Daily Garden 