Today was a crazy day! Crazy full of gardening. Good stuff, but oh wow! Nothing like a daylily order arriving to set the weekend’s activities. Besides the weekly one side of weeding at the historic cemetery, four new holes got dug and brand new daylilies were planted – Red Volunteer (tetraploid) and Lullaby Baby (diploid, to cross with the two De Oros – Purple and Stella). Each hole also got daffodils too, to deter moles. Tomorrow it will be four Marque Moons (tetraploid, to cross with Red Volunteer). Then we shall see how much more the old muscles can tackle. I dug out two huge Blue Mouse Ears hosta clumps today at the townhouse and planted a Marque Moon and a Tender Love. Now I need to find spots for the Blue Mouse Ears divisions. I have plans for 4 at the townhouse, lining the path going to the front. I may take the rest over to the historic cemetery and see if they can handle the sun. (They got 6 hours/day here during the peak of summer.)
All the daylilies are done blooming here, and we are going into the Semi-Finals for seed production. In first place by a long shot is Pink Tirza X red daylily with 8 healthy pods. Woohoo! Now I have to go back into my records to figure out that red daylily type. Or not. If the seeds pods are viable to seed, and the seeds are viable to seedling and they bloom (2-3 years out) they will still just be an “enjoy” scenario. A whole lotta “enjoy” scenario. Maybe a go to the historic cemetery “enjoy” scenario. If all of that happens, I will probably just give them a fun name for our use and conversations 😊 Just like Hello Yellow.
So Pink Tirza is the new Purple D’Oro here. And that is a good thing because the “deer” we were guessing was eating her pods turns out, we are pretty sure, to be due to a sprinkler haha! Either way, even if it was something else, good experience and knowledge gained this year. In addition to her coming in first place for bloom start, she blooms a LONG time, and is gorgeous. Her new working role is to be a pollen producer.
In second place, yep, you guessed it Coral Majority. It would have taken 1st place but I only crossed it a bit, with Cedar Waxwing, with excellent success. And Coral Majority is a self seeder too, although I expected that. The bees love that area and Coral Majority tends to have a lot of pollen and the pistil, or stigma, I guess, is often uncrossable. I seriously don’t know what to do with Coral Majority. It is a wild child. Of one of my faves, South Seas, no less. I hope its children are pretty, and well behaved lol. Because there will be A LOT of them if the pods are all viable. They are all still green and it will be a while that they still need to stay on the scape to mature the seeds. Hopefully the bunnies, squirrels and sprinklers let that happen. I have had pods come off too early in the past and tried to save them to seed but to no avail.
Marque Moon X South Seas was in 3rd place with two green pods and a third that was starting to dry but the bunnies and/or squirrels got those. The squirrels and bunnies have had a lot of fun with South Seas. And also with Naomi Ruth. I think I also over-taxed them. Pods were failing. Next year they get a rest. Only one Pink Tirza pod survived. “Sprinkler deer” got her pods lol. And Mystery Yellow Freebie has a drying pod but it looks not too viable. I will be surprised if it has seeds. And that’s it. Crazy good results from one diploid and one tetraploid this year. But we have a very long way to go. We shall see.
The transplants from two weekends ago are doing phenomenally.
No losses. I did make one mistake, I realized, and I put a daffodil bulb UNDER a Blue Mouse Ears division transplant. So I will have a daffo-mouse. Should be interesting, but fine. If the daffodil does bloom it will be done when the Blue Mouse Ears (hosta) starts to come up. Still … silly of me. Keep daffodils to the daylilies. Oh well. And last of all, sadly, I have a sedum and a hosta that I think need to come out. They just look like they are struggling. The hosta is quite old and never been divided. The sedum is a cutting. Stuff happens. I’d rather be safe. I can put Blue Mouse Ears divisions over there, and maybe a daylily.
There is one daylily bud left – Tender Love. This pic with the second to last bloom was yesterday.
And there is one seed harvested – Purple D’Oro x Naomi Ruth. I hope it is viable. The pod fell off when I touched it, and there was only one seed and at only 39 days, so I question it, but we shall see.
Weekend four on the ten week countdown dawned rainy, but the forecast correctly predicted clear up by mid morning. Good thing, because the week four list was the heftiest list by far. Some coffee, the word from hubs that he was ready, and we were off and running.
First up was a dig out. This is an at least 7 year old Purple D’Oro daylily clump that has been languishing in the increasing shade of hostas under the linden. The hosta garden is a look I love, but that daylily definitely needed new digs. The past 2 years it did not bloom at all and the few years before that its bloom was sparse. It deserves more love – a bit of dividing (into three clumps) and full sun. It may miss its sibs but it is just moving across town to hang out with some Stellas in the historic cemetery garden. Maybe make some new little D’Oros. And be amongst other sun lovers like daffodils and sedum.
So – daffodils … I know I said probably no more daffodils at the historic cemetery, and no more buying for the townhouse gardens. But, well …. You see …. We have Sir Bunimous Rex (a gigantic bunny) who roams the neighborhood at all hours of the night, and baby squirrels with voracious appetites and zero manners, and maybe a deer, although we haven’t seen it yet (but what else eats seed pods without even slightly bending the scape?) Anyway, the assumed trifecta that we actually do enjoy are having a field day with my seed pods, which, ok, is fine. They have mostly eaten failing pods. And the process this year has been beyond fun, I am building quite a knowledge base just from trial and error, plus it is free. Additionally, I actually would like to see a deer roam through here. I miss them from our little house up north, and their nighly parades. My husband probably is relieved, near term, that the assumed trifecta probably has eaten enough seed pods now that I probably don’t need to add on to the inn (the daylily seedling box) next year. If I ever got super serious about this hobby, we could get a well up north. But, here and now, given we know the munching issue, we need a bit ‘o prevention, and protection, for new plantings. So daffodils and coffee grounds go around all new plantings here and at the historic cemetery (where there are moles), and then ongoing peppermint oil is also being used as a deterrent at the townhouse. I HAVE found infrared deterrents, but, sigh, they also deter dogs, and sigh, I need my dog to go outside …
So back to the Purple D’Oro – my husband dug it out, I divided it, and it went in a bag to the historic cemetery, along with the 2024 Purple D’Oro self seed seedlings (from 2023 harvested seed), where I planted them, and some languishing Asian lilies, along with daffodils, today.
And with that, the left side of the historic cemetery garden is a wrap. That just makes my heart so happy – even though there is no rain in the forecast for the next week, and that means daily trips to water them. The next 90 degree day in the forecast looks like a week out. A daily trip over there will be fine, short term.
What’s left at the historic cemetery garden? Waiting for the (right side) daylily order to arrive in September. And weed and trim each side alternately. Have I mentioned how AWESOME the mulch is? Sooooo easy to weed. Not necessarily so fun in heat and humidity, but way easier than the rock and heaving plastic that was there before. And people absolutely love it! A couple stopped to talk again today when I was there. They said they can really see the passion for gardening that we all are putting in there. Wowee Wow! Very humbling, and rewarding.
You may also notice I am not saying “fence garden” anymore. The large overgrown garden has been donated to the rain gardens at the historic mansion in town. They needed things that were budget friendly and would come back every year. Yes, and yes. So the only garden at the historic cemetery will be the formerly known as “fence” garden. Woo Hoo! Now if this “crazy lady” can stop coming up with new projects! Hahaha! I think I’d better. The current state is “just right”.
But wait! Why was weekend four so hard? Dig out a daylily at the townhouse and go dig and plant four holes at the historic cemetery? Big honking deal! Oh no, no, no, no! That was just the cemetery part. Back to yesterday, I had other daylilies and seedlings, and fairy ringed hostas to dig and divide and find new locations for. Swapping locations for sun scorched Blue Mouse Ears and sun starved Purple D’Oros. And moving a failing set of Asian Lilies (they went in with the daylily divisions and the daffodils-layering-to the cemetery). And then last was moving a regularly stepped on Praying Hands hosta. I’m thinking the stepper-oner is four pawed and goes by the name of Bunimous Rex. That Bun does not eat it, I am amazed.
So today wraps up weekend four of the townhome side of the 10 week countdown. We did it! Hallelujah!!! So glad that is now done! And so thankful for ibuprofen and a nap!
I leave you with some end state pics at the townhome.
More to come, and yes that is chicken wire around Tender Love. Bun broke off and ate the scape with the cross from Pink Tirza. No more for you, Bun!
I am a (relevant) data junkie. And I admit, yes, I am one of those people that have to bite my tongue when I need answers and I am being fed baloney sausage. Thankfully, there is no baloney sausage in the garden. Oh I love it so 😊
The data from 2024 is telling me the hostas under the linden are healthier than ever. They are giving me that woodland garden backdrop I so love, with mostly shade and dappled sun.
They are a bit affected by the Japanese beetle bugs about this time of year, but I can’t do anything about that.
The data is telling me the Purple D’Oro daylilies under the linden don’t have enough sun any more. The ones that can be dug out are on the 10 week countdown.
The data is telling me the Blue Mouse Ears hostas need dividing, and they would probably be happier with more shade. They will start to do a swap-a-roo with the daylilies under the linden and are on the 10 week countdown.
The data is telling me that, although some daylily crosses were initially looking successful, some daylily type’s pods consistently failed. I soooo feel a delightful spreadsheet coming on to identify all the patterns. Notes and verbiage are great, but this girlfriend likes to plan intelligently too. All those crosses deserve analysis. For sure, I know I can can cross Marque Moon X South Seas and Marque Moon X Just Plum Happy off the list. The pods get to a point, and then start to deteriorate, and it is like a beacon to whatever is eating the pods to pull the whole scape down. But the healthy pods seem more chomp safe. Go figure. Still, the data says so.
The data says I need to put chicken wire around shorter, late season bloomers. Because the data says the baby squirrels seem to think they are gourmet. And the data says Pink Tirza and Coral Majority (yes, intense Coral Majority) have crazy good pollen. And the data says, even though I thought I had successfully typed Hello Yellow, it started to look a bit like it was dying off after a couple weeks, and then something got the pod. I tell you, failing pods are like a munchie beacon.
So, the data also says I need to buy myself some reference info that gives me a deeper dive, and maybe join an organization to knowledge share. Nothing too intense. But better than unfruitful internet searches.
It’s all good. Next July will bring another level. Who knows what crazy crosses I might try in 2025. Hello Yellow x Coral Majority? Egads!!!
This morning I have a half day of PTO, so I got a chance to putz around a bit and take inventory after a sleepover weekend with the oldest grandson. No gardening when he is here, yet. But he does show potential. Mama is a gardener and he helps her dig lol.
So this morning after grandchild-ville got packed up and tucked back into storage until next time, I went out and did the last crosses of the season – Tender Love x red dailies.
I was thinking the two would not bloom together and that mid-last week was going to be the last crosses, but I got one last chance. We shall call it an opportunity to compensate for a bit ‘o damage the squirrels/bunnies/potential deer have done to the seed pods. Not too bad, but eyes on you now squirels/bunnies/potential deer in the format of trail cams to figure it out.
And now also starts transplanting. Next up on the 10 week countdown is planting seedlings at the historic cemetery – and one division has been added. There are boatloads of Stella D’Oros over there, and we are planning on a low profile, so I have thoughts on crossing Purple D’Oro and Stella D’Oro. But that means I have to bring Purple D’Oro over there, because there are none. I’ll bring one transplant and some Purple D’Oro seedlings to start and see how it goes. It also means the taller daylilies (like the South Seas seedlings) are out as options over there, so I’m adjusting that plan for which seedlings go where.
I just love Saturday mornings in the garden, a slow start, just relaxing and taking it all in, getting up to take a pic, making a daylily cross, letting the dog back in the house, or back out again lol, watching the birds, the squirrels, thinking about fun stuff. It’s the best!
Last Saturday morning I got to do that. No deadlines, no strict agenda. Just enjoying what is happening in the garden. There were 2 Pink Tirza blooms, the second to last Marque Moon bud bloomed, a couple Naomi Ruth blooms, a few red daylily blooms, the last mystery yellow freebie bloom of the season, and two glorious Tender Love blooms. And the beautiful hostas are continuing to bloom. Some daylily crosses were done, some trimming and cleaning up was done, of course a whole lot of pics were taken, and a whole lot of sharing and catching up and rejuvenating. Sunday was an historic cemetery garden morning. I love early mornings in that garden too. They are very different though. When I go over there, I have planned, I know what I want to accomplish. I don’t sit and relax and daydream. I “do”. Last Sunday I brought the 5 sedum rootings and got those planted. I watered them as I went, I discovered as I dug – where rock was still a bit under the landscape fabric, and plastic under that lol. I discovered ant colonies too, oh yeah. That was definitely “in the moment”. No snakes this time though haha! The end product for the morning didn’t look like much, baby sedum rootings amid a sea of beautiful mulch, but this morning as I looked at my 2014 – 2023 “this day in years past” photos, it reinforced to me exactly how fast things grow. My 2014 gardens at the townhouse barely resemble my gardens there today. So on Sunday they looked like this
but they grow fast. Next year at this time, conditions permitting, they will look much fuller and taller. Next up for planting at the historic cemetery is the daylily seedlings. Then the one side will be done for the year, with space to grow for quite a few years. Don’t forget space to grow 😊 The other side cannot be planted until this year’s daylily order arrives, should be in September.
After I wrapped up the planting at the historic cemetery last Sunday morning, I did take time to wander, the full length of the fence garden, a few times, and when I went to empty the rock I dug out, I also took a look at the large overgrown garden that will be (hopefully) removed this September. That moment will also be very special, a transition to just the fence garden go forward. A good moment. A long planned and awaited moment.
Over the past week, the daylilies in the townhome garden areas have really wound down.
The diploids are getting some crosses with Tender Love.
But the best surprise of all in the past couple days, so far, fingers crossed, is that mystery yellow freebie might actually be a diploid. The start of a seed pod from a tetraploid cross very quickly failed, overnight literally, so the next morning I decided to cross her with Pink Tirza. That now has a seed pod that doesn’t look like it is failing, yet, fingers crossed. Lots to go but that would be very exciting.
There are so many seed pods and so many crosses and so many notes and hundreds of pictures, but the daylily season is winding down now and will soon be a wrap. So far I am seeing a few seed pods from Purple D’Oro and some Marque Moon crosses fail, but Pink Tirza, Naomi Ruth, Just Plum Happy, Cedar Waxwing, Coral Majority, Tender Love, and the red daylilies have all been very successful. And the self seeders are Coral Majority, Just Plum Happy, a bit of the red daylilies, and one Pink China Doll. What I will do with those seeds is tbd. The historic cemetery will be full, the garden areas at the townhome are full. I think the self seeds will have to go up north.
This morning, as the dawn arrived and I took a look at what the new day had brought, I am very thankful for so many things. For the gardens here, today, in the moment, I am thankful the last Pink Tirzah bud of the 2024 season is starting her one day bloom on the same day as the last two Naomi Ruth buds of the 2024 season are beginning to bloom and a Tender Love bud has already also started to bloom. If I want to try another cross with the red daylilies, they are still blooming too. I have many choices this day, of many types of diploids. Only one tetraploid is still blooming – Coral Majority. South Seas bloomed her last bud of the 2024 season yesterday, no crosses.
I have gone gonzo with the daylily crosses this year. I seriously had all good intentions to keep things minimal but I definitely failed at that. It was just so fun to see the early successes. The daylily I probably taxed the most is Naomi Ruth. She will definitely need daylily food. And next year she needs to be only a pollen provider, like Pink China Doll got to rest this year. South Seas and Cedar Waxwing also have a lot of seed pods from crosses. All of this has made me realize, I am reaching the end of my free knowledge gathering era and I need to start investing for deeper dive info. Things like I know the good pollen providers in the gardens here, but from my reading online it looks like not all daylilies are good pollen providers. And things like exactly how much does seed production tax the energy of a daylily? A recommended number of crosses per scape? A percentage related to the bloom count? And what truly is the longest time worth waiting for a seedling to bloom?
Today I only did crosses with Naomi Ruth (pollen). The Pink Tirza out front has three successful crosses from Purple D’Oro but there are so few buds left that I can now easily keep track of the two from Naomi Ruth, and that will be that for crosses to Pink Tirza. Same with two red daylilies, both on one scape and no buds left and no self seeding on that scape. And I have LOTS of notes and pics this year.
Tender Love has two scapes. One scape has already been earmarked for crosses with Pink Tirza. The other Tender Love scape will be earmarked for crosses with Naomi Ruth (Naomi Ruth providing the pollen). And did I mention a sister Tender Love is on the way this fall? Need … To … Stop (maybe next year)
Cedar Waxwing also got a rest yesterday and today while she wrapped up. Today she bloomed her last bud of 2024. Rest well dear Cedar Waxwing. You shall get some daylily food for sure too.
The cross with Just Plum Happy and mystery yellow freebie looks like it is forming a seed pod, so it looks like she is a tetraploid, which I suspected. Dang! A cross with Pink Tirza was SO in my mind! Mystery yellow freebie will bloom her last bud tomorrow (I know her very unusual pattern now), so unless the previous cross clearly fails overnight I will assume it is a tetraploid and hope Marque Moon blooms tomorrow. I want to see about taming some of the curl and ruffles, and South Seas probably wouldn’t do that … although it would be a pretty combo.
mystery yellow freebie (below)
Marque Moon (above)
South Seas (below)
Oh, did I mention, a free Marque Moon is on the way this fall? I know, I know. I said I wasn’t going to buy more Marque Moons, and I didn’t. I seriously didn’t. OK, maybe I did see I could get a free one and tailored my order to match that level. But I was already getting more than enough (for the historic cemetery garden) to qualify. It actually ended up being a “take things out of my cart” situation to get the Marque Moon. So that’s good, right?
Meanwhile, back to seeds, either Bunimous Rex (very large bunny) or a very naughty squirrel saw to making my decision for me as to whether or not to harvest the Purple D’Oro self seed pods. Clearly the answer was yes I was going to harvest them or I would have trimmed them off lol. Anyway, all 3 seed pods are gone. Little evidence remains except below. I suppose it is their fair share. I suppose I should consider it my easy out.
Tomorrow is going to be warm and so it will be a work in the townhome gardens morning. I can do some pulling of forget-me-nots and I have the 10 week countdown (now nine weeks left). Fingers crossed, early Sunday is a planting morning at the historic cemetery. Cooler weather and some rain is forecasted the early part of next week, so far, so I’m hoping that holds. If not, I can just weed.
Fortunately, very fortunately, Pink Tirza is also blooming. It may be my only chance this season to do a cross, so cross it was.
It looks like our first daylily seedling to bloom in the townhouse gardens is a tetraploid. I crossed her with Just Plum Happy and it looks like it was successful, so far. Many more mile markers to go but she has a seed pod.
Monday morning we said Sweet Dreams to Pink China Doll. She bloomed four buds on Sunday and now she is done blooming for the year. Well deserved wind down for her.
Monday the large Just Plum Happy bloomed profusely and yesterday the sole remaining bud bloomed. The same on the medium Just Plum Happy – the last bud bloomed yesterday. So yesterday was the last day of bloom in the 2024 garden here for Just Plum Happy. She truly has been a joy again this year. We are leaving all three in place, no dividing, for next year. And the last bloom of the medium Just Plum Happy was crossed with the mystery yellow freebie, to see if the mystery yellow freebie might be a tetraploid. I suspect so, but I am wishing for a diploid. But doubtful.
If the Just Plum Happy cross fails, there is one more mystery yellow freebie bud, and I will cross that with whatever diploid blooms on that day. If the cross with Just Plum Happy succeeds, I will have much less choice for another tetraploid cross for the last mystery yellow freebie cross – maybe Cedar Waxwing, maybe South Seas. Or maybe Coral Majority lol! Could be nothing.
The diploid cross between Pink Tirza and the red daylily succeeded, so I did two more yesterday, same scape.
And at the historic cemetery we have a wrap up plan for the excess irises and daylilies from the large overgrown garden. They will be going to the historic mansion in town. There are two rain gardens there that have room. September should be a good month for that activity.
So now we begin August. The beginning of August always feels to me like a mini version of the first week of January, when the holidays have wrapped up and we throttle back to a more “normal” routine. But there is so much more of gardening season left. 3 months 🥰 Still lots of daylilies to bloom, but not July’s intensity, all of the remaining transplanting and then new planting work, the 2024 seedlings need to be planted, the remaining hostas will go to bloom, the sedum, the seed pod work … plenty still to come. Just a bit of a slower pace again now.
Susan's Daily Garden 