Another beautiful set of blooms

I am growing quite fond of taking all the pictures and then sitting out with no way to take any more pictures – just walking the garden, enjoying the blooms, and then sitting and relaxing on the patio and looking some more. It is a good discipline – to enjoy the moments, to take it all in, and consider the wonderful gifts.

Saturdays

Saturday – what a glorious day!

Wake up, check the gardens, make coffee, head outside. Wake up some more, look around some more. Think a little. Form a “day of” plan. An ambitious version. A minimal version. Avoid any longer term planning. Drink my coffee. Sit with the dog.

Take some pictures.

Get all the tools ready – clipper, gloves, bucket, maybe shovel.

Do some trimming. Do some weeding. Have some coffee. Sit with the dog. Chat with my husband – who is now awake.

Rinse. Repeat.

Saturdays are THE BEST!!! In any of the gardens. March- October.

Saturdays in the woods are pretty awesome too.

Here’s to Saturdays!

need sunglasses 😎
oh yeah!
what’s that?

This got outta control!

I recently tried some deliberate daylily crosses.

Here are my observations:

It was fun on day one, day two I thought I definitely needed to document and have a better tagging system, day three I started thinking, “what else should I cross”, day four I did one cross and started realizing that I was looking at the day’s blooms for crossing options, and not enjoying the blooms. I stopped.

If I do more crosses I will need a much better system – tags, methodology to keep crosses documented, and limits so I don’t stop enjoying the blooms first, and then the crosses, because already one cross failed. 6 more tbd.

My original plan was Pink China Doll to Marque Moon. Maybe that is the key. Keep it simple.

Next year, better plan.

Thinking crabgrass

In the seedling planter, back in early June, the first sprouts to come up were suspect. The soil came from a local nursery, I’m thinking mixed with compost pile results. The kids said it was cheap. It worked, but it had lots of weeds.

When I plant daylily seeds, I don’t bother the seedlings until they are ready to go in the ground – where they will live for a few years at least.

I don’t think this set of two “seedlings” are daylilies 😉 They are, I think, crabgrass. But if I pull them, they will upset the soil around the other daylily seedlings. The crabgrass may get a severe haircut until I can get the seedling pots up north and the seedlings safely planted in their new location. Hoping soon.

Winding down

The daylilies are winding down. There are less than a dozen Purple D’Oro buds left, and way less than that on almost all the others except Marque Moon. The cross I did this weekend from the Marque Moon to the South Seas did not take. But the Purple D’Oro have 17 seed pods – all created by pollinators. The (6) remaining intentional crosses we did are tbd. I think I will stop at that. I was starting to see blooms as potential crosses, and I didn’t like that path. I am in a place right now where I really, really, really just need to enjoy the small moments of peace. “Plans” keep reminding me that they are just that – plans. Gifts, on the other hand, like the pollinator creations are a special, abundant treat, at least at this particular time. I am not sure I have ever had 17 Purple D’Oro seed pods. But I will gladly accept them.

No pic today. I am going to walk out in the garden tonight without anything but a heart full of wonder at how beautiful July was, and thankfulness for what is winding up today, one day, as a gift of beautiful daylilies. And hope that the little baby bunny we have been watching will enjoy a few more patches of clover I have saved in the rock.

photo fatigue

Around about this time every year I get photo fatigue. I know – horror! But this is how it goes – The first daylily of the season has been so long anticipated I want to take a dozen photos, from every angle, to preserve it for “daylilyless” season. And to share.

The first set of multiples is like a bouquet – it is so wonderful together, and each daylily also has to be remembered for it’s individual joy.

The wide swaths of daylilies also absolutely have to be captured.

But then … I just want to enjoy them.

Yesterday I was in my office, and my husband said to me, “Do you smell that?” “Oh no!” I thought. “That doesn’t sound good!” But you know what? He was out on the patio relaxing, with our dog also relaxing, and the breeze was perfect. He was catching the scent of one of our few fragrant daylilies – his favorite, the “Just Plum Happy” daylilies. My husband doesn’t try to capture the daylilies in pictures. I don’t think he has ever taken a picture of a daylily. He just enjoys them.

And that is where I get about this time each year. There are so many, they are so wonderful, the camera just can’t capture the beauty. Time to stop thinking, “Oh, I need to take more pictures!” Time to throttle back and just enjoy.

In the front, the Blue Mouse Ears got their annual haircut today. I snapped off all the scapes, as they are done blooming for the year. 2 dozen Blue Mouse Ears hostas would be just fine by me – they require very little maintenance, and in fact, in the fall after they beautifully yellow, the leaves can be pulled out just like the undercoat of a chow chow when it is shedding. Believe me, I know that too!!!

That black lab puppy we adopted oh those many years ago??? Yah. But I digress. (She still has a super special place in my heart.)

Back to the picture –

The Just Plum Happy daylilies in the center are the ones that make my husband Just Plum Happy. And on landscape maintenance days he now sits out and greats the guys as they come through with their blowers. He says it is for me, which I partially believe … 🙂

The Touch of Class hosta (to the left) is, sadly, one of three remaining. Two died suddenly maybe five years ago??? One year they were huge, the next – gone. I can only guess it was the sunflower seed casings from the bird feeder we had there for about a month and a half at the end of winter.

The empty space is from things that have been moved up north or gifted.

Then behind there are the daylilies that need a new location – probably up at the camping land, but tbd.

Oh, and the Pink China Dolls to the right? They came to live here when the Touch of Class hostas disappeared. They have been cavorting with the Marque Moon daylilies. We introduced them to each other, and we hope they really hit it off. But more on that this week.