Join me this year as I start the Mahala project, an effort to bring a daylily cross, from seed to bloom, that personifies the historic accounts of the bold, yet incredibly hospitable first white woman settler to our area, who, with her husband ran a lodge that was frequented by a variety of common people – trappers, travelers, and Sioux alike. A woman who not only cooked a hog for her guests, but harvested it. Whose lodge was a log cabin with a hot kitchen that leaked.
The seed from the cross below will be the first attempt. It is from a 2024 cross at the townhome gardens. It will be at least a three year wait til bloom. A long game to be sure.
It was a long off-season for the gardens, but season 2025 is here!
The daylily seeds were put into the refrigerator on February 4, and they will stay there until after Easter. Partially because my office now doubles as a part-time fill-in 3 year old’s “school” space ❤️, and turning it into a gardening nursery would be a stretch, and partially because one of the sets of the seeds may go to the historic cemetery. We shall see.
The forced daffodils also came out of the garage on February 4th. February 4th was a big day 😊 It took them a while, but the first bud is now starting to go to bloom.
Much more to come. The sedum and daylilies are starting to poke up, extra stuff is happening at the historic cemetery, and I will fill you in on additional garden projects planned for this year. Until next time ..
If gardens have dreams, I wish ours the sweetest. Yesterday I cut back the last of our small hostas at the townhome, along with the short sedum, and a few daylily greens. It is now full slumber time approaching for those gardens. Today I cut back the remaining hostas, some irises, some very small sedum, and some daylilies at the historic garden. Again today, all the people who came by in the short hour I was there were so thankful and kind. Do gardens positively add to quality of life? Absolutely! Tonight, I mostly have a sense of “well done”, personally and for all who helped, and I have very fond memories of a very full garden season. I am a bit sad. It will be six months until the garden pops again. But it was a wonderful good garden season this year. And for that I am thankful.
To have fun until the forced bulbs start to push up and until it is time to plant the well over 100 seeds from the daylily crosses I did this year, I have started an indoor garden, on either side of my office desk.
The purple shamrocks I divided and I thought I killed – nope. Back in full force. And the green shamrocks I thought I accidentally froze out and was going to divide like the purple shamrocks – back in full force. Tonight the shamrocks rest but tomorrow they will be back open. I am also going to try to get the orchid to bloom. Fingers crossed.
Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day. Most sincere thanks to all who have served so selflessly. Your service is genuinely appreciated.
It is the end of the gardening season, the middle of the fall, time to enjoy the turning of seasons, and time for a little reflection.
Of course, top of mind, I poured myself into two garden endeavors this year – the daylily crosses and refining and filling up the garden at the historic cemetery. Of all the daylily crosses I did this year, a whim was the most successful – Pink Tirza X red daylily. 8 seed pods, 60 seeds! What I will do with 60 seedlings of just that cross, I have no idea. And that is just one cross of many this year. I ended up with well over a hundred viable looking seeds, “looking” being the key. The first three hurdles have been passed – successful cross, seed pod survived to maturity, and healthy looking seed. All the seeds are in storage now. But there is much more to go, and at least a few years to see what I got.
This is always a tough transition for me. Friends go south, gardens go to sleep, way more time indoors … but I could probably use a little rest.
And let’s not forget the cabin, yes the cabin. While I was crossing daylilies to make new ones, and doing year 2 at the historic cemetery, my husband was turning an Amish built shed into a cabin. What was just an idea 5 years ago – a brain child out of watching too many videos that looked way too easy, and a long time idea of “something up north” – is now a cabin. Not the Taj Mahal. Not a cabin on a lake – we are terra firma people – but nevertheless a cabin. Yes, crazy stuff. Still an outhouse. Still bears, and wolves, and coyotes, a porcupine, a bard owl, at least one bobcat, deer, bunnies, mice (sorry mice, saying buh-bye to you), red squirrels, grouse, lots of birds, even a nest on the shed porch this spring. But now also a cabin. Better be careful. Maybe a well is next. You never know the crazy stuff we might do.
And the garden at the historic cemetery! Wowsywowsywow! That changed me as a person! It renewed in me that people really do appreciate things. Not everybody – I’m talking to you dog owners lol. Cute as they are, that garden is not for Fourpeds! But by and large, the support has been INCREDIBLE!!! And, 100% transparent, not absolutely every harvested seed is in storage. I could not resist harvesting one pod from the Stellas at the historic cemetery. For a friend. Not for me. So far. There are still pods that are maturing. Actually, there are still buds that are blooming. Probably because I removed the pods as they formed. We do have a good crop of pollinators over there so I suspect it will an ongoing discipline to remove the pods as they form so we get season-long bloom.
So onwards! No choice, right? The fall candles are being burned, the cozy home stuff is coming out, the garden is going to sleep, the shrubs are being trimmed, the hummingbird feeders are down, soon the garden pretties will come in and be stored, and the seedling box, and eventually the lawn furniture and firepit. But the pictures are available and the fireplace has already been started up, and there are adventures ahead.
For tonight, I started putting button batteries in the tea lights, and I lit a woodsy candle and drank hot cocoa. Fall is definitely here.
The daylily seed harvest is wrapping up. This year I have eight different types that survived the bunnies, squirrels, and sprinklers. Two are self seed and one is an “unknown” after a save from critter curiosity. That leaves five, and the daylily seedling box fits five pots, so, whew! we probably don’t need to put an addition on the daylily seedling “inn” next spring. After discovering what looks like a self seed, self plant, seedling bloom (more on that at the end), I now have a much greater level of confidence that the self seeds and unknowns can go straight into the ground in May. Where they will go, I have no idea. We are choc-a-block full. Time will tell.
The “countdown to season end” planting and transplanting list is also done, and early at that, as the daylily shipment came earlier than I expected. That sprint was something else! Very rewarding, but very exhausting.
After the linden trimming brought a previously shaded area back into the sun, there was no more room for Blue Mouse Ears hostas. I ended up planting the two remaining Blue Mouse Ears hosta divisions into the historic cemetery garden. A little worse for wear after sitting in the garage for a week and a half, but better than to the compost pile.
I hope they make it. They are such a beautiful hosta, and it would be nice to have them in that garden.
All of the other plantings I have put into the historical cemetery, save the clematis that never bloomed and eventually died, are doing well. The sedum rootings are even blooming pink. And the baby daylily pieces are sprouting new fans. For all of that, I am thankful. They love the sun, and the mulch seems to keep them in enough moisture.
I also started the fall cutback at the historic cemetery – the largest patch of Black-Eyed-Susans, the remainder of the milkweed, some irises, and more hosta scapes.
At the townhome gardens, the garden is starting to look more like fall. I decided the little scarecrows would be fun to be put out again this year. I almost feel like they could use some little hay bales. But I don’t do hay (achoo!!!) so … Blue Mouse Ears will have to do.
Sadly, the hummingbirds are pretty much done coming through and we will soon take down the feeders. There are enough flowers for late travelers. They have really loved the second bloom of the Weigelia this year (below) as well as the late blooming Rainforest Sunrise hosta.
The huge flocks of small migrating birds have also wound down. We have been seeing quite a few butterflies now, so we are assuming that is also migration. And seagulls! I wonder if we just never noticed them before here. We had flocks of them at our little house in the mining town on Lake Superior, but never here. I am thinking that soon the dark eyed juncos will arrive for the winter.
So time is marching on. But for today, on this beautiful fall day, a day of PTO from work, I will just putz in the garden, enjoy what looks like our last week before the cooler weather, and look at our newest addition – totally unplanned, unplanted, a full on surprise until I saw the buds last week and the bloom today – “Panache”. We are calling her Panache because she appears to be a reversion to the grandparents of Just Plum Happy, the daylily in that space. Welcome to our garden, Panache! You are the new latest blooming daylily here!
We have multiple Just Plum Happy daylilies in our gardens. Not once have we had a seedling from Just Plum Happy, much less a flowering seedling. In fact, the self seed pods usually fail. If any self seed pods open and the seed doesn’t look good, I just put it back into the area of the daylily, food for birds or whatever. But somehow either one of the pods let a self seed out before I saw the open pod, or one of the seeds I didn’t think was viable actually was. Or maybe a bunny or squirrel or sprinkler got the pod before I did and it made a seedling some time in the past few years and now this year it bloomed. In late September. What??? Crazy pants!!!
I seriously doubt it is a rebloom, as I don’t deadhead them, our Just Plum Happy daylilies have never rebloomed, and – it looks so different from Just Plum Happy.
It looks like a grandparent of Just Plum Happy, named Panache. So it shall be called Panache in our garden. And it shall stay, and be the new latest bloomer. Panache is a late bloomer, so …
When you have bunnies and you plant the last pots of daylily seedlings and don’t sprinkle with garlic powder or peppermint oil because the last of the hummingbirds are coming through and the feeder is right there.
I remember the “mostly rock in the gardens” years – in the distant past, but nevertheless, they were exciting. Two times we had the gardens updated at the townhouse, back in the years when the lawn maintenance people were chewing up the bases of our very young deciduous trees while weed whipping, and we were coming up with “save the trees” solutions. Those were the blank slate days – trying out different things to see what worked – with partial/full sun/shade, with grow patterns, with what the birds and bees and butterflies liked. We built out a pretty robust garden, and then shared the template. Hint – templates for rolling out lush gardens to all in a townhome community do not work. It’s kind of like me at 11 years old watching competition ice skaters and thinking “how hard can it be?” Yah. Not so simple. Anyway, I digress. We continued our journey as the property matured. We adjusted to arriving squirrels and bunnies and the effect sprinklers have on growing plants. And then went whoa! Time to divide! And then whoa! This is fun to propagate and share! And then whoa! An abundance beyond what we can find homes for (where I was last weekend). And then the “deep thinking” (more like maneuvering) starts. Maybe those daylilies SHOULD be moved farther into the sun, so maybe I COULD squeeze those last two spare hosta divisions in under the increasing shade the linden is providing …
And then the tree trimmers come, a bit of a surprise because they were already here this year, in late winter, but alright …. And suddenly, sun back into what was becoming a more shaded area.
Cross those daylily moves off the scope creep list.
I see a pattern here. The historic cemetery garden renovation has rounded the corner to maintenance, the townhome gardens are full and the sun/shade patterns are not requiring transplanting after all. We live in a townhome community where we pay for services and they get automagically scheduled and completed. Not really, but we have already done our board time served so yah, it kinda does 😂
I do kinda remember that thing called relaxation. I suppose I could see how that works out again. As husband laughs and says, “Yah, never in a million years.”
See those beautiful, newly planted Blue Mouse Ears divisions 🥰 And the shamrock that needs dividing this fall 😘
I am having some mixed feeling tonight -happy that the two year renovation project at the historic cemetery is done, and it will mainly be maintenance and replacements going forward, but also a little sad. It has been very creative, and iterative, and the challenge was also invigorating. But the past two weeks have been very sprint-y in nature, so to have it wrap up feels weird, like the week after New Years.
Today I planted six more daylilies, each with a daffodil bulb to protect against moles.
I also planted some loose daylily roots (they look like tubers) that were at the bottom of the box from my order last week. I don’t know it they will do anything. We shall see.
Tomorrow I need to go put in markers. I have notes, but markers are also nice. Even if the writing fades, they remind me “something is there, don’t weed”. Next year when things start coming up, that will be very helpful.
I also trimmed some of the perennials at the historic cemetery today. I like to trim after bloom so the plants don’t spend energy on seed, and also to keep up, so the fall cutback is easier.
At the townhouse, I was tempted to put off the planting of the Blue Mouse Ears hosta divisions. I really am having to get creative to find places for them. So far it has been along the path. Today I planted one large division and two medium divisions. I have two medium sized divisions left that still need a home. I suppose tomorrow I will do that.
Then I only have to get two pots of 2024 unknown seedlings into their temporary 2025 growing space, and transplant a Bluebells clematis volunteer (very healthy), and I will be DONE for the year, minus weekly fall cutback, of course. Any leftover daffodils (there will be very few) will go into a pot of dirt in the garage for forcing. That is always fun to have that spring prelude indoors.
I have to say, I am tired of planting and transplanting, which is not normal for me. But I had the sprints from the order arrival, and I had a lot of digging, dividing, and transplanting at the townhouse in the past few weeks. I think those types of planting will be done now for quite a few years again, and I will go back to just planting and transplanting daylily seedlings.
On the daylily propagation topic, I harvested 5 Purple D’Oro X Pink Tirza seeds this week, from the only productive Pink Tirza pod.
The other pods are still ripening. The Mystery Yellow Freebie pod was not productive. I need to research that one this winter.
So, planting has been fun, but exhausting with the urgency and volume. Wrapping up the two year renovation project at the historic cemetery feels a bit funny, but still very joyful, and seeds are just now starting to come into harvest time.
I should probably rest a bit. Fall cutback is up next.
Saturday morning dawned unseasonably cool, a bit of a treat, as, had it been warmer, the pleasantness factor for the weekend’s activities would have been greatly diminished. The daylily order arrived on Friday, and the instructions reinforced what I knew well – the plants needed to get in the ground right away. Not right right away but definitely within a few days. But rewind, on Friday, or even Wednesday, when I got notification the order was on the way, my great big appetite back a few months ago started to get real. As I reminded myself of what I had bought, not even having opened the box yet, I had this nagging feeling – “this is going to be way more than you thought”. And, as all good iterative things do, the plan for the historic cemetery plantings had also been refined a bit since I placed the order. So, as I sat with my hot coffee Saturday morning, I purposefully, thankful for the extra time to think, to calm and organize my final thoughts before starting the physical work, enjoyed the cool morning, the hummingbird parade, the squirrel antics, multiple chickadees and finches on the hanging bird bath, hopping down the chain, sitting on the edge, taking sips of the water, making song, the crisp air and the dramatically different light filtering patterns added to the experience. Finally I was ready, plan on phone, hoping on hope that it would be easier than I thought.
It wasn’t. I overbought, again. As the reality dawned, and the clock ticked against the instructions that reminded me to get the order planted right away, I chided myself. What was I thinking? I am not 40 years old anymore! But, that’s ok. Fast forward to Sunday night, it all worked out, it was still an awesome weekend, and now the order is planted. I bumped right up against sunset last night, but the feeling of being done was pretty awesome.
Some of the daylilies ended up in the townhouse gardens, and that meant some overgrown things had to be pulled out of the townhouse gardens. But save a few small daylily pieces, three kitchen garbage bags full of Blue Mouse Ears hostas, and some daffodil bulbs that can go in with the few dailylily pieces over at the historic cemetery, the shovels can rest. Soon.
I will say that, for sure, nothing more can fit in the townhouse gardens. NOTHING. There are roots galore from the surrounding trees and besides that challenge, things are FULL. It will be hard for weeds to find space! And at the the historic cemetery that is exactly the plan! It is set up to be nice and full a few years from now as it matures, keeping the weeds down with plenty of plants and that beautiful bed of mulch. That means any buying, for either place, going forward, has to be a one in, one out. Seedling additions need to be well planned, and seedlings that don’t bloom need to go up north. The deer will not protest. I, on the other hand, may need some reminding from hubs and some very dear friends. After the aching muscles and rock bruised knees subside and the emails with “potential additions” start to look more enticing, I will need to remember – “Nothing. Nooooo thinnngggg!” 🥰
Oh yah, I still have to get two pots of unknown daylily seedlings planted this week. And a clematis volunteer transplanted, but after that, nooothing!
Susan's Daily Garden 