Tag: Asian lilies

Did it – with big help from hubs

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!

Happy 4th of July!

It is a rainy, chill out sort of 4th of July (American Independence Day) here. Here’s some red, white, and “blue” from our garden.

And a hint of which daylily looks like it is right on the verge of being the first to bloom in the garden this year. It will also be the first time it has bloomed in our garden. Full disclosure, I did not mark it, so until it blooms I will not be able to say for sure, but I believe it is Delicate Design.

Rain and Asian Lilies

We are having an exceptionally rainy Spring this year, which, alternating with some recent heat spells is causing us to play hopscotch with our time in the gardens. Think mosquitos also added to rain and heat impediments. Short bursts of catch-it-while-you-can time has been the norm. But the Asian lilies are keeping it pretty, whether inside or out.

Flowers, Flowers, and More Flowers

A fantastic 24 hours indeed!
Tuesday I had volunteer time through work to start using up, so I scheduled 2 hours at the start of the day. Hey, calendars determine part of these decisions 😉 Tuesday was predicted sunny a few days before, but it dawned with rain. By 7:30 am it was to a drizzle and I could not stand the wait any longer. I needed my historic cemetery fence gardening fix. Off I went. And as blessings would have it, the drizzle fizzled by the time I pulled up to the cemetery, and stopped within a minute of getting out of the car and starting to work.
This was the first project of the day I wanted to complete – a removable border to keep the mulch in on the new iris bed.

It has to be removable come late fall because the snow plow/blower will suck up even pavers set on end.
Now maybe the perfectionist in some will say, “Why not right on the edge?” Well, at first I had the mulch mounded, and it was going over the top of the border if I placed it right at the edge. But as projects go, I just had to see if I could make it work right on the edge. I smoothed out the mulch, repositioned the border, and called my friend the site manager, who said “Hello crazy lady!” Hahaha! I asked her if she and her husband were coming over because pics weren’t sending and I needed a second set of eyes. You know what she said? “No, because it’s raining.” Now, first of all, in case you think that was not nice, she is my friend, so she was just having fun, but I tell you, the drive is short from our part of town, and it was not even drizzling at the cemetery when I called her. So I was being blessed for sure!!! Here is the pic I was trying to send her.

I made the decision, I liked the border farther back for now. Maybe I will plant ground cover in front. You just never know what I might do in a garden when I set my mind a-going. I might plant more irises in that bed and move the border forward yet this year even. You just never know with me 🙂

So I got done with the border, poured in my last bag of mulch to chock-a-block full top it off, micro-weeded the right side of the garden, took a few more quick pics, and went back home, to my office, and logged in, 7 minutes late. No worries. It was all good. Work knows what a crazy lady I am too, and that they will see me work way more than 7 minutes late cuz, well, you know, I am one of those weird people that like what I do for a paycheck. We are out there, right? 😉

At the end of my work day the dog got extra lovins because I was going to leave him yet again, but only for an hour or so, to go to the historical society meeting at a historic factory turned hotel, condos, pub, and event venue. So fun!!!

Here are pics of the setting. It was an absolutely beautiful night! No rain there!

Still, I couldn’t stop there. I had spotted the first daylily of my gardening season in bloom at the cemetery in the morning. But my phone was in the glove box, all the way at the other end of the fence garden, and you know, I was running late dadeedadeeda …

So I had to, I just had to, get a pic of that first daylily blooming. Yes, it is the overused Stella D’Oro, but … it is the first daylily of the year in the gardens I love and work in.

I returned home a very happy crazy lady! And our dog celebrated with the zoomies.

This morning, I was treated to a fully opened peach Asian lily and the first opened hosta blooms.

I tell ya, it was a wunderbar 24 hours!

And I think the baby bunny must have had fun too.

Dang it! Now I have to start using that cordial glass again!

Back to it

I took a couple weeks off garden work when our 2nd grandson was born. Yesterday was “get back to it” day. 4 1/2 buckets of clover and forget-me-nots left the gardens and it looks great again.

As the Asian lilies wrap up

and the Elegans hostas stand in the background

The Blue Mouse Ears are starting to steal the show

The big Just Plum Happy daylily is getting it’s scapes

The daylily seedlings are starting to outgrow the seedling box and are gradually getting exposed to the wider world

And the lavender from the old seeds is standing guard as a deterrent to bunny munching

Oh yes, it’s a thing

The coneflower in the back is completely gone, and this is what remains of the one in front.

But it is a cute little one, right?

Note to self – buy more lavender seeds next year.

Bunimous has decided

Bunimous (named because he is dinosaur sized as rabbits go – haha 😂) decided which Asian lily blooms I should have in a vase. He must have started his munching but then left a broken stalk for me. Thanks Bunimous!

In the background is the daylily seeds result for this year – one for sure. I think the other two are grass – I think. Those two will go up to the camping land in a spot that gets enough sun and does not totally dry out. If they surprise me, AWESOME! If not, they will be in good company. More to come on that and change of seed soil in future blogs.

The asian lily below just bloomed. That plant is one that fell in the category of “tulip” syndrome. It bloomed strong year one, faded year two, and is now “iffy,” for blooming each year. Like the faded tulips, I leave it in the ground just to see if it will do anything. And it provides early greens when the garden is first coming up in spring.

The clematis could be trimmed, but hey! It covers the boring bare rock 🙂

Forward

The roofs, gutters, fascia project work is all done. It was a long month of very much activity around here, which was a good thing, but I am glad it’s done. Yesterday we put the pictures back on the walls inside (it was recommended to remove them during the roof replacement). Then we moved outside and started really assessing the gardens – what needs love this season.

The gardens here will be refreshed this fall. And we know a bush out front will be removed to make way for the new gutter drain system. So not too much extra work in the garden this season will be smart until we know what all that looks like. But we can do a few things. A little fun. Adding the garden decorations back, planting a gift of zucchini plants in a pot (we can’t grow veggies in the ground per townhome regulations), moving the green shamrock to a shady spot out front, and maybe, just maybe, a couple coneflowers to fill in a bare spot in the back garden. Hey, they were at the farmer’s market and they, how does the saying go, chose me ☺️

So, we put one foot in front of the other, and say thanks for the weekend of time to finally relax.

The clematis are now done blooming, as is the weigelia, and next up are the asian lilies. This is what some looked like a few days ago.

I remember when the garden out back was pink and purple asian lilies and (purple) Siberian irises – 19 years ago. The Siberian irises were a bit too crowding in the greenery department, and moved to my mother-in-law’s much larger garden. But the asian lilies are still there – they came up peach year two and have been peach ever since. For 18 years. Multiplied and divided and new growth started. Just consistently showing up each year in the same area in the back gardens. Nice.

I added pink Asian lilies year three in another area in the back gardens, and those multiplied and divided and I started new groupings. Every year they come up in the same areas. Nice.

A friend and I swapped divisions of our Asian lilies, and I got some tall white lilies from her. Every year they come up in the back gardens too. Very nice.

Under the linden, the deep pink Asian lilies are also a fixture.

And out front one pink Elodie stand still remains. Asian lilies do not have as much staying power out front, but that one bunch continues.

Much is the same, and much is up in the air. But little by little, we move forward.

It looks like the peach daylilies will kick off the color show.