Harvesting daylily seeds, planting last two pots of seedlings, starting the fall cutback, migrations

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!

When you have bunnies

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.

At least they just ate the tips. Rock helps.

A Momentous Day

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.

The Semi-Finals

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.

One bud left, one seed to storage

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.

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!

Final daylily blooms of the season, testing ploidy, long awaited latest bloom

The long awaited Tender Love bloom has started.

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.

Bold

Today has been a bold day.

In addition to normal maintenance – trimming, weeding – I am now working on my 10 week countdown checklist. That is my planned garden adjustments, broken down into bite sized pieces. That list is bold. Digging things out, moving them around, even some disposing. Some annual adjustments are easier than others, for a number of reasons.
So week(end) 1 was to dig out three self seed daylily seedlings from 2022 and plant them at the historic cemetery fence garden. I put this as week 1 because they are getting bigger and are now in my husband’s direct path to the hummingbird feeder.

Oops! And oops again. Too hot to move seedlings this weekend. That clover companion would never survive. (Just kidding! About the clover 😉) I was optimistic with some nice weather we had been having, but carting water to the cemetery at least once per day so I could check that item off the list? Heat wimp here. Aina-gonna happen. And then I will feel bad they didn’t do well or even died (like up north with only rain). Nope. They can stay in the ground with their clover buddies while I keep an eye on them here. Move that to week 6 and move week 2 up.

Week 2 was pulling out stuff. This was another wimp week because I knew I would hem and haw and feel bad tossing them out. The items were a failing hosta and a failing clematis. I was going to “feel better” by transplanting a clematis without a trellis into that spot. Here’s how that went. My husband had a theory that the issue causing the failure was lack of rain getting in that spot due to the roof and gutter overhang. I doubted that because I had a huge (5’) Aureomarginata (hosta) in that spot years ago and it had gotten that big from a very small plant bought at the garden store. Apples and Apples, right? Those Aeromarginatas moved out of my gardens as a donation to some other gardens in the association. I have gone through a variety of plants in that spot since then. Some were mildly successful. But in thinking about it, the Aureomarginata was more forward, and the sprinkler range at that time was hitting the windows (since then adjusted). So, back to the list. Pulling out the failing part of the current hosta was not bad, and pulling out the failing clematis was not bad, but the clematis I was going to transplant into that spot – not so much. Dead-a-ronio. I know how that happened too. But we shall not rehash that trauma. Cross that transplant off the list.

Told you today was a bold day lol

So week 2 is now done and I get a free week because it looks like we are in for heat for another week at least. Transplanting other things will resume after this hot spell subsides.

On to another bold thing. Hello Yello, the year 2, first year to bloom, yellow self seed seedling bloomed its last bud for this season. Right next to it, the smallest Just Plum Happy, the one I used for the Marque Moon x Just Plum Happy crosses that were so successful (100% so far), was just smiling away, sporting its last bloom of the season, happy as could be. They looked so cute together. I am assuming Hello Yellow (her name so far) is a tetraploid, but I need to test that. So – Just Plum Happy x Hello Yellow today.

Both are their last blooms of the season, no crosses with Hello Yellow so far, super easy to track. I hope it is as successful as my other crossing whims. Still laughing about Coral Majority x Cedar Waxwing. Just watch! That will surpass expectations, be way nicer than the other planned crosses …. Hahaha!

No Marque Moon blooms today. But Pink Tirzah keeps blooming away and today there were two Naomi Ruth blooms so I made those crosses. At this point Naomi Ruth has so many seed pods – x Purple d’Oro on one scape and x Pink Tirza on the other. Hopefully the seed is good. So many points still to pass.

And for a final boldness. Pink China Doll is blooming her last four blooms of this season today. No self seeding on either plant, with multiple scapes and a plethora of blooms. I deadheaded her spent blooms this morning, and one was particularly strong. I cringed. “Maybe it was going to self seed”, I thought. But last year I had 38 seeds from various seed pods after Marque Moon x Pink China Doll crosses, and 11 of those made it to seedling. I am hoping to see the results in 2025 or 2026. All that to say, I probably don’t need Pink China Doll self seeds. I can probably let that idea go. And then, having done my week (2) project, in addition to trimming, weeding, and cleaning up, as I was sitting sipping my tea in the shade, I saw I missed deadheading a Pink China Doll bloom. I did not get up off the reclined chair. “That one gets a chance to survive in case it happened to self seed”, I thought. You never know. Here is that view I was enjoying, minus the spent bloom that has since fallen off 😂

See, sometimes it works out to just sit and wait!

Seed pods galore! And so much more!

Oh goodness!!! What have I done? The Coral Majority x Cedar Waxwing one-time cross experiment succeeded. So, since I have to add on to the “inn” (seedling planter) next spring anyway, I added two more of those today. And then, what the hey! Since we have a 1970s colors theme going on, I crossed Pink Tirza with the red and yellow daylily. Seriously, there are few options now that I haven’t tried, unless I want to totally confuse myself. I have a few more planned crosses if the stars align, but then it is probably done for the season. I am hoping Tender Love blooms while Pink Tirza and Naomi Ruth are still blooming, but that will be tight. I REALLY want a cross between Pink Tirza and Tender Love, so fingers crossed. Bloom wrap up is like bloom start up, kind of hopscotch, skip a day, miss each other. And peak daylily season here is definitely wrapping up.
But, seriously, if every cross that has gone to seed pod makes viable seed, get ready for an “inn” expansion next spring. Our boys bought the last kit for me for a milestone birthday and then put it together and made the bunny and rabbit proof cover. I can ask for a repeat.

The Marque Moon x Just Plum Happy experiment was a 100% success. I have already mentioned the Purple D’Oro x Naomi Ruth success – multiple seed pods there. Pink Tirzah x Naomi Ruth has also been successful. And I thought the two seed pods from Purple D’Oro x Pink Tirzah were failing but so far, although I have seen those fail in previous years, so good. The Marque Moon x South Seas has good success as well. And I already spilled the beans about Coral Majority x Cedar Waxwing succeeding. Good grief!!! That will be a crazy combo! The doggonedest thing about Coral Majority is I really like the exterior color of the bloom, but the interior color and pattern is a bit much for that garden area. We shall see.
The red daylilies have some self seeding, as well as the Purple D’Oro and the large Just Plum Happy. So lots of seed pods. No idea where I will put them all if the seeds go to seedling, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Yes, I did mention I placed an order for more (new to me varieties) daylilies that will be shipped for fall planting. Yes, about a year ago I said we do not have a cabin up north (just a camper). Sooo, a 1 year later update, we bought an Amish shed and my husband is building it out into a cabin. Yes, I am very concerned about what I will do when I retire. Maybe we need to get a well put in up at the cabin and clear space for a greenhouse and fence in a daylily growing area. I don’t know …. We have done weirder things. I suppose we will take things as they unfold lol
So back to the present haha — true to late July here, the fully spent scapes are starting to grow in number, and the remaining buds yet to bloom are less and less. Today I trimmed all the spent scapes that don’t have seed pods and I did some cleaning up of spent blooms in the rock. The larger Pink Tirza and the largest Just Plum Happy have had so many blooms each day the past couple weeks that they were overlapping. It was pure abundant wonderfulness! But then spent blooms need some cleaning up or everything starts to look like a sink full of dirty dishes lol

While I was cleaning up I noticed the beautiful new yellow self seed seedling is getting squirrel attention ugghhh.

Below: the evidence (bunnies don’t crawl up on the covered seedling planter)

And the hostas that throw short scapes are starting to gain bunny attention. (I have sat and watched them do this in previous years, and taken pics, so I know it is them.) Oh well, their fair share. They are very entertaining. And the scapes were pretty for a day before they got them.

I am surprised they haven’t gone after these yet.

We came home from grocery shopping two days ago to see Bunimous (giant bunny) happily eating away on the front garden. Brazen Bunimous!!! It hops off a bit and just keeps eating.
And at the historic cemetery, LOVE!!! The mulch is sooooo good! I can micro weed one whole side in a little over an hour. Huge difference in the look too! I like to go over for a couple hours, and that gives me time to trim and do some clean-up, so things are not overgrown and going to seed.
Last year there was a LOT of donating going on – things just showing up, planted, in the refurbished garden. This second year those things are much bigger and fuller and soooo pretty, and keeping them well trimmed has helped the overall look quite a bit.
Still to be done there – there is that large overgrown garden that I have been transplanting into the fence garden, but we are approaching “plan full” for the fence garden, and there is talk about selling the surplus from the overgrown garden at some point. TBD. No one has the energy to keep that big garden weeded and in shape, and it is overcrowded and in the wrong sun exposure with the big oak trees providing so much shade. It is just a matter of time until it is fully removed.

Here’s some more pics to enjoy.

Above: Stella D’Oro Haha, I see I missed a couple self seed pods. Next time …

Above: This expanse is planned for daylilies and tall (Autumn Joy) sedum. To be planted in September.

Above: These were donated last year. I came to work on the garden one day and there they were! These are Sedum, but the kind that spread out, not get tall. I have some at the townhouse too. I wish they did not “part” like that in the second half of the season, but they are pretty. I have my thinking cap on for what could be done for the donut hole, of sorts. Like I said, same issue with the ones at the townhouse.

Above: This open area could be for some more iris transplants from the overgrown garden that is being disassembled. Irises need to be divided every 3-5 years, so optimal planting is at ground level, which I have done with the new iris bed on the other side, but this might work for a little iris patch.

Above: The hostas are doing mostly well. Some are sunburning, but for the most part they are doing well. And there are 4 yarrow plants on that side as well. They are mostly done blooming and I am starting to deadhead them.

And then it goes into a Black-eyed Susan’s and hostas and ground cover.

It is really looking so nice, and the other side as well. Just need to transplant a bit more from the overgrown garden, plant a bit more and it will be nice and full, with Spring-Fall color and variety. So fun, and quite a pleasure!!!

So that is my download. Lots going on but all pretty fun. The afternoon is going to be indoors. Too hot!!!

About this time of year

It is usually about this time of year that I start to put all my garden observations for the year together into a plan for late summer/early fall adjustments. There are, of course, the seedlings in pots that need to get into the ground, there are usually some plans for additions somewhere, there are often swaps or transplants, and sometimes there are even things that get pulled and disposed. This year there are a bunch, and some in each category.
Yesterday was an absolutely glorious day, and I spent 5 hours just putzing and thinking and planning in the townhouse gardens. I love those days. They challenge me in a variety of ways. And they evoke both discipline and hope. By noon I had a full, but realistic list.

Today dawned rainy, and kept on that way, even adding periods of heavy rain and some periods of thunderstorms. I had been out early during a break in the action and even determined there was no pollen source for my designated crosses today, so “let it rain”. Indoors, I took the time to putz, unpack some deliveries, do some laundry, have multiple cups of tea (after one cup of coffee 🥰) and … put together a week by week garden adjustments/additions plan. Now, remember I still work a very full time job, and we have lots of life stuff, so this 10 week plan is really just 2-5 hours per week. Sometimes it is expected to be relaxing and slow – remove a failing hosta and clematis for disposal and transplant another clematis and 3 smaller, groundcover hostas into that space. Sometimes it is expected to be kinda exhausting and dirty and sweaty, like dig out remaining daylilies in big overgrown garden at the historic cemetery and transplant them into the fence garden there. Both examples are “one week”. They may even be broken up into separate segments or even days, but they are “one week” of work.
It takes a little thinking and adjusting to get that plan firmed up. I go through a lot of iterations. But in the end I have a plan that I know I can work, that I have both time and energy for, and that is timed to match the usual temperatures – for both my sake and for the plants’ sake 😉 That plan is now firm, and pics are even taken of those notes on my phone so I could potentially reference them from multiple devices. Uh-huh. For real. Now I can rest and enjoy the various gardens and also just “work the plan”. Something this very analytical mind does well with lol.

So, about enjoying those gardens. The Purple D’Oros are starting to wane, both this year, and in relationship to its lifetime in its current locations. It definitely needs to be dug, divided, moved out of what has become an increasingly shady filled location under the linden, and moved into much sunnier digs. And it has already got those locations, thanks to the plan discussed above. But I expect it will need to reestablish, so I added a second cross this year to my list for Purple D’Oro pollen – Pink Tirza. Naomi Ruth wasn’t blooming one day Purple D’Oro and Pink Tirza were so …. I am also happy to say it seems both Naomi Ruth and Pink Tirza have seed pods from those crosses. Now we wait to see if anything happens beyond that. I have had LOTS of Purple D’Oro self seeding and even some crosses, but never had a seedling from Purple D’Oro that produced a bloom, in 4 years of trying. Admittedly, some of that was neglect (up north with no water but rain, and here with too little sun). Some is also unknown (they may be blooming at the little house we sold). But here they have not bloomed. So we shall see. It will be interesting, that is for sure.

And I may need to do more researching this winter on pollen. This has been a very iterative process for me. I am loving it now that I have a few years in, and a much nicer, simpler organization system. And oh, by the way, nature has had mercy. I have not had to dead head. I have had either one or both of my diploid chosen crosses available or the spent blooms have fallen off the Naomi Ruth and the Pink Tirza pretty quickly. That was going to be hard for me because I also like the self seeds. I know, I’m working on it. Also, oddly, the Purple D’Oros only have one seed pod formed so far this year, and they are almost done blooming. There are usually at least a dozen between them, sometimes more. Another indicator, they are ready for division and new digs.
The Marque Moons had two scapes survive the squirrels, bunnies, (deer?) and they have started blooming so I have started two crosses. So two diploid, two tetraploid. I did allow a little scope creep, but I may not save harvested self seed this year. If I do harvest those, I think I may just plant them right into the ground in spring, up north. TBD on that. A no weeding daylily space? Would be interesting I suppose. Free, and that part is good. Not sure yet. We shall see.
One of these years I probably should cure myself of allowing self seeding here, but I don’t think this is the year. It is at the historic cemetery though. I trimmed all those dayliles. I want them to preserve all their energy for a number of reasons – 1) they are not watered so they do sometimes have to go through drought, and 2) I just bought a bunch of diploids to match the diploids that are there so eventually, maybe when I semi-retire, I can spend more time in those gardens, and maybe even do crosses there. But for now I mainly need them as beautiful soil and mulch holders for this space.

Yah, I know. But that is only after a super rainy and lots of downpours season. Still, I decided daylilies were much nicer, way easier, and way cheaper than more border. Fingers crossed, it works long term. For now, we cope.
Now on to this weeks bountiful beauty

Above: Third bloom from self-seed 2 year old seedling. It even held up to the thunderstorms and absolute downpours this morning – a very good sign.

Above: ”Free” Autumn Joy sedum rootings! Lemonade out of lemons. When they get broken off I root them. So far I have quite a few. I will plant them at the historic cemetery.

I have done this sedum rooting for well over a decade – super easy. Here is a sedum that looked like the small rootings just two summers ago

Above: Purple D’Oro

Above: Marque Moon

Above: I need to reach out to the breeder and find out what this freebie is. It is not anything I ordered nor a match to what the two freebie tags said.