Tag: Daylilies

Weed, Water, and Watch

Last Saturday was weeding day at the historic cemetery. It felt awesome to be at that point! With the rock to mulch conversion done and the iris bed built, we now can weed, water, and watch. For this year 🤔

Back home on Saturday it was “remove clover, forget-me-nots, and dried leaves and blooms” day. Sunday was transplant day. And then yesterday … the gardens at home also went to weed, water, and watch status.

I was undecided on the pollinator created daylily seedling placement in our home gardens. Part of that decisioning was that I had eight new daylilies in my cart from my favorite seller. I knew they would be healthy, and strong, and potentially bloom next year. I was excited to add them to our gardens and share their beauty. But I was having a momentary lapse in judgement. With yesterday’s (yet another) blowzilla incident, I realized those daylilies in that cart deserve a better home. So, I have abandoned that hope, and will return to a “no new monetary investment” approach.

It is a “sigh” moment. I wish it were different. We certainly pay quite a premium for the blowzilla service. (You would be shocked.) It should be a delight experience. But it is not. So only the pollinator created daylily seedlings will go in this fall. No new already named daylilies will be added. And, unlike the happy feeling of weed, water, and watch at the historic cemetery, the weed, water, and watch feeling in our own gardens is a bit of a disappointment.

But alas, there are other avenues to explore and options to consider. You never know.

Today I leave you with second to last daylily bloom in the garden this year. She is a good representation of how I feel about the townhouse situation – a bit frayed. But she is still lovely and beautiful and resilient. And, in the future she may have children. Just not new neighbors.

It is Transplanting Day

Today was transplanting day. I had thought about it long enough. It was time for “Do”.

First up, this beauty moved. Poor thing. Believe it or not, she is a coneflower. She needs more sun.

She will either go to the historic cemetery garden (pending approval) or to the new daylily seedling bed. (More on that later). In her place, initially, went the Praying Hands hosta, but later the Praying Hands hosta moved and the Patriot hosta went in the old coneflower spot. I didn’t think I would get to moving the Patriot hosta today, but Yeay! Now the Patriot hosta is in the shade most of the day, tucked in by the Weigelia and up front with the red daylilies, white-ish Marque Moon daylilies, and Bluebells clematis (which, by the way, do rebloom). Pulling out that Patriot hosta was very hard. I am probably going to feel it tomorrow, but It was burning up in the sun year over year, and, recently someone’s dog was finding it interesting 😞

Here she is in her new location.

Next up was an un-named hosta. I used to know the name but I can’t remember it off the top of my head, so it shall be named “un-named”. It was one of my very first purchased hostas. I bought it from a lady who was having a plant sale out of her yard. It has been in the spot I pulled it from today for at least 15 years, and probably longer. It was fading. It needed new digs, and some dividing. She went to the middle back of one of the patio area gardens, in back of the old seedling bed.

The Praying Hands hosta was there for a year, but did not thrive in that spot. Last fall, we moved the Praying Hands hosta back from the little house up north (that we sold) and plopped her there. Poor thing. She will do much better quietly going about her business in a less visible role, in the spot where the peach daylily used to be.

The peach daylily, poor thing, languished in the shade when we had our smaller Traeger, and this year she did not bloom at all in the shade of the bigger Traeger. She needed to get back in the sun. She got to go to the spot where “un-named” hosta was. I’m thinking she will think that is “just right”.

And … 5 year old South Seas daylily seedlings got her chance to have more sun. She now sits between South Seas and tall cream colored daylily, in the spot where Patriot hosta used to be. I hope she blooms next year. If not, up north she goes, where she runs the very high risk of being deer yummies. Just sayin’. Bloom please.

Still left is the potential new seedling bed. It would be here.

That area was supposed to be the pepper bed but believe it or not, the peppers didn’t like it. So daylily seedling bed it might be.

The other option is to put them in with mature daylilies. And give them one year to bloom.

(They are unintentional crosses, so that is less likely. Now that my intentional crosses are going to seed I may stop harvesting any other seeds, to keep the daylilies from expending extra energy. All up in the air this fall. First I need to see how the intentionally crossed seeds perform.)

And last year’s seedlings? They will be tucked into the front of the old seedling bed to see if they can get a bit bigger with more sun. They are still pretty small.

But that is for another day. I am being wise. I have to work tomorrow. The seedlings bed decisions can wait for another day, or week.

Naomi Ruth?

So, for the life of me, I cannot remember this daylily’s name.

I think it might be Naomi Ruth, but I am not absolutely certain. Naomi Ruth is a diploid. If I cross tall cream colored daylily with Tender Love, and get a seed pod, I will get closer to certainty. Bloom again soon please, Tender Love, before tall cream colored daylily finishes up blooming.

Tall cream colored daylily also threw a lot of pollinator or wind or whatever created seed pods this year, so maybe in 4-5 years, lol, I could see the parentage. Yah … or not. Those pollinator created seeds that do grow seedlings take FOREVER to bloom. I could have great-grandchildren by then. Ok, a bit of exaggeration maybe, but seriously, bloom or become deer food. Oh, that is another post, for another day.

For now, tall cream colored daylily suspected to be Naomi Ruth.

More please

We are down to one daylily bloom per day. After Marque Moon bloomed her last, hanging out a bit with Coral Majority, things really slowed down.

But then there is Tender Love.

Tender Love is a very later bloomer. And one of my new favorites. I would not change one single thing about her. In fact, I would like more. She is perfection. And she is ever so slightly fragrant. She is also a diploid, and she would be wonderful to cross. But I do not have any diploids that are still blooming. Maybe need to fix that.

Daylilies and Sun

The difference sun makes to daylilies. The top two daylilies were last year’s seedlings. The next one is this year’s but broken off by those naughty squirrels digging. The fourth is this year’s and not broken off by the squirrels. The 3rd and 4th were grown in full sun almost all day. Hopefully transplanting them to a little less sunny spot will be ok. If not I will move them.

Daylily decisions

At the townhouse I have, for the past five years, harvested our unintentional crop of daylily seeds, grown them to seedlings, and planted them in our gardens. I made a seedling bed that then got overshadowed by our new grill and the seedlings are not sending up scapes. They need more sun.

I also finally got my stuff together this season and found an online site that shows ploidy (and parentage). Glory! My nerdy self is going gonzo trying crosses! And I am getting intentionally planned seed pods! Now whether they are successful to bloom, we shall see. But – I need to make room, here.

For years we have done a delicate dance. Hubs loves to have townhome services. I would love a back yard I could convert from a chemical and water needy space to a daylily, hosta, and sedum oasis. But that is not our reality. So, I am working within the container I have now, and continually working to optimize it. Oh wow! Did I just combine minimalist, decluttering, and optimization principals all in one sentence? What has become of me? Is there any hope left? JK 😉

Anyways …

I have daylily seedlings in the ground, daylily seedlings in pots, and daylily seeds being made. And I want to see what they ALL do. Not have the deer eat them up north. Or have them dry up for lack of watering while we are not there. Plus, I want to re-buy the daylilies I bought and then planted at the little house up north we sold last year. Not many. 5 or 6. May as well make it 6.

YIKES!

I’m sure I will figure SOMETHING out. At least a next step. For the need this year. Directionally correct, gradual progress, and all that …

Two more “lasts”

Our gardens are not tiny, but they are small enough that I notice bloom “lasts” for the season. Rain is coming, but thankfully it held off until mid-morning so I could enjoy a couple more “lasts”. Tirzah bloomed her last today, as well as Cedar Waxwing.

I am hoping Tirzah’s baby sister gets to be as tall as she is in the next couple years. She is truly strong enough in her presence to only require one in a space. I cannot find her ploidy, and I have not been successful with crosses. She just may not want kids scattered about!

But she is one of my faves. I will miss her.