Tag: Daylilies

Planning moves, and more mid-July daylilies

About this time of year I start to assess fall moves to optimize next year’s garden.  Last fall we moved out two large Aureomarginata hostas from our garden.  They found new homes around the association where they weren’t crowded and could really shine, and did really well this year in their new locations (yeay!).   My repurpose for that newly empty space in our garden, unfortunately, did not go as planned.  The tulips did “meh” and the asian lilies gifted to me did not do well at all.  Reason?  Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel and friends thought they were their food.  I have since purchased repellent, and that seems to be working.  There is still, however, a large empty space in two areas of the garden.

Meanwhile, in another area of the garden, a delightful Ivory Queen hosta gets overexposure to the sun each year.

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Time to give it a new home, in the more shaded area where one of the Aureomarginata hostas was.  It will fit that space well, and look nice amongst the other “blue” hostas.

Maybe I should move this Patriot hosta too – to the more shaded spot where the other Aureomarginata hosta was.

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It will fit in well and brighten up an area that gets pretty unremarkable after the asian lilies bloom.

With two hostas moved out of sunnier areas, does that mean that I now have spots for two new sunshine loving daylilies?  Possibly …  Hard to say …

And now for a few last pics of the mid-July daylily blooms.

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We interrupt mid-July …

We interrupt mid-July pictures for a few “today” pictures.

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If you look closely, in the last picture you can see that the Purple D’Oro daylilies are starting to form seed pods.  The Purple D’Oros will live on in the existing plants, the pictures, and, hopefully, in seedlings next year.  We’ll see 3-4 years from now what we got with a little help from our friends the butterflies, the bees, and maybe the hummingbirds.

And now back to mid-July

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Full of color

The gardens have been absolutely full of color for the past few weeks.  Almost everything was blooming at once – all the daylilies except the Marque Moon –  and all the early blooming hostas, plus some late clematis and the hibiscus.  I spent all the free time I could spare just enjoying it.  Words don’t fully describe the beauty so here’s a few pictures.  More to come over the next few days.

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Clematis blooming, settled on daylilies up north

The clematis are beginning to bloom at the townhouse. First the white ones bloomed, and now a new pink volunteer we haven’t seen blooms on before is starting.

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I had a few volunteers over the past few years that really took off this year, so I had to buy a couple extra trellises.  Not easy in the current shopping environment, but it turned out ok.

Last weekend we went up north.  I tell you!  It’s amazing how fast things grow up there!  You might say it’s wild – lol!  The ferns that were fiddleheads last time were waist high!!  We have thousands, and unfortunately some have to get cut back so we have a homesite/campsite that is reasonably free from ticks.

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The butterflies and bumblebees were enjoying the dandelions.  It was a fabulous sight to see.  We don’t prevent dandelions up north so they have a nice supply of food.

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A walk through the farther trails taught us we have an abundance of wild roses we didn’t know about, and even some scrubby maple trees.  (I thought we were too far north for maples.)

By far, however, the big news is … the baby daylilies are doing well up north!!  The deer are leaving them alone so far, and they are holding their own with just the natural rain.  I am hopeful!  The asparagus also survived the winter, and it looks like one asclepias.  I cleaned up the raised beds, and put more black dirt in one.  Man, I wish I had that $300 back!  I don’t like the steel and boxy look nearly as much as I thought I would, and they heaved in the center so they look weird, but oh, well.  Live and learn.

The fact that daylilies are doing well up there makes my harvesting decisions much easier going forward.  It means I will probably harvest seeds from our townhome gardens again this year, and sow some in the ground up north as well as start seedlings in the winter again.  Probably.

It’s also about this time of year, as the summer garden comes into full form, that I start to realise what fall divisions will be needed.  The townhouse garden is getting pretty mature, and I will need to divide and split quite a bit this fall.  This ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ hosta has definitely overgrown the space.

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I love the coloring, and the leaves are a bit more tender, so I will keep the divisions at the townhouse.

I’m tempted, however, to try some of the ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ hosta divisions up north, as the leaves are deer resistant.

So many ideas … but a bit of time to chew on them.  For now, the daylily seedlings are all planted except two, which will go into the townhome garden in the next day or so.  The lavender seeds are starting to sprout in pots – we’ll see how far they get – and the tulips are fading back and making way for the Asian lily blooms to come center stage next.

 

Fall additions, wave two. Seasons changing.

A week or so ago we made another trip to the local garden store.  4 additions and a replacement came home with us – two lavender plants, and two more chocolate colored sedum, plus another ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ hosta.  It is my favorite time of year to plant, when I know with almost 100% certainty what survived the previous winter, and where I have gaps going into next year.

The only daylilies that are still blooming are the ‘Marque Moon’, and they are wrapping up.  That area needed some fall interest.  The two new sedum are just what that area needed.  They are babies now but will fill the space within the next few years.

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The two lavender tucked under the weigelia, right along the path, where I can brush by the leaves and enjoy their scent.  I hope they survive the winter and return.  They are zone 4 so we’ll see.

In the progression, as the daylilies are winding down, the ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum are now taking the stage.  I know, they are kind of like ‘Stella D ‘Oro’ – everybody knows them – but I absolutely love them.  Over the years I  have propagated many new sedum from our original ‘Autumn Joy’ plants, which were a gift from my Dad.  I learned to do that at first because we had a fearless bee chasing Irish Terrier (Darby) who broke off stems in his efforts to eradicate our entry garden of those “buzzing menaces” – lol.  From those poor broken stems I rooted sedum plants that within three years formed a hedge!  That hedge got too big and I had to gift some, but now, years later, our garden boasts a fall tapestry of their beautiful form and changing color, woven in throughout the landscape.  Here’s their first efforts at color morphing this year.

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The garden also has an abundance of seed pods.  The daylilies are full.  The ‘Purple D ‘Oro’ are crazy full this year.

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I think I will have quite an April seedling project coming up.

And of course, the weather has been INCREDIBLE!  Cooler temperatures soothe my soul.  The crisp air renews me.

I already miss the “Wow!” of the new daylily blooms, but to everything there is a season.  There’s still a lot of garden left.

Forward

It seems that “Poof! There went the daylilies!”  Not totally, but last week started a big wind-down.  There were lots of “lasts”.  Each day we said good-bye to some of our favorite blooms for the year.  The ‘Just Plum Happy’, the ‘South Seas’, the peach daylily, the ‘Hush Little Baby’.  I miss them already.  Even the hosta blooms are winding down and some of the leaves are already starting to look tired.

This is the time of year when looking at the garden could make me sad.  I have to discipline myself, to regroup, be thankful, and get my thoughts on how to make the garden even better next year.  And we are adding little touches already.  More on that in the next few days.

Yesterday morning I committed to our garden donations.  The two Aureomarginatas that are 5′ wide each deserve better than the crowded space they have overgrown into.  If we ate hosta greens I would keep them, but we don’t.  I may save a small division, but that would have to go up north and be put in chicken wire.  Much more joyful is the thought of them maybe being divided to share with many and absolutely being primary specimens in neighboring gardens.

I also decided to harvest the daylily seeds again this year, and they are plentiful.

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Above are the ‘Purple D’ Oro’ but almost every daylily formed seeds this year.  (The peach daylily is our exception.)  Those seeds will be my early April seedling project next spring.

Today we were cleaning the garage, going through things.  Some things with many fond memories were put aside to donate.  We don’t use them anymore, but we know others who are very excited about receiving them and will really enjoy them.  So it is with the garden.  We grow, we enjoy, we improve, we share, sometimes we pass things on, all with the hope the joy will continue.  We can be thankful.  We can remember fondly.  We can continue to move forward and improve.