“Because sometimes doing nothing leads to the best something” – from Christopher Robin movie

There is so much going on at once right now in the garden. The last cream daylily bloomed today.

20180809_084139-1 “Twins” are abounding. (More about that and pics in days to come). I saw a very young (probably a baby) cardinal in our Linden tonight. Both white squirrels showed up this morning. (I only could catch one in the pic below, through the foggy window this morning.)

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The last bloom of the two ‘Just Plum Happy’ daylilies in one area bloomed today. (Still more blooming in another area.) The ‘Patriot’ hostas have finished blooming. Some of the daylilies have started to set seed. (More about that in an upcoming blog, or two.) The Weigelia is reblooming.

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But the best part of today was that it was my Mom’s birthday. I took the day off work and we spent the day together – coffee and pastry at Caribou, shopping, a movie, more shopping, and dinner. The movie we saw was Christopher Robin. We both absolutely loved it. It brought back so many memories. And the line we both loved most was “Because sometimes doing nothing leads to the best something.” That’s how a good garden day feels. Just enjoying “being” in the garden, and then you see this, and that, and putter around, and before you know it you are quite content.

Unsung heroes

Yesterday two of our few remaining red daylilies bloomed. Today our last one bloomed. I bought them about ten years ago, and honestly, they took a while to get established. But now they sit as as a beautiful backdrop for the more showy and the shorter daylilies (and hostas) in that part of the garden. Their show goes on for about a month. At the end of the day, when the sun comes around through that part of the garden, they are magnificent! It is especially wonderful when a number of them bloom all at the same time.

I don’t even know their proper name, but I think it might be ‘Autumn Red’. They remind me of unsung heroes.

Oops!

Tonight I was going around the garden, and I noticed what looked like grass growing in the rock. So I pulled it out. Oops! Upon closer examination, I think it was a volunteer from the ‘Marque Moon’ daylilies. Cool, but bummer! I couldn’t bear to toss it out, so I planted it again, but in a better spot 😍 We’ll see what happens.

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Shamrocks

Quite a few years ago I bought a couple of those little shamrock plants they have in the grocery store around St. Patrick’s day. They grew and grew. The larger of a plant pot I gave them, the larger they got. We stopped at this size because we have to bring them in during the winter. About 6 years ago I put gladiolas in when I gave it a new pot. The tall leaves are the remnants that come back every year. The green shamrock in the background was the other one I bought. I have shared both many times, and still they fill up the pots every year.

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About a month ago we found a new baby bird in there. Apparently the shamrock was a soft landing place. It eventually jumped out and we watched it learn to fly. That was kind of neat too.

Nothing going on here. Just checking out this branch!

Today we were away from home most of the day. When we got home close to sunset we saw this guy. He turned around mid-meal for this “pose”.

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Yesterday a neighbor couple came over to see the garden. They asked how we keep the squirrels off the feeders. When Sandy isn’t visiting, clearly, we don’t 😏 One feeder is closer in to the tree. Most of the time the birds have both feeders, but when one of the squirrels comes by, they almost always stay to the back feeder.

Time to Trim

Today was the the second hosta scape trimming day of the season. The first was a few weeks ago after the ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ hosta were done blooming. I trim the hosta scapes after the flowers bloom because I don’t harvest hosta seeds and I don’t want the plants to expend much energy making seeds. Daylilies are another story. I’ll probably do a post on that soon.

Our Guest in the Garden was here again today. He supervised. 20180804_183352-1

‘Pink China Doll’

Our ‘Pink China Doll’ daylily had it’s last bloom of the season on Thursday. This was one of our first daylilies here, I’m thinking over 10 years old. It is one of my favorites.

I noticed the blooms seemed a bit smaller this year. I’m going to have to look into that. We’ve done fall fertilizing with shake and pour pellets in the past but last fall we went to just coffee grounds. Maybe it needs an extra boost this fall again.

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Forget-Me-Nots

Just like our ‘Patriot’ hostas, our ‘Forget-Me-Not’ plants are more than pretty. I planted them the year my husband’s father passed. We miss him. That year, not long afterward, we lost a dear neighbor as well.

Every year the forget-me-nots come back. They are a wonderful link back to our memories of my father-in-law and our neighbor.

Yesterday our dear Missy’s grandfather passed. Our thoughts and love and prayers are with her and her family.

Missy shares my love for gardening and beautiful lilies. We will offer a forget-me-not plant to add to her garden.

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There’s gotta be a little rain sometime

Today was an off and on rainy day. I got about 3 minutes in the garden tonight before it started pouring rain.

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I was also a little bummed it was a rainy evening because today the last two ‘South Seas’ daylily buds bloomed. They go way too fast, but their huge gorgeous blooms are such a treat, and when there are multiple blooms together it is delightful. Here’s what it looked like a few days ago.

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After the rain, we had quite a few visitors to the garden so that was fun. We tried to capture from inside the house. It’s a bit grainy, but you get the idea … 20180801_180525-1

‘Patriot’ hostas

Some parts of a garden are more than just pretty. They mean something. They are tied to memories. That is true of our ‘Patriot’ hostas. I planted them during the years our son was in the Army National Guard. My father-in-law served in World War II, my husband served in Bosnia, and our son served in Afghanistan. We are a patriotic family.

Our ‘Patriot’ hostas have gotten large, been divided and shared with our friends and neighbors, and now they are doing well in many gardens.

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Thank you to all those who have served and those who are serving in our military.