Move It Monday and How I am Keeping Myself Out of Daylily Scope Creep This Year

Happy Monday! I hope your weekend was great!

Today is Move It Monday in the townhome gardens. Now that it is daylily bloom season, I want full and easy access to the daylilies that I hope to use for crosses. Cloches are off of all the seedlings now and today it was moving day for the remaining two pots of seedlings – the ones that will eventually go to the historic cemetery. The pots are now on the patio, and I am considering when they should be planted at the historic cemetery.

My original plan with the seeds in those two pots was to direct sow them, but last year I noticed seedlings did not do well at the historic cemetery. I am thinking that maybe they will be ok to plant soon but there is no sprinkler there so anything that is planted needs to be watered by hand, daily, and call me lazy, but that is not my favorite. Not talking hose here, but rather, carrying gallon containers of water in the heat. So, the seedlings will stay on the patio, probably until fall planting.

I also want to pull more of the forget-me-nots in that area, but not too many. Besides liking their look, in moderation, I have noticed the bunnies and squirrels do not seem to like Forget-me-Nots. If I were to venture a guess, I would say it is because they have a habit of sticking to things. I don’t like that, and I can imagine they don’t either. So, some Forget-Me-Nots will stay, but a lot will be pulled.

Back to the historic cemetery topic, it has been a fun season so far to see things that were planted a few years ago start to shine. One of those is the Purple D’Oro divisions. Yesterday Purple D’Oro bloomed for the first time there. I had a feeling it would. So glad I got to see it!

Purple D’Oro bloomed for the first time ever in the garden at the historic cemetery.

So, with the daylilies in bloom in all the gardens, and opportunities for crosses beginning, I am reminding myself of my self-imposed limits. Here’s the story:

Last year I way overdid it with daylily crosses. I was doing a bucket list experience, and doing the crosses was incredibly fun. I was imagining wonderful gardens down the road – chockablock full of gorgeous daylilies in the years ahead. I was even toying with the idea of something beyond that, but I wasn’t decided on anything for sure. Without a serious plan, and having a wonderful time, I got myself ahead of my skis. I knew the process to cross the daylilies, and I had just enough years under my belt to get a lot of crosses successfully to pod and then to harvest. A lot. The crosses were very successful – in variety and volume. Pods were abundant, and the harvest went well into October. It bit into my planned fall activities and then kept on biting through to labelling and recordkeeping and proper storage and most of all planting (x 2 because I did not do direct sow). I learned my lessons. I have parameters this year.

I can do four new varieties of crosses that go to pod this year, but with the additional requirement that it has to have at least one parent that is one of my own seedlings. A little extra challenge.
I can do one repeat cross that was successful in the past.
I can do retries of previous fails. There are only a few this year because two of my legacy daylilies are either aging out or just taking a rest this year.
I can only do crosses until July 23 this year.

And that’s it.

Enter the first opportunity for a cross this year.

This is Carpenter’s Choice.

I like the colors. The raspberry is what I originally bought it for. And although it does kind of color morph as the day goes on, which is normal, it starts the day way more to red. That gave me pause yesterday as I considered a cross with the other available tetraploid – Equal Opportunity.

As I pondered the decision, I considered some additional attributes I like about Carpenter’s Choice:

I like the way the back petals (I should say sepals 😉 ) increasingly curl as the day goes on, similar to Autumn Red’s habit.
One of Carpenter’s Choice’s parents is lavender, which I would like to see in a cross with Equal Opportunity.

It did take me a bit, but I eventually decided yes to the Equal Opportunity x Carpenter’s Choice cross. Something about the lavender was the deciding factor. And:

I have capacity within the four new crosses.
Equal Opportunity is one of my own seedlings, a self-seed from South Seas.
I am definitely within the timeline.

So that was decision one. If I get a pod, it will be counted as #1 of 4 new crosses this year.

Here’s a couple additional pics of what’s going on in the gardens.

Pink Tirzah is gorgeous, and prolific again this year.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Until next time,

Be Blessed!

Happy 250th Birthday, America!

And Pink Tirzah chose today to bloom its firsts of 2026.

Blessings to you on this wonderful day of celebration! And God may God continue to Bless America as we walk in faith with Him!

Fantastic Friday Find and Lots of Pics from Today

This new bloom at the historic cemetery was a wonderful treat as I walked the gardens before beginning to putz (deadhead, weed, trim). I believe it is one of the Lullaby Baby daylilies I planted in fall of 2024, but I am not absolutely certain. Either way, it was definitely a Fantastic Find.

We have a lot of Stella De Oro daylilies in the historic cemetery gardens. They bloom profusely and look very cheerful.

Stella De Oro daylilies at the historic ccemetery

The cloches are gradually coming off the seedlings 🙂

Blessings to you and, in America, wishing you a fantastic 4th of July celebration – 250th Birthday!

Thankful Thursday – The Beauty of an Early July Morning

One of our oldest hostas. I love the look, the expanse, and, of course, the gorgeous white blooms.

Two of our most mature Blue Mouse Ears hosta bunches, beginning to hit their bloom stride

Another of our oldest hostas. My Dad bought this one for me from a local hosta and daylily master, many years ago.

Hush Little Baby is sporting its first scape in our garden.

Equal Opportunity (one of my own South Seas self-seed daylilies) is getting ready to bloom.

At the historic cemetery, the Stella De Oros are shining. This little one needs to be moved. The iris bed was not my best choice for it 😉

This duo – Stella De Oro and Figwort need to be moved to a new garden we are making inside the cemetery.
The pollinators will be sure to find and enjoy them there, along with some milkwood and yarrow.

On this very pretty, and humid, and warm, morning, I finally finished deadheading the irises at the historic cemetery.
A few of them look ready for division this year.
Maybe they will find a home in the new garden. Just not too close to the Stella this time 😉

Happy 250th Birthday, America!

Be Blessed, All!

Weeding (and Trimming) Wednesday. How are the daylilies doing? What about those Blue Mouse Ears Hostas?

Today was Weeding Wednesday. It also ended up being shrub trimming day.

After two days of very warm weather, and very little garden activity, I was tired of just looking out the windows. I wanted to get more than just occasional fresh air. I wanted to get things done. This morning the weather was a tiny bit cooler. I rationalized 1) I had nothing on my schedule that was to be done away from home, so 2) Even though it was going to be warm and humid, I could just poke around – work outside a bit and then cool down inside, and do that as many times as I wanted today. Outside I went. It was time to pull forget-me-nots and trim the bushes.

I love the end of those types of days, where I can just putz, still see a nice difference. It was a warm day, uncomfortable to work for very long, but the gardens look they are spruced up and ready for the daylilies to start blooming.

Last night I also noticed Hello Yellow was starting to bloom again.

Early this morning it was already open.

And it stayed open all day.

It is so fun to have that extended bloom daylily.

I checked it a little before 10pm and it was still open 🙂 The fireflies had been out for quite some time, and Hello Yellow was still blooming. Such a treat!

And one of the two remaining daylilies I was watching for scapes (Tender Love) is starting to get at least one scape. (I am guessing there will be more starting soon.) Tender Love is a key daylily in my planned crosses this year, so I was very happy to see that. (Regrettably, Marque Moon is still holding out on scapes, so the crosses I had planned with it are probably not going to happen this year.)

There is also a daylily (Hush Little Baby) that I planted in fall of 2024 that had greens last year but no scapes. This year it looked like it was going to be a repeat, but later this evening I looked over and did a double take. A scape! I am looking forward to that addition!

On the hosta front, the Blue Mouse Ears are looking great.

I definitely have plans to divide and transplant the remaining couple clumps this fall that are in their old location. With the addition of daylily seedlings along the path, they are overdue for a better spot.

Which leads me to something I have been noticing quite a bit.

When I started building out our gardens here, I had an idea that it would be fun to have them look nice from both outside and from inside. I have really enjoyed that for over two decades. But lately I realized one particular garden is looking especially nice from the inside – Sandy’s Corner. Over the past five years or so I have been reversing the locations of the daylilies and hostas in that garden, way before I named it Sandy’s Corners. It is getting quite full now with daylilies at various stages, and now when I look outside from inside, the daylilies are the backdrop, and the hostas are increasingly back to my earliest configuration, closest to the house. I like it! Not only does it make more sense for sun exposure, but it showcases the hostas that were gradually getting hidden. It has taken time to carefully do the divisions and transplants, but I think that this fall we will be there.

And with that, I will wrap up with one final reality – gardening is very iterative. The littlest things make a difference, it doesn’t have to be fast, and even favorites might not last forever. This week, as we were sitting out on the patio, my husband tested the waters on a subject that could have gone south. Could have. But I had been thinking about the same thing. My approach to replacing some of my oldest, favorite daylilies that are fading. Am I OK with replacing them with new ones I have hybridized from those older daylilies. A couple years ago I tried to add another Marque Moon, and it failed. South Seas is starting to fail. I will be dividing it this fall and transplanting, but if it doesn’t do well I am questioning if I will be OK with not having a South Seas daylily is the garden. Do I work with what is already doing well and let those old favorites go? I am reminded that I didn’t replace all those hostas we lost a couple years ago …

Just something to think about. Gardens are definitely iterative.

Hollyhocks rejoin the garden

These Malva Zebrina Hollyhocks were grown from 20+ year old harvested seed from the gardens at the house we raised our kids in. I kept on passing them up to try for germination. This year they got their chance. When they didn’t look like they were doing anything, I wasn’t surprised. It was a long shot.

I reused the soil when I planted the 2025 harvested daylily seeds and didn’t give any thought to the possibility that they would germinate along with the daylily seeds. Imagine my surprise!

I planted them in the garden as tiny seedlings, and they are doing very well!

Welcome Malva Zebrina Hollyhocks to our garden!

July Heat is Here. The Daylily Seedlings are All Now Planted. Space is the Operational Word Going Forward.

Yesterday, when it looked pretty certain the forecast for today would hold for mid 90 degrees Fahrenheit with a heat index well over 100 degrees, I got at planting the last two new varieties of daylily seedlings. All the daylily seedlings for the townhome gardens for this year are now planted. All 🙂

So, where did we land with the seedlings finding homes?

Well, the gardens are at capacity, for absolute sure. I like the look right now, and I know I will like it even more in a couple weeks as color from our mature daylilies starts to pop, but I was struggling towards the end of the planting to make it look nice, both now and hopefully for the longer term.

Tucking seedlings in to very accessible planting spots was tempting. Thinking about 3 years from now – a bit more of a challenge. I reminded myself I don’t like to move things around a lot. I thought about things quite extensively, especially for those last two pots of seedlings. And although I originally had planned to put them in another spot, the far corner of this pic is where they landed. That corner needed love that I hope the pair will provide. They have the same parents, just in reverse.

Then, with all the daylily seedlings planted, I turned my attention to cutting back the Asian lilies that wrapped up, so they don’t go to seed. And after that I relaxed for the day.

Today I am still doing gardening work. It is just indoors – going through the spreadsheet, finishing the 2026 seedling planting documentation, and getting straight on the next steps for 2026. The bird baths need some love, the shrubs need haircuts, and the forget-me-nots need their annual reduction. The forget-me-not reduction process is always painful, but if I pull them before they go to seed, as they are winding down, things stay manageable.

And, manageable is a key word for the daylilies too. Space is the new key now. The days of smorgasbord crossing is done for me. Space planning within my wishlist is essential. But I seem to have help this year. In a kind of funny plot twist, two of my key varieties for this year’s plans don’t have scapes, at least yet. Scapes hold blooms and blooms are needed for crosses. The blooms need to coincide, the same day, unless one saves pollen, and that is way beyond my current level of skill. So, with no scapes on two of the key varieties, half of the plan is probably off the table due to timing. I could be super bummed, or I could take that as direction. I am taking it as direction 😉 We not in any way at a shortage of seedling or daylilies. We will be fine.

(Pay no attention to the seedlings in large pots. Those need to go to the historic cemetery this fall, when they don’t look like grass to be weeded lol.)

I am I am being thankful. I have a seedling with first year scapes, and a whole lot of other daylilies with lots of scapes. Those are, mostly, to enjoy. Yep, a theme 🙂

I am also at the time where I am planning fall divisions and transplants. The second daylily in on the right is #1 in that category. It is an Autumn Red. And way too big for that space. (We like to use the path ;))

Thankful Thursday – Beautiful Days

The Asian lilies are waning. The daylilies are ramping up.

This morning was a cool, dampish sort of morning. I was feeling like taking the day to rest. But, as the day started rolling, I changed my mind. We have some pretty warm weather forecasted starting next week, and I would much rather relax on those days. I made the decision to get at planting the remaining daylily seedlings today. Even the remaining seeds that did not germinate got planted as a last chance, direct sow style. There are now just two daylily seedling varieties left to plant in the townhome gardens, and for that, I am very thankful! Even on a warm day I can get those last two done.

This year September will be a bit different. Because I planted the seedlings by the end of June, my fall daylily work will be primarily divisions and transplanting. That will be a pleasant change. Planting seedlings in September heat is not my favorite.

Today I saw one of the South Seas seedlings I divided last year has a scape coming up. I was a little worried I might have divided it too early after only one year of bloom, so when I saw that scape starting today I was very thankful.

Of course, as the Asian lilies fade, I am a little sad. I am thankful we had such beautiful blooms from them this year. They can start to rest now and build up for next year.

And I took time over the past few days to reimagine that area by the Linden. There is a lot of shade, and I plan to add more Blue Mouse Ears hostas, but alongside the Asian lilies there may be enough sun to also entice some Autumn Red seeds that did not germinate to break out. Worth a try.

The Pink Asian lilies are winding down. I am waiting for the older daylilies under the Linden to get scapes.
And I planted some daylily seeds alongside the Asian lilies.

Speaking of the Blue Mouse Ears hostas, they are ramping up color all over the gardens. I will definitely send more pictures of them as they go into full bloom.

This is one of the Blue Mouse Ears hostas under the Linden. They will start to show much more color over the next few weeks.

The Blue Mouse Ears are gradually getting more color.

So tonight, as I wrap up the day, I have a good sense of accomplishment, and a lot of thankfulness, even for the challenge to just get going and get stuff done before I really don’t want to do it 😉 It was a great day to play in the garden.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead!

Be Blessed!

What’s Up Wednesday – Daylily Bloom Season has started – Update on the Direct Sow Seedlings – The Asian Lilies are Continuing to Bloom – Sedum Donuts – Update on the Bird Drop Currant

Happy Summer!

There’s a lot going on in the gardens right now.

Top of mind, the daylily bloom season has started in our townhome gardens.

Hello Yellow was the first daylily to bloom in the gardens this year.

Hello Yellow was our first daylily to bloom this year

It was such a wonderful few days to see that first cheerful Hello Yellow bloom again!

Hello Yellow is one of my own seedlings, harvested from seed from our daylilies. The seed was from the 2022 harvest, with a 2023 seedling and a 2024 first bloom. This is its third year of bloom.

Hello Yellow is an extended bloom daylily, so it begins to bloom in the late afternoon and blooms all the next day until evening when it starts to wind down. That means that we get to enjoy the full cycle of each bloom for two separate days. It also means that Hello Yellow has been challenging to work with for propagation. Hello Yellow only seems to want to be a pod parent, and it only seems to like Just Plum Happy pollen. Last year I had a successful cross that went to seed, and it looks like it has now gone to seedling. The seed would not germinate in a seedling pot, but one seems to have germinated in the ground. I am cautiously optimistic, but it does look kind of weak. I am watching it, but so far it is hanging in there. As encouragement, I have had seedlings die back but emerge the next year. We will see what happens.

Even though Hello Yellow is one of my seedlings, it is still a bit of a mystery as to parentage. My documentation during that time period was not what it is today. I was just getting started with crosses, had very little research into it, had many other irons in the fire, including rehabbing an old home on the north shore of Minnesota (Lake Superior) four hours away that we thought we would retire to, and I was also still working, full time, and had volunteer stuff going on. Yah. It amazes me that all was happening at once. By the grace of God, we got all of that sorted to what He had in mind for us longer-term, and we are in a much different time now. With many fruits from that time. One of them is the start of my daylily propagation work.

I may never be able to say for certain what Hello Yellow’s parentage is, but I only had five seedling pots going the year I planted those seedlings, and I have a few notes, so I am trying to replicate it with those clues. I have a 3-year seedling with first year scapes that may provide clues this year, and I am very excited about that. The most important thing, though, is how much we enjoy Hello Yellow. Hello Yellow has provided so much beauty and so much educational prompting. I am thankful for Hello Yellow.

On to a requested update –

Our beloved direct sow daylily seedlings are doing well. They are claiming spots in the gardens, and I am checking them daily. What a wonderful development, and a great new avenue to explore! I think there is also some sort off message in “1” this year. I have had multiple occasions where I had one seedling, thought that was it for the new variety, and then capped off those efforts by planting the one seedling with the dirt and seeds that were in the pots, only to find the seed preferred direct sow. I could expound on things like not every child has the same needs, each child makes their own path, sometimes you just need to try something new, patience is a virtue. All of that. And I definitely now have a renewed option that I had previously written off. But bottom line, I am not sure what’s going on with the “1” thing and the direct sow thing this year, but I’m listening, and I’ll follow the breadcrumbs and see where it takes the gardens, and me.

The first seedling from the direct sow phenomenon this year is looking like a container grown seedling now.

Let’s see. What else? The Asian lilies continue to have one of the best years in a while. This single looked like it was waning last year. Glad to have it back.

The Sundazzle sedum out from are starting to make donuts again this year. It makes me smile. I do love a good (real, yummy) donut. But, I know, the proper thing to do would be to divide the Sundazzle sedum and then transplant. Maybe. We’ll see how busy the fall gets.

Our little bird drop Currant has a lot of green, but no berries yet. It is starting to take up more and more space. We shall see if it stays there long term. I did weed the two others that popped up a few weeks ago. I love the thought – but one is enough, in the case of Currants in the daylily areas.

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week!

Be Blessed!

“Making Me Think” Monday – Hit My Threshold

Direct sow daylily seedlings like this are popping up when they refused to germinate in pots – Go figure

Well … I now have all of the daylily seedlings out of the seedling boxes, and most of the daylily seedlings planted. There are some seedlings that are still kind of small, so they are still in pots, under cloches, and awaiting a future planting day. But most of the seedlings are in the ground now. I cannot tell you how glad I am. And how much I got really tired of planting. I learned my threshold. One or two seedling boxes full were fun, even cute. 4 boxes taking up a corner of my relaxation place – reminding me of all the work I still needed to do – no. Just no. Too much.

And simultaneously, my most stubborn seeds this year, the ones that didn’t germinate in pots, the ones I tossed into open spots in the garden – seeds and soil and loosely put rocks over the top, not even covering them with cloches – are germinating. Even, it seems, one I would have given very minor odds – a cross with Hello Yellow. That got my attention big time, because Hello Yellow seed has been hard to make, and has never germinated.

So, everything smooshed all together. I started seeing direct sow seedlings popping up, I saw my Hello Yellow seed germinate, I was wrist deep in mucky mud, seedlings flopping over in holes, and I was running out of my 20 cloches to cover up my newly planted batches of new varieties of seedlings.

I seriously, seriously love to garden. I seriously, seriously love daylilies. I seriously, seriously love propagating dayliles, And I am seriously, seriously, seriously thinking about downsizing the whole practice of germinating daylily seedlings in pots. It might be time. 2027 might be the perfect time.

The townhome gardens are full, full, full now. Like really, really full. So full that I am removing the Autumn Reds in back this fall to make room for new crosses that succeed next spring.
I am doing very few new crosses this year – only four new ones, and two of those are a reverse of a success, just for giggles.
I am doing one replication, in case I ever want to register it, and
I am retrying four failures, just in case they would finally work.
Any other daylily seed harvest will be self-seed.

My previous fails at direct sow germination of daylily seeds did not include stratification or planting them with good soil. This year’s successes included those practices. By accident, admittedly, but worth considering. And the new and replication crosses would hit my enjoyment threshold for germinating in pots (5). Anything after that could be direct sow.

So, I am thinking, seriously thinking. Life in daylily planting-ville was a lot this year. My threshold is now very known. Using wisdom 😉

And what of the extra planters? Well, someone I know and love is trying his hand at growing hot peppers again, and enjoying it, so far. He really likes to cook, and he likes hot sauces. We have some canning jars from when I thought they were adorable and could be made into little candle holders lol (never did). Homemade hot sauce? It could be a project. For him. I don’t eat that stuff. No siree. And maybe just one planter full of peppers to start 😉