Day 3 of the asian lily blooms – one more apricot bloom.
A bunch more pink blooms!
Still waiting on the red blooms
And the white ones are weeks away.
The squirrels have been very naughty. They dug up one of my daylily seedlings that I nurtured for 2 months from seed.
Was not happy about that. Repels granules are now on the way. So sorry squirrels …
But not these two. They are good 😉
Something about the garden at the townhouse has me restless right now. I should be content to sit in the lawn chair on the patio and enjoy the view. The garden is lush and full. But I’m restless, looking and saying it needs adjustments.
Up north this would not bother me at all. But the scope here is so much smaller, drawing attention to planned symmetry and proportion that seems to be stretched this year.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been looking at new gardens, the refreshes that we’ve done in the association. They are at the start of their life and nothing is crowding anything. Nothing is blocking the view of anything. Their full potential is ahead of them.
That’s part of it. But there’s more. Things are looking good in parts of the garden here, but “missing” in others. Moving the aureomarginata out of our garden here last fall, and into other association garden refreshes, left an odd empty space now that the tulips and crocuses are fading – one I don’t like.
There are hostas I wish I had moved/divided last fall that are now overgrown in their current space and that I wish we had divided last fall and put as a post-tulip layer in place of the aureomarginata, like the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ out front.
Under the tree is bothering me too. It feels hodge-podge this year. I love the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ hosta there, but other hostas there feel crowded and random.
Maybe it just needs some daylilies to start blooming 😊
And then there are irrigation patterns that I need to consider, like how the sprinkler hits daylilies that have gotten tall. And there are mysteries – like why two ‘Just Plum Happy’ daylilies aren’t doing well this year, but everything around them is.
This weekend I know one decision for certain will drive some planting. The lavender I planted last year definitely didn’t survive.
There are two to be pulled out that will make way for the remaining two daylily seedlings from last year’s Purple D’Oro’ seeds. The other two I planted here are doing fabulously, and the two available spots are right around the corner, making a nice pattern.
Wait! Back up! Is that a new “mini rock feature”! Why yes, it is! The old two pavers at the bottom of the downspout were not enhancing that space, so I gathered a number of rocks we have collected and previously scattered in the garden, and put them together for a new look. Really liking that. We’ll see what else this weekend brings for ideas.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The shrubs have now been trimmed for the upcoming season, the sedum are in full color,
and the last blooming hostas are still hanging in there.
Last weekend I trimmed part of the clematis and a hosta that is first to come up, and first to fade. Although we’ve had low 80°F temperatures on and off, the mornings are crisp and cool.
The hummingbirds are still coming through, and Tuesday we saw something new – a dragonfly migration. There were dozens flying around above the lawn. It was very cool.
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.
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.
The garden also has an abundance of seed pods. The daylilies are full. The ‘Purple D ‘Oro’ are crazy full this year.
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.
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.
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.
We may have almost 6 weeks until the official start of fall, but fall is definitely poking it’s head around the corner here in Minnesota.
Mid-week I also noticed we are past the half-way point of daylily blooms. I still have a wonderful palette of all the colors each day, and seeing what the new day has brought continues to be breathtaking. Sadly, however, we are only a few days away from having some colors wrap up. The peach, the ‘South Seas’ and the ‘Hush Little Baby’ daylilies are at the “one bud left” stage. The red daylilies are not far behind. They bloomed in abundance for the past couple weeks and were absolutely gorgeous individually and en masse.
But … the sedum are looking so good, and their color is right around the corner.
And so begins the “thinking” time of year regarding the garden. First I “think” and think and think and think. Then I plan, then I do. I have some Aureomarginata hostas that are huge and should have been divided last year. Now a year later I have joined our association’s “newly formed” landscaping committee – as in three of us – lol. There are people in our association that have expressed interest in a landscape refresh. We have loosely discussed going more toward perennials. They are beautiful and can easily be trimmed to ground in fall by the landscape service. So I’m looking through my garden and thinking, and thinking, and thinking.
There will be gifting. I love to do that. But what scope? The Aureomarginatas deserve space. Could divisions be a good start at single, easy landscaping for folks that don’t or can’t do gardens, but like them? I suspect that’s where I will reasonably land for this fall. “Do not despise the day of small beginnings” (Zechariah 4:10).
August is here. The grass starts to look tired. Every corner crevice needs to be swept at least once per week to prevent a webby effect, and it’s going from warm to nice to warm to nice.
This week was gorgeous. This weekend was a bit warm – high 80s and humid. Tomorrow is supposed to be 10°F cooler.
The dayliles are still beautiful and the hostas are in varying stages of bloom. The sedum look very full. Soon they will start to pink up.
Today I took pictures on my morning break. (I work from home.) Now tonight after work I can just “be” in the garden.
Our “office manager” took a short snooze.
I suppose this weekend I should finish cutting back the ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ scapes. They were so beautiful again this year. I don’t want them to spend energy going to seed.
Tonight I realized I never took a picture of the 18 ‘Marque Moon’ daylilies that bloomed all at once. I enjoyed them tremendously. I was thrilled that the whole wave had blooms today for the first time. I even “rescued” one from not reaching it’s full potential because it was wedged between two stems. I “freed” it – lol and it started to open. Yeay! But I didn’t take pictures. So out I went, after sunset, to see if I could capture it. Instead I scared a robin off its perch for the night. Then I really felt bad.
Maybe tomorrow.
This is the second time I’ve done this in four days, and I did it up north a month ago. I get caught up in the beauty, the whole big picture, the experience of being in the middle of it, and the last thing on my mind is to take a picture. It might be because a picture just can’t capture something that big.
The bees are really enjoying the hosta flowers, the butterflies and hummingbirds are flittering through. It is just all so beautiful. A camera can’t catch it all. I just have to experience it.
Well, here’s some I have captured over the last week. The blue mouse ears are done blooming, as are the gladiolas. But all of the daylilies are blooming at once now and it is … incredible.
Susan's Daily Garden 