A couple interesting things I noticed in the garden this year –
This very healthy hosta has a small area of variegation. I have seen this in years past pictures too. i’m wondering if one of our bee or bird friends accomplished something new next to the existing hosta, or if it has to do with sun exposure. It looks very healthy. That puckering has always been like that. It also easily gets things trapped on the leaves – but that has always been that way too. Some snowy day in January I will have to do more research.
This past week I also noticed the Ivory Queen hosta has a few white blooms with purple veining this year. Usually they are all purple. My husband even pointed it out.
Interesting. I don’t mind white blooms but I am curious.
I’m guessing sun exposure may play into that one as well. That hosta gets a lot of sun exposure, most intensely in mid June to mid July. I try to shield it with lawn chair placement during that time but eventually I will swap it out. Just not sure with what. A daylily would be too vulnerable there.
Maybe a low growing sedum would do well there. Maybe one of the breakage rootings.
I say no to some very “good” stuff, so I can make time for better stuff. Sometimes there isn’t a choice, but when there is – think. Time is finite. Use your voice. Make that choice. And then … Rejoice!
Here’s some Rejoice in the Garden time
Walk around the garden. Maybe sit right in the middle of the gardenplant seedlingsFuture beautyclean the lilies upsee everythingenjoy a past propagation from a broken stem
We recently carved out a little seedling bed in the back of one of the gardens at the townhouse. Whoa! In only a week, the seedlings we moved look so much better! Location, location, location!
Queue the needle of the record scraping …
Location, location, location …
Let’s look at that a little more. As in a Sunday morning, into mid-morning. And see – is all of that space truly all a great place for seedlings???
The answer – kind of. They need a ‘tich more sun. Just a smidge, tiltling the seedling bed at an angle, which has been floating around in my analytical brain anyway.
Step one, remove a hosta. Not really remove. More like move. And then repurpose that space, for one set of seedings. And use a few other, sunnier, spaces.
The sun’s progression, in a variety of months, coupled with the sprinkler’s proximity, velocity, and trajectory. Add the need to move some hostas that are crowded and some that are getting slightly sunburned. More to come.
Is it sustainable? We will see. The longer I go, the more I know.
The daylilies at the townhome are almost all wrapped up. Fall is at the door. With the garden refresh pushed out to next year, it was time to come up with a plan to address the gardening challenges.
Here is a recap of the weekend.
Friday:
Two priorities were top of mind for me:
Moving daylilies that need better sun and/or need dividing, and
Finding a small spot for a seedling bed in a safe place. Well integrated, probably at the back of a cascade, away from frequent lawn maintenance activity.
Saturday:
The three red daylilies, at the back of one garden area, that needed more sun, swapped places with the seedlings, at the front of another garden area, that kept getting stepped on, “weeded”, and blown apart.
We did our own labor for this gardening project. My husband, bless him, did the digging out part for the mature, deeply embedded lilies, and I did the pulling, dividing, moving, replanting part.
I set the garden up for a look I have always wanted out front – red daylilies next to and complemented by the white/cream in the Marque Moons, and in the spring preceded by the BlueBells clematis. The red daylilies we moved are mature, and, even divided, they are still hardy. They are also super recognizable as a plant, not needing to be plucked 😉 Fingers crossed.
Then (angels sing) the seedling bed. It is safely tucked behind the mature garden of daylilies, Blue Mouse Ears, and other “blue” hostas. Noone but us sees the seedling bed, unless they are right up to the house. Noone has to worry about accidentally stepping in the seedling bed. It is not anywhere close to where grass clippings would land and need to be blown. In the fall when shrubs need trimming and leaves need blowing, it will be ready to be cut back. In the spring, for leaf blowing, the lilies will still be in the ground. I am so hoping this works.
There is also a new configuration of another front area. 3 red daylily divisions now fill the space I emptied out last fall. To me, right now, it is not very exciting. It feels like landscaping. But it could be snazzed up a bit to cover up all that rock – maybe a few Blue Mouse Ears divisions. We’ll see. That will have to be another Friday night planning session.
I am growing quite fond of taking all the pictures and then sitting out with no way to take any more pictures – just walking the garden, enjoying the blooms, and then sitting and relaxing on the patio and looking some more. It is a good discipline – to enjoy the moments, to take it all in, and consider the wonderful gifts.
This hosta, Rainforest Sunrise, is also a favorite. The colors are fantastic, and the scapes, when they arrive, are also beautiful.
It also seems baby bunny is hiding under there, and maybe trying out his bunny teeth. Do you see the evidence? Happens every year. A popular hangout and eatery 🙂
Wake up, check the gardens, make coffee, head outside. Wake up some more, look around some more. Think a little. Form a “day of” plan. An ambitious version. A minimal version. Avoid any longer term planning. Drink my coffee. Sit with the dog.
Take some pictures.
Get all the tools ready – clipper, gloves, bucket, maybe shovel.
Do some trimming. Do some weeding. Have some coffee. Sit with the dog. Chat with my husband – who is now awake.
Rinse. Repeat.
Saturdays are THE BEST!!! In any of the gardens. March- October.
Around about this time every year I get photo fatigue. I know – horror! But this is how it goes – The first daylily of the season has been so long anticipated I want to take a dozen photos, from every angle, to preserve it for “daylilyless” season. And to share.
The first set of multiples is like a bouquet – it is so wonderful together, and each daylily also has to be remembered for it’s individual joy.
The wide swaths of daylilies also absolutely have to be captured.
But then … I just want to enjoy them.
Yesterday I was in my office, and my husband said to me, “Do you smell that?” “Oh no!” I thought. “That doesn’t sound good!” But you know what? He was out on the patio relaxing, with our dog also relaxing, and the breeze was perfect. He was catching the scent of one of our few fragrant daylilies – his favorite, the “Just Plum Happy” daylilies. My husband doesn’t try to capture the daylilies in pictures. I don’t think he has ever taken a picture of a daylily. He just enjoys them.
And that is where I get about this time each year. There are so many, they are so wonderful, the camera just can’t capture the beauty. Time to stop thinking, “Oh, I need to take more pictures!” Time to throttle back and just enjoy.
In the front, the Blue Mouse Ears got their annual haircut today. I snapped off all the scapes, as they are done blooming for the year. 2 dozen Blue Mouse Ears hostas would be just fine by me – they require very little maintenance, and in fact, in the fall after they beautifully yellow, the leaves can be pulled out just like the undercoat of a chow chow when it is shedding. Believe me, I know that too!!!
That black lab puppy we adopted oh those many years ago??? Yah. But I digress. (She still has a super special place in my heart.)
Back to the picture –
The Just Plum Happy daylilies in the center are the ones that make my husband Just Plum Happy. And on landscape maintenance days he now sits out and greats the guys as they come through with their blowers. He says it is for me, which I partially believe … 🙂
The Touch of Class hosta (to the left) is, sadly, one of three remaining. Two died suddenly maybe five years ago??? One year they were huge, the next – gone. I can only guess it was the sunflower seed casings from the bird feeder we had there for about a month and a half at the end of winter.
The empty space is from things that have been moved up north or gifted.
Then behind there are the daylilies that need a new location – probably up at the camping land, but tbd.
Oh, and the Pink China Dolls to the right? They came to live here when the Touch of Class hostas disappeared. They have been cavorting with the Marque Moon daylilies. We introduced them to each other, and we hope they really hit it off. But more on that this week.
