Go lilies go!

In the “speed to come out of the ground”, besides, of course, the tulips, this year the lilies won. Yeay lilies! You go girls!!!

When I could barely see the sedum, and no hostas were visible yet, both the daylilies and the asian lilies were welcoming spring. Last spring came with the realization that we had, inexplicably, lost quite a few hostas that were very full and healthy in 2017. This May I was watching closely, and hoping we didn’t have a repeat. Thankfully we didn’t and now the hostas are gigantic. Right alongside them, the asian lilies that showed up early have been slowly, gradually getting ready for their big show. Now literally overnight the asian lilies went from green buds to color. We are right on the edge of dozens of asian lilies blooming! Wonderful time of year! And then the party will begin, with hosta blooms and daylily blooms flowering and going right through September. It’s summer in Minnesota!

20190624_205912-1 20190624_205851-1 20190624_205836 20190624_164933-1

We’re running now – here and up north

As I enjoyed my “putz and pamper” time this past weekend, I had time to reflect on the gardens so far this year.

After a very long winter, and months of feeling like a horse at the gate, we are running quite fast now – both here and up north.

The cherry trees wrapped up their bloom here quite a while ago, but a pleasant surprise was that we got a glorious “re-do” during one of our trips up north. Such a treat to get multiple blooming schedules.

At the townhouse, sadly, my favorite long-lived bunch of purple tulips has faded. They were an icon each spring. I will try to find something just as iconic, but maybe a different species. Not sure what yet, but it might be harvested daylily seeds. Just thinking at this point.

The new tulips I planted here last fall were glorious this spring.

Now the blooming season of early clematis has also passed and the weigelia has hit it’s peak bloom. Soon the asian lilies will start blooming.

What I did not expect was a hosta bloom so early – yet here it is, beginning to form. And on the ground in that garden the forget-me-nots are beginning to pop up.

To watch here this year – two plants from 2017 harvested daylily seeds – both from ‘South Seas’ – one of my favorites. We’ll hopefully see a bloom or two on them this year, and discover what we got with the help of our pollinator friends. What I know for sure is that daylilies are deer munchies, so I have decided they will not be making the trip up north, as divisions or as seedlings.

In pots, the hibiscus and the gladiolas here are squirrel favorites. I have put chicken wire around a number of the potted plants and bulbs – not a flattering look – but needed.

The Aureomarginata hostas here are gigantic again this year, the daylilies I added last year are looking good, and the Blue Mouse Ears are more full than ever.

20190622_093931-3

Which leads me to options. Up north, the trail cams are showing us oodles of deer, a coyote, lots of bunnies, and a bear. Makes sense – there’s lots to eat, including wild strawberries all over the property that just wrapped up their season. I wanted to divide the Aureomarginata hostas and bring them up there but it’s probably not the smartest. I will be fighting a munching battle that will only make me sad.

There’s also a sedum that has been crowded here for a couple years. I wanted to bring it up north and put it in the sunny garden to let it shine. But despite web lists that say sedum is on the list of “deer-resistant” plants, I am hearing reports that they too are tasty morsels up north.

What did work in the year one test garden up north is two types of seeds directly sown into the raised beds – malva zebrina hollyhock, and cinnamon mint. Some free carrot seeds are also sprouting, and two asclepias plants have survived, so far. Coneflower seeds did not sprout, asclepias seeds did not sprout, and all of the kale and asparagus died back. I think it needs more water than we can provide. We are just depending on watering when we are up there, and rain.

And, after much deliberation, and my husband mentioning he doesn’t think he’d like the look, I have given up the idea of using a dog kennel as a critter-proof option. Alas, I don’t like the look of chicken wire here. I probably wouldn’t really like a dog kennel asthetic up north.

So the lesson so far is – some things will stay townhouse garden plants, and we will embrace what’s already on the land up north, plus seed sown additions that can survive with just rain, and that are not attractive to critters.

I heard lupines may be an option. They do naturalize beautifully …

A day’s difference

What a difference a day, and especially two, make at this time of year. Two days ago only the cherry trees had leafed out. Today this site was common.

20190425_164737-1-1

Yesterday our ninebarks hadn’t leafed out. Today they looked like this.

Two days ago the clematis was inches closer to the ground. Today it looked like this.

20190425_170709-1

The tulip are starting to show buds. The sedum are starting to round out. The daylilies are up 4-6″. The asian lilies are popping up in back. Even the new red asian lilies I planted in front popped up overnight. And a few hostas are starting to come up. Not as many as I’m used to this time of year, and that slightly concerns me. We lost some very healthy full hostas during the 2017-2018 winter and I was at a loss as to what happened. I’m hoping it doesn’t happen again.

But almost all the daylilies are up, including one from last year’s seedlings. And THAT is very exciting.

Fall clean up begins

I need to begin fall cleanup today. It usually takes six Saturdays, and I am right on the edge of running late. Saturday is the day, because compost is open until 2 pm on Saturdays in the fall.

It’s always a little sad to start this process, but I cut everything back by hand (no weed whipping – yet) and if I don’t get going, it will be bitterly cold when the last bit needs to be done. (Experience talking here) Plus, there are those few things to be transplanted, or given to neighbors. And then there’s that bag of 30 tulips.

The past few falls it stayed nice enough that some of the hosta leaves were able to turn colors before they wilted from frost.

20171021_130750-2 20171020_134247 20171020_105421-1

So I will leave those for another week. I’ll start with the asian lilies, the fading hostas, and the daylilies whose leaves are browning up.

Yup. I need to get started. No more hanging on. It’s time. We have our “guest in the garden” this weekend. He can lend moral support. In 30 minutes.

If it were April/May, I’d be all over a day to get out in the garden early, but Brrr! Who wants to leave the comfy house with cozy throws to go out and cut down the garden?

It does help that part of the garden came in the house last night – the hibiscus, shamrocks and amaryllis. They are still in the entryway acclimating before I put them in their locations for the next 6 months. Maybe I’ll enjoy them inside for just a few more minutes.

20180929_090331-1

No? Okay, here we go. Once I get going it will be fun? Or at least familiar …

Fall planning begins

A few weekends ago I had time to sit on the patio, look at the garden areas, relax in the shade, and think. Our small pine tree, the one with the bird feeders, has become a little ecosystem. Finches and chickadees and cardinals and doves, squirrels of different colorings and even a mama squirrel comes by. Our garden had humingbirds and monarchs and bumble bees and dragonflies. All coming to feed and some stopping for quite a while. It is peaceful. I need that time, sometimes even with no phone to take pictures. Yes, that was very healthy.

During those few weeks, it seemed as if the stores were sometimes quite successful in getting fall merchandise out the door – in 92° weather! Scarecrows were showing up down the street!

But now fall is definitely here. Our linden is shedding yellow leaves, one or two at a time, but there is a growing pile on the lawn. I have gotten out my boxes of tea for hot beverages. The sweatshirts that sat in the closet over the summer are starting to come out.

In the garden, the daylilies and hostas are all done blooming.

The sedum are in full bloom.

20180925_180849

But our little tomato plant, although looking quite tired, is still bearing fruit. It had five waves of blooms!

Now my mind is beginning to consider plant moves – like the sedum that didn’t get much sun this year because the ‘Aureomarginata’ hostas have gotten so big.

20180925_180446-1

Poor thing! It needs much more spacious accommodations.

Some things have been fading, too, like the beautiful pink asian lilies that are getting crowded by hostas and sedum out front. We have had them for probably a dozen years. I don’t want to lose them, if possible.

It’s not quite scarecrow picks in the ground time at our house yet, but I’m thinking … What do I want to move around so next year is even better?

Fall was also starting on the north shore when we were there last week. One of the days we were up there we took a gondola ride. Check out the start of fall color!

20180919_113249 20180919_113256 20180919_113344_HDR

Not without a bloom

When I started our gardens here, I wanted to create a place where one set of blooming plants rolled into the next. Crocus to daffodils to hyacinth to tulips to asian lilies to irises to … It was a great idea but my husband was not crazy about the look, especially as things died off and we were left with a few … sunflowers! It was also busy, and it looked like a giant mess as the siberian irises gradually took over a large part of the garden. So I dug them out and gave them to my mother-in-law who had space, along with, regrettably, some daylilies that I had put in front and didn’t look so good there. Then I started to build the gardens we have today.

Along the way I also discovered that no matter how many crocus, daffodils, and hyacinth I planted here, they would only come back one, maybe two years. Believe me, I planted hundreds, en masse, and they just don’t thrive here. Some don’t even come in one time! So, I decided tulips are enough. Some stay (I have one patch of purple tulips that has come back 14 years)

and some come back every year as greens (not too exciting). Once again this fall I bought a bag of tulips, and have already picked out the spot for them.

After the tulips come the clematis (from the original garden). Then come the asian lilies (some original, some newer) and then the hostas, the weigelia (original) and the ninebarks (newer). Then come the daylilies for months, followed by the sedum, with the hostas blooming throughout. Continuously blooming are the shamrocks and the hibiscus.

They bloom even when they are brought in mid-October, and go well into December.

In January I head off to the garden store and get a watch ’em grow garden, which blooms into March, and somewhere in Feb the amaryllis blooms. In late Feb the hibiscus starts up again along with a little bit on the shamrocks. And then in April, as the hibiscus and shamrocks are lightly blooming, we are moving outside again.

This progression has run through my mind lately. Yes, I am sad the daylilies are done and the hostas are wrapping up, but truly we are never long without blooms in our “garden”.

Onward

My cloud photo reminders (This day in 2017, 2016 …) are kind of tough to look at right now. I had three huge ‘Touch of Class’ hostas that bloomed about this time of year, cheering up the garden after the daylilies finished blooming, and drawing the hummingbirds and bees.

Something got them over the winter/early spring. Only one came back, and that one is about 1/4 of the size of previous years. I am sad. But I used that space for more daylilies this year, some of which were seeds planted directly in the ground. I also used some of that space to add the two new ‘Hush Little Baby’ daylilies I enjoyed so much. And I took the opportunity to buy another ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ hosta to put in that space. I am fairly in love with those, similar to my affinity for ‘Blue Mouse Ears’! Multiples, multiples.

So onward and upward – gardens evolve. Which leads me back to the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’. Could there be a more beautiful leaf? And combined with the purple scapes and lavender blooms, no wonder they draw the attention in the garden this time of year.

20180825_195722-1(1).jpg

I think I “need” an arch of them, similar to the arch of ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ that bloom so profusely in early summer.

Saturdays in the garden

I cherish and protect my Saturday mornings in the garden. The work week may be hectic and even stressful, but come Saturday morning, it’s garden time. I may go to the farmer’s market, and/or go for a walk, but I need Saturday mornings as down time. And today is Saturday!

I have come to like a tidy look. It’s not everyone’s preference, but for a modestly sized garden like ours I can keep up with trimming daylily stems and hosta scapes. This morning there was a bunch of that. And then there’s the inevitable weeds and tree sprouts. “Pampering the Garden” is a lot of fun, but the best part is when it’s done. There’s nothing like sitting in a peaceful garden.

20180818_140949-1

20180818_141036-1

Soon I also need to decide whether to harvest the hosta seeds from the Aureomarginatas.

20180818_142435-1

I’m leaning toward no, and just trimming them. Despite losing 5 hostas this spring, I don’t have much space to spare. It was a bit crowded in the back and side gardens last year.

We’ll see. Maybe give it another week to decide. I’m definitely trimming the other hostas as soon as they are done blooming 🙂

Do any of you have experience with harvesting and growing hosta seeds? How did they turn out?

Mid-August

Today the last ‘Hush Little Baby’ bud bloomed, and the last ‘Purple D’ Oro’ daylily on one of the 3 plants bloomed today as well.

20180815_072848

20180815_193954

It happens every year. I’m not surprised. But once again, I’m not quite ready. The daylilies are winding down. I already miss their profusion of color, even on the same bloom.

This time of year, especially, I have to remind myself to stay in the moment. The lilies are still blooming. They are not done yet. Then there will be the gorgeous ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ hosta scapes, and the sedum’s slow progression of color, and if we’re lucky and get a long fall, the hosta leaves will even put on a color show. But for today, lilies. Gorgeous lilies.

20180814_145322 20180814_145143

Dad’s hostas

My father (unknowingly at first) got me going on hostas. I was at their house, doing “garden stuff” and he decided that he wanted to remove the over-crowded orange daylilies from the side of the house. We dug them out, gave them to the neighbor (who made a wonderful experience planting them with their young daughter) and we were cleaning up when I saw a few tiny hosta bulbs. I admit, my huband had just declined free hosta plants, but I couldn’t resist. I thought I could just do an “experiment”. You know, just see if they grew in our garden. So I tossed them in one of the plant pots my Dad was giving me. And I brought them home. And I planted them. The next spring – Lo and behold! – hosta plants came up. 😍

My husband was skeptical. No, more accurately, he was a tad concerned. You see, at our house in which we raised our children, I was known to create a new garden area at will … sometimes against his wishes … while he was out with our children … buying my Mother’s Day gift. So he was rightly concerned. We now, by intention, had a very manageable (town)home and yard and garden. But the garden was growing.

The spring after we moved into our current home, I petitioned the association to be able to “improve the property” by putting in some bulbs. We got approval. I proceeded to do that abundantly. A few years went by, and I, with the agreement of my husband, petitioned the association to expand our garden. My petition was approved and we proceeded. (We used the contractor who was familiar with our sprinklers … so no problems there.) The next year, the lawn service was chewing up the trunk of our Linden when they weed whipped, and making ruts in the lawn around it with the mower. I, with the agreement of my husband, petitioned the association to expand the garden again, to go around the tree and farther out into the yard. We got an immediate approval, and during the work, the association president came over and said it looked very nice. And my husband said … “Now you are done expanding.” Why? Well, not all those gardens that I created at the house we raised our children in were well maintained. I loved them. I had every intention of keeping things under control. But we had children, and activities, and dogs, and jobs, and …. They got away from me.

So back to Dad’s hostas. They flourished, and I fell in love. Soon I was adding carefully to our garden, ones that had meaning, ones that were meant to be smaller (I have an entire “ring” of ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ – I love love love them!) I found out about the Hosta of the Year and bought some of those. (Oops! some are quite big!) My Dad met a Hosta Masta (Master) and bought me a couple from his annual sale. The next year we toured his garden and I was in awe! It was incredible!!! And he had very tastefully integrated daylilies in with his hostas. So … I started an “experiment” of my own … We already had a few daylilies up close to the house, but what if I added some throughout the garden. And that is where I still am still today. To keep things simple and under control, we have hostas and daylilies and asian lilies, and sedum (but that is a blog for another day).

That is the story of how Dad’s few little hosta bulbs greatly influenced the garden I have today.

My husband is now the association president (not kidding!). He will not approve any further expansions. So I give divisions to my friends and family and neighbors. It’s all good!