The 25 prospective “Mahala” daylily seeds are now out in the seedling box. They are one step closer to being “in the wild”. Being outside, they will now have more natural sun. It is not quite the optimal consistent temperature yet, so they get to keep their little greenhouses, for heat to germinate. I did also protect them with a towel when the association lawn service came by with granual spreading. And I’ll protect them the same way at night until they germinate.
If it snows or freezes, they will come back in, but otherwise they get to stay outside now.
The two purple shamrock division pots also went out to stay today, as well. Unless it snows or freezes, of course.
I present to you the first bloom of 2025 (if you don’t count the shamrocks)
Well, yes, it is St. Patrick’s Day, and I do have a smidge of Irish, and I did marry an Irishman ‘o so many years ago, and we did have an Irish terrier (sweet Darby ❤️) so, for St. Patrick’s Day, a shamrock bloom. From the plant that is overcrowded (or so I thought) 😊😘
We have two fairly good-sized shamrock plants in pots here. Most summers they can be seen in the area under the linden. One is purple and one is green.
Every fall I bring them into the house, and they eventually go into my office. They give me all-winter mini flowers, and occasionally I hear rustling in late fall from a ladybug who made it in with the shamrocks, usually the purple one.
I cannot say how long I have had the Shamrocks. Probably close to, if not over 15 years now. I remember buying them one St. Patrick’s season, at the grocery store across town. They were in those tiny 3-4″ pots, and very inexpensive. I thought it would be “fun” 😊 My husband and our younger son teased that Yes! We definitely needed more plants! Hahaha!
I have given divisions to other people and they haven’t done well. But those two shamrocks are very healthy here.
There have been years where I have been sooooo looking to get the shamrocks back outside. This year is not one of them. They are very happy inside this year.
But alas! They are part of the ecosystem here. In the spring they go out, and the robins pluck the dead stuff for their nests. Eventually the wind gets to them, and all the leaves die back, and then it is just soil until they grow back and fill in stronger than ever.
It looks like the robins are starting to pair up. I am thinking they will be starting to build their nests soon. The bird bath should go out today so they can have water to make mud, and the shamrocks could go out next week after our forecasted cool and rainy weekend.
When we do move them out, I will miss them in my office, but they are starting to get that “good material for birds nests” look. Yes, I put some egg shells in there. Another post about those on the way.
It was a slow return for the purple shamrock this year. At the beginning of the season I was preparing myself for the end of that era. But it came back by June, and it remains in its usual spot.
The purple shamrock is one of two summer garden plants that come inside in mid-fall. They go in my office – all four feet wide – and greet me every morning with their year-round blooms.
Up north this past weekend, we had a 38°F night. When that starts further down south here, I start to watch the lows. Nights consistently below 40°F and time for them to come in.
Living in Minnesota, there are certain non-hardy plants that we bring in for the winter. We have two large shamrock plants and a very large, over 10 year old hibiscus.
About a month ago I got an inquiry – is it time to put out the shamrocks? The answer now is yes. When it is consistently above 40°F at night we put the hibiscus and both the shamrocks out. It will be sad this year because they are so full and nice indoors, and as you will see from the pictures below, the wind and sun beats them up almost immediately. We do keep them close to the house at first, but they have to make the transition. We have a small home, and everything has its season. And they do fine. As a bonus, the birds make good use of the dried stems and leaves for their nests. When they are done, the pots are very clean for the new growth. It is the circle of life, and nothing goes to waste.
With the large plants now outdoors I have space to start our seedlings for up north. Everything in its time.
Yesterday I bought heirloom seeds for our test garden up north – pickling plume lettuce, scarlet kale, asparagus, echinacea, zebrina hollyhock (one of my all time favorites), and some more milkweed. I’m getting excited to get started. It feels a bit like old times when I had seed starting trays by our west facing patio door. I suppose I will start the seeds indoors again, but will wait for a month or so. My guess is we won’t plant up there until the end of May or even early June.
Yesterday I also did some “indoor gardening” on the shamrocks and the amaryllis. The shamrocks are the healthiest they have ever looked in March.
Usually by this time at the end of winter they are very scraggly and I can hardly wait to get get them back outside in April so the birds pluck away all the dried stems in between the live ones and use them for their nests. This year it may be a bit longer.
The amaryllis did not bloom for the second year in a row. I suspect I should follow best practices going forward and put it in a dry dark place for a few months. I am, however, tempted to send it to compost in the spring, along with a leggy succulent. We’ll see.
Managing pests on the hibiscus, amaryllis and shamrocks is an annual battle. I love those plants so I have made much effort to protect them from heading to compost. The birds pretty much handle pests during the spring and summer, but it is a bit of work when the plants come in for fall and winter.
I transition the plants from outdoors to the tile to the carpet over about a week. They stay on the tile a few days to get their initial acclimation to the indoor weather. During that time they do shed leaves (and some ladybugs, gnats, etc.) During that time I also spray the hibiscus and the amaryllis dirt with a mild solution of Sol-U-Mel. The shamrocks are still quite full so they get that treatment later.
Once the plants are ready to go to their indoor location for fall/winter, I put them on a plastic bag or thick piece of cardboard for a while. During that time they are kind of messy. The hibiscus drops leaves and buds and the shamrock stems begin to die back.
All of that needs to be pulled off the plants, picked up and thrown away. Leaving that on and around the plants invites issues.
Throughout the fall and winter I also add one drop of dish detergent to a quart of water and use that on the soil to keep pests at bay.
By spring I am tired of the routine, and inevitably gnats are starting to appear. At first sign of frosty nights being gone, the plants go back outside. They die back a bit (the birds pluck the shamrock material for their nests) but then they come back stronger.
Susan's Daily Garden 