And so... another day begins in my yardful o' plants. I finally have all the pots of daylilies that were on the porch OFF of it. There are some other plants I also purchased that are hardening off there, plus on the back steps, but the daylilies are off. There are just a few still in water buckets, and a lot that are heeled in, to take care of as soon as humanly possible. Heeling in isn't a good practice for daylilies, but it will provide an extention that could ensure survival. Plants might not be happy enough to bloom well, but they're more likely to live than if they get either dried out or waterlogged from waiting too long. And I'm still figuring out where to plant many of them! I need to renovate several gardens, so there is little point in planting something in those, only to dig them up later in the summer. They should go in pots, but right now, pots are at a premium for me. Sorry... sounds like whining, but I do have some plans about what to do. It all just takes time.
Weather has been somewhat cooperative. It rains a lot, which means far less hauling water out to the new transplants! They should be heavily watered in the first day, maybe some the second day, but then, probably not. The roots need to be encouraged to go fairly deep and seek moisture on their own. If we were experiencing a dry spell, I might say otherwise. But it's spring in New England, and that usually means a fair bit of rainfall. Unfortunately, it keeps me inside a lot. Like HERE, at the computer! HA!
There are still several more deliveries to come in and I expect some will show up this week. I feel like I can breathe long enough to do two or three appointments in the next couple of days, and then Thursday is supposed to be a beautiful day! That should give me a running start on what needs to be done. I also have a couple of friends who will be getting some of my plants in the mail, so I need to package those up, asap.
Oh! And I have found budded scapes on three daylilies! Elizabeth, always the first to bloom each year, might be challenged for that title by Elfin. I also have found a wee scape on one of the many Little Bob daylilies I have.
IT'S BEGINNING!!!!!!
Below is Little Bob, from an old shot in 2012. Breeder is Williamson, 1979, SEV DIP, Early, 10"x 2", nocturnal.
Barely have enough time to tinkle, the past two weeks! Various crises have arisen (none of them insurmountable, of course) including the death of Old Man Refrigerator. I cannot replace the fridge until I can also replace the kitchen floor; they have to be done together, which will be a monumental project. Just getting the current stuff out of the kitchen will be daunting! So, to stall the inevitable, which I cannot spare the time for now, I got a small dorm or camp fridge/freezer to save some of the stuff that was in the old one, and get us through until the big changeover. I won't do the floors for a few weeks, since I'm tracking in soil all the time, with all these transplantings. Really, I'm truly a dirty old lady! HA!
A few more deliveries have shown up either by UPS or USPS. I had to get more plant markers, but had a good idea this time of what sizes to get. No more small ones! When I get the herb garden going next year, they'll be useful for that one. The labels are easy to change around.
My front porch looks like an alien jungle... lots of daylilies in makeshift pots, with most of their roots in water. They're basically protected there, and it's a central zone to go and collect plants A, B, and C to take to section X, Y, or Z. It might get chilly, but for the most part, they're acclimatizing well there. I have so many to resolve places for, I'm going a little nuts. Daylilies probably shouldn't be heeled in, but I have had to resort to that. The first ones were done a few days ago, and I can't let them stay like that much longer! But it's better than their getting air-dried upper roots or waterlogged crowns from irregular amounts of water in their little containers. At least they're touching soil.
I've been able to score a number of old plants that I used to have, but lost. Well, I assume they were lost, but there are yet quite a few that haven't bloomed in 2012 or '13 for identification. So, who knows? Anyway, certain ones have been "replaced." I'm certain that Jerome and Jackie's Choice were gone, and not sure that my Mint Ice was correct in the first place. Those are all new here, this week, and I expect blooms this summer. Mint Ice has been planted; the others are waiting. I have a spot all prepared for Jackie's Choice -- in the Pirate Garden! (Get it?) Others that are being replaced include Congeniality, Alexander the Great, Siloam Robbie Bush, Siloam Merle Kent, Dancing Lions, Oliver Dragon's Tooth, Ed Murray, Real Wind, Orange Vols, Give Me Eight, Amadeus, Little Wart, Mini Stella, and Marked By Lydia. For a few of these, it will be their last chance. Three strikes and you're out. I've had two failures for Orange Vols and Siloam Robbie Bush, each. Why do some cultivars just act like they don't want to be here? There have been a few others, too!
I'd post photos of the ones I mentioned above, but the photos of the old ones I lost are not in this computer. They're in the old computer, also lost, though I emailed many of them to myself for personal referrence, as enclosures, not attachments. Can't upload from that. And I don't want to risk any copyright infringement (nor bad manners) by taking photos from the databases or people's sales websites. So... no photos of those!
I mentioned the Pirate's Garden (thinking I should change that name to Pirate's Cove or Pirate's Patch, but there's a daylily called Pirate's Patch -- got it, too!) and I have a number of other themed gardens. My first one was the Arthurian or Round Table Garden. That one desperately needs overhauling. Got a lot of attention the past two summers, but needs much more. There have been family themed gardens, or what I call Family Plots. (-- or sometimes "Family Plotz," LOL!) Those are all over, in various places according to parts of family, generations, etc. They too are getting overhauled this year, and sooner rather than later. I may have mentioned "Dragon Alley," but that's getting very little change this year; so far two additions, and a few subtractions that don't belong in the theme. Last year's holding beds are now the Stout Silver Medal Winners Gardens (SSM's) and one that had a lot of foreign sounding plants being held will be the International Garden. The Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings Gardens will remain in the same places, touching Dragon Alley. There are others too, but I've gone on long enough. I'm having trouble posting the photo of Dragon Alley, taken last summer, so this will have to end here. Better luck next time, right?
Woooo-HOOOOOOOOO!
The daylilies I have ordered over my "Winter of discontent" have been arriving! Two online orders and two small auctions have been delivered... ooh, remind me: I have to leave some feedback on the two auctions. They arrived in fine shape, BTW.
So, everything's a bit stressed from being dug, wrapped up, shipped, and unpacked, but though they look a bit sad, they'll recover. Many are still sitting in water because I have had to move established daylily clumps from the places where the new ones will go. I have sort of given up on dividing those, at least for awhile. They'll take up far less space in the holding beds I've put them in, if they're still clumped. The important thing now is to get the babies settled in to their new homes!
Almost all of the Stout Silver Medalists that have arrived are planted in the SSM area. Nine out of eleven, to be precise. Most of the others have a general area to go to, but if I'm to do the right things by height and colors, I have to take awhile to research those factors, and maybe move an existing plant or two. Or more. Some move easily; some put up a fight. "Cara Mia" was wrapped around an important wire! The biggest part of it was moved yesterday, but I left the wire wrapped part in place; that will take some careful surgery to finish. And it's raining this morning! Everything that hasn't got an immediate or "pretty soon" place to go will have to be potted up until I can resolve the space issues.
"Cara Mia," by Lester, 1955; about 14" tall, EM. This photo is a bit blue-shifted. The real blooms are warmer in color than this.
So far, I've unpacked 71 plants that were expected, and two bonuses, one of which was a repeat of something I have too much of anyway, so I gave it away. The rest of the orders will be much smaller. I asked that the plants not be shipped until mid-May (I really thought I had instructed ALL of them thus, but could I have missed one or two?). Let's see, half of 31 is 15.5, or 16. So, the mid-point of May was YESTERDAY! By yesterday afternoon, I'd received four shipments, already. OK, enough grousing... I'm basically a happy camper just to have some new daylilies. I shudder to think if the sale had actually gone through for me, though. By the way, that sale is tomorrow -- I won't be going, even as a customer. Too much to do right here! But if I had had to dig, clean, etc. everything for a sale, all the while prepping the newbies for planting too, I'd have been twice as exhausted this week as I already was. Next year, I'll make a specific note in my own records of whether or not I gave those instructions. And hopefully, next year I won't go quite so crazy over the winter.
One more thing -- my "Elizabeth" daylilies, always the earliest of the extra-earlies to bloom, have a few scapes with tiny buds on them! Last year, their FFO date ("First Flower Open") was May 20th. It was a lovely, early spring, last year. This year has been the opposite: cold, clammy, and horribly late after a hideously LONG winter. It doesn't bother me that these are a bit later than last year. In fact, I'm surprised they have come along so quickly as they have! Have I ever shown you a photo of "Elizabeth" in bloom? Well, just in case I haven't, I'll post one now, from last year. This is one of the plants I want to take to my brother's house soon. I got it to commemorate our Mom, whose name was obviously Elizabeth. I also have a bit of my "Charlie's White" peony (Dad) and I think I'll slip a few more relatives in there, because they need dividing anyway.
"Elizabeth" by Norton, 1942; Tinker's Garden's database says this grows to 36" tall! I'll have to measure mine when it blooms, but I doubt that it gets THAT big! A cultivar this old doesn't give the flower width in the registry, but I'd say her blossoms are about 2.5 to 3" wide.
Like my mom, she's kind of small and truly lovely, and always makes me smile when I see her. Wish I could see Mom again!
