1-2-3 Go Garden!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Deadheading Days of Summer

Well, at this time of year, daily deadheading becomes a must in the garden. So every morning I go out and, as well as admiring the daylilies, I start breaking off spent blooms. Very. Carefully. So as not to disturb existing buds and blooms.

Deadheaded Spent Blooms

Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

There are very few daylilies left (of the ones that actually put out scapes) that have not had at least one bloom. I find that amazing when it is not yet the middle of July. All my "late season" daylilies in the east fence bed have bloomed. Those are daylilies I purposely shopped for in August to make sure they would bloom late in the season. But this truly is an extraordinary year.

El Desperado is one beautiful new bloom today. The others, not so much.

El Desperado

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In fact, Night Beacon has such a blemished first bloom, that I included some Moonlit Masquerade in the photo for something else to look at.

Night Beacon and Moonlit Masquerade

Night Beacon (Left) First Bloom 11/07/10

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Unfortunately, there was nothing else of interest near Daring Deception, a fleshy pink flower that did not fare well in its first bloom.

Daring Deception

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Here is a long shot of the daylily bed today.

Daylily Bed Today

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And here are some flowers that are NOT daylilies that are also growing in my garden.

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea)

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Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)

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Hosta Flowers

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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Well, That Was Unexpected

Remember yesterday's "ugly" unknown bloom? Well, here it is again. The second bloom is a bit more like it, don't you think? It looks like something that should be in a wedding bouquet. [Edited to add: Yes, it is beautiful. But you wouldn't know it from yesterday's bloom -- which I thought was quite ugly.]

"Ugly" Unknown Daylily, Second Bloom

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I think I might remember where it came from, now. It was meant to be a Tang Dynasty, but had two labels in the pot. Of course, the second label was what it really was. I can't remember what it was called, but it also begins with 'T'. (Yes, I did mean to go back and exchange it last year, but I ended up just planting it instead.)

[Edited to add: No, that is not the story. It's actually a daylily called Vanilla Fluff, which was planted in a different spot and had stopped blooming, just like Scatterbrain, which has a similar colouring and is also a double. So, when I moved both plants, I put them next to each other. Perhaps that was not the best thing to do, although I am happy they are both blooming now.]

The good news is, my Catherine Woodbury, though becoming quite frail, has not suffered from a catastrophic colour shift after all. Here are its blooms today.

Catherine Woodbury

Catherine Woodbury, First Bloom 11/07/10

Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Daveo Holman is one of my older daylilies that always blooms every year, but has now taken to producing streaky flowers. It's an interesting effect, but this plant is certainly not a great beauty.

Daveo Holman

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Siloam Merle Kent is another one from the early years of my daylily garden (ahem, all of five years ago now).

Siloam Merle Kent

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At least this one hasn't stopped blooming.
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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Friday, July 09, 2010

Rainy Day Friday

In spite of the rain, there were plenty of new blooms.

Peach Magnolia

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Trahlyta

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Scatterbrain
(Well, actually it's 'Vanilla Fluff')

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Joan Senior

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All American Baby

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A Seedling

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Unknown
(Well, actually it's just a very bad 'Scatterbrain')

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That particular unknown daylily is very ugly. I'm not sure if it is an offshoot of Scatterbrain (it looks like it's trying to be a double), a severely discoloured Catherine Woodbury (I hope not!) or a mislabelled one that should have been Old King Cole. (Again, I hope not. I am still looking forward to that one.)

But, to finish up with something positive, here are some better examples of Spiritual Corridor.

Spiritual Corridor, Again

Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Eight is Great

So, I figured out my "unknown" daylily from yesterday. I actually knew it all along, just didn't know I knew, if you know what I mean. It's Druid's Chant. One of my difficulties was how reddish the colour of it is this year. In previous years, it has always been close to lavender. Unfortunately, many of my daylilies lose their lovely cream and lavender hues in my garden and turn towards apricot and pink. Maybe it's something to do with the pH levels.

Well, today was quite the day for first blooms. Eight of them! My mid-to-late season daylilies in the back garden have nearly all started blooming already! I have a few pink daylilies with yellow piecrust edges. Yesterday you saw David Kirchoff. Today, two others had their first blooms: Light Years Away and Spiritual Corridor.

Light Years Away

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Spiritual Corridor

Spiritual Corridor, First Bloom 08/07/10

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The problem with fleshy pinks is that when they look good they look very, very good, but when they are bad they are awful. Spiritual Corridor could certainly be better, I think.

Strawberry Candy, a veteran in my garden, is now almost orange, another unexpected colour shift over the life of the plant. Unlike some of the other colour shifts, I've actually come to like this one.

Strawberry Candy

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In the daylily garden by the east fence, three new first blooms today, Coal Miner, Ivory Edges, and Sunday Gloves.

Coal Miner
(No, I got it wrong the first time; this one is 'Strutter's Ball')

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Ivory Edges

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Sunday Gloves

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The last two new first blooms are Siloam Doodlebug and Woodside Rhapsody.

Siloam Doodlebug

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Woodside Rhapsody

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I love my garden, and daylily season is the best. I have so many more photos I would like to display.

Like this one of two Kwanso daylilies:

Two Kwanso

Or this great example of Lady Fingers with really long, curly petals. There's a technical name for that. It's an unusual form (referred to as "Twisted Cascade").

Lady Fingers Showing Unusual Form (Twisted Cascade)

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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Losing Track

I believe it's time to admit to myself that my daylily addiction is out of control. I have daylilies blooming in my garden that I can't identify. I don't know when I bought and planted them. Like this one that bloomed today.

Unknown* First Bloom Today

Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

The other thing is, I can't keep track of my losses in any coherent way, either. I know vaguely that some of my old favourites from a few years ago are no longer blooming. My Hope and Barbara Mitchell were always solid and reliable, but now they are just scapeless piles of greenery under the elm.

Many of my purchases (mostly from the daylily farm, but also from commercial nurseries) have been disappointments for various reasons: plants not strong enough to last past one year, mislabelled plants, plants that do not bloom true-to-form the following year (and continue to turn uglier the more years they survive). There are many ways for daylily purchases to fall short of expectations.

But there are the gems, too, so it's a gamble that sometimes pays off.

Funny, I would not have called myself a gambler, but that is exactly what I am in the garden, willingly buying plants with no guarantee of survival...

Well, I do have some more first blooms today. David Kirchoff has seen better days. This flower is smaller than usual.

David Kirchoff

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Then there is Royal Mountie, which had two blooms today, neither of which has the lovely pinwheel effect I look forward to from this variety.

Royal Mountie

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Others, not new, which had two (or three) blooms in tandem today are American Revolution, and Crimson Pirate.

American Revolution

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Crimson Pirate

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The dark daylilies are my absolute favourites, and today the flowers seem to have the deep, rich colour I imagine they should have all the time -- although some days the flowers are lighter and more reddish, and of course the camera always picks up the red at the expense of the darker tones.

But not so today's American Revolution (as seen above), and Dominic.

Dominic

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I sigh a lot over the shortcomings I encounter, especially in my own brain's inability to keep track of my flowers. But when I see the gorgeous blooms on my dark daylilies, I can only sigh with contentment.

* I figured it out. It's actually Druid's Chant. It's a lot more reddish this year than previous years. Here is what it looked like in 2006 when I first bought and planted it.

Druid's Chant, 2006

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Trying to Keep Track

A few different views of the garden today. The daylily bed by the east fence is starting to bloom now.

Daylily Bed

The Garden Looking East to the Daylily Bed

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Some old favourites had their first blooms today. Country Melody, Dad's Best White, and Purple d'Oro are easy for me to identify by their appearance and location.

Country Melody

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The newer the daylily to my garden, the less certain I am of names. For example, this one from the front garden, I'm not certain but I think it is Blueberry Candy.

Blueberry Candy (?)

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Then there is this red one. It's back in the daylily bed by the east fence. I've already had blooms for Lucky Catch and Justin Miller, so I am not sure what this one is.

Unknown Red

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Clearly I have to go back through the archives and refresh my memory as to which daylilies I have acquired in the past two years.

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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Monday, July 05, 2010

It's Too Darn Hot!

Well, on Sunday night we went to see Kiss Me, Kate at the Festival Theatre in Stratford, Ontario. The first song after the intermission was "It's Too Darn Hot". And that is a good description for the weather today. After a few days of warm, sunny weather with barely any clouds and a bit of a breeze, what we have now is a fuggy mess of humid heat. Definitely indoor weather for all but the most avid sun lovers.

The heat affected one of my new daylilies badly. Alpine Mist (even the name sounds like it's made for cool weather) should be a lavender-pink, but today's flower is decidedly brownish-pink instead.

Alpine Mist

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Two daylilies in the front garden that look well together have again bloomed together, Kwanso and Darkside. The bright orange and dark purple set each other off nicely.

Kwanso

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Another first bloomer in the front yard garden is Naomi Ruth. Mine is a sport that has miniature flowers, although the original is not classified as a miniature.

Naomi Ruth

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And one more first bloom today, a red daylily called Justin Miller.[Edit: Although I identified this as 'Justin Miller' in 2010, I can clearly see (in 2012) that this is actually 'Bama Bound'.]

Justin Miller