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I sowed seeds today - very therapeutic

17 years ago

So now I have 32 seedling-wannabes nestled in their window box, labeled, covered to protect them from the cats. Hope springs eternal!! I ran out of potting soil - I still have several window boxes to use. I have to leave one window sill for the cats, or they'll be mad at me, but the rest will hopefully become my indoor daylily nursery for the winter. I wish I could plant ALL my seeds RIGHT NOW, I'm so excited to get some blooms all my own. My husband was curious about what I was doing, and a bit surprised that I'd labeled my crosses while pollinating so I'd know whose "child" was whose. But he's very supportive of my gardening, so I was happy to tell him what I'd been doing. He even suggested that someday I might grow daylilies as a side business!

What a sweet man. (Little does he know how much SPACE and WORK and $$$$ invested and DAYLILIES that would mean - but hey, he was so sincere, who am I to argue with someone who likes to see me happy? Dreams are free.)

Laurel

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Comments (2)

highjack
17 years ago
What a sweet hubby - who are you to not let him buy you a bigger place on which to grow daylilies. One must do, what one must do to keep husbands happy!

Now what did you plant?

Brooke
laurelin
Original Author
17 years ago
Oh my, what DIDN'T I plant. Let's see, for the benefit of the curious:

Salem Witch x Admirals Braid (LA purchase)
Bold Tiger x Shirred Lace (LA bonus)
Happy Returns x Border Crossing (looking for a prolific mini pink)
Catherine Woodbery x Night Beacon (looking for a pink/burgundy shade with a large yellow/green throat)
Night Beacon x Dancing Penny (ought to yield a huge yellow throat on some shade of rose/pink)
Border Crossing x Gentle Shepherd (maybe a pink or a white? I've read that pinks are more likely to yield whites. . . .)
Border Crossing x Ida Miles (a long-blooming pink/pastel? Ida is STILL BLOOMING for me, after 8 weeks - amazing)
Dallas Star x (? Siloam Uri Winiford? from a mix years ago) (hopefully a pink/pastel with an eye)
? x a huge orange Tet from G. H. Wild, possibly 'Breakaway' (the pod was the size of a golf ball, and the seeds are HUGE - I'll probably get something VERY BIG and VERY ORANGE)
? x 'Gentle Shepherd' (for being a wimpy plant, it sets pods well, and without my help. . . .)
? x ? (unknown x a huge red tet unknown at my church)

I've still got pods ripening from a few other crosses (involving 'Hyperion,' 'Hesperus,' 'Heart of Jade,' 'Totally Southern,' 'Zagora,' and 'Ida Miles' - which got crossed with almost everything because it's been blooming for so long, and setting pods like mad). I don't have many pods from crosses made during that awful heat wave followed by rain in July - either they didn't "take" at all, or the pods aborted within a couple weeks, so I don't have anything from 'Matt' at all (DARN!), or from 'Cinnamon Pleasure' or 'Big Show Off.'

This ought to be fun. I'm already plotting to eliminate more grass for another raised bed specifically for seedlings. (I've also got a handful of pods from all the random crosses I made up at our church, from the dozen unnamed varieties they have.)

Laurel
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A while ago, some suggested using colored plastic toothpicks inside the containers as a code, besides using something that might fade in the sun. A red pick might be for Stokesia, a blue could be used for calendula, etc. When you run out of colors, just use two or three picks in the container. Keep notes on which color and how many picks you used for which seeds. I used this method very successfully last year. Also, instead of using tape, which can be sticky and difficult to open and close, someone suggested using a hole punch, or punching holes with a knife that has been heated, and threading twistums, (or the little twist ties that are used to close bread wrappers), through the holes to make a closure instead of using tape. I punched three spaced out openings in the top part and three matching holes in the bottom of each jug, secured them with the ties, and it too worked well for me. It is much easier to open and close the container than using tape. It doesn't seem to matter if the opening around the middle isn't tight.
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