Starting over (isn't that a song?)

14 years ago

LOL, if there's a daylily by that name, I should get it.

Anyhow, we've finally moved into our new house, and I had to leave most of my daylilies behind. I brought perhaps a half dozen mature plants, a double handful of divisions, and a couple dozen seedlings from last year and the year before. I think I'll have some fun shopping for daylilies this fall - and I can start my wish list looking at the photos everyone is sharing now. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait till my rescues bloom to figure out what I plunked where in the new yard (just to get them back in the ground - they were in pots or bareroot for a month and more since the closing was delayed), since I didn't tag them in the confusion of moving.

I think I'm not too far from Melanie Mason's gardens - I'll have to see them in person soon.

I'll try not to be a stranger here - we're still unpacking, painting, and trying to get my plants back in the ground, not to mention taking care of the kids and normal household stuff (and home schooling too). But each day this week I've been able to spend some time in the yard, carving new beds around the deck out of the blank slate we've been blessed with.

Laurel

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Comments (10)

tweetypye
14 years ago
Well, thank goodness you're finally in the house. I hope your dl's love it there and you have lots of room for more.
Glad you'll be hanging around here too, but I know how busy you must be with all the moving, settling in, and everything else you have going.
Good luck on all of it...and once you get those new beds carved out, take some photos. We'd love to see them now and again when they're all planted. :)
Jan
katlynn719
14 years ago
Hi Laurel, Congrats on the new house! I know how stressful moving can be, but the worst is behind you. I will enjoy seeing your new garden progress...because I remember how pretty your old one was.
Kathy
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lalalandwi
14 years ago
How exciting!!!!! A fresh slate with all your experience, scares me how awesome your gardens are going to be! Have fun!
berrytea4me
14 years ago
Congrat's on the new house. Good luck with your new gardens. Your hard work will pay off before you know it.
Julia WV (6b)
14 years ago
Hi Laurel:
The FieLDS (Finger Lakes Daylily Society) is having a plant sale (bareroot)in early August at Bristols in Victor on a Saturday. 2 - 3 fans divisions. Same price for all fans which is very reasonable price. If it grows in our neck of the woods, it will survive by you.
If your interested in either joining the club or attending the sale, let me know. I can send you the info.

Julia
arbond
14 years ago
Welcome to Upstate NY! I'm from southern Finger Lakes area.

I have a questions for you, since you seem to know Daylilies.

I had to transplant some yesterday. They are going to a hillside location. The excavator cleared the top layer of soil on the hill side (8x15 area). I will scatter maybe 10 clumps of daylilies (not sure what kind - they bloomed 2-3 weeks ago, dark yellow). My question is, I dont want grass or weeds to grow around them, but i want to make sure the lilies spread - they will right? Do I do anything next to them - fabric? mulch? nothing?
laurelin
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks everyone - it's good to be back here, and good to be in the new house. Watch out lawn, your days are numbered, LOL!

Julia, thanks for the offer! The sale sounds great - which Saturday is it? My sister's baby shower is on the 8th, but if the sale is the weekend before, I might try to make the trip over.

Arbond, HI! I'm not an expert (I'll leave that accolade to the many other daylily growers on here who know FAR more than I do), but I can offer some general tips for growing them in your area (I'm from the Southern Tier):

If the excavator took off the top layer of grass/thatch, check and make sure you still have some good soil left to plant in. Amending the soil never hurts, and if you have access to it, compost is the best soil addition I've used. If you don't want to amend the whole area, at least add a good amount of bagged compost or good topsoil to the planting holes when you transplant.

You're right, the daylilies will spread (some spread faster than others). Landscape fabric inhibits their ability to spread, so you have a couple choices. You can either NOT use the fabric, and use a 3" layer of mulch (like pine bark mulch, not nuggets) around the plants, and do periodic weeding. Or, you can plant through the fabric and just leave a larger hole around the plant to allow for some spreading (say, leave 8" all around the existing clump) - that way you'll be weeding less. I'm not a fan of landscape fabric (I'd rather weed and let things spread on their own), but if you DO use the fabric, get the heavier, fibrous stuff, not the cheap semi-perforated plastic. The cheap-o stuff won't last, and is a headache to remove because it shreds/rips like crazy. (Our new house has both kinds of fabric in the one planting bed - yick, it's all on its way OUT of here.)

I hope that helps, arbond!

Laurel
arbond
14 years ago
Wow - thanks! Good advice.

I'm in Bath BTW.
remy_gw
14 years ago
Laurel,
I was just wondering about you. I haven't seen you post in awhile. Now I know why, lol. So you moved more out this way. You'll have to try and come to the local swap next spring(always posted in the Upstate NY forum,) and you can load up on plants for you new home. We are a generous group : )

Julia,
What is the date of the sale? I hope not the 8th. I have a shower that day also.
Remy
laurelin
Original Author
14 years ago
Hi Remy - yeah, our life went through the blender this last year. My husband was laid off on Election Day last fall, spent the holidays job-hunting, was hired at the end of January by a company in Rome, NY, and lived in an efficiency during the week and came home on the weekends while we sold this house and bought another. We finally moved in a few weeks ago. I just couldn't bring all of my daylilies - it wasn't practical at all. I took what I could, and my peonies and some irises. I'm telling my family I want money for my new garden for my birthday in August, lol.

Arbond, my parents, in-laws, and sister are in the Corning area. We lived in the Binghamton area for 14 years. Did you know that Massi's Garden Center in Painted Post usually has an unusually broad selection of potted daylilies? Last time I was there (a month ago) they had such lovelies as 'El Desperado' and several of the 'Candy' series, among others, some putting up scapes. You could see some blooming in person, if you feel like making the drive. If you're in the Binghamton area, check out Nanticoke Gardens - they sometimes have some nice daylilies too, and I got an uncommon Munson ('Papal Court') there a couple years ago.

Laurel

Starting over (isn't that a song?)

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