Some new reds and the problem children of the garden
shive
7 years ago
Let me start with the problem children of the garden. These daylilies have such potential. But they don't do what they should.
Parrot Moon is the prettiest orange daylily I've ever seen. But here in my garden it's just one fan after three years. It won't increase for me: not in a pot, and not in two places in the ground. But I do love the flower, and this is an odd season, so I'm giving it one more year to multiply and prosper.
Parrot Moon
Skin of My Teeth - I knew this one has problems with heavy dew when I bought it. Karol Emmerich freely admits it on her website. But it is just so pretty, I would love to see it with blemish free sepals. Just once ... OK, more than once.
Skin of My Teeth - Deep, rich purple color and big white teeth everywhere. Besides the splotchy sepals, it doesn't like to open fully until afternoon.
Next for the new reds.
Ruby Grandeur - Thanks for the trade, Mantis!
Season Finale - I got this one because it's supposed to be a bud builder and continue blooming very late.
Others that were blooming over the past two days:
Cool Hand Luke
Forty Days and Forty Nights
Melee, a late bloomer
Orange Vols and Inca Prince for all you orange lovers!
Landon Lee - Nice applique pattern, but it hasn't opened properly until today. It almost went in the problem child category. The spots may have been caused by the bug spray applied yesterday.
Desperado Love is the opposite of a problem child. It is the golden child this season. DL's growing in a bed that had weeds and tall grass growing in it until a couple of weeks ago. It got no supplemental water during the dry months of April and May. Yet it defied the odds. It's taller than registered with the best branching and bud count in the garden: four-way branching with 27 buds on the best scape. I almost gave it all away two years ago. It deserves more respect.
I'll post a few more in the comments section later.
Debra
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Comments (19)
sherrygirl zone5 N il
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Need some help with the layout of a new garden/orchard!!
Comments (25)I agree that your first priority needs to be to get rid of the grass. If it runs, you don't want it. Period. You will also need to do some kind of edging around the outside perimeter of the fence that will prevent grass from coming back in. Absolutely don't till until you are certain the grass is dead. If you do it this fall, you won't need to worry about any serious residual effects of Roundup by next spring. Although the fence would be an ideal place to trellis vegetables, the disadvantage is that you will not have a place to stand when harvesting. You would either need to make your perimeter beds narrow enough to reach across, or move them three feet inside the fence and erect trellises. I don't know what I think about the trees in the center of the garden. You will simply need to track the sun and think about how much shade trees would cast on your beds once the trees are full grown. It's true that in the south most veggies appreciate some afternoon shade (mine does). That would mean plant your trees to the west of your beds, but again, you don't want that shade to hit them before about two o'clock in the afternoon. I have two dwarf apples in the Northwest and Southwest corners of my garden. They are only two years old, but I believe their shade will be welcome. Thanks glib, for the note about their roots and raised beds. I am glad to know that. There are plenty of sites on the internet that will advise you on how much food to expect from a certain number of plants, but the truth is, you won't know for sure, until you have a couple of years under your belt. I can tell you that rather than growing lots and lots of one kind of food at once, I grow smaller amounts throughout the entire year (under floating row covers in the winter). My goal is to have plenty of fresh food for the table, and anything extra is canned or frozen. This works very well and I never have to face a bushel of anything at one time. If you can find a company that sells a high quality "organic mix", that will likely be just fine for filling your beds. If you really want to hedge your bet, ask them for a sample of it now (about a cup full) and have it tested by your Agricultural extension office. In our town, that costs $5 and gives you a wealth of good information about what is in that soil. Regardless of what you use, you will want to start a compost pile and plan to add compost (and probably some fertilizer too) to each bed each year. As it happens, my brother raises bees. Here is a link to his blog. He knows his stuff and there are lots of pictures. I'm jealous. My hubby draws the line at bees and chickens. :) Good luck to you! Post some pictures later and let us see your results! Here is a link that might be useful: The Door Garden...See Moremy new perennial garden, need some help please!
Comments (2)Hi taraleigh, So far, it sounds like you've done a good job with your garden by planting things that will thrive with the good drainage that your sandy soil likely has. The only plant I could see being a problem may be the Bee Balm, since it likes rich, constantly moist, humusy soil, and can develop powdery mildew if its in a crowded spot. It sounds like you have kind of a "Cottage Garden" look going on in this bed, so I wouldnÂt worry too much about "casual" style plants next to more formal ones. In general, I think the soil conditions, moisture, PH (acid, neutral or alkaline) and light conditions that different varieties of plants need to be healthy is the main thing people should concern themselves with when planting a new garden. Then you can find plants that you like the look of, that thrive in the conditions of your particular garden area. The bloom time of various flowering perennials, as well a garden's ability to look good in the fall and winter is also a consideration. I would just "google" each of your plants, check their water, sun, and soil PH requirements, and provide them with what they need. At this point in the summer, I wouldn't transplant anything, so hopefully you are pleased with how your garden area looks for now. If you donÂt like the placement of anything, I would wait until the spring to move it. As far as your overall garden design goes, I agree with laceyvail about the arrangement. You didn't say what direction the sun is coming from in relation to this garden bed, but you may want to check that the more drought-tolerant plants are on the side that gets the most hot afternoon sun. Also, be sure that anything tall isn't creating an excessive shade area over smaller plants that needs full sun. You will have some autumn interest with your "Blue Star" aster, "Autumn Joy" stonecrop, "Blanket flower", and Artemisia "Silver Mound". Personally, I would have added some low-growing evergreen shrubs that tolerate sandy soil, such as Common Bearberry / Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) to this bed, but that would just be my preference as far as some winter interest. Not sure what your soil PH is, but your soil would need to be acidic, sandy soil to grow Kinnikinnick. The foliage of your daylilies, asiatic lilies, veronica, bee balm, delphinium, "Snow In Summer", and Shasta daisy will likely die back to varying degrees in the winter in Zone 5. But in Zone 5, the bed will most likely be covered in snow for much of the winter, so you won't notice the dormant foliage as much. In the fall or spring, you can always add an evergreen small shrub or two that tolerates sandy soil. This fall, you may also want to add some spring-flowering bulbs, so that you have some early spring interest in this garden plan. Be prepared to be pulling up some of those "Snow in Summer", Artemisia "Silver Mound", and Shasta daisies if they get too invasive in this bed. Daylilies can have buds on them for many, many days before they bloom. I prefer the pretty lemony-yellow of the "Happy Returns" to the margarine-yellow of the "Stella D'Oro", but they are both pretty easy to care for daylilies, and both bloom well. The "Stella D'Oro" is really tiny. As far as colors go, I like to keep plants with blossoms on the red-orange side of the color spectrum (such as your "Black Bird" Lily) away from plants that have purple or blue-ish blossoms (such as your delphinium, and "Lavender Joy" lily, but this is just my personal preference color-wise. Hope this helps and good luck with your new garden!...See MoreRed Clay And Raised Beds: Brand New To Gardening
Comments (3)This is all subjective topic, so expect a lot of opinion. I'll share mine. 1) Don't bother with sand. Personally, I'd say it's a waste. Why bother? 2) I would buy enough compost to fill up to within 2" of the top, and plan for your bed to be raised at least 12" from the top. Multiply HEIGHT(ft)xWIDTH(ft)xDEPTH(ft) to get the cubic volume needed (in feet) to fill the area. Add 1-2 cubic feet onto this (for amending the clay). Personally, I like just using "Moo Nure" from Home Depot as my poop blend of choice. 3) Doubt drainage will be a problem. If you're worried about it, mix couple inches of tiny pebbles and rocks into the bottom of the hole after amending the soil. Drains should not be necessary if you follow #2. 4) Squirrels can be kept away with cayenne pepper sprinkled on the soil and reapplied after rainshowers (supposedly, my DW swears by it). Plants that repel pests and help other veggies grow based on how they interact with soil - this concept is called Companion Gardening (click here for articles on the subject). Great concept, and it works. 5) You'd be amazed what a weedeater and a pair of loping shears will do. Once you cut it all down, continue to mow in that spot regularly throughout the year, and it should prevent the brush from coming back. Some tips: After you build your bed, dig up the first 2" of sod/grass/etc. inside the bed (before you add soil/manure/compost). Take a tiller (power or hand tiller), break up the clay, toss in a couple bags of manure, then till that into the soil and rake it out. The goal is to mix the soil and clay so it's not just straight clay. The manure is going to entice earthworms and other creatures to come up from the ground, which will further breeak up the clay nearby. If using regular untreated wood, DO NOT put it near your house. Termites love untreated wood, and if you don't like termites in your house, don't put untreated wood that comes in direct contact with the ground anywhere within 10' of your house. If you use treated wood, I would recommend to line the inside of it with black tarp (4mil thick) so you don't see any of the pressure treating chemicals leeching into your soil (which are much less harmful these days than days of yore). A staple gun will hold it to the inside - DON'T LINE THE BOTTOM OF THE BED OR YOU WON'T DRAIN! Just keep the wood from touching the fill soil....See MoreA new problem with red commerical nectar reported
Comments (9)Some stores have stopped selling the nectar with red dye but Perky Pet is one company that has been contacted and refuses to pull it off the market because they believe that is where their repeat sales are. Ken this didn't happen overnight. Honeybees are not normally drawn to feeders very much but I was told by bee keepers last year that because plant breeders are altering the natural chemistry of so many plants....bigger blooms, higher yeilds, new colors etc. that nectar production is being compromised and this is causing our bees to go to hummer feeders more for the nectar that they need. consequently the red dye is showing up more and more in cells within the hives. Here again man is destroying the natural order of nature in order to make a profit. Penny...See More
jean_ar
7 years agoshive
7 years ago
deangreen
7 years agodick_in_ohio
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agomantis__oh
7 years agodick_in_ohio
7 years agoA daylily that does well here in Central Ohio and looks somewhat like Memphis is Taos. It's one of the pretties flowers in my garden.
shive
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
Maryl (Okla. Zone 7a)
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoshive
7 years ago
gothiclibrarian
7 years agonat4b
7 years agoshive
7 years agonat4b
7 years ago
tarheelgirl_7b
7 years agoshive
7 years agodick_in_ohio
7 years agoAnother pink I love is Gentleman's Lady. More pink that Taos and is growing well.
Julia WV (6b)
7 years ago
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shiveOriginal Author