Add a splash of fun with some water gardening. You don’t need a pond. Any watertight container can be filled with water plants and several fish. I use shubunkins in the patio pond. They are hardy, colorful and eat larvae.
All ponds need shade. Don’t have a fish fry on your patio. Add plants to shade the water. These can be floaters like duckweed, water hyacinth, parrot’s feather and water lettuce. Also potted plants with height add dimension and shade. Little Tut and smaller water lilies are good for smaller ponds.
Once you are hooked, you will be grabbing a shovel and digging up your yard.
My son put his pond under his bedroom window. He can check on it from his desk. The downside of having a pond under your bedroom window is when the frogs are “a wooing”, there is a cacophony of mating calls. I find the call of the Peeper especially irritating. It’s like adding nails on a chalkboard to a symphony.
Cluster of flowers on a four foot tall stalk.water lily
The first in line was Whooperee on May 30, 2015. The last to bloom was Sabre’ Salina on August 12, 2015. The parade of blooms lasted 72 days. I enjoyed every single morning of walking around with my camera.
I must admit I missed some bloomers due to a week of back pain and a week of vacation. I also left out the spiders. I omitted the six or seven that don’t have names, except for the yellow giant(pictured with Santa). That one was too big to ignore.
I have many daylilies because my best friend used to have a beautiful daylily farm. They gave me many of these. (Thanks Joyce and Jimmy.)
How do I remember all the names? My little secret is etching the names onto colored plastic knives from any party store. I use a Dremel tool, that way the names don’t fade away like when you write them with a sharpie. I stick these knives in the ground near the base of the plant. When I want the name, I look for the colored handle and pull it from the ground; instead of trying to pull the name out of my brain. It’s so much easier than trying to remember them all.
If your daylilies don’t bloom, it’s time for some fertilizer and more water. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to divide them or they are not getting enough sun.
If anyone offers you an orange, old type named Kwanso; politely say no and run away as fast as you can. It’s the kudzu of the daylily family. It will spread and is very hard to get rid of.
Delicate TreasureMabel NolanGentle ShepardKwanso again! Dig it up before it spreads some more!Radiant GreetingsLittle LilaLavender RainbowNowhere to HideSovereign QueenRaphael DaylilyLaura HarwoodSebastianLast bloom 2015Sabre’ Salina
This giant, yellow daylily is the workhorse of the bunch. Its blooms are the biggest and it blooms the longest.
I hate to tell you this, but I do not know its name.
We got it many years ago at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens daylily sale.
If you haven’t been to DSBG, you must visit it if you come to North Carolina.
It and Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina are my two favorite places on this planet.
I will be posting events that occur in my garden. It may involve a buzzing bee, a screeching bird,a frog named Leo or two running bunnies. They are all players on the colorful stage of flower gardening.
floweralley 