daylilies

Bloom When You Can

| Flower Roberts

It is October 21 today. Mr. Flower just sent me this photo of one of the daylilies. This one is in the Bunny Yard, which no longer has bunnies. Instead it is visited by the neighborhood ground hog. The fence keeps out the deer herd.


My home garden has gotten very little attention from me in two summers. This bloom may not look like much to you, but to me it is a message of hope.


This ‘Breed Apart’ daylily is showing its grit. It is exhibiting resilience. ‘Breed Apart’ is  budding up and blooming in Autumn despite neglect, drought, and cold.

Breed Apart daylily


‘Breed Apart’ showed up and did what it was supposed to do. It bloomed where it was planted.

“Grow where you are planted.”

I have said this to my daughter, Rose, many times. Her life has been peppered with less than ideal conditions. She has grown and bloomed despite this.

Sometimes the “where” is not optimum. In this case the “when” is not optimum. But here are the lovely faces of ‘ Breed Apart’ in October.

Blooming in late October

I apprecite the survivors. They are beacons for what can be accomplished even under challenging circumstances.

I would like to salute and celebrate all the BREED APART survivors who bloom where and when they can.

FLOWER

In honor and memory of NOBODY’S GIRL.

Home for Battle

| Flower Roberts

I may be a weakened and injured warrior, but I still have a fighting heart for my green babies. It is past time for Deer Protection Phase II. That means that fence rings were put around all deer delicacies to protect the emerging foliage, but no stakes were in place to hang the rings.

Three rings ready for bloom stalks to rise.


My family tried to intervene with deer deterants, but the herd is so big now, they were undeterred. When we moved here there were no deer or squirrels and very few people. Things have changed drastically in the past decade.

Any fence or stake is put in the defense.
Rings hanging and fences blocking walkways

I have been hiking and hauling up and down the hills for hours. Stakes were placed for Mr. Flower to hammer in, since I should not stomp them in as usual. My body is now too expensive to be used as a gardening tool.

I must admit that I automatically stomped several in before I caught myself. I was pleased to get away with this move without an ambulance ride following. I hope my two PT people, Rick and Jeff, do not read this.

I also use tomato cages and a hanging fence ring. Things start looking a bit messy this time of year, due to my using any old thing on hand to inconvenience our hungry herd.

HEAVY Tomato cage and fence ring

They eat daylily and Asiatic lily buds before they open. They behead all sedums be it new foliage or blooms. This year I was shocked to find an entire Tiger lily topped off. They usually leave the tigers alone.

Beheaded Tiger lilies. Bummer

I am pleased that my hips, knees and shoulder allowed me to work all day. I am sure they will not allow me to sleep tonight as punishment.

I hope all this will save my blooms. I am too old to battle a big herd of hungry deer, but I am not out of the fight yet!

FIGHTING FLOWER

Spider-to-Fly Will Stay Put

| Flower Roberts

I planted this beauty in a hurry. I did not have time to pick the right spot. It had been out of the ground too long and was a shriveled, brown clump.


I dug a hole by the steps where I could easily watch it and keep it watered. It was a gift from Rumple-Rowe, so I did not know it was a giant. My only thought was to revive it.

Now it is thriving. Spider-to-Fly is a gorgeous, happy giant. It is so close to the steps that I must trim its leaves to prevent tripping. When I walk past it my mind says “Move it!”.

Spider-to-Fly

I woke up sad this morning. As I walked through the foyer and peeked out the door there was a giant daylily full of happy faces looking back at me, bright and big and beautiful.

Spider- to-Fly must stay where it is. I will trim it. I will put in railing on those steps.

It must be close to me so it can help me revive and thrive. That is the power of flowers.

FLOW

Each Face a Delight

| Flower Roberts

June is daylily season here in North Carolina. I must work hard to have uneaten blooms. It is worth all the effort to see these beautiful faces. I say their names as I visit each plant to dead-head its withered blooms.

I will share a photo of each with its name. Trying to pick a favorite is difficult. There are qualities other than bloom color that make them desirable…stem strength and length, hardiness, colorfastness, color bleeding…

Here are the ones blooming this first week of June.

Mac the Knife- fire engine red with yellow
Sammy Russell – smallest bloom of all here, deep dull color
Nutmeg Spice- looks different in different light, love the contrasting colors and how the pollen matches the throat
Peacock Alley – sweet open blooms, white margin
Lavender Rainbow – Stop to see this one every time I pass. Outstanding large blooms
Dixie Boy – happy little bright blooms with a hint of ruffled margin
Sabre Salina – Delicately beautuful
Breed Apart – love this color combo and ruffled margin
Whooperee – A favorite of the deer herd, big juicy blooms

I have forgotten the name of the next daylily so I will stop there. There will be many more.

ATTENTION LOCAL FOLLOWERS- I will be dividing and moving these as my hip allows. Write down your favorites and I will hold some for you.

FLOW

No Fences, No Flowers

| Flower Roberts

I am home again for a day. The wedding was lovely and Rose was lovely. It was a wonderful weekend with treasured friends.

This morning I toured the gardens. I was lamenting that my beautiful flowers were in ugly fences.

Then I arrived at the spot where South Seas should have been blooming. There were empty stalks instead. I had forgotten to put its fence ring back up.

There is a lesson here. I do not like the fences. They are an ugly addition to a beautiful garden, but…

NO fences, NO flowers.

FLOW

The Dress and the Daylily

| Flower Roberts

I was out this morning photographing one of my favorite daylilies, South Seas.

As I was admiring its gorgeous color I envisioned a dress of this fabulous hue.

This reminded me that I must chose a dress to wear to Rose’s friend’s wedding this Saturday.

Rose is a bridesmaid and will be in a lovely eucalyptus green gown and gold shoes.

My dress for the event? I have chosen a midi that just happens to have that lovely color smeared on it. It’s old and its blue.

I hope it won’t be too much with red shoes!

FLOWER

Refreshed by Rain

| Flower Roberts

We had a line of strong storms come through last night. I was grateful for shelter. There was not much damage but a lot of rain washed everything clean.

I will feature this week’s daylily blooms. I have had a hard time remembering their names. A few years of serious stress has done a number on my hard drive. I was a bit shocked by my memory failure. I am thankful that I have kept thorough records to fall back on.

Here is the first wave of daylilies this season, refreshed by last night’s rain.

Whooperee A deer favorite because the blooms are big and juicy.
Breed Apart I appreciate this color combo and the ruffles on the petals.
Emperor’s Butterfly I love how the throat goes from green to yellow then cream.
Yabba Dabba Doo The blooms are not symmetrical but the plant looks like a party when in full swing.
Peacock Alley Simple beauty of nice symmetry.
Lavender Rainbow My two favorite colors together. The ants love this one also.
Dixie Boy Small and tight blooms but the bright colors demand attention.
Nutmeg Spice I planted this one right beside the walkway because it is a strong bloomer and I adore its colors and ruffled edge.

I want to end this post with a photo of the sky. I look at the sky a lot. It seems alive much of the time. If you do not watch the sky, you should. There is magic up there.

FLOWER

The Deer and the Daylilies

| Flower Roberts

When we first moved here, there were no deer. I am not sure when they showed up, but it was not a happy time. I love seeing them, but I do not love feeding them.

They love daylilies and so do I. I love to see them and they love to eat them.

‘Dixie Boy’ daylily

One summer the deer ate them before I got to see them. I was on vacation in June. When we returned there were hundreds of shortened stalks where blooms should have been.

When the dayliles first appear in the spring, their leaves are tender and green. They must also be tasty. That is when the fence rings get placed around each plant. That solves the problem for a month or so because the deer do not like to stick their heads down in the ring.

In late May the stalks with buds start to emerge above the leaves and above the fence rings.

That is the time I must bring out the green poles to stick in the ground beside each fence ring. Then raise each ring to hang on the pole above the leaves and around the buds and blooms.

I have also tried a new deer repellent product this year.

It contains peppermint, garlic and rotten eggs. Yummy!

It seems to have worked. I will refresh the old bags with peppermint oil in hopes that they will continue to deter the deer.

This is way too much work for maintaining flowers. I would not have knowingly planted deer food if the deer had been here first. My flowers were here first, so I feel obligated to protect them. I do not feel obligated to feed wildlife. My training as a biologist is against that.

I will report on the Whemoalus Deer Repellent’s effectiveness in the coming months.

FLOW (working too hard for her flowers.)

It is Not June Yet

| Flower Roberts

Spring gets me rushing around in the garden. I am always behind… dig, weed, seed, weed, water, feed, weed.

I spotted my first daylily bloom yesterday. It was Emperor Butterfly down on the bunny bank. Excuse me, it is not June.

Emperor Butterfly daylily

It is bad enough to have all the weeds zooming ahead of schedule. Now my own flowers are showing me up.

Not one but three daylilies are blooming. “It is still May.” I say!

Whooperee was actually first because I spotted a spent bloom on it from the day before. Its juicy blooms are a deer favorite.

Whooperee Daylily

I guess the hot temperatures last week fooled them.

Nutmeg Spice burst into bloom this morning, although its not June.

Nutmeg Spice daylily

I guess its time to sprinkle Deer Scram. I’d best hurry… sprinkle, weed, dig, weed, feed, deadhead, weed.

I think I am getting too old to garden.

Slower Flower