Daylilies, Nature's Bright Treasures

Following is an article I did for a local group on my daylily passion. 

Where your passions lie, there also lies your pictures.  Those of us with grandchildren know how that works.  We can’t resist taking pictures of their every expression, age and event.  AND THEN, showing to anyone who will stand still.  It’s our passion.

Grandma with Cameron, Bradley, Aubrey and Elsie

Grandma with Kaydence, Katherine, Grace, Donny, Kane and Max

Hobbies are another passion as those of us who garden, sew, paint, craft and etc.  We post pictures of every nuance, idea and design.  AND THEN, showing to anyone who will stand still.  It’s our passion, too.

 

"Chicago Apache"

Hobby passions, especially in the garden, creeps up on us while we’re still too naïve to realize we’re being hooked.  Mine started when I bought the beautiful “Chicago Apache” daylily.  Latin name “Hemerocallis”.  I loved how it behaved so much (the many blooms, the almost no care required, the beauty) that I started buying more at most every nursery I visited.  

After a bit, I found I had most of the ones offered locally.  And then . . . I found on-line daylily stores and as someone said, “Is too much ever enough!!”

"Lilting Belle

I started the documentation of my daylilies after I had ordered the same beautiful “Lilting Belle” three times forgetting that the reason I loved it was the reason I bought it the other times.  It was a “duh” moment and the beginning of taking it to the next level.  To some, that level might be called “crazy daylily lady” but I prefer to think of it as “passionately involved”.

"Mary Todd"

To those who think a plant that has flowers lasting only one day is a waste – oh, no, no, no, my sweet innocent!  The flower is pristine one day and dies.  BUT, and this is a big but (not to be confused as big butt which is a whole other topic) the daylily sends up many stems (called scapes), with many branches and on those many flower buds.  Most plants are covered in flowers for a month or more. The point of having so many plants (besides the whole passion thing) is their bloom habits have them blooming from extra early spring to very late fall. 

"Billy the Kid"

Daylilies have personalities:  singles, doubles, spiders, miniatures, antiques, ruffles, teeth, halos, fragrance and about a zillion more I could go on too long about.  They are in most every color and color combination except true white and true blue.  Both are on the near horizon in hybridizing.  Hybridizers have learned gene manipulation and the results are amazingly beautiful and sometimes amazingly crazy.

"Daringly Different"

The cost of a perennial (meaning it comes back year after year) daylily can be as little as $5 and as much as $500.  Most of the $500 ones are bought by other hybridizers because they have a new genetic makeup they’ll use in their program.  $5 daylilies can be cheaper than the annuals you buy and provide a lifetime of beauty.

"Lacy Doily"

So why do I have maps diagraming where my daylilies are located in my garden?  Why do I have the factual information of each one including an actual marker in my garden?  Why do I keep historical growing records of each plant?  Why do I bring them inside in quantities when I know they will die that evening?  Why of course, “It’s one of nature’s bright treasures!”

Drought Conditions - Fall 2020

Parch - Parched - More Parched!  It's dry in some parts of the country and dangerously dry in some Western states.  Stats from the weather folks say we're in a dry period in parts of Illinois.  What's the difference from other years?

Other years, we most always have lack of rain in the fall.  The ground gets big cracks, some things wilt and others go dormant.  It's Fall in the Midwest.  Usually this period has followed a nice wet spring and most perennials are thriving off the underground reserves.  This year is different.

Although we did have spring rains, in my particular area it often went around me.  I'd get a bit of a sprinkling, usually less than half an inch, and no real soakers.  I'm glad some of those hail and wind storms went around me but the lack of moisture in the soil is now causing stress on perennials.  Perennials that are stressed in the summer will go into winter in poor shape.  

I have a drilled well that goes into a major aquifer and it would take a lot o dry out that huge underground river.  But well water is pumped by an electric pump and there is a cost to run.  There is also the time factor.

To water deep enough to really benefit perennial roots, water must be applied to the entire root system and at a depth deeper than the roots grow.  If the water is applied only minimally (shallow,) the roots will reach up for it and this weakens the plant.  It will also starve the plant of the deep moisture and nutrients within that lower level of soil.  Shallow roots on trees is the reason you see some blow over so easily.  It makes those roots more vulnerable to insects and disease which typically thrive in the few inches below ground level.  As the sun bakes the ground, it will also bake shallow roots.  In other words - water deep or don't water at all.  

No hand watering does as much good as a good rain fall.  A good steady rain over hours soaks deep into the earth and it covers all the soil to that level.  It doesn't miss the spread out roots of trees or the little sprouts hoping to become something bigger one day.  

Here is how I hand water:

If there are drought conditions or if I've transplanted or planted something new, I make sure there's a trough built out from the stem with an approximate 3-inch berm around the trough.  I then cover both the trough and berm with a good 3-inches of mulch.  Then when it rains or when I water, the moisture is funneled down into that specific root ball.  The water doesn't run or blow off.  It makes hand watering easier and less water is needed because it all goes to where it's needed.  It also doesn't coat the leaves.

The downside of hand watering is the dry soil will suck moisture out of the area you watered so it will need more watering than you suspect.

I have never used irrigation systems (simple or complex) but I know the benefits are regular watering, in specific spots and from the ground level.  The negative it can be costly and complex to install and run.

I've used sprinklers when the whole area is parched and things I love are dying but I don't recommend it unless you can afford to run it a L.O.N.G. time.  Otherwise, it will simply put moisture in the air, wet only the mulch and often cause mildew on some plant leaves.  If you feel you must use sprinklers, put out a rain gauge to measure just how much is actually landing on the ground.  At the end of the day, dig down and see how far it entered the soil.  Most people are surprised how little it helped.

Because I had a large walnut tree removed from a previously shaded bed, the hosta needed to be removed because they were burning up.  Once that was done, I moved in daylilies.  Daylilies that had been in the wrong spot in my yard and a few new ones.  This requires watering every couple of days.  I put the garden hose on a heavy concentrated spray and hit the trough.  I count slowly to fifty.  That's about a gallon per plant.  All the plants have revived and are setting new leaves and this means the roots are getting established.  

When I compare these frequently watered plants to my established daylily plants, it's a most vivid indication the established ones are suffering from drought.  Daylilies are tough plants and they will most likely all survive this summer but they are certainly stressed.  I consider my yard too large to water everything and some things will have to tough it out or die.  Hopefully the first.

There are some things you can do to help drought stressed perennials besides watering:

• Trim off seed heads.  These suck energy from the roots.
• Weed.  They compete for moisture and usually win.
• Mulch:  It helps hold whatever moisture there is in the ground and insulates from the heat or drying winds.
• Clean:  Cut out all dying leaves and flower stems or branches.  
• Check:  Make sure insects or disease hasn't taken hold on vulnerable plants and act quickly to mitigate.
• Pots:  Use saucers under your pots to keep a supply of water between watering.  Make sure it doesn't stand for more than two days otherwise you'll invite mosquitos.  

As a simple reminder:  If you burn yard waste, be especially careful this year.  Dry plants, evergreens, grass and maturing field crops can help spread fire quickly. You are warned!

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” – Yogi Berra

Original work by Jerry Sutton, Native American Cherokee

“Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.”  Marv Levy

“There is a power in nature that man has ignored. And the result has been heartache and pain.” 

Anasazi Foundation, The Seven Paths: Changing One's Way of Walking in the World

“Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss.”  Doug Williams

"A good way to start thinking about nature, talk about it. Rather talk to it, talk to the rivers, to the lakes, to the winds as to our relatives.” 
John (Fire) Lame Deer, Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions

"It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up."  Vince Lombardi

“We travel only as far and as high as our hearts will take us.” 

Anasazi Foundation, The Seven Paths: Changing One's Way of Walking in the World

“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.”  Jack Dempsey

“As chief, I will represent my people in many different ways and might never know which particular action is destined to matter more than another, thus, all my actions should be considered potentially important and worthy of my best effort.” 

Jennifer Frick-Ruppert, Spirit Quest

“Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way.”  Satchel Paige

I have a beautiful tree, the Cornus florida "Cherokee Chief" dogwood.  It'll be twenty years old next year.  It's history of survival in my garden is a good example of perseverance.  Like many of the quotes at the beginning of this article, it has not only survived but flourished. 

When planted, it did so poorly I finally moved it to a sunnier location seven years later.  Still, it didn't bloom for another three years.  Finally it would have a few blooms but they were odd shaped and the leaves continually got mildew.  Occasionally it would loose an entire branch.  I treated it, babied it, pruned, moved and lavished love.  It limped along. 

I gave up and decided to let the poor thing die on its own.  I ignored it.  Fifteen years from the year it was planted, the tree became healthy and has bloomed and gained vigor every year since.  This year it is FABULOUS.

When people ask me about problems with certain plants,  sometimes there's no good explanation nor rational cure. The Cherokee Chief dogwood is certainly a testimony of "The Little Engine That Could":  I think I can, I think I can. . . and it did.

Instead of offering advice on the care of dogwood trees (and after all my failures, who'd believe me anyhow) I'll tell about it in general.  

Cherokee Dogwood trees are hybrids and twenty years ago cost $90 - a remembrance gift from my church family at the death of my father.  It was from a good nursery.  It should have done well - but I digress.  

It's considered a small tree growing to only about 15 foot.  Perfect for town, small yards or as an accent tree.  The fall foliage is brilliant red.  It forms shiny red oval berries about 1/2 inch long.

The bark on a young tree is smooth and gray.  As it ages it becomes a grayish brown looking like alligator skin.    

It's the state tree of Virginia.  It is native to the United States and has many old uses:  

• Handles for mallets and golf clubs
• Red dye from the roots
• Powdered bark for toothpaste, black ink and an aspirin like substance.  (Not sure how toothpaste and black ink go together but apparently you won't have a headache over the black teeth.)
• Birds eat the berries and deer may eat the twigs

Biblically, the Dogwood flower is a symbol of rebirth and resurrection. This symbolic meaning was derived from the association of this flower to resurrection of Jesus Christ.

According to an old story, it was the dogwood tree that provided the wood used to build the cross on which Jesus was crucified. ... It was cursed to forever be small, so that it would never grow large enough again for its wood to be used as a cross for a crucifixion.  As legends go, the dogwood tree doesn't grow or isn't native to that area and isn't mentioned in the Bible by name.  

Dogwoods are symbols of protection and safety in southeastern Native American tribes. In some Mohawk communities, the primeval Tree of Life in the Sky World was said to be a giant dogwood tree. In Northwestern tribes such as the Quileute and Makah, the dogwood symbolized good luck and dogwood berries were eaten during religious ceremonies. Dogwood fruit was a popular food item for many Native Americans, especially the Interior Salish tribes, but to Blackfoot people, the dogwood tree was associated with masculinity and women used to refrain from eating its fruit. The bark and roots of dogwood trees were frequently used as medicinal herbs and dyes, as well. Dogwood sap, however, is toxic and was used in some tribes as poison. 

For a Cherokee Legend about dogwoods, read "Little People of the Cherokee".  It just might apply to what happened to my tree.

A Country Way of Life

1952 - My farm family

I grew up on a farm in rural Indiana.  Today, I don't live on a farm although I live in the country.  It feeds my spirit and nurtures my introvert nature.  My need to see beauty is supplied abundantly.  

I'm Blessed to have had the same group of farmers surrounding my few acres on three sides and they are "good people".  They have no idea but they are a touch to my Indiana roots and their work, the progress through the seasons and friendly wave are a valuable part of my life in rural America.

My mom referred to our home as
 "The Barn" for good reason.

Having lived on a farm, I'm adapt to some of the more difficult parts of rural living - it's part of the package.  Some "city folk" should never move to the country because they constantly want city living, rules, atmosphere and conveniences.  They want to move into the neighborhood and then change the neighborhood.  

Recently, I was up at daybreak walking in my garden with my first cup of coffee and I could hear my neighbors' cows and rooster waking up.  I had to stop in my tracks and marvel at the perfect sound track I'd been given that morning.

4-H calf and my knobby knees.

I'm betting my house has a ton load more dust than you'd find in city homes.  Farming is a dirty business and the reason (and here is a duh factor) is it involves working the soil.  It involves working the soil in the spring when the wind is whipping the dust along in a vertical sheet.  I close my doors and windows when that's happening and it'll keep happening until the crops take hold.  It's called spring in the country.

When there's beans in the fields, the wind playing across the crops looks like ocean waves.  When the corn is tall and the fog lays close to the ground, the humidity can be held in like a tropical forest.  When the crops are dry, the rustle of leaves is like an entire eco system is marching through the night.  I'm not only used to those events, I look forward to them.  It means there's a good harvest coming.

I've been known to abandon most anything I'm doing to run get my camera when the harvest starts in the surrounding fields.  It's not money in my pocket that they're harvesting; it must be some DNA from centuries of my family farming that hits the excitement button.  

Country living is not a simple way of life as far as actual work.  When I hear farm families described as simple folk I have to laugh.  No business owner has to know as wide of range of functions as a farmer.  Even on my little bit of soil, nature always wants to dominate.  The more acreage, the more work, the bigger the tools, the bigger the risk.  

My risk is minimal considering it isn't my income that falters when crops aren't successful or the economy nose dives.  I don't have millions of dollars invested in machinery, buildings, land, stock, feed, seed and more.  It keeps my perspective in check knowing when I loose a mere favorite perennial, it's pretty minor in the whole scheme of rural living.  

No, it's not all fun and games and not all rural residents and situations are peachy keen.  Not every farmer is "good people" and not every situation easy.  Not every animal is welcome and not every smell floral.  

For me, rural living nurtures my soul.  And that's enough. 

Say What?

Say What:

My daffodil flowers have stayed strong and beautiful through being frozen solid and an 8-inch snow.  A good lesson on spitting in the eye of adversity!

There's a difference between (1) ineptitude (2) differing opinions and (3) evil.  The ability to differentiate takes maturity. 

Does patience involve not complaining?  Asking for a friend. . . 

We are taught "problem solving" our entire school years.  Those that failed are elected to congress.  Those that fail at being elected work in media.  And thank goodness for exceptions!  

When driving by a plowed field, do you ever want to stop and take a hand full of that black soil and say a word of "Thanks!"?

Have you ever noticed that the people who are doing nothing are the ones criticizing those who are doing something?

"You don't have to be amazing for God to do something amazing through you."  Joyce Meyer 

What a surprise it must be for some politicians to realize they are now expected to actually think and work for the greater good of the voters.

Seeing the fields around my house planted gives me a sense of peace and good will.  

Where is the marker between government protection and government overreach?  Where is the marker between government financial support and crippling dependency?  Very fine lines.

Is it modern to stop using complete words, good grammar and punctuation - or - is it just lazy?

LasVegas is a gambling town, anyone want to bet on the future of their current mayor?

Stimulus checks, grants and no pay back loans are help in a disaster not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

At the 75 anniversary of the death of Ernie Pyle, I celebrate what true journalism can be and mourn what has been lost.

I can't imagine living someplace where spring isn't as dramatic as the Midwest; the excitement of 60 degrees, a bud opening, a bee buzzing.

We pride ourselves, as U.S. citizens, for being tolerant of other opinions besides our own, yet there are those that want to destroy the right to worship.  I ask, "What are you so afraid of?"

Quarantine meals mean getting all the right nutrients:  ice cream, banana, honey roasted peanuts and strawberry topping.  I think I have it covered!

All the people who searched so hard to find the right color paint, perfect furniture, special decor, copy every HGTV trend are now talking how awful it is to be "stuck" at that home.

Had my father been alive during this pandemic, he would have said at least once a day, "I told you so". 

Remember when we saw rain as life giving and a necessity for the world to regenerate and not the prelude of massive flooding in shore cities?

You know people have been under stress when there's a tornado warning and the reaction is "yea, yea I'm busy painting happiness rocks."

The new competition:  "My mask is better than your mask!"

The other new competition:  "Posting pictures of how you're suffering in home".  No folks, those really suffering don't have a camera phone nor access to a medium to post.

And with that - you say what!   

Side Note:  I apologize for the wonky colors and fonts - sometimes this blog app has a mind of it's own.  

Easter Blessings

As a garden blog, I've decided to share the bouquet love on this "Blessed reminder that Jesus died, rose and saved my soul kinda' day!"   Note:  To page through the pictures, click on the first one and then they can be viewed larger and be paged.