Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Early Daylilies- Earlybirds get the Prize!
This is my new bed for Flore Pleno, a triploid variety of the fulva species. It's orange, but with 9 petals and 9 sepals. They can't be planted in the same bed as hybrid cultivars, because they spread by rhizomes. So they come up in the middle of other clumps unless there's a mowing strip around them like this.
This arrived from Florida last week with a scape, so I let one bud bloom to confirm identity. It's "Mister Right" (Joiner, 2003). I think that's a great name for a daylily worth waiting for.
The second daylily to bloom this year here in Philadelphia was Megan Skinner's Earlybird Orangeade, which she says gets its early genes from Esperanza.
The first daylily to bloom for me this year was Earlybird Sunshine, by Megan Skinner of Allentown, PA. They hybridize on a small city lot, so they sell their introductions through Manatawney Creek near Pottstown, PA. http://www.manatawnycreekfarm.com/ has additional links to the Skinners' introductions, and also has a gallery of Stout hybrids.
I tried to space out my purchases this year, but two dozen (3 orders) arrived on the Wednesday after Mother's day, our traditional "frost free" date (although Allentown, PA got a 32 degree night over a week later this year). I soak them in a weak fertilizer solution for 4 to 24 hours using milk containers with the tops cut off. (I used the kitchen pots until my wife found out.) Then I water them in with the same solution.Labels: Earlybird Sunshine Orangeade Daylilies Early
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Digging Daylily Beds for New Daylilies
I've been digging this new daylily bed forever, it seems, due to some really rainy weather, and my orders started arriving before I've finished. This is the last available spot in the deer-protected (fenced) back yard but it's on a slope. So the top side is a 4x4 at ground level, and the bottom side is a 2x8 or 2x10. After digging out the sod and rocks, I add compost and topsoil to level. The outline of lumber in the foreground is the final section, hopefully to be finished this week.
My order from Sassafras (Floyd Boatwright) was the first to arrive. I also got my orders from Memory Jordan and Tim Herrington. I'm planting them only 10 inches apart this spring, then next spring I'll relocate every other row after I clear out a bunch of old clumps for Garden State Daylily's "Daylily Day" June 28, and the Delaware Valley Daylily Society sale in August.A recommendation: check http://gottagarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/2008-ahs-national-conventiongarden-nine.html Katie Cook's photos of the last garden at last year's AHS national convention in Houston. They were worth the wait. The other eight gardens are also linked from this entry. If the link doesn't work, just go to http://gottagarden.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to the May 4 entry, or find the link from the subject list at the right. And watch for her postings from the 2009 national convention in Florida- she's attending next week and should have some great photos. Put this one in your favorites!
Labels: gottagarden AHS convention
