Todaylily

The April 19 posting on Nikki Schmith's Michigan blog has some good shots of Daylily Rust she took in her own garden last fall. 
http://www.agirlandhergarden.com/  is a blog you should follow for her photos of favorite daylilies and related daylily info.  Nikki is a garden show judge and has an eye for distinctive daylilies- a subject she's written about in the national publication of the American Hemerocallis Society.

 The forsythia is past peak in Pittsburgh; tomorrow I take the snow blade off the John Deere and put the mower deck back on.   I've got 35 thousand square feet of lawn to mow- that's straw over new grass toward the right.  Had 3 dead trees removed and tree service ripped up the area pretty good.
 Two pics of my re-reblooming Zygo (?) cactus- one below shows how it's just blooming on one side.  The other side rebloomed about a month ago, and when I turned it 180 degrees to enjoy those blooms, buds formed on this side.

Labels: daylily blog Schmith rust

 The forsythia is in full bloom in Pittsburgh this week, and for a change I actually got the crabgrass preventer down before this sign that it's too late.
 Hostas are poking up- this is Sagae, one of the normally earliest emergers, as is Montana aureomarginata (it's spectacular in early spring, average later).  Today I got cages over most of the emerging hostas and daylilies that aren't behind my temp deerfence.  I'm way behind schedule on getting a permanent deer fence.  Cages are wire cloth or wastebaskets / laundry baskets from the dollar store.
 This podophyllum "Kaleidoscope" (chinese may apple) is behind the deer fence; expensive and easy to kill because they emerge early, so I keep a big pot right next to it in case of late frost.  I had another cultivar, "Spotty Dotty" but I think a rabbit ate it. 
Heuchera, Tiarella, and Heucherella are evergreen, so some look pretty ratty in early spring, but they're one of the few plants that work in both sun AND shade.  I had about a dozen in a single 4x6 foot patch in Philadelphia, but I think I pulled the wrong tag when I transplanted this to Pittsburgh.  This doesn't look like Tiarella Heronswood Mist to me. 

Labels: Hosta Podophyllum Forsythia

 This is hail in early April- the weather is all over the place this spring.
 Heavy wet snow took down about half the deer fence in late March- the sections of deer netting held to the clothesline by nylon zip ties mostly held, but sections held up by clothespins mostly pulled loose.  Live and learn.
 The Zygo cactus rebloomed!   Bloomed after Thanksgiving, then this side rebloomed in early March, on the side that was facing the window.  I turned it 180 degrees so I could enjoy the color, and now (early April) the OTHER side is reblooming.  So rebloom must be dependent on getting plenty of sunlight.
 DANGER!  No matter what the package says, the serving size of Easter Egg Peanut Butter M&M's is ONE BAG!!  Orders of magnitude better than Reeses- the peanut butter is premixed with the chocolate, sinfully delicious!  And the Easter eggs are better than the standard peanut butter M&M's I think because they're bigger, so there's more melty goodness per piece.  Don't buy any unless you're at least 10 pounds below your goal weight.
I'm raising the planting height of daylilies in several areas of the garden where I've got ponding, then I'll fill between with topsoil I just got delivered.  I originally covered aisles with solid plastic to kill grass underneath, but I have to change to landscape fabric so the aisles function as drainage canals between raised beds.

Labels: daylilies zygo deerfence