Ahhhh...September....the month we Northern gardeners try to remedy our planting fails from the previous spring by juggling daylilies around the yard. My friend Sally and I like to refer to this as the 'Domino Effect' because in order to move *one* daylily to a new spot, it seems like an entire chain reaction of plant-moving needs to take place before that *one* daylily can be put in its place.

The Domino Effect reminds me of these three Murphy's Laws:

• #5. Nothing is as easy as it looks
• #6. Everything takes longer than you think, and
• #11. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something

Why move daylilies around? A daylily's registration information can vary greatly as to how that plant grows in your garden, due to differences in sun, soil, temperature, and location. Planting is definitely a trial-and-error endeavor until you get to know how a particular plant behaves in your unique situation.

Here are just a few examples of why you'd want to move a plant:

• A daylily may need  more sun because it has a low bloom count
• A plant could be crying out for more shade because the color fades in the sun
• It grew taller than expected and obscured the plants behind it
• It grew shorter than expected and disappeared within the flower bed
• Bloom times were off -- one section of the garden somehow ended up with all early bloomers and by the beginning of August there were no blooms at all
• You may want to change-up color combinations to make your garden more aesthetically pleasing
• Finally, every season plants arrive and plants depart from the garden; when replacing daylilies, the size or bloom time of the new plant rarely matches that of the previous one

I have yet to encounter a year without experiencing the Domino Effect. And as a gardener, I suspect you haven't either!

Daylily pictured: 'Techny Spider' with a companion ant

'Greywoods Disco Dana' is so cheerful and unrestrained when it blooms. Each one of these large, unique flowers looks like it is disco dancing! The petals and sepals fling themselves around in a wild, uncontrolled manor. Each bloom is headed in a different direction. This makes Greywoods Disco Dana quite an impressive sight in a large clump!

Disco Dana is categorized as an Unusual Form (UFO) Crispate daylily. Hybridized in 2003 in Massachusetts by Darlyn Wilkinson, this dormant tetraploid daylily grows 28" tall with 8" blooms (Bud Count: 21-25).  In the morning this wild and crazy gold-yellow blend has a vivid green throat, and as the day progresses the bloom mellows and the edges fade to a cream color.

Disco Dana is a hardy grower that quickly clumped-up for me without any special attention. In 2020 this lovely plant bloomed in my garden from July 15 through August 16, at which point the opportunistic deer finished off the remaining blooms. Our bad; we slipped up by not re-spraying deer deterrent after a short burst of rain.

I bought 'The Bodacious Ms Billadeau' on a whim (it was a 'pretty picture' purchase) at the Wisconsin Daylily Society sale in Madison three years ago, and what a WOW this plant turned out to be! It has large, beautifully textured, 6.75 to 7 " blooms that are vibrantly colored, and I love the added bonus of the white-ish buds for visual interest. The blooms are consistent and look great in any weather situation. In 2020, this prolific daylily bloomed in my garden from July 9 through August 26! You can't really ask for more than that. Call me happy ;)

Bodacious was hybridized in North Carolina by Paul Owen in 2012. This 27" dormant, tetraploid daylily thrives in our crazy Wisconsin climate, as do all my other Owen daylilies.

Note: 'My Friend Charlie,' also an Owen daylily, grows behind Bodacious. They look great together!

Guilty! Luckily, each daylily I bought just for the name turned out to be an amazing plant! Here are six of my 'I love the name' daylilies (pictured in alphabetical order):

• 'House of Misrepresentatives' - Enough said
• 'Legislating Life' - Because we have an attorney in our family
• 'Lounge Lizard' - Who could resist that name? And I have to wonder if one evening this daylily will escape and make a beeline for the bars.
  
• 'She's Got Legs' - Gotta luv ZZ Top!
• 'Three Bad Pigs' - This cute name always makes me smile. What mischief will it get into?
• 'Waxed Legs' - I love waxy-textured daylilies, so I took a chance on this one and was immensely pleased. The name couldn't be more perfect.

What about you? Have you bought any daylilies based solely on their name?

'Marchioness' is a daylily you probably haven't heard much hoopla about, but she's always been one of my keepers. Many years ago a friend gave me a division of Marchioness and said, "You'll love this daylily for some August color." He was spot on! I have grown this beauty in my garden for almost 20 years now. Marchioness is a consistent, reliable, late-season bloomer that more than earns her garden space. Last week my husband was helping me deadhead daylily blooms and he commented on how pretty this plant is! (He doesn't often make these comments.)

Hybridized in 1996 by Steve Moldovan (Ohio), this dormant tetraploid has six-inch blooms and grows 28" tall in my garden. I love the dainty gold edges on the soft pink blooms! In 2019 Marchioness bloomed from July 24 through September 14. In 2020 she started blooming on July 27 and is still in bloom today.

I grow two other Moldovan daylilies in my garden, 'South Seas' and 'Strutter's Ball,' which I love every bit as much as Marchioness.

Watch out for this plant! While it may look dainty and smell deviously fragrant, it has aggressive, unmanageable behavior. When I was a gardening newbie, a 'friend' gave me a tiny kiddie-shovel full of Lily of the Valley for my shade garden. What an epic mistake! Lily of the Valley has these invasive underground runners that spread out of control and get tangled up in the roots of the well-behaved perennials. After twenty-five years of digging Lily of the Valley roots out of my flowers, I am still trying to eradicate it. Every year when I think I have completely removed it, a survivor shows up.  It has even popped up in the grass outside of the flower bed. Aargh!

This plant may be good for erosion control, far away from flower gardens, but to this day I still shudder when I see Lily of the Valley for sale at garden centers. I mean really...should you spend money for this kind of aggravation?

Picture courtesy of Pixabay

I couldn't resist posting these adorable photos. Like clockwork, at the end of July and throughout August, these tiny American Green Tree Frogs appear in and on my daylilies. It's fun searching for them and finding their hiding places while (carefully) dead-heading the old blooms each day. Ange took these photos; the tiny frogs are one of his favorite subjects. To read more about American Green Tree Frogs visit my September 7, 2014 blog.

Daylily pictured: Border Blessed

In May 2016 I purchased 'Paha Sapa Thundercloud' at the Daylily Society of Minnesota plant sale in Minneapolis. Paha Sapa means "Black Hills" in the Lakota Sioux language. The Lakota Sioux consider the Black Hills the center of their universe, where their culture began. The Black Hills were at the center of the Great Sioux Reservation, and considered home by the seven Lakota Sioux tribes.

What a great choice Paha Sapa Thundercloud turned out to be! Hybridized in 2003 by Gary Schaben in Minnesota, this dormant tetraploid has been a very hardy grower for me. In fact, it is so vigorous that it grows 37" tall --  a whopping 10" taller than its registered height! Paha Sapa gets no special attention or fertilizer, either.

Blooms are 5" in size (21-25 bud count). The bitone blooms are beautiful, rich in color, consistent, and have a heavy, waxy substance. They always look perfect whether it's a hot sunny day, if there's high winds, or torrential rain. This plant is tough! Also note the neat pink-ish purple anthers in the bloom. In my 2019 garden, Paha Sapa Thundercloud bloomed from July 22 through September 14. In 2020 bloom started on July 17.

American Daylily Society Award: Honorable Mention: 2007

I noticed a beautiful pair of Cardinals frequenting our clematis trellis, perching on top and going inside the clematis foliage. The female always had twigs or leaves in her beak. Sure enough, there's a nest! It's a great location choice. The nest so protected, you'd never realize it is hidden inside the abundant clematis foliage. The photos were taken every few days until one day, the nest was empty!

Cardinals mate with the same partner each breeding season. They will breed two or three times during the summer. The female builds a nest in dense shrubs or thick bushes. She will lay three to four eggs and incubate them; remaining in the nest for 11 to 13 days. During this period the male cardinal will feed the female. Both male and female cardinals care for and feed their young. In the first few weeks the chicks are fed only insects. Young cardinals begin learning to fly around ten days after hatching. The parents continue to help feed their chicks for several weeks after they have left the nest. The chicks  will usually flock with other juveniles until they are mature enough to establish their own territory. Cardinals have a lifespan of 15 years in the wild.

Info from Northern Cardinal Facts: https://forum.americanexpedition.us/northern-cardinal-facts

Here are a few daylily hacks that have helped me grow healthy daylilies over the years:

• When bare root daylily divisions are purchased, I always soak them in a 10 to 1 bleach solution (10 cups of water to one cup of bleach) for an hour or two to sanitize them.
  
• After bleaching, I wash the plants thoroughly with a clean water spray.
• I typically hydrate newly purchased divisions overnight in a bucket in preparation for planting the following morning. If they have been shipped, it may have been 6-8 days without water for the plants.
• Cut the division foliage to about 4-6" above the roots. The daylily can focus on root growth instead of foliage growth.
• To accelerate root growth of new divisions, I plant them in a dark black plastic pot and place the pot on my warm patio brick. In about one month the pot is usually filled with new roots. At that time I plant the daylily in its permanent spot.
• This one's easy. I keep a huge black garbage bag full of dried up manure stored in a big garbage can that's hidden behind the garage. I routinely sprinkle dried manure around my daylilies - they love it!
• Be sure to deadhead the old daylily blooms. It's discouraging to find a pink bloom in a clump of yellow blooms. A seed from a dried up pod can fall into a clump and grow a completely new plant in the middle of your old one. Worst of all you may not discover it for two or three years until the new plant ultimately blooms. By that time, it's well established and you will have to dig the entire plant out and do surgery to remove the interloper. Not fun, in case you're wondering.
• I plant temperamental/finicky  daylilies by the house for protection or in a terraced area surrounded by rocks for extra warmth over the winter.
• When you initially plant new daylilies, be sure to give them at least 2-3 feet of space between each other. I know a double fan division looks tiny and you may be tempted to put two plants in that one space -- resist doing that at all costs! I guarantee it will save you extra digging in a year or two.
  
  

Pictured: Daylilies 'Wayne Felgar' with 'Heavenly Starbrite' in the background

Check out 'Eyes on the Prize,' hybridized in 2002 by Karol Emmerich in Minnesota. I bought this daylily nine years ago as a birthday gift for my friend. And I liked it so much that I bought one for myself, as well. Good decision! After all, when is buying an additional daylily *ever* a bad decision?

This semi-evergreen tetraploid grows 18-22" tall and has 5.5" blooms, which is a perfect size for a front-of-the-border plant. In 2019 Eyes on the Prize bloomed from July 9 through August 7. This year's bloom started on July 1. You can't go wrong with this eye candy!

American Daylily Society Award: Honorable Mention 2008

Here are photos of the field next to our house where I have regularly dumped wheelbarrows of weeds over the years. As it turns out, my weeds weren't all weeds! I do remember tossing some rotted irises and a few daylily crowns that felt soft and mushy when I was dividing plants, but not any other plants. Who knew?

In addition to the 'Garden Scarlet' Bee Balm, 'Purple Sensation' Allium, and Narcissus/Daffodils pictured, our field boasts quite an assortment of irises, some hosta, a few daylilies, and a spirea that are all thriving. In late summer the field morphs into a fiesta of multi-colored tall garden phlox.

So our field has transformed into a perennial garden of sorts. Surprisingly, the perennials are successfully holding their own mixed in with the weeds. And what a bonus to have a colorful field!

While the majority of my daylilies (76%) are dormant/deciduous, I also grow semi-evergreens (18%), and evergreens (6%). Typically in western Wisconsin's northern climate the dormants and semi-evergreens seem to grow the best for me. Although some evergreens can be finicky, the ones I do grow are thriving wonderfully. Sometimes it's just a matter of giving them a little bit of extra protection. Some are planted by our house, by a terraced area or a sidewalk that radiates extra heat in the winter.

'Wings of Chance' (Spalding, W.M., 1985) is a northern hardy evergreen (pictured above) that I have had for well over 20 years. It grows about 22-24" tall and has  5.5 to 6" blooms. This diploid is always one of my earliest bloomers that, in fact, just started blooming yesterday. Wings of Chance is an American Daylily Society award winner of the Award of Merit in 1993, and the Honorable Mention in 1989. It's a wonderful front-of-the-border plant. I love this plant and I wouldn't be without it!

Definitions from the American Daylily Society:
* Dormant/Deciduous:  Dormant/deciduous refers to daylilies that lose their foliage completely before or shortly after frost and over-winter with pointed foliage buds, usually just beneath the soil surface. Dormant/Deciduous daylilies will resume growth in spring.    
* Semi-evergreen:  The foliage of semi-evergreen daylilies dies back nearly to the ground in very cold climates. Some green will be seen near the base. Generally, semi-evergreens wait until spring to resume growth.
* Evergreen:  The foliage habit of daylilies that retain their foliage throughout the year. In cold winter climates, evergreen daylilies over-winter as a mound of frozen pale green foliage. Evergreens may resume growth during a mid-winter thaw in mild climates. Evergreen daylilies do not set resting buds.

Pictured below are evergreens that do very well in my Wisconsin garden: 
"Hold On My Friend," "J.T. Davis," "Joan Senior," "Lotus Position," "Mister Lucky," "Pursuit of Pleasure," "The Band Played On," and "Waxed Legs."

As much as I love my daylilies, Picky-Patty-Me harbors a few pet peeves. Here are my top ten:

• Daylilies that multiply too fast. Sounds crazy, right? Truth is, I get tired of dividing the same plant every year or so, and then trying to re-home the discards. (Why can't I just throw them in the ditch?) At one point in time, I'm pretty sure every friend I've ever had received a division of 'Mary Todd.'
• Blooms that have poor substance and slick-off in the sun (wet, slimy blooms).  In my 100% sun yard that calls for instant removal.
• Scapes that droop and/or fall over. I refuse to prop up any plant in my garden. Away you go!
• Daylily bloom petals that canoe (when the flower petals turn inwards) Ick!
• A cultivar that puts out exceptionally beautiful blooms alongside of inconsistent blooms. Why put up with that? There are thousands and thousands of daylilies available that always have consistent, beautiful blooms; those are the ones I keep.
• Some daylilies have roots that are so densely woven together and tangled up that I have had to resort to a small saw to get divisions!  It must be genetics, because most daylily roots are not saw-worthy.
• Daylilies that periodically send out traveling roots to new fans that are far away from the mother plant. Then Picky-Me has to dig out the traveling fan to keep the plant contained in its allotted garden space.
• Plants that bloom inside of their foliage instead of above the foliage.
  
• Ratty foliage. Enough said.
• Daylilies that exhibit scape blasting. I've had some cultivars that routinely did this every year. I've said goodbye to all of them but one, and that daylily (Virginia B. Hanson) is so perfect in all other aspects that she gets a pass.

This photo never fails to make me smile. Our (very social) granddaughter was out-of-town for a weekend visiting her other Grandma and Grandpa. Ange and I had stopped at her house to feed and play with the two family cats while they were gone. We found this message on the steps that lead to the front door. Clearly our granddaughter was worried that all of her friends would come looking for her and wonder where she was. And it also looks like her Mom told her it was not a good idea to write a message like this on the front steps. So what do you do? Well, you just cross it out. Too cute!

Usually I whine about the herds of deer that roam around our home, but for some odd reason this year the rabbits have been the problem--digging holes, destroying our lawn and just about every petunia in sight, like they're on steroids! They don't eat the flowers, but they rip the plants out of the ground and tear apart the root balls. So much for the two batches of Wave Petunias we bought.

We have been regularly spraying all of our plants with Liquid Fence. Any other year, the Liquid Fence always did the trick--the rabbits never even looked twice at my petunias. But not this year... so we doubled down and came up with a solution. Here's the recipe Ange experimented with, and so far it seems to be working. The rabbits have not bothered our latest batch of Waves, the new patches of seeded dirt are coming up, plus there are fewer rabbits lurking in our yard.

Rabbit Deterrent
1/8 cup  Crystal Hot Sauce
1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Tablespoon Powered Onion
Enough hot water to fill up a 1 quart sprayer

Boil the above mixture on the stove until the cayenne pepper dissolves, but make sure you strain it with a cotton cloth to remove the remaining cayenne pepper particles, otherwise it will clog up the sprayer. And remember, be especially vigilant with your applications.

Historic daylilies are timeless classics that remain extremely popular despite the passing of time. According to the American Hemerocallis Society definition, historic daylilies  currently include all daylilies registered on or before 1990. This is a “rolling” date which extends by ten years every decade, i.e. in 2030, the date will change to 2000.

Many daylily aficionados grow historic daylilies, as well as the newer cultivars. My daylily collection is composed of 15% historic cultivars. My historics are daylilies I can't bear to part with.  They are stellar performers that have proven themselves over the years and earned every inch of their garden space.

'Condilla' is one of my favorite historics, hybridized in 1977 (Grooms). The deep gold flowers reliably double 100% of the time. To this day, when it's in full bloom it still wows me! It is a dormant diploid daylily that grows 20-22" tall and has cute, ruffled 4.5" blooms. Last summer Condilla bloomed from July 17 through August 18 in my garden.

And look at the awards this beauty won!
AHS Awards:

• Award of Merit (1985) Signifies that a cultivar is not only distinctive and beautiful, but also performs well over a wide geographic area
• Honorable Mention (1982) The first official “stamp of approval” by the American Hemerocallis Society
• Lenington All-American Award (1991) Awarded to one daylily each year that is voted the best performer over a wide geographic area.
• Ida Munson Award (1984) An annual award given for the most outstanding double flower. Voted by Garden Judges.
• Georgia Doubles Appreciation Award (2001/2006)
  

In spring 2019 this dainty, 12" tall fringed tulip arrived unannounced in my garden. The odd thing is that I have absolutely no idea where it came from. However it got here, I love it and it's staying! Note the neat white eyes in the first photo. This is also my latest tulip that bloomed through May 12.

Also known as Crispa Tulips, fringed tulips have lacy petals and crystalline-like fringes. Some have fringes in the same color as the petals, but others have contrasting fringes. They come in a wide variety of colors and sizes. Like regular tulips, it’s easy to grow fringed tulips. Plant the bulbs in autumn, in well-draining soil that gets full sunlight and add a bit of bulb booster. That's it!

You can read more about fringed tulips at Gardening Know How:
www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/tulips/fringed-tulip-information-and-care.htm

Lucky me! I had some help getting my gardens in order this spring. Our nephew, Neil, had some time available during Wisconsin's shelter-at-home days. He took care of our mulching, weeding, and annual planting, for which we were very grateful. He's very detail-oriented and did a most awesome job. Plus it's always nice to see him!  :)

(When we regularly resume spraying deer deterrent, the protective tomato cages will be removed.)

Here are some of my experiences that make up the ever-present irony of daily life. Do any sound familiar?

1. Good news....free samples of pizza at the grocery store
   Bad news...it's 'breakfast' pizza - no wonder they give it away
   
2. Good news...the grocery store offers an insanely cheap price on an item
   Bad news...you have to buy 10 of them to get the cheap price
3. Good news...you are given a *free* car wash token
   Bad news...while going through the car wash,  your rear windshield wiper gets ripped off, never to be seen again
   
4. Good news...while shopping you finally locate a public restroom
   Bad news...there's not a shred of toilet paper to be found anywhere
   
5. Good news...it's Saturday
   Bad news...your alarm clock woke you up at 5 am because you, while on auto-pilot, activated it the night before
6. Good news...you are having friends over for dinner
   Bad news...you forgot to press start on the dishwasher full of dirty dishes
7. Good news...a dog-walker dutifully carries their plastic bag
   Bad news...when his dog did the deed, the dog-walker did a 360 to see if anyone noticed; he assumed no one did and continued on his way. The plastic bag must have been a fashion accessory.
   
8. Good news...you spent $150 at the grocery and replenished every item you wanted
   Bad news...except for the one item you desperately needed to make your evening meal
9. Good news...you bought ten beautiful perennials you couldn't resist
   Bad news...not one empty space was available in your garden
10. Good news...gasoline prices are at an all-time low
    Bad news...you're 'sheltering at home' and your travels are limited