'tis the season for planting, dividing and transplanting daylilies. I'm enthusiastically in the process of getting all of my new plants in the ground to give them time to acclimate before the first frost arrives. I'm also dividing some of my mature daylily clumps into more manageable ones. By dividing the plants into smaller clumps, the roots don't have to compete for water and nutrients which invigorates the amount of bloom for the future.

Some of my large plants divide quite easily and I simply have to pull them apart into neat little clumps, but others have roots that are so tangled and intertwined that it is like digging into solid rock. Add some crabgrass to the mix, and you have a marathon challenge sitting in front of you. I kind of -- make that REALLY -- wanted to just get out the saw and call it done, but thought better of it. The less root damage, the better. For the more difficult plants, I hosed the roots off, let them dry a bit so I could see what I was dealing with. Then I inserted two pitchforks into the center and and broke the large clump apart.

After the clumps were smaller, I sat with a long screwdriver, carefully digging to get all of the crabgrass out. While the screwdriver works great, Ange wasn't thrilled with me using his prized tools to dig in daylilies. He came up with a clever solution by re-purposing a T-Handle Allen Wrench into what I call my 'daylily digger-gadget.' It works like a charm! This digger-gadget helps to get the weeds out. Then I can easily muscle the tiny clumps apart. The daylily digger-gadget has been my constant companion over the past few weeks.

Also note the stainless steel sterno pan/warming tray that I use to hold plants, and do 'surgery.' When I'm working on more than one plant at a time, each plant sits in a separate tray so as not to get mixed up. (I always keep the name tag with each plant.) Ange found five of these sterno trays at a garage sale for a dollar. They are sturdy, easy to carry, and can be hosed off easily. Plus they don't take up much storage space over the winter. In fact, I use one of the trays in my garden utility cabinet to store hand tools. I bet the sterno tray manufacturer didn't have gardening in mind during research and development!

Just for fun I follow some other blogs, and some of them are on vastly different topics than flowers and gardening. One of the blog entries I read not too long ago was about how to organize a yacht party. While this was a very entertaining post to read - and I enjoyed it - this is a lifestyle so completely foreign to my own. But I can truly say that now I know the in's and out's of creating that perfect yacht party, and as I've learned in life, ya' just never know!

Recently I went to a get-together that is much more fitting to my lifestyle. So I thought I'd chronicle my first ever 'She Shed' party. If you don't already know, she sheds are the latest rage. They are totally trending (#shesheds). She sheds are the female equivalent of the 'man cave;' a getaway, far away from those dreary daily tasks like cleaning, dishes and laundry.

My friend Mar's DIY project started innocently enough with the need for simply replacing some missing drywall. We've all done those projects that have snowballed into bigger things, yes? In Mar's case, once the drywall was fixed, the battle cry emerged, "We can do better than this!" So with lots of sweat equity, many trips to the home improvement store, plus a handy next door neighbor, Mar's drywall project morphed into a cute little she shed. It is all prettied up with decorations, photos, and comfortable furniture. Watching the progress over time has been fun, but the best thing ever was relaxing with a cool beverage in the finished product. No dishes or laundry here...well done Mar! Outstanding!

I take countless photos of 'Bill Tonn,' but try as I might, my photos never capture the real-life beauty of this plant. Bill started blooming on July 6th and is still blooming, with about five blooms remaining. I must add that 2017 was far from our typical summer weather, with extreme temperature fluctuations from day-to-day. Consequently, bloom season didn't last as long as it usually does. Last year Bill Tonn bloomed longer -- from July 2 through September 24, at which time the deer ate the two remaining scapes.

Bill is a dormant tetraploid that grows about 30" tall in my yard. The large 7" blooms are very showy, in addition to being thick and waxy in texture. I love the delicate gold edging on the ruffled petals. It's a large, robust plant that was hybridized in Minnesota by Karol Emmerich and introduced in 2007. If you want a consistent, reliable, late-season performer in Wisconsin, Bill Tonn fills the bill!

Is this the best idea ever? My friend, Donna, repurposed a non-working grill as her planting station. In addition to being a great decorating accessory, it's also handy for storage. She keeps it on her deck for convenience. When Donna finishes potting up her plants she just closes up the grill top, sweeps the dirt off the deck into her flower garden, and voila, all looks neat and tidy. I thought this was so clever that I just had to share Donna's photos with you.

As much as gardening makes me happy, there are a few things I find somewhat annoying.
Here's my top ten:

1. Checking the weather to make sure rain is NOT in the forecast. Spending half-an-hour spraying deer deterrent on all my flowers while it's sunny. Hearing thunder in the distance not two hours later, followed by a rainstorm that lasts only long enough to wash off all the deer deterrent.
2. Planting a new perennial and finding it the next day all chewed up and lying on top of the soil about a foot away from where it was planted.
3. Constantly digging walnut trees out of my flower garden. I do not love walnut trees; thank you very much squirrels.
4. Moles burrowing underneath my new daylily babies and heaving them out of the ground.
5. Finding a dead, rotting whatever in my flower garden.
6. Watching a bunny eating a daylily scape that I can't get to quick enough.
7. Same as #6, but replace the word 'bunny' with 'deer.'
8. Japanese beetles 'doing the nasty' on my daylilies. Really?
9. May gardening in my winter coat. I love Wisconsin.
10. W.E.E.D.S.

Pictured: Daylily 'Green Mystique' inundated with Japanese beetles

Jerry Hyatt is one of the most interesting daylilies that I grow. His look varies depending on the weather and temperature, and he may (or may not) change throughout the day. I'm sharing a few of his different faces so you can see for yourself. I love the animal-print spots in the first photo!
 
Hybridized by Curt Hanson and introduced in 2004, Jerry Hyatt is a semi-evergreen tetraploid that grows about 27-28" tall and has a 6" bloom. He's an award winner that received an Honorable Mention Award in 2007 and an Award of Merit in 2012. Jerry is a new plant to my garden and thankfully he appears to be happy here.

Jerry Hyatt is a child of the tetraploid Trahlyta, which is where the grey/violet tones come from. I grow the diploid version of Trahlyta, which I have had for many years (and would never part with).

Peak bloom is over in Wisconsin, even though some of my late daylilies are still blooming. For whatever reason, my garden never seems to grow exactly the way I planned or imagined it to. As hard as I try, there are always those areas that need to be fixed. Sound familiar? As the season winds down, I have started my list for fall transplanting and dividing. It's my annual attempt to make my flower garden look even better next year. Those of you who garden know how painstaking the decisions can be. Especially when you are dealing with the ever-present trifecta of size, color, and bloom time being different for each individual plant. In addition, there are so many variations in soil and location (even within my own yard) that can impact the plant's growth, not to mention weather and temperature!

Questions I have asked myself:

• How did that daylily grow six inches taller than its description? I can't see the plant behind it!
  
• Why did this one only grow 25" instead of the anticipated 35"?
  
• Who planted THAT plant there? Couldn't have been me...
• Did a mole burrow underneath this poor daylily?
  
• What was I thinking when I put those two peach plants next to each other?
• Did I really manage to leave an open space in the garden with no bloom in mid-July?

I rest assured knowing that Mother Nature always gives me a second (third, and fourth) chance to get it right. So as long as I'm able, I'll just keep on trying...thanks Mom!

Pictured: Daylily 'Carnival in Mexico'

What a perfect name for this daylily! 'Time Stopper' was one of my awesome daylily purchases last year at the Wisconsin Daylily Society Sale in Madison. And yes, time did stand still for me when I first saw it bloom two weeks ago! Although the flowers are registered as seven inches, I measured a bloom yesterday and it was fully eight and one-half inches in size! It is certainly an attention-grabber. The photo I took is very true in color to what it looks like in my garden. Love, love, love the green and burgundy combination. I have it planted in 100% sun and it holds up quite well. Being a dormant diploid, it is also hardy in the north. Hybridized by Jamie Gossard and introduced in 2006, Time Stopper grows about 33" tall in my garden. This daylily will be even more amazing as the clump grows larger!

Isn't she sweet? This little girl lives at the barn across the road from us. I named this tortoiseshell 'Penny-Kitty' because she reminds me of 'Penny,' a cat my friend Mar had for 17 years. The day I took this photo it was relatively cool outside, but our driveway was warm from the sun. Penny-Kitty spent time lounging in our driveway. I imagine the warm asphalt felt kind of like a heating pad. She comes over just about every day to visit us. And she's a talker! We enjoy her visits because she often goes home with a companion. A mouse in Penny-Kitty's mouth is a mouse not building a nest in our garage.

'August Wedding' came to my garden in a very  unusual way. In May of 2016 I went to the Minnesota Daylily Society Sale in Minneapolis. I bought daylilies for myself and three of my friends. Upon purchase, all of the daylilies were placed into one large plastic bag. The cultivar fans for each individual plant were held together by a vinyl name tag. Here's where the dilemma happened -- when I got home, after I removed all the plants from the plastic bag, I noticed there was one tiny fan remaining at the bottom of the bag that was not attached to a vinyl name tag. Uh-oh...I had no idea which daylily this fan belonged to. Was it my own or was it someone else's?

So I did what any daylily lover would do. I planted the small fan and waited. Sure enough, this year the small plant sent up a scape and it bloomed last week. It was, without a doubt, August Wedding. Thanks Becky! It was one of yours ;)

I have to say I am already in love with this plant! August Wedding opens fully, even when morning temps are in the high 50's. It has really thick substance as well.  August Wedding was hybridized in Suamico, WI (close to Green Bay) by the Korth's of Pinewood Gardens Daylilies. It is a dormant tetraploid that grows about 30" tall. The blooms are between 5-6" in size.  Plus, it is an award winner that has ruffles and glitter. What more could a girl want?

As much as I dislike orange ditch lilies, they exuberantly grow on our land across the road. For some odd reason Ange always mows around them. He thinks they look pretty in the distance. Whatever! We had to laugh when we saw a deer munching away at them recently. I have decided in addition to erosion control, ditch lilies do serve a purpose after all. They are decoys for the hybrid daylilies.

     "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes well you just might find, you get what you need." - Jagger/Richards

Last year on July 2nd I already had 74 daylilies blooming in my garden. Today there are only 16. Huge disparity! I know the calendar says it's summer, but the cold spring weather has really slowed things down. There may not be many daylilies showing their faces, but here are some photos of what is blooming in my yard right now.

'Bluegrass Music' is a relatively recent arrival to my garden, but I've grown it long enough to know that it's staying! This daylily is a great performer and each bloom looks exactly like this photo.  I have it planted in a terraced rock area where it enjoys a southern exposure. In 2016 it started blooming on June 21st, but bloom will be considerably later this year due to the cool weather we've had this spring. (It was only 48 degrees this morning! Where's my winter coat?)

Bluegrass Music is a Grace-Smith daylily, introduced in 2005. It is a semi-evergreen tetraploid that  grows 28 inches tall. Bluegrass Music won an Honorable Mention award in 2010. This award acknowledges performance that goes beyond the local or regional level. Although the flowers are only four inches in size, the amount of blooms it produces (bud count=26-30) provides a beautiful display.

June is full of anticipation and impatience for me. I feel like a little child waiting for Christmas to come. Countless daylily scapes have appeared, and after a year of being patient I'm looking forward to bloom time. My job right now is to spray deer repellent so the scapes remain in existence. And wait...

Pictured: 'Schnickel Fritz' on June 16th with no less than 30 scapes ready-to-go; I counted.

Not what you thought, right? My garden vogue is certainly not haute couture. It is utilitarian attire that makes gardening easier for me.

The gnats have been swarming like crazy lately. You can see clouds of them in the air. If you've ever had a mouthful of gnats or had them fly up your nose, this netted cap may not be as funny as you think! Mosquitoes can also be nasty on hot and humid evenings. Laugh if you will, but guess what? I no longer care what anyone thinks. (Although I must admit that 20 years ago I wouldn't have been caught dead in this hat!) Ultimately, bugs NOT in my mouth = happy.

Netted hats come in quite a wide variety of styles. They can cost anywhere from $1.50 to about $40.00. Mine is the penny-pinching $3.95 variety. It does the job, and keeps all those extra calories out of my mouth.  A must-have.

Note: I also use 'Buggins,' a plant-based gnat repellent spray that you can pick up just about anywhere for about $5.00. It is safe to use on children ages one year and older. Buggins smells good too.

I've been kind of obsessed with lupines lately. And there is (of course) a story:

At my office, Vonnie is the resident plant whisperer. She has this mystical ability to convince ANY plant to grow and thrive, be it inside or out. She created a perennial garden by the front office entrance to greet visitors with bright colors and greenery. In this garden Vonnie planted some beautiful hybrid lupines. I have watched these plants grow and bloom like crazy. One of them has blooms that remind me of candy corn! If the spent blooms are cut off, they keep on blooming for well over a month. Lupines do not like hot temperatures and grow best in northern climates. They are toxic if ingested and may cause some discomfort, but I seriously doubt that any office visitors will feel the need to eat these beauties. Lupines do best in soil that is not amended and, well, kind of crappy. Isn't that every gardener's dream? Another plus is the early bloom in a spring garden where not much else is going on.

Lupines have never been on my radar -- until now.  I decided that I *needed* a hybrid lupine of my own. So over lunch hour last week, I bought one to try out. I went with the two-tone lemon variety named 'Gallery Yellow.' And I may have to (gasp) move a daylily for it to have a spot.

 The tall irises have finally started blooming in Wisconsin. A few years back I made a trade for an iris I wanted badly (Batik - shown in the background). Much to my surprise, in the middle of the now established clump, a completely different white iris with purple edging popped up. Note how unusual the top view is. It is gorgeous; a definite keeper. Life can surprise you in small and unexpected ways. So call me grateful!

Tulips never fare well in my garden. Between the deer, rabbits, and moles I don't see much of them. So I have developed a bad case of tulip-envy. And I have *extreme* tulip-envy for my friend Mary's flowers. She puts me to shame. Every year she grows the most gorgeous bounty of tulip varieties. She has dozens of varieties so blooms last for well over a month. This year I talked Mary into sharing a few of her tulip photos so you could enjoy them too. These photos are just a small sampling of what grows in her yard - more or less a snapshot of what was blooming last week.

Mary's tulips were purchased on a budget, quite inexpensively; most of them from big-box stores. She was very pleased with her bang-for-the-buck. From year-to-year she fertilizes her tulips with bulb booster granules to keep them blooming robustly.

These Pasque flowers grow happily in my front garden. They are a harbinger of spring and begin blooming early -- at the same time as my daffodils. Attractive fuzzy heads of seeds follow, so these flowers continue to look good for many weeks. The fuzzies on the plant help insulate it. Like tulips, Pasque flowers close up towards evening, so I posted an open and closed photo. Also note: Deer will not touch these.

Pasque flower is a tundra plant that grows in the northwestern U.S. all the way to northern Alaska. In fact, it has been the state flower of South Dakota since 1903, where it grows wild. Pasque flowers were used as a medicine by native Americans for centuries.

The plants propagate by reseeding themselves. Every spring I find mini-Pasque flowers growing in locations that I didn't plant it, but by no means is it invasive. The new plants are random and few. It grows about 8-12" tall in my yard. Pasque flowers are ideal for sunny rock gardens, crevice gardens, and any spot that is very well drained. I got my original plant from my friend Sally many years ago and continue to enjoy it every April and May.