scape blasting

Rain, rain, and more rain -- that's been the story here in western Wisconsin for the past month. One inch here, two inches there, drizzling rain, pounding rain, all-day rain, and off-and-on rain. We gardeners love rain, but this may be too much of a good thing!

While my plants have never looked better, for the first time ever I have some daylilies that have exhibited 'scape blasting.' It's when a daylily scape cracks and bursts and all the flowers on it are lost. Scape blasting can be caused by heavy rain such as we've had lately. Internal pressure builds up inside of the scape and it explodes.  Some daylilies are more prone to this than others. If interested, you can read more about scape blasting on the American Hemerocallis Society website.

I took two photos of different stages of scape blasting.  The first photo is my 'Virginia B. Hanson' that has a burst and severed scape that mimics a peeled banana! The second photo is 'Drowning in Desire' with scape blasting just starting.

Here's hoping I don't see too much more of this!