'Gracxeland' X 'Arctic Snow' - s1 "GAS"
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Saturday, October 08, 2005
IMAGES POSTED
As you can see, I have added a few images, this isn't even a drop in the bucket, but it is a start. I have also added a link to my Daylily Site, see link to your right. It is also a work in progress, especially the LINKS page!
The weather has turned chilly and Fall is here, there isn't much happening with the Daylilies, other than they are getting ready for winter. I did notice a new scape coming on one of the older seedlings that was moved to the 'Borrowed Garden" about 10 days ago. Unfortunately, it probably won't get to open any blooms as it will be nipped by frost before much longer.
The leaves on my Japanese Maple are beginning to turn and will be a beautiful little show in a week or so. The Mulberry trees are simply dropping their leaves as are the Locust seedlings. The Mums are really getting pretty with several in full bloom and several more just showing color in their buds. I will need to make some to take cutting of next Spring so I will have few replacement plants and perhaps a few to sell.
All but the heartiest of the house plants are back indoors now. Still have two racks of assorted Cacti and Succulents to be brought in and must be getting their "winter quarters" ready for them soon. The weather will be warming again in a few days and that will probably be the last of the really nice weather. Nice for me is ABOVE 70, anything cooler than that and I just about freeze. And the older I get the harder it is for me to get warmed up! Maybe I need to move to a warmer climate!
It's been getting pretty chilly in the house these last few nights but I refuse to turn the heat on just yet. Winter is long enough as is and it's easy to simply pile on another blanket or comforter! When it gets to the point that I just can't get warmed up I'll have to break down and crank up the old furnace. I really dread seeing those heating bills this winter; I have a feeling it will be a rough one and a long one.
Guess I'd better start getting the plant stand in my office ready for the Cacti and Succulents, I'm sure I will find burned out tubes in those fluorescent fixtures! Always do!
Have a great week end!
Rebecca
The weather has turned chilly and Fall is here, there isn't much happening with the Daylilies, other than they are getting ready for winter. I did notice a new scape coming on one of the older seedlings that was moved to the 'Borrowed Garden" about 10 days ago. Unfortunately, it probably won't get to open any blooms as it will be nipped by frost before much longer.
The leaves on my Japanese Maple are beginning to turn and will be a beautiful little show in a week or so. The Mulberry trees are simply dropping their leaves as are the Locust seedlings. The Mums are really getting pretty with several in full bloom and several more just showing color in their buds. I will need to make some to take cutting of next Spring so I will have few replacement plants and perhaps a few to sell.
All but the heartiest of the house plants are back indoors now. Still have two racks of assorted Cacti and Succulents to be brought in and must be getting their "winter quarters" ready for them soon. The weather will be warming again in a few days and that will probably be the last of the really nice weather. Nice for me is ABOVE 70, anything cooler than that and I just about freeze. And the older I get the harder it is for me to get warmed up! Maybe I need to move to a warmer climate!
It's been getting pretty chilly in the house these last few nights but I refuse to turn the heat on just yet. Winter is long enough as is and it's easy to simply pile on another blanket or comforter! When it gets to the point that I just can't get warmed up I'll have to break down and crank up the old furnace. I really dread seeing those heating bills this winter; I have a feeling it will be a rough one and a long one.
Guess I'd better start getting the plant stand in my office ready for the Cacti and Succulents, I'm sure I will find burned out tubes in those fluorescent fixtures! Always do!
Have a great week end!
Rebecca
Friday, October 07, 2005
Welcome to my Journal
My name is Rebecca and I am addicted to daylilies!
My addiction began over a decade ago, very innocently, with the purchase of a few daylily plants from mailer sent to me by Dutch Gardens. The flier itself had me mesmerized as I'd only seen the Ditch Lilies, and a very old double yellow-orange and a tiny yellow one that my Grandmother grew. I didn't know they also came in red and pink and lavender!
The next season I began looking for them at any and all of the nurseries I would come across, that's how I came to find my first white daylily and I've had a love affair with the whites, or near whites as they are more properly called, ever since.
In 1999 I decided I would try hybridizing my own daylilies. I didn't have a lot of yard space, but I did have some and besides, how much space could a few daylilies take anyway. In 2000 I had friends come and till an area in the back yard approximately 8 X 10 feet and I immediately filled half of the space with potted seedlings that had survived their first winter. Most had lost their tags or never had any. In 2001 I flowered my first three seedlings. A red, a cream colored small flower and a pale yellow-orange with just the hint of an eye. I was dutifully impressed with myself. When these same three bloomed again in 2002 and I saw the changes that were made over the winter and with another year of growth and age, I was hooked. 2002 was a bumper year for first blooms in the "seedling bed" and by then I had been doing a lot of reading on line and had really made myself aware of what all was really out there to be had by way of the various forms, colors and bloom seasons. I had also learned how to use the computer at my local library.
In 2003 I became involved with an on line gardening group, actually with several groups and began trading plants as well as receiving gifts from my new on line gardening friends. My collection grew to the point that I have had to grow many plants in containers, reserving the garden space for the seedlings I started in pots outside in May. I used empty aquariums as make-shift "greenhouses" to keep the germinating seeds warm. I've since graduated to starting my seeds under artificial lights in my basement. I now start seeds as early as December, but have found it better if I wait until January or February.
When I first started sowing seeds I would pot each seed individually in small pot or seed starter kits. I have since found that they do much better when grown in community pots. I get much better germination and soil moisture is a lot easier to control. The seedlings seem to grow better too. In early May I move all the seedlings outside to a wire restaurant rack that can be covered with plastic sheeting to protect the seedlings from chilling or possible frost. By the end of May they are all out in full sun and ready to go into either the seedling bed or into 1-gallon pots.
In 2004 I had to have the seedling bed re-done and enlarged (only to 10 X 12 feet) and I had it filled with new crop seedlings by the end of July. Around 30% of those seedlings bloomed this season at just over a year old.
This year I talked to one of my neighbors about using a portion of his vegetable garden that he no longer planted. All of the 2005 seedling crop went into the bed, affectionately called the "Borrowed Garden". I've also moved a lot of the potted plants over to it, these were mostly seedlings that I had kept from previous years but didn't have garden space for as well as quite a few named cultivars and the "keepers" from this year first time bloomers. That bed is only 6 - 7 feet wide, but 45-feet long and it is full! The seedling bed in the back yard is being taken over by Spider and Unusual form registered cultivars that I will be using for future breeding plus there are still a few seedlings from the 2004 crop of seeds. There are still a few I don't plan to keep and they will be dug and sent to new homes come spring. I have no idea where this years seed crop will be planted! Fortunately, I didn't make as many crosses and most of what was made will be sold.
That's about it for this posting. I will be posting images of some of this year's (2005) maiden blooms as well as some of the registered cultivars I am currently growing in the near future, so be sure to check back so you can see them! I welcome any and all comments and questions.
Rebecca
My addiction began over a decade ago, very innocently, with the purchase of a few daylily plants from mailer sent to me by Dutch Gardens. The flier itself had me mesmerized as I'd only seen the Ditch Lilies, and a very old double yellow-orange and a tiny yellow one that my Grandmother grew. I didn't know they also came in red and pink and lavender!
The next season I began looking for them at any and all of the nurseries I would come across, that's how I came to find my first white daylily and I've had a love affair with the whites, or near whites as they are more properly called, ever since.
In 1999 I decided I would try hybridizing my own daylilies. I didn't have a lot of yard space, but I did have some and besides, how much space could a few daylilies take anyway. In 2000 I had friends come and till an area in the back yard approximately 8 X 10 feet and I immediately filled half of the space with potted seedlings that had survived their first winter. Most had lost their tags or never had any. In 2001 I flowered my first three seedlings. A red, a cream colored small flower and a pale yellow-orange with just the hint of an eye. I was dutifully impressed with myself. When these same three bloomed again in 2002 and I saw the changes that were made over the winter and with another year of growth and age, I was hooked. 2002 was a bumper year for first blooms in the "seedling bed" and by then I had been doing a lot of reading on line and had really made myself aware of what all was really out there to be had by way of the various forms, colors and bloom seasons. I had also learned how to use the computer at my local library.
In 2003 I became involved with an on line gardening group, actually with several groups and began trading plants as well as receiving gifts from my new on line gardening friends. My collection grew to the point that I have had to grow many plants in containers, reserving the garden space for the seedlings I started in pots outside in May. I used empty aquariums as make-shift "greenhouses" to keep the germinating seeds warm. I've since graduated to starting my seeds under artificial lights in my basement. I now start seeds as early as December, but have found it better if I wait until January or February.
When I first started sowing seeds I would pot each seed individually in small pot or seed starter kits. I have since found that they do much better when grown in community pots. I get much better germination and soil moisture is a lot easier to control. The seedlings seem to grow better too. In early May I move all the seedlings outside to a wire restaurant rack that can be covered with plastic sheeting to protect the seedlings from chilling or possible frost. By the end of May they are all out in full sun and ready to go into either the seedling bed or into 1-gallon pots.
In 2004 I had to have the seedling bed re-done and enlarged (only to 10 X 12 feet) and I had it filled with new crop seedlings by the end of July. Around 30% of those seedlings bloomed this season at just over a year old.
This year I talked to one of my neighbors about using a portion of his vegetable garden that he no longer planted. All of the 2005 seedling crop went into the bed, affectionately called the "Borrowed Garden". I've also moved a lot of the potted plants over to it, these were mostly seedlings that I had kept from previous years but didn't have garden space for as well as quite a few named cultivars and the "keepers" from this year first time bloomers. That bed is only 6 - 7 feet wide, but 45-feet long and it is full! The seedling bed in the back yard is being taken over by Spider and Unusual form registered cultivars that I will be using for future breeding plus there are still a few seedlings from the 2004 crop of seeds. There are still a few I don't plan to keep and they will be dug and sent to new homes come spring. I have no idea where this years seed crop will be planted! Fortunately, I didn't make as many crosses and most of what was made will be sold.
That's about it for this posting. I will be posting images of some of this year's (2005) maiden blooms as well as some of the registered cultivars I am currently growing in the near future, so be sure to check back so you can see them! I welcome any and all comments and questions.
Rebecca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
