The Cost of Waking up to Daylily Hill

July 9, 2012 - Posted by Chris

Recently I was thinking about the cost of daylilies.

No, this is not about money.  Maybe you even got your daylilies as pass along plants, like the ones I got from my friend, Barb.

I knew I needed to tend to the daylilies on the hill.  Daylilies are easy, but they don’t necessarily thrive on neglect.  My attention was on other projects, as our daylilies on the hill were slowly drying out and turning brown.  I noticed the one from Barb dropping some of the buds.  This is totally unacceptable in the daylily world. I’ve waited months to see this plant bloom for the first time.

So, the next early morning found me carefully tending to each clump.  I watered, weeded, and trimmed brown leaves to the tune of mosquito whining in my ears.

You must be gentle when moving through the daylilies, or you may hear the crisp ‘snap’ of a scape as it breaks. When this happens I think I want to cry…but I don’t.  And it didn’t happen this morning, although I did damage a Red Ribbons petal.

The next morning, I was startled to see one of our night crew still busy at work on the hill.  We have an unspoken agreement where they till our gardens and remove grubs in exchange for room and board somewhere on the property.

Deadheading is an optional light chore and one I don’t mind doing.  It brings me close up to enjoy today’s new flowers as I snip yesterday’s.  If you are a newbie and can’t tell the difference between the old flower and the new bud, just wait until the old blooms get ugly. I’ve learned to be careful not to chop off the fresh buds along with the old flowers.

While daylily blooms last only a day, it seems there are always new surprises opening up.

Daylily Hill, as we call it, is coming alive, waking up more and more each morning.

And now I’m waking up to daylilies.

So another fine morning I gazed out the window and spied a daylily I didn’t recognize and wondered…

Ah yes, that’s the daylily from Barb.

Priceless.

My other daylily posts:

 My Daylily Collection , Daylily Math , Daylily Lessons , It’s All Over Imagine Daylilies , Daylily Fans , That’s the Beauty of Daylilies

I am linking up with Mary from Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

 

This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2012 at 11:42 PM and is filed under Daylilies, Observations, Perennials, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Comments

  1. Indie says:

    Such a beautiful collection of daylilies! And quite an interesting resident of the garden – I’m not sure what I would do if a skunk took up residence in my yard. But then my yard is fairly small, and I have inquisitive small kids!

    ... on July 10th, 2012
  2. Teresa says:

    It’s so nice to see your work paying off. I’m not sure I’d like sharing my garden with that stinky fellow.

    ... on July 11th, 2012
  3. allan becker says:

    I read a lot of garden blogs – well maybe too many – and I must report that this blog on day lilies is one of the finest posts I have read in many years. What a wonderful garden anecdote.

    ... on July 12th, 2012
  4. Chris says:

    Thanks Indie. We usually have skunks. A fews years back the skunks were no where to be found, and in their absence a wood chuck took up residence, and we were overwhelmed with beetles. So we appreciate the skunks and stay out of their way.

    ... on July 13th, 2012
  5. Chris says:

    Thanks so much Allan. So glad you enjoyed my post!

    ... on July 13th, 2012
  6. anne says:

    Beautiful Daylilies! Love to read what you have written and visit your gardens. Thanks for brightening up my days cousin! =:)

    ... on July 13th, 2012
  7. Chris says:

    Thanks so much for visiting Anne! Appreciate your support :)

    ... on July 13th, 2012
  8. Linda Jones says:

    I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I saw who the “night crew” was. OMGosh, that was funny. Did that great big rock “grow” there or was it an acquisition. Love the reds and pinks among your daylilies.

    ... on July 14th, 2012
  9. Chris says:

    I also favor the red and pink daylilies. All of the big rocks, and most others of various sizes, came with the property. The big, big rock probably has not been moved – not by humans anyway! A rock climber actually scaled it and named it “King of the Mountain.” Really.

    ... on July 14th, 2012
  10. debsgarden says:

    Your Daylily Hill is so beautiful! I like the big rock in the background. My husband says we sometimes have skunks here, but I have never seen one. Yours is very cute!

    ... on July 26th, 2012