Saturday, May 28, 2011

Daylily order finally arrived

It took three months for me to decide which nursery to buy from, then about eight hours to decide which plants (a lot of googling ), then four days to get a two-to-three-day Priority Mail package . Now the fans are resting in water . Tomorrow I will plant at least some of them . Dare I hope for all of them to be in the ground at day's end?  It always takes me longer than I think it should to do this sort of thing or any sort of thing .

There are quite a few to plant . I got eight clumps of five fans and four double fans . I will probably divide the clumps into two plantings, so that's twenty holes, twenty scoops of manure, twenty handfuls of alfalfa, twenty handfuls of milorganite, forty dollops of bone meal, and twenty sprinkles of mycorrhizae . This is the third online daylily purchase I have made, and I've gotten a little smarter about assembly-line planting . The first batch (approximately 32 plants) I did each plant hole separately - dig, put down the shovel, select the fan from the pot of water, bring it to the hole - oh, I'm out of order. I skipped a step - so I bring the fan back to the pot, get the scoop of manure, form it into a cone in the hole, add the alfalfa, bone meal & Milorganite, then go to the centrally located pot for the fan of choice again, place it on the cone of manure, sprinkle the mycorrhizae and fill the hole . On to the next hole that I invariably do out of order again but differently, requiring back-tracking, extra steps, and/or emptying the hole and starting over, since I always forget the bone meal . It wasn't rocket science, but it was very tiring . So the second batch (about 19 plants) I did differently . I did one side of the back garden at a time, dug all the holes, scooped all the manure, made all the cones, added all the alfalfa, all the bone meal and all the Milorganite . Then I had to stop the mass process, retrieving and planting each daylily one at a time . I discovered that grabbing more than one fan got confusing and I wouldn't remember what went where . I had planned to write each one down as I did it, but writing with garden gloves on paper fluttering in the breeze was a pain . This process worked much better and was less tiring with less wandering around, seemingly without aim, deciding where to make the next hole . Decision-making is difficult and time-consuming .

Other gardeners speak of the relaxing joy they feel while doing this sort of thing . That doesn't really describe my experience . I'm an end-game person, get it done . The journey doesn't enter into my thinking or planning . I can't even make the journey-thing fit in my head while I'm sitting here writing this . Another quirky aspect of my brain function, I guess . Hearing people talk about the destination not being as important as the journey makes me go, Huh?

Maybe it goes back to my childhood summer vacations when my father would drive the 1,100 miles from Connecticut to Alabama "straight through" which was a lot tougher in the 50's before interstate highways . He wanted to get there (and so did we - three kids in the backseat and no auto air conditioning back then), and he had no interest in enjoying the journey . We stopped for gas and oh by the way, does anyone have to go? You bet your sweet bippy we had to go . I saw a great deal of this country before I was twelve years old - from the backseat of a car doing 70+ miles an hour . So I guess it's understandable that I'm a destination-oriented person, still missing the sights and sounds of it all .

Well, we'll see how I do tomorrow . The forecast probably isn't very conducive to an idyllic journey . Probably ninety-three degrees in the shade, but oh, daylilies prefer sun . No, probably not idyllic . Probably more like, can I get this done in five minutes per hole?  Five times twenty is 100 minutes . Surely, I can do a hole in three minutes . What do you want to bet this lovely trip takes ten minutes per hole?  Golly, that's over three hours . Sounds like more my speed . Wandering aimlessly adds a lot to the time .

9 comments:

  1. A lot of work to doo, but you will forget this, when they will bloom....

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  2. Wow, you sure have a nice collection of daylilies to plant. Make sure you drink plenty of water, and take breaks.

    Have a nice holiday planting.

    FlowerLady

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  3. I can remember taking car trips as a child, too. It was fashionable to "See the USA" and what great experiences, too. My Dad even made a bench for the backseat floor that made the entire back like a big bed. Too dangerous for today, with all the seatbelt laws, but we had a blast! Good luck on digging all those holes! I get lost in thought, so I'm usually done before I realize it!

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  4. I am glad you got so many daylilies because now I can look forward to all the beautiful pictures which I hope you will post when they bloom. I don't like planting either - digging holes in our hard rocky clay is no fun, but I love almost every other aspect of taking care of a plant. I am sure your garden will look wonderful with its newest additions.
    I love the new look of your blog too!

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  5. Sherry,
    I found your blog last week and spent the first day reading all of your entries. My wife and I live in Inverness so your experiences are very meaningful.
    This year we got into growing roses on their own roots, where possible and growing organically, mostly heritage roses. Prior to that it was chemicals and root stock of many varieties, with very little satisfation and knowing that the space would be better utilized for other plants. Your experiences are so helpful to people such as ourselves. It was just earlier in the week when my wife wanted to find more companion plants to go with the roses, then I found your blog while researching alfalfa pellets. You were on the first page of Google !
    This current blog entry mentions the use of mycorrhizae. This is something that I was not familiar with, a little research showed the benefits of it. Is this something that you buy locally ?
    Thank you for sharing your learning curve,
    Don and Jan Rogers
    Inverness

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  6. They're gonna look so pretty when they get settled in.

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  7. The detailed description of your planting technique is very helpful. I like the assembly line method. Makes sense. You're going to be doing a lot of work but oh, the rewards will be worth it.

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  8. So, what DLs did you get? We must know! :)

    I remember long trips just like that. Dad liked to drive 90. This was before seat belts were commonly used and our old car didn't have any. My mom would want to stop and look at something--anything--for a break, but Dad just kept going...

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  9. Hoovb, our fathers were likeminded men. How interesting! I guess he wasn’t unique.

    The new daylilies are:
    Missouri Memories
    Ed Kirchoff
    Over The Edge
    Secret Wish
    Seductor
    Evening Elegance
    Follow Your Dreams
    Elizabeth Ferguson
    Jean Swann
    Indy Indy
    Double Cranberry Ruffles

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