Observing rebloom

The double whammy of being entirely a novice at daylilies and unobservant / memory-challenged has made me mostly clueless about expectations for the daylilies that I grow . Throw in my failed attempt at recording names and locations in the garden, and I feel really uninformed about my daylilies . If only ogling gorgeous flowers counted as expertise! That being said, my observations today have shed some light on the subject for me .

What I saw were many new scapes emerging on daylilies that had recently used up all the buds on their early scapes . A little light bulb went on in my brain . It made me wonder, "Is this rebloom?" Even though these plants bloomed last year, I have no memory of a resurgence of blooms . I think too many other things were happening for me to take notice . Plus I was never really clear about the definitions of bloom periods: extra early, early, early mid, mid, mid late, late, very late . I'm not sure if they vary from climate to climate or where the growing season is longer like it is in Florida . Admittedly, I haven't done much reading on this, and perhaps the answers are readily available but I just haven't accessed them . Well, why not do some accessing right now?

Ah-ha, how easy was that! The American Hemerocallis Society has a FAQ that is loaded with information, including what they call blooming sequence . So here it is .

Blooming Sequence

Daylilies bloom from early spring until frost, depending on the coldness of the climate . To indicate when a particular cultivar blooms during the season, daylily growers use the following terms and abbreviations (or symbols):

• Extra Early (EE). These daylilies are the first to bloom, and vary from March or April in the extreme South, to May or June in the North .
• Early (E). These daylilies bloom three to five weeks prior to the mass of bloom at midseason .
• Early Midseason (EM). These daylilies bloom one to three weeks before the height of bloom of most cultivars .
• Midseason (M). These daylilies bloom at the peak of the daylily bloom in your own garden . This ranges from May in the South to July in the North .
• Late Midseason (LM). These daylilies bloom one to three weeks after the height or peak of bloom in your garden .
• Late (L). These daylilies bloom when most others have finished blooming, usually four to six weeks after the peak of the season .
• Very Late (VL). These daylilies are the last to bloom, often late in the summer in the South, fall in the North .
• Rebloomer (Re). These daylilies bloom more than one time during a single season . Some of these bloom early (e.g., May or June) and then repeat in the fall . Others have a succession of bloom periods, one shortly after another for several months .

Hmmm, that did sound a little bit vague, didn't it? Not anything hard-and-fast, mark-it-on-the-calendar reliable, huh? So maybe I'm seeing the "succession of bloom periods" now . That's encouraging . Blooms in succession, one shortly after another, are very good things . Let me show you what I saw today .

The next four photos are of two clumps of "Sherry Lane Carr' - I think . One I'm positive of and the other ( the plant in the first photo ) not so sure . I was desperately trying to get the last ones in the ground last year after they had been sitting in pans of water for four months, and I failed to write them down on my chart . But they look alike, so I'm making an assumption . This one isn't really finished with its early scapes, but it has two brand new ones . The plant in the last photos has definitely used up its original buds and has two new scapes full of buds . She's an early mid rebloomer .

A wonderful surprise was the plant in the next two photos . It's a NOID . No identification! My gues-timation is that it's an early mid bloomer . I have two clumps of this lovely mauve daylily that puts out lots of flowers, but I didn't know it was a rebloomer . I thought it was done for the year . I'm sure it didn't bloom again last year . Now it has two new scapes and even a new open flower . To complicate things the second plant has no new scapes .The buds in the second photo are in the upper right of the first photo . ( My cameras has a problem with reds, so just believe me that this flower is a medium mauve. )

The next two photos are 'Pearl Harbor', a mid-season bloomer - obviously not finished with its first bloom and still putting out new scapes . This observation leads me to conclude that we must be smack-dab in the middle of mid-season . So June in my garden is mid-season . Do you think I'll remember that next year?

These three photos are 'Blueberry Frost', a mid-season rebloomer . Yesterday I removed all of the spent scapes on the three plants . This is the only flower they have, and it's the first one open on a recent scape with another new one coming along . The second plant has two even newer scapes, while the third has none at this point . They also have rust on the older leaves which seems not to damage the plant, just make it unattractive. Maybe someone can enlighten me .

Here's a better shot of the flower of 'Blueberry Frost' .

This is 'Fred Ham', a mid rebloomer, all done with its first scapes and adding three or four new ones . Don't know if this is still the first bloom or the continuous rebloom .

I think this is 'Evelyn Lela Stout', an early mid rebloomer, except that she's just started blooming ...unless I missed / forgot that she already bloomed . So frustrating not to think sharply anymore . I love it that she has all those buds .

This, I believe, is 'Joan Senior', a nearly white early mid rebloomer . She's been blooming for only a few weeks, a little later than my other early-mids . The photo below shows the flower a bit better .

The next two shots are beautiful to me in an unorthodox way . I hope you think so, too .

Planting a rose in Florida sand

Dani asked a very good question on Sunday . What do you use to amend the soil?

She has a new ‘Florida Cracker Rose’ that needs to be planted . I don't grow that rose, but I grow 'Louis Philippe' also known as 'The Florida Rose' . In commerce it’s usually called ‘Louis Philippe’, but pass-along roses often go by local names . The reason I wonder is that I know 'Louis Philippe' is tolerant of sandy soil and root-knot nematodes, whereas other roses that I grow are less so . So I'll go out on a limb and assume that Dani's rose is ‘Louis Philippe’ and that she has sandy ground . This is what I do . 

• I dig and turn the whole area around the rose’s new spot, say about 4' x 4' – not just a hole big enough for the plant - and down at least two lengths of the shovel head ( deeper would be better ) . I do this because the native soil is usually compacted plus the amendments need to go as deep down as possible and out from the plant as well . If I come across any good-sized tree roots, I leave them in place, kind of hanging across the hole, hopefully, low enough so the rose fits . Once I get it dug and turned over I amazingly seem to have more soil, but it’s really the same amount just fluffed up and not compacted anymore .
• Then I remove enough of the sand so that the amendments will fit .
• I should also say that I have started laying down a thick layer of newspaper in the bottom of the dug-out area ( which requires removing the soil out of the hole ) . The newspaper will slow down the downward water flow and eventually decompose, but in the meantime the roots won't be able to move through it and will get well established in the amended area before they venture out into the native ground where there isn't much nutrition and where danger may lurk . Eventually and slowly all this good amended stuff will migrate deeper so keep applying the compost as a topdressing in the spring .
• For 'Louis Philippe' in this size area I would spread one bag each of compost ( homemade or bagged composted cow manure - not mushroom compost which I've read is bad for roses ), soil conditioner which is pine fines ( ground up pine bark - Fafard is one brand ), and store-bought topsoil over the dug area . For roses other than 'Louis Philippe' I’d remove more sand and add more than just one bag of each amendment, because they're probably more susceptible to nematodes and need all the organic matter they can get . Not all areas of Florida have root-knot nematodes, but you have to have a soil test to know if you don't . According to the UF / IFAS Extension, these nematodes don't like the acids that are released by decomposing organic matter . Organic matter improves water and nutrient retention and is the food for the microorganisms which digest / decompose it, changing it into a form that is usable by the plants . This decomposition process takes about three weeks . That's why they're slow-release . Plants like microbe poop . So add the organic matter, and the microbes will come .
• Then I sprinkle several ( approximately 4 ) cups each of alfalfa pellets ( remember my post on alfalfa and all the minerals it contains? ) and Milorganite ( earthworms love it ), a cup of epsom salts, and about four cups of some organic fert such as Rose-Tone or Holly-Tone over the bed . This may seem like a lot of "fertilizer", but it's all slow release and is going to transform this sand which is devoid of nutrients and leaks like a sieve into a fertile sandy loam that will hold some water . Actually, you aren't feeding your plants with all of these amendments . You are creating a new environment where they can send out their roots easily and absorb the nutrients they need . 
• Incorporate all of this together by turning it over and over until well mixed . A fork works good for this . The sand will not look decidedly different when you're done . In fact, it will look disappointingly the same except for the clumps of black "dirt" and bits of alfalfa scattered through it, but in six months it will all be uniformly black . In a few years it will be even better .
• When the area is done, dig a hole for the plant, add three dollops ( about a tablespoon each ) of bone meal around the edge of the bottom and a cup or two of both alfalfa and Milorganite . 
• If you have mycorrhizae ( Rooter's is a brand I buy on Amazon.com ), sprinkle the wet rootball with a teaspoon or so, making sure that the granules are touching roots . 
• Then back fill and flood the whole bed with water a few times . None of the amendments will start doing their job until they are wet . Water the rose daily for about a month . Dry dirt is organically inactive dirt . So add mulch to conserve moisture . In my garden it doesn't require much daily water ( a 30-minute micro-misting ) to keep the dirt moist/damp . I think the daily misting keeps a steady flow of moisture migrating down through the soil so even if the top seems a little dry at the end of the day, it's OK, but with mulch it should stay damp . 

This just seems like a lot of work, because it is . Fortunately, sand is pretty easy to dig in . I have never just stuck a rose in the ground without amending the area, so I can't say what will happen if you don't do this, but maybe you can if you've ever planted a rose before and it slowly croaked . Sadly, amending just a little hole won't really accomplish much . ( I always think of those innocent roots going out into that cruel world of compacted sand, and I shudder. ) I never said growing roses in Florida was easy, but it is very doable . Besides the strenuous work there's only one downside to all this amending . It is that the beautiful new soil and the worms that will live in it will be an engraved invitation for armadillos - at least in my neighborhood...  But that's another post .

Pretty miscellany

'Eternal Memories' - my first double daylily, a mid to late rebloomer, and it's fragrant but I forgot to take a whiff .

'Eternal Memories' again - I'm now in love with doubles . Must get more .

'Leda's Lover'

The beautiful 'Souv de la Malmaison'

'Indy Snowfall' -  a late bloomer . Oh, goody ! The flowers will continue .

These are 'The Seductor' from the new order planted last Sunday . Can't call them pretty just yet . Can you see the new green sticking up above the cut? I just hope they keep growing .

I hope you can see the new additions . These two are 'Grace's Gift' . Don't see any new green yet .

'Missouri Memories' - a double . Yay!

My Foxglove last evening . I gave it some water . Haven't checked on it yet today .

'Mme Joseph Bonnaire' - an early Hybrid Tea from 1891 . This plant was really just a rooted cutting about 5 inches long when I got it last September . No flowers yet . The taller cane that is leaning to the left is that original one . It's not quite 2' long now - so far a very slow grower . The other two canes appeared a few weeks ago - very exciting . This rose is the offspring of  'Adam', one of the Tea patriarchs from 1838, and 'Paul Neyron', a Hybrid Perpetual from 1869 that has huge flowers and grows very well in Florida, according to reports I have seen . So I'm excited about MJB . She's supposed to be fairly tall and slender with very large blooms . I'm hoping she'll be healthy, too .

Hopefully, the Foxglove was just thirsty after a day in the Florida sun . I put a few shade lovers in sunny spots when I was planting the tiny seedlings in the ground en masse, but this is the only one even thinking about blooming .

Another double daylily offering its first bloom ever - not counting the one I missed . (See the spent flower?)  'Modern Marvel' - mid-late rebloomer. I really like this one, too .

Northeast side of the house . This tall (about 10') rose at the corner is 'Nur Mahal', a Hybrid Musk with large deep pink almosr red flowers gets a few hours of morning sun and has a hard time keeping leaves on itself . It's getting more water now, and the alfalfa it got about a month ago produced some flowers . It's a tall, gangly thing outside DH's den windows . It's not hurting anybody, so he stays even though he's not much to look at . I have to figure out a better way to keep him out of the path which he leans into, reaching for the sun . Just this side of 'Nur Mahal' is a 'Merritt's Supreme' hydrangea in its second season, and closest to the camera is a 'Red Ruffles' azalea, looking green and lush since I gave him his own mister .  The white box is the styrofoam cooler that my meds come in . It now houses the irrigation timer. Maybe I should paint it green . Yeah, maybe when everything else is done .

'Sherry Lane Carr' - Still blooming strong . All those "ends" on this one scape represent flowers, and she's had lots of scapes . Wow ! She's a big producer .

First echinacea blooms . Love these so much .

'Full Moon Rising', a modern climber . Now I understand how it got its name - huge flowers that look like the full moon .

'Elizabeth Ferguson' at the feet of 'Mrs B. R. Cant' to the right . Three new daylily plants, described as honey cream pink . I wonder what that means .

Woopdedoo! Clematis 'Jackmanii' - Surprise, surprise !! These are the first blooms, and this is his second year . People told me he wouldn't do anything here, but here he is . I don't know if this is correct, but I'm thinking that clematis won't bloom unless they can latch onto something thin and climb . I didn't know they can only wrap around very thin things. I managed to get him up to some coated wire that 'Reve d'Or is on, and all of a sudden he's blooming . The 'Duchess of Albany' that is supposed to climb 'Maman Cochet' isn't, and it's because her canes are too thick . I'm going to order some netting to attach to the rose so the Duchess can do something besides lay on the ground . Poor thing .

Someday 'Jackmanii' will be entwining himself among the blooms of 'Reve d'Or' . They'll be spectacular together, I think,  if he pulls it off .

So much is happening in the garden in between rose flushes - little things here, there and everywhere .

Late to the party

There are legitimate excuses for being late and even for missing an event entirely . No one can be in two places at one time . Everyone can be unavoidably detained . Watches do stop . Who among us has not overslept or forgotten to set the alarm or thought the appointment was for six o'clock when it was really for five o'clock .

And then there are lame excuses for tardiness and for standing-up a date . I forgot . Oh, gee, was it last Saturday? I didn't have time to stop . I forgot . My wheelbarrow had a flat tire . I got tied up with my daylily order .

Well, 'Maman Cochet' got stood-up this week . It's Thursday, and if I had showed up for the big event on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, my dear hostess would have been pleased as punch with me . Was I there at her party on Sunday or Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday? No-o-o , I was the worst kind of cad . Her party never even crossed my mind, and I fear that she'll never forgive me and rightly so . Oh, how could I have been so absentminded and uncaring? Today with tears in her eyes she exposed my unreliability for all to see in these photos .

 Oh, that one stung me deeply .

"Oh, please, please stop . I can't bear another one," I cried out to her .

But she saved the most painful of her photos for last .

They were the ones of the beauty that I had missed a dozen times over.

Another confession, worse than the first, is how cruel I was to 'Faith Whittlesey' who threw her first big party last week . Her pure white blossoms were reported on all the social pages for days and days . Did I bother to stop by even for a moment to record the event? Of course not . I'm a boorish brute . I'm sure I'll never be invited anywhere again .

Wordless Wednesday

P.S. Clematis 'Princess Diana' is blooming again . Pretty cool! Even cooler, we were blessed with rain this afternoon from the east .