Thank Goodness For The Daylilies

They love the hot weather and blazing sun and Middle Tennessee has had plenty of both.  

Was it just a few years ago when I wrote that it was time for me to break up with them?  What was I thinking? Everyone knows it's nearly impossible to get over a first love and daylilies are mine. 

 many of them were variations on an orange/peach/pink/melon/apricot theme.  

They came into my life when I was a fairly new gardener...That was long before the  Internet made it easy to find the best plants for a garden like mine. I bought them from Gilbert Wild after thoroughly considering their color, size and bloom time from the catalog descriptions. They were a nice mixture of early, mid and late season blooming plants in what I thought would be a pleasant mix of colors.

I discovered three things about daylilies...

• I loved them, especially the simplest ones.  I appreciate the diamond dusted,  haloed, doubled, ruffled plants,  but, for my garden and taste, the graceful shapes of older varieties are best. I wouldn't have known this if I hadn't ordered a few of the busier flowered ones!
• Bloom time is relative...After 26 years of gardening in the Middle South I now understand that bloom time is relative... It's totally related to where you garden in North America (anywhere actually).  Late here means end of June and if you're lucky maybe into July for some of the heirloom hemerocallis. 
• Color descriptions are also relative.  Someone's pink might be someone else's mellon. 

I am so glad that we didn't break up after all. Instead, I expanded the Susan's Bed to give me more room for wildflowers and edited out all the non-performing perennials.  I adore Monarda didyma but, there has never been a moist enough year to keep it blooming and my Susan's Bed is really a small garden.  (Breaking Up Is hard To Do)

Compromise is a good thing! Now there's plenty of room for my first love daylilies and my soulmate wildflowers.

xxoogail




Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone." She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda...

Gaura lindheimeri

As a therapist I spend a good deal of time helping clients get away from asking "WHY?"

Liatris spicata

Whys are tail chasing exercises.  We get a hold of a why and can't let go.  As soon as you answer one why there are a dozen more.  Whys keep us stuck in the same old ways of doing and thinking.  

Hemerocallis 'July Gold'

Instead, I like them to focus on the what, when, who and how questions. 

It's a similar exercise when gardening. Forget the whys! We know why! Instead of "Why did I plant that plant there?" Which often leads to, "Boy, that was  fill in your favorite  critical inner voice!  Ask yourself some what, who, when and how questions.

• What is working  in the garden?
• What's not working?
• What am I willing to do to make changes?
• How much money, time and energy do I have for this project?
• When can I implement these changes?
• Who am I trying to please?

Hypericum frondosum with a fly

 The point is that whys keep us spinning our wheels and the who/what/where/how questions get us moving.  Try it and  see if you notice any changes?  I am pretty sure your relationship with  your garden will change dramatically. 

 It's a similar issue with  the woulda, coulda, shoulda  thoughts that plague many a gardener!

Sleeping Bee

Let them go! Trust me on this~regrets are a big energy waste.

xxoogail


This post was written by Gail Eichelberger for my blog Clay and Limestone Copyright 2011.This work protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.