Chive and other Allium species Seeds. 7.12.15

Chives Seed Heads.  7.12.15

Removing Chives Seeds from Seed Head.  7.12.15

 This week I have been collecting seed heads from alliums.  Bees of multiple types forage many types of alliums.  They bloom at different times, allowing for a long nectar flow.

Kitchen chives (Allium schoenoprasum) have a long bloom period and are very pretty.  Bees forage them continuously when blooming.  They are perennial and easy to grow.  The seed heads and stems have dried out and become brown, so they ready for seed harvest.

Allium karataviense "Ivory Queen" was a new addition last fall.  Of the several bulbs in the backet, only one grew and bloomed.  They are interesting and pretty, and later blooming than most spring bulbs.  It would be nice to have some more, but I don't want to buy them.

I also have a number of specimens of Allium aflatunense 'Purple Sensation' that are at the stage of dried seed heads, ready to harvest seeds.

The seed heads would be nice for dried flower arrangements, too.

The process of collecting seeds is almost too simple for words.  Just cut off the seed heads, collect them in a bowl, and shake them upside down in another bowl.  Most of the seeds will just fall out.  Rubbing the seed heads a little between the fingers will remove more.

I collected them into labeled envelopes, but have left them unsealed.  They are quite dry, due to 2 weeks in the 90s with no rain.

There are several options for planting them.  The easiest would be, plant in flowerpots or flats and leave them in a sheltered place for the winter.

I need to look them up.  Some may need stratifying or aging.  If it looks promising, I will plant them soon, to get a head start.  It may take a couple of years for flowering alliums to bloom.  Chives should bloom next year.

Seed Heads of Allium aflatunense. 7.12.15

Chives and Allium karataviense  Seeds.   7.12.15

Bee Forage. 7.11.15

Bumblebee on French Marigold.  7.11.15

 Today I observed bumblebees foraging-

Borage, heavily.

French marigolds, moderately.

Penstemon, moderately.

Oregano, heavily.

Bumblebee on borage.  7.11.15

I have lilies, daylilies, and nasturtiums in bloom.  No bees are foraging those plants.

I also observed honeybees on squash blossoms.  They are open briefly, and somewhat hidden under the leaves.  They don't forage enough to guarantee pollination of the female flowers.  So I do that by hand.

Chives and cilantro finished blooming.  Bumblebees and honeybees foraged those heavily.  I cut off the chives, hoping for second bloom.  I am letting the cilantro go to seeds so I can save seeds, and have a big source for free instead of buying more.

Oregano with bumblebee.  7.11.15

Penstemon with bumblebee.  7.11.15

New Daylily Shipment. 7.11.15

Daylilies from Oakes Daylilies.  7.11.15

This seems to be my year of the daylily.  One night, 10days ago, I could not sleep. I googled on daylilies, and wound up on the page for Oakes Daylilies in Tennessee.

I ordered the following varieties:

Strawberry Candy - 26" tall, 4 1/4" flower, strawberry red, rose red eye zone.  Reblooms.  Semi-evergreen, tetraploid, 1989.

Carefree Peach - 27" tall, 3" flower, peach color, narrow rose red eyezone, starts early and blooms until frost.  Diploid, dormant,

Siloam Virginia Hansen - 18" tall, 4" flower, pale pink, red eye, green throat.  Not listed as reblooming.  Diploid, dormant, 1979.

They added a bonus variety, Winsome Lady.  24" tall, 5 1/2" pink flower, early starter with rebloom, fragrant.  Diploid, dormant, 1964.

These seem like a nice selection.  They do not duplicate varieties that I already have.  I am going to count on them not being different from pictured in the catalog.  The catalog is copyrighted, so I won't post their photos here.

Planted Carefree Peach.  7.11.15

These are very impressive daylily clumps.  These are fat clumps, with healthy looking thick roots, big clumps with multiple fans.  They are far, far, better than what I have seen locally in containers.  Most will probably not bloom until summer 2016,  so you don't get the instant gratification.  I don't need instant gratification.  It's possible I might see flowers on the rebloomers in the group.

Today was quite overcast, and temp only into low 80s.  They should do OK.  Of the varieties, Carefree Peach was more like a cluster of 5 separate plants, so I planted them slightly apart to give growing room.  All of the others were single clumps, which I did not attempt to divide.

Adding some info on other varieties in my border-

Chicago Apache.  27" tall, 5" flower, tetraploid, dormant.  1981.  Not listed as rebloomer, and has not rebloomed for me.

Chicago Apache.  7.11.15

Pardon Me.  18" tall.  2 3/4" flowers.  Diploid, Rebloom.  Fragrant.  AHS states nocturnal bloomer - if that means it only blooms at night, I may not keep it.  According to AHS, nocturnals open in the evening, and my be open for the next day. 

Fooled Me.  24" tall, 5.5"  flower  , Dormant, tetraploid, extended blooming season,

Stella D'Oro.  Kind of a cliche variety, seen everywhere.  1975.  Diploid, dormant.  Extended blooming / reblooming.

Luxury Lace.  32", 4.5" flower, reblooms, diploid, dormant. 1959.

Ice Carnival,   28" tall, 6" flower size, mid season with reblooms.  diploid, dormant. 196.  Listed as very fragrant.  I've had it for 3 years and was not aware of fragrance.

There are also some mystery varieties, and some that are clearly not what was on the label, possibly mutants of known varieties.

Much of the variety details above comes from the AHS website, or Oakes Daylily, or general web search.

Hybridizing.
Today I also played with them a little.  I added pollen from Chicago Apache (triploid) to Fooled Me (triploid) an the unknown that is either mislabeled or mutant Daring Deception.  I added pollen from Fooled Me to Chicago Apache.   I also added self-pollen to stamens of Ice Carnival, and to an unknown somewhat ruffle yellow.    Diploid will not pollinate triploid, and triploid will not pollinate diploid.

Fresh Fruit. 7.11.15

Crimson Pointe Plums.  7.11.15

 The Crimson Pointe plums are ripe.  Small plums, juicy but not watery, and a nice plum spiciness.  This plum is ornamental but the fruits are tasty.  Just not a marketable size.  The tree is no-maintenance.

I bought the Bella Gold Peacotums (peach/apricot/plum hybrid) at a farmer's market.  Initially I didn't think much of them.  Just kind of a generic stone fruit flavor.  After they ripened for another day, they seem sweeter, and I can taste the mix of flavors from each parent. They are pretty good.

Crimson Pointe Plum Tree.  7.11.15

Purchased Bella Gold Peacotums.  7.11.15

Sweet Corn and Squash Progress Report. 7.5.15

Sweet Corn "Trinity Hybrid".  7.5.15

Sweet Corn on Hillside Showing Micro-Terracing.  7.5.15

 The sweet corn and squashes are growing rampantly.  I got to a late start, wondered how they would do.

The first batch of sweet corn is starting to form tassles.  No silks so far.

When I planted on this hillside, I didn't think ahead.  After planting, I saw the water run downhill when irrigating.  So I made micro-terraces, using a hoe.  Each row has a slight terrace, so water pools just above the plants.  Working nicely.

The squashes are blooming nicely.  Most of the flowers are male.   Enough female flowers to get some big zucchinis already, and heirloom yellow summer squash.

Summer Squash.  7.5.15

Squash Growing Rampantly  7.5.15