Wednesday, July 01, 2020
Some Daylilies that I grew from seeds, from hand-pollinated flowers. 7.1.2020
A few years ago I transferred pollen from daylilies that I liked onto other daylilies that I liked. I grew out some of the seeds. Here are a few of those hybrids, photos taken yesterday. They are quite nice.
Patch Grafts, Peach and Cherry. 7.1.2020
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| Here is one of the "Sunny Day" peach patch grafts that I did a week or two ago. The leave has abscissed, leaving a green bud. 7.1.2020 |
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| A close-up of the same "Sunny Day" peach graft. 7.1.2020 |
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| Local Black Cherry Stick for bud wood. 7.1.2020 |
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| The bud patch that I cut. Cambium is slipping nicely now. 7.1.2020 |
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| Fitting the black cherry patch to some first year growth on Surefire Cherry. 7.1.2020 |
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| Patch graft all wrapped up. 7.1.2020 |
Bee Forage Flowers. 7.1.2020
Over the years, I've tried to plant lots of forage plants for honeybees and native bees. Now that there is a successful beehive in the yard, that interest is renewed. Here are a few blooming now.
I know that the vast majority of their forage comes from traveling around the area, with lots of dandelions, daisies, blackberries, and other flowers blooming. We also have some big areas of those on our two acres. I also think it doesn't hurt to add some of our own forage.
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| Bees like almost any herb. This is cilantro in bloom. 7.1.2020 |
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| When garlic chives are blooming, they are almost always hosting honeybees and local bees. 7.1.2020 |
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| Lots of pollen here for honeybees. The pollen sacs are filling up - rear legs. 7.1.2020 |
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| Probably not a significant source of nectar, but bees sometimes forage the daylilies. 7.1.2020 |
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| I planted these European lindens in 2012. They are getting some size now. Honeybees love them 7.1.2020 |
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| Linden flowers are quite fragrant. 7.1.2020 |
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| The lindens are buzzing with bees. 7.1.2020 |
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| This is a Greenspire European Linden that I planted in 2012. I wondered if these would grow. They did. 7.1.2020 |
Daylilies...7.1.2020
Many of the daylilies are blooming now. These are ones that I bought over the years.
Friday, June 26, 2020
Garden Updates. 6.26.2020
Miscellaneous notes.
I've been cleaning up my bearded iris bed. It's kind of embarrassing how weedy and unkempt it became during the rainy season. There was too much else to do. Now I have a big cleanup to do.
In addition to weeding and cultivating, I'm cutting back the leaves and letting the rhizomes bask in the sun. I have not decided yet about mulch, although in my heart of hearts I know it would help a lot with leaf spot and bacterial rot diseases.
I'm also culling, If I think the flowers are ugly, I'm removing that clump. I'm also removing the ones that seemed highly susceptible to the cool wet season diseases, bacterial rot and leaf spot. The newest reblooming varieties have been the most susceptible, and I culled most of them. I kept a couple of the big lush modern non rebloomers for this time around, even though I think a couple of those are also too susceptible. Next year...
Replacing those, are "rescues" from roadside "Free" rhizomes that I grew in separate nursery beds for a year or two, to see what they look like. Those are nonlabeled, but one looks like Shah Jehan, another like Wabash, and there is a very nice white one and a plicata type with mauve coloration around the edges of the petals. None of those seems particularly disease susceptible, and all are nice. That let me decomission that bed in the easement, which I planted with wildflower mix, grass seed and clover. I also moved into the iris bed, from a nursery bed in what is now the fenced vegetable garden, Monsignor, an apricot colored iris, and a purple one that is very large and nearly black.
The chestnut trees are starting to bloom. It's difficult to see the female flowers. There are a few. I'm hoping they will start to appear as the male flowers come into full bloom.
This is one of the chestnut grafts. It's interesting that these grafts are blooming in their first year.
I've been cleaning up my bearded iris bed. It's kind of embarrassing how weedy and unkempt it became during the rainy season. There was too much else to do. Now I have a big cleanup to do.
In addition to weeding and cultivating, I'm cutting back the leaves and letting the rhizomes bask in the sun. I have not decided yet about mulch, although in my heart of hearts I know it would help a lot with leaf spot and bacterial rot diseases.
I'm also culling, If I think the flowers are ugly, I'm removing that clump. I'm also removing the ones that seemed highly susceptible to the cool wet season diseases, bacterial rot and leaf spot. The newest reblooming varieties have been the most susceptible, and I culled most of them. I kept a couple of the big lush modern non rebloomers for this time around, even though I think a couple of those are also too susceptible. Next year...
Replacing those, are "rescues" from roadside "Free" rhizomes that I grew in separate nursery beds for a year or two, to see what they look like. Those are nonlabeled, but one looks like Shah Jehan, another like Wabash, and there is a very nice white one and a plicata type with mauve coloration around the edges of the petals. None of those seems particularly disease susceptible, and all are nice. That let me decomission that bed in the easement, which I planted with wildflower mix, grass seed and clover. I also moved into the iris bed, from a nursery bed in what is now the fenced vegetable garden, Monsignor, an apricot colored iris, and a purple one that is very large and nearly black.
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| Bearded Iris Bed undergoing cleanup for summer. 6.26.2020. |
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| Maraval Chestnut in bloom. 6.26.2020 |
This is one of the chestnut grafts. It's interesting that these grafts are blooming in their first year.
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| Graft of Precose Migoule chestnut on Marissard seedling chestnut tree. 6.26.2020 |
These are a nice summer squash. They are very good sliced, coated with little olive oil and seasoned salt, and cooked in the air fryer.
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