Finally the rain has stopped........

8 years ago

but I am not complaining . Nosiree! I am just so pumped about being able to go ahead and weed now. The ground was so hard before it just was not feasible so I had to wait . So the last 2 days it has poured rain and I am sooooooo happy. I finally got to a back bed that hasn't been touched so far this spring and summer due to weather conditions and am starting to clean it out.

You know I always think of dayllies as hardy plants but am discovering that , that just isn't the case. I have daylilies in this back bed that are 4 and 5 years old but the weeds have done a number on them . I am guessing cutting the sunlight out is probably the cause that many of the daylilies in this bed are so small this year. They were inundated and actually the daylily leaves weren't as tall as the weeds. The lack of light has done it dirty work and some of my clumps are now just mere grassy fronds ........Hopefully they will recover now that they are exposed to sunlight.

It is always a battle with these beds . Weather here doesn't help. Clay soil doesn't help ,I guess I am lucky that they grow at all.

The so called worry free daylily plants are not the iron clad plant I thought they were.

Featured Answer

dick_in_ohio

8 years ago

Most yellow daylilies are very tasty and make a nice decoration on top of a salad.

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Comments (10)

shive
8 years ago
Good for you! I'm glad you're making progress on your weeding. With all the rain, high temps and humidity here, the weeds are taking over big time.

Debra
Nancy 6b
8 years ago
I have got to do that job too, but 1st priority will be the iris bed. Gotta get some of those before they go to seed. But still looks like rain any minute, and actually too wet to get in there.
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organic_kitten
8 years ago
I am weeding a bit every day, even in this awful heat. I have clay soil too, so I can identify. I have some compost cooking in the compost maker...reminds me, I need to turn it today. My plants really like it when I add it to the beds. I know how bad those weed hurt daylilies. I have lost a few in the old bed from weeds overshadowing and eating up the nutrients, but they will rebound.

kay
Brad KY 6b
8 years ago
The thing that brings the most harm to my daylilies are the double orange ditch lilies. I've been trying to fully eradicate them from my front bed since around 1999 [they were here when we moved here in 1998] and they still keep popping up, usually in a clump of other daylilies. When they do, that daylily doesn't bloom well that year. Grrrr.
signet_gw(6b)
Original Author
8 years ago
I hear you Brad . I am finding ditch lilies popping up even where they were never planted. I have a lovely clump of "h. Buttercream" in one garden . There has never been any ditich lily in that garden .

There is this year and you are right , it's right smack dab in the middle of my "Buttercream " clump . UGH I am NOT digging it up until after bloom but I have the scape marked for removal but it means breaking up the clump which makes me so mad .......dammit ! There are others popping up in various places . All earmarked for demolition ( Ha ha) Mine are only single Ditch lilies. Even just a small piece of stoloniferous root means a new plant . It might take a few years but them Boom ......there it is !
samhain10 - 5a
8 years ago
And here I am, thinking of hybridizing with them - LOL. Plus eating them. I ate a petal today - raw, you understand - it was pretty good, sort of sweet like a romaine lettuce. They'd be pretty in a salad. Bob Watson got me started on fulvas, and Brian Reeder of Sun Dragon Daylilies convinced me I need to try taste-testing. Just a petal or two to begin with, to see how it sits with one's digestion. Interesting.

Alex
samhain10 - 5a
8 years ago
Thanks for that corroboration, Dick!
signet_gw(6b)
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I do grow all 4 versions of the "ditch" lily , Fulva Europa , Kwanza , Kwanza Flore Pleno and Varigated Kwanza......... ditch lilies make a lovely apricot colored wine that is quite delicious. If you want a couple of recipes Alex , check out my website . One for the wine and another for daylily fritters.
samhain10 - 5a
8 years ago
Didn't realize you had a website. Will e-mail you.

Alex