1808 Daylilies

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Yesterday I went to Poughkeepsie with my trowel, shovel, and garden fork (not sure that's the right name - it's like a pitchfork, but with a shorter handle and stronger tines), to dig up some daylilies.

I'd had an email response to my request on Ecycle. The woman said she wanted them out so she could plant a shrub in that spot, so I should take them all. She gave me her address, a description of the house, and the location of the daylily bed. She said she'd be at work every day, but I could come and get them any time.

On the drive there, I got a little worried. What if this email was actually from someone else, as a joke or retaliation, and the owner would come home from work and find a hole where her beloved lilies had been? So I tried knocking on neighbors' doors, but no one was home.

I started digging. I half expected a police car to pull up and a cop to ask me what I was doing.

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I just pushed the fork in, and the whole mass levered up. I had been a bit disappointed that the patch was only about 22 by 18 inches, but it was very dense, and when I separated the plants, I ended up with well over 100 sets. Wow! Given the price the local nursery is asking for potted lilies, that's more than $600 dollars worth!

I spent the late afternoon planting them on my bank/cliff. That was WORK! Much of the bank is a shale-like rock. I know there's some soil there, because there are weeds (that's why I wanted the lilies, eventually they'll choke out the weeds) but much of that soil is shale. I had to dig about 200 holes before I found enough good spots for lily sets. When I finished I was drained.

I was standing there holding a trowel and the plastic garbage bag the sets had been in, admiring the plants, when a police car pulled up and a cop asked me what I was doing. "Everything ok?" Local guy. I've bought him coffee in the diner. He was just passing. He probably wonders why I found his question funny.

I felt like I'd pulled off the perfect "bank" robbery, having just buried the swag.
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1803 Daylilies

Sunday, May 11, 2008

You don't fall in love with a person. You fall in love with the way you feel when you're with that person.

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I've been watching for orphan daylilies along the roads, and feeling discouraged, when I remembered the HudsonValleyEcycle Yahoo group. You can subscribe to the group, and list anything that you want to give away, or anything that you're looking for. The only rules are that they must be legal, free, and not taken for resale. (I don't know how they can enforce that last bit....)

I looked, and sure enough, someone had listed daylilies she wants dug up. I contacted her, and someone had already indicated they'd take them, but she'll get back to me if they don't.

Then I put up my own "Wanted - daylilies" posting, and within minutes I was contacted by a woman whose daylily patch needs thinning. I replied, and now I'm waiting to hear when it will be convenient for me to stop by.

Wow. Cool. Free!
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1788 Seeds for the side yard

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

We see the world not as it is, but as we are.

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Today was cool, too cool for bugs, and perfect for working in the yard.

The Hunk had finished grading, spreading topsoil, and raking among the trees in the side yard, and he spread grass seed in the front half just in time for 2.5 days of rain. Which was excellent timing, since I don't have enough water pressure to run a sprinkler.

I wanted to spread wildflower mix in the back half. I had some that had been table favors at a friend's anniversary party (almost nobody took them, so when I helped clear after dinner, I brought almost 200 packets home). They covered only about a third of what I wanted to do, so I went shopping for more.

I went to three garden centers, and asked for "2 pounds of mixed wildflower seeds for shade, please". Only one place had seeds at all, and it was a sun mix. I bought one pound of those. Maybe some will grow....

I shopped for shade mixes online this evening. I found some, but they all say they need a minimum of 1-4 hours of direct sun daily. Hey, this is woods! They best they'll get is filtered light. There ARE wildflowers that grow in the woods. Trilliums. Dogtooth violets. Other stuff I don't know the names of. Why is it so hard to find deep woods seeds? I'm frustrated. I'll get two pounds of one of those mixes, I guess, and overseed the sun mix.

I also want a gazillion of the wild roadside daylilies, too, for the steep bank and around the mailbox. Nobody had the wild type, but I bought a few potted cultured ones. Everybody suggested that since they grow everywhere wild, I should just take a trowel and a bag, and dig some up along the road. I'd like to, but even out in the middle of countryside, that land is owned, so someone owns the lilies, and I don't feel right about digging them up without permission.

We'll see how desperate I get.

The nurseryman where I bought the lilies said not to plant them today. We're expecting frost tonight and tomorrow night.

Hey! It's almost May! Frost?
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