Musical Chairs: Part 1

The time has come for some reorganization in the garden.  Daylilies can be divided into two different types, diploids and tetrapoilds. When we first started planting our daylilies in our new garden, we just placed plants where we had space, paying attention a little to their scape height, but not really anything else.  Consequently, we have dips and tets all mixed up.  Then we decided to try and bring some order to the collection.  So at that point we started trying to group tets and dips together.  It sort of worked, except that we already had a total mishmash from our previous plantings.

'Victorian Ribbons' (a dipliod)

As we have gotten more interested in daylilies and into hybridizing, we have realized the having an overall organization to everything helps save time and headaches.  Right now, I can't know what a flower is I unless I look it up.  Not all of our original tags have the information on them.  It didn't seem important when we first started the collection.  Also without grouping the two types of flowers together, I'm constantly zigzagging all over the yard.  I don't have lots of time to leisurely work with the plants each morning.  I'm out early, as soon as it's light enough to see, and before my toddler is awake.  She loves to "help", but isn't very helpful.  We do work together some mornings, but it's faster and easier to keep everything straight without her.

'Webster's pink Wonder' (a terapolid)

So we've decided that some reorganization is in order.  We have three areas in the garden that hold the majority of our collection and one that has less than twenty plants.  Now all of the tets we're interested in hybridizing will be located in the tropical garden around the pool.  The majority of these plants have tall scapes and large flowers, they will look great swaying above the other plants in June each year.  The dips will all get moved to the barrier garden.  The bed is due for a re-design anyway, so the timing couldn't be better.  The new miniature daylily collection has a place near the triceratops.

The miniature daylilies 

All the showy, ruffled, sturdy flowered daylilies have been moved to the butterfly garden.

You can't really see them, but the ruffled dayliles are all tucked in there.

Finally, anything that is leftover, will be put out in the front yard in a display bed we have near the driveway.

'Sweet Seneca Butterflies' (a diploid)

It would have been easier if we had made more detailed tags and planted our daylilies with more of a purpose when we started.  Had we done this we could have saved us a lot of work this coming summer and fall.  We also could just leave it alone and muddle along with what we have already done, but that's the beauty of gardening.  You can move things around, rip out plants that down't work, and add ones that do.  As your gardening interests change, your garden is able to change with it and you never really outgrow a garden.  Have you ever realized you've "outgrown" a garden?