First Daylily

For us the strongest allure of a flower may be the manner in which it came to be ours.  Lemon Lily is just such a plant.  A friend of Becky's family was an experienced gardener.  Her home was nestled at the base of a narrow valley between two steep ridges.  Most cars would take the curve at the base of the hill at a high rate of speed to ease the climb up out of the other side of the valley just a short distance away.  Her beautiful garden near the road would be seen as only a blur of color if it was noticed at all from passing cars.  Fortunately for us Thelma shared her love of flowers through her gifts of plants.  A Lemon Lily possesses powerful traits in its own right but we always first recall Thelma and her generosity to us when her plants bloom.

The clear bright yellow color shouts out from a considerable distance.  No one can miss seeing this blossom.  Drawn near by the color, one is quickly enveloped in a cloud of sweet fragrance. A visitor need not place his nose near the open flower to sample its scent.  It carries on the wind for a great distance.

At the present time breeding day lilies to produce wild variations in color and scent is a popular activity.  Hundreds of named varieties are offered for sale.  Scented varieties often have a Lemon Lily in their family tree as the original source of their aroma.  On thing about this puzzles me.  Our Lemon Lilies are open ahead of the others even beginning to show buds.  How is this pollen used to fertilize flowers that will not be open for a considerable period of time?  Can pollen be harvested and stored?

Our initial gift of this plant has both survived and spread.  We are now finding new plants appearing as weeds in distant parts of the garden.  They are welcome weeds for sure but we had no part in their finding a new location.

Most years late frost takes these buds long before they have a chance to open.  The flowerless plants continue to grow and spread by sending out root runners.  In years when flowers do appear, seeds form as shown by the new distant plants.  Lemon Lily will always hold a place in our gardens and we offer plants to any visitor that would like to have them.

Freezing Frost

We have learned to rely on NOAA for reliable weather forecasts.  Friday they posted severe frost warnings  that were deadly accurate.  We were hit with both frost and a solid freeze.  Every covering container we owned was pressed into service to establish barriers between the plants and the frost.  Time will reveal the extent of the damage to many of our plants.

Becky cut flowers that were likely to be ended by the cold.  Bright yellow lemon lilies are both early to flower and super sensitive to frost.  Most years we have only green leaves and the promise that next season will be better.  Several scapes were cut for the vase.  Their sweet scent now fills the house.  We will watch to see how many additional indoor buds open.  Brown is the color of the buds that remained outside.  Once again we will be denied both the sight and the scent of these early flowers in our garden.

After the deer trimmed Becky's tree peony, a protective wire cage was installed.  It supported both a sleeping bag and plastic tarp that successfully protected its many buds.  When these flowers open, the display should be impressive.

We have never before been aware of frost damage on peas.  Each tiny spike of frost burned a hole where it contacted a leaf surface.  Had I made the rounds with a watering can before sunrise, this injury might have been avoided.  Now we will watch to see if peas can recover from this damage.  Becky's gingered tofu and snow peas is much anticipated treat meal.  I cannot imagine a year without it.  Snow peas can be purchased at market but those will never measure up to our peas picked moments before they go into the pan.  Super meals is a major reason why we continue to grow vegetables.

Many of our lilies sustained damage because their growth tips contacted the covering container.  We considered a quick trip to the store to purchase more super sized trash cans.  There is a limit that even we cannot blow by.  As it is, we store four monster cans that are only used to cover lilies.  At this point we are intending to explore long term refrigerated storage for some of our best bulbs.  Held in dormancy, their time to show above ground growth can be moved closer to favorable conditions.

NOAA failed to warn us of last night's frost.  My last check just before bedtime indicated an overnight low of 45 F.  We frequently have temperatures that are six degrees below the forecast.  This morning featured temperatures at the freezing point with frost and we had covered nothing.  My response was to seriously consider selling the place and moving into senior housing.  Upon reflection that seems quite extreme.  They are only plants and many will adjust to their setbacks.  Most will survive but some will produce no flowers this year.  Perhaps next year will be better.

Grey Storm Clouds and Rainbows

Yesterday was a mixture of  clouds and sunshine.  When I went out to the garden it was hard to know where to begin. This single lemon lily flower was in an area that needed some serious help. I started there.  The sweet fragrance of this one flower enveloped the area where I worked.

I was so sure that this lavender plant was dead, but when the surrounding weeds were gone and the mushy dead plant material was removed, the plant has new growth.  It look likes it will make a  miraculous come back.

After being away for the morning, Ed joined me in the garden.  Later he was carefully weeding around the snow peas.  Only a few plants came up and we wanted to save those.  The decision was made to leave the pea plants and to plant bush beans in the large gaps.  When Ed walked through the stone square on his way to dumping his bucket of weeds,  he noticed his Salmon Star lily was quivering.  It was when he took a closer look that he saw it.   That *#$% grey rodent was chewing off his beautiful lily plant right before his eyes.  Talk about the gathering storm.  Ed is furious, it's definitely war!

In the evening dark grey clouds gathered.  This was not the most perfect double rainbow I have ever seen, but it stayed for a very long time.  The sky to our west was clear of rain clouds but filled with bright low sun light.  Rain was falling to our east and it gradually worked its way back to us.

I had time to take several rainbow pictures.  This one is my favorite!

 It gave me time to notice the dark above the rainbow and the light below.

At the end of the day it's the beautiful rainbows we will likely remember.  However, at least one grey cloud still hangs over the garden.  Rainbow or not that furry grey critter is in for a stormy time. You can count on that!