What was your favorite daylily companion for 2014?

The only way I have ever tried to germinate daylily seeds is to put them in hot water, then into the fridge for 3 weeks. Most germinate very easily for me like that , I just thought I might try something different to see if I wanted to start a lot or a little.LOL

Today I think I am going to wintersow a few seeds. I don't do many because it is too much fun to see them coming up in the greenhouse and my winter is usually real short anyway. These seeds though are perennials that won't bloom this year, so I am thinking it doesn't really matter how soon they come up.

My direct sowing attempts have been futile. Except for a few things.

I was thinking about my Aunt this morning. She piqued my interest in daylilies and iris. I remembered she had a circle drive way and she had lined the inner circle with daylilies, iris, and yarrow. Behind the border, she had some azaleas and other things, but what fascinated me was the way she had lined up her blooming season. I really need to learn that art.

ibartoo, so sorry to hear about your neighbor passing.
The only winter sowing I do is annual poppies. I didn't do much in the seed dept last year, but my plan is more focus this year. Since it is impossible to plant all my daylily seeds along with all the other misc seeds I am going to give away some of them in the Plant Trading forum. No need being selfish. You all get first dibs. LOL! Anyone here need ANYMORE (LOL!) daylily seeds???? Going once, going ...........!
It would be nice to be right by the warm beach right now!!
Like Karen said, daylily seeds must have the most germination ways on record. I would say what ever is easier. Hemlady just plant hers in the ground after her last frost. I have stuck some seeds right in front of the parent plant along with prolifs. It save time having to tag prolifs.
ibartoo, I think all of us here truly go nuts also. That's one of the reason why we get on DG to fuel that uncurable desire.

Mike, I will take you up on a few seeds. I have a few that I can share in return......I am definitely starting some today.

I am in very good company then. LOL I potted up some of the bagged daylilies I bought this morning, ( some looked good, some looked very iffy.) along with some Dr. Suess brugs and a few rosary vines.

I would like to pot up a few more things, but i have a busy afternoon, so I don't know if I will get back outside.

Heaven help me, hubby is reading gardening books too. Hope he doesn't decide to rearrange the front beds again..........

Linda, I wish I could bring blooming times together better myself. My Fall blooms are spread out all over and look sad.
Picture 1 daylily seedlings that were just placed in soil without soaking.
Picture 2 my balloon flower seedlings. They sprouted after only 1 week. I thought they would take longer to sprout.

Need to get my son off to school. I'll be back soon!

ibartoo do you have any preference in color or do you want me to just surprise you ?
LOL to your DH rearranging the front bed !!
Karen the seedlings are looking good.

My direct sowing attempts would be better if I didn't pull the seedlings up as weeds. Lol I have direct sowed Cleome into my garden the past 3 years, with not one plant ever growing. I think the problem is my weeding takes them out. ;-0 My daylily seedlings and LI seedlings survive my weeding because they are planted in specific areas. My Peony seedlings have a special spot since they will take years to grow and bloom. I have read it can take 5 years to see a bloom from Peony grown from seed. I thought daylilies took forever. Lol

Mike, Thanks for the daylily seed offer. I'll have to pass. I have been clearing my daylily seeds this winter also. I started all I wanted indoors and tossed the rest outside onto a compost covered patch of my seedling bed. They will grow where ever they landed or they will rot. Either way they are dealt with and not in my fridge. Lol Send them to Linda. She can have fun playing with them. Plus, Linda needs some little Mike's in her garden. Me and BadCat have our little Mike's in our gardens, we can vouch for you that they will be good little Mike's.
I was born nuts! I'm not sure I can blame it on gardening. You have more fun in life if your a little nuts! Sanity is for boring people. :-)

Linda, Daylily roots are pretty tough. Even the iffy ones might bounce back. I have discovered that even broken off pieces of root will grow into a plant. The past 2 years I have planted the broken off pieces that are in my shipping boxes. The roots I planted in 2013 sent up a scape last year and 2 bloomed. I never know who the pieces belong to until they bloom but they are free plants and that works for me. I just dip them in rooting hormone and plant them about 1 1/2" deep and keep them watered. Most of them develop a crown within a few weeks or I see them the next Spring. It works in pots also. I'll let you in on a great tip BadCat gave me about keeping pots watered. You put a baby diaper in the bottom of the pot. It holds the water and keeps your containers from drying out so fast. She's one smart cat. It works great. My full sun bakes containers fast. With a diaper in the pot I was getting by with watering only once day. Before, I could water 3 times a day and still have thirsty containers.

I'm new to vines. Last year was my first time trying any vining plants. A Fellow DGer gave me a corkscrew vine at our ORVG RU last year. Oh, it was beautiful. I cut it back and am trying to overwinter the roots. I took pictures of it in bloom but my son deleted 2 weeks of my garden pictures. I really hope it makes it so I can get another picture of it.
I also bought 4 clematis last year. I bought Comtesse De Bouchoud and Fairy Dust and Proteus Double flowering clematis and I forget the name of the other one it was a pink one.They didn't bloom much at all last year due to being newly planted. I hope they come back this year and bloom a little. I planted the Fairy Dust to grow up my Magnolia to give it color during summer. I love my Magnolia but it's blooms get destroyed by frost or rains every year. It only looks pretty a couple days if that. Pictured below is from last year frost took all the blooms out the night this picture was taken. I have no idea what type of Magnolia it is. It came with the house. I should try to ID it but haven't yet.

I wish my hubby would read garden books. Then again, maybe I don't. He might get his own ideas about my gardens. Ouch! Lol He does help with digging and weeding. Even if his weeding takes out a few non-weeds. ;-) He pulled one of my pale coneflower bare roots a couple years ago. Bless his heart, he brought it to me to show me how hard he had worked to get it out. Lol

Thanks Mike! I took forever to finish my post and we cross posted. I have bigger seedlings. Those are just the seeds that had no soaking. I just put them in potting soil and watered them. I have discovered daylily seeds do better in potting soil than seed starter mix. I'm not sure why. Any thoughts?

Karen I read your book that you just wrote. Every word, cross my heart. LOL!!
I am now standing on my head to view that magnolia tree right side up. LOL!! Again!!
It is beautiful. As you know we have the white one that came with the house also.
Thoughts, mmmm, it may be the moisture retention and the fertilizer. Most seed starting mix drain pretty fast most likely to prevent rot that affects most seeds if they are too soggy.
Badcat might be bad but she's a smart cookie. I am going to make some kids so that I will have a sane reason to buy diapers. LOL! That's a great idea. Reminds me of the oil absorbent "diaper" That we use at work. Hmmmm! She could patent that idea. Chi Ching!!!! I know, I'm nuts.

Did anyone besides me did any bud count last season?

Lol Standing on your head is good for blood circulation. ;-)
You don't need babies to buy diapers. My son is 9 years old, he left diapers at 2 years of age. They don't request to see the bottom that will go in the diaper. There will be no questions when you buy them, I promise. You could order them online if you don't want to buy them in a store.

It could be the moisture retention. The potting soil is just cheap Dollar General potting soil. Lol I doubt there is any fertilizer in it. I don't buy expensive soil to experiment with. I'm going to give them some alfalfa tea here soon. I have one pot that I'm going to try adding Epson salts and diluted liquid fertilizer to and see what happens. I use Epson Salts in my garden but, have never used it with seedlings before. It's time to see what happens.

I better go before I write a sequel. Lol

omg I get the "writing book" comment hahah

Mike if your afraid to go buy diapers...Maxi Pads would work ok...Just in case your afraid of buying diapers lolol

Lol Did you like my novel?

I bought some Hosta's from the hosta co-op here on DG. I've never bought TC hosta before, that I know of anyway. The prices were cheap enough, I figured what the heck I might as well try some. Lol The co-op ends on the 15th if anybody else want in on the sale. I bought Praying Hands and Reptillian and Blue Mouse Ears. I also bought some bulbs of Tom Pounce Oriental Lilium. The hosta will replace the hosta's my DH dug up in December. The Lily bulbs were just to good to pass up. Lol

Mike, I have bud counts on some but not all of mine. I'm trying to get better about recording bud counts. How do you find the time? I need hints!

I thought about joining the hosta co-op, but I have too many birthdays to buy for this month.

If I started buying diapers, my son would freak. LOL He gets terrified every time I have ever mentioned babysitting. LOL. I tell him all my friends are grandparents. I may be 80 by the time he decides to like children. ( it really is ok, he is only 19, he doesn't need 1 yet.)
I know they sell the hydro crystals at home depot.

Mike, I love surprises. I would be happy for any you chose to send.

Trades for the brugs I offered aren't necessary. I just love them and I thought you all might enjoy them too. Maybe I can jumpstart your spring, by getting them to a good size before your last spring frosts.

I potted up a few more of the bagged daylilies today. ( I know I am dragging it out), but it was so gorgeous here today and I couldn't not get dirty.

Karen, your tulip tree ( magnolia soulingeana) is beautiful. Mine isn't blooming yet. We use to sell 3 varieties in the nursery and there were varieties that bloomed later and weren't really hurt as much by the freezes.

We are going from 68 to 27 today. It was gorgeous, then it got windy and the cold front started coming through.

Thought you might could use some spring... These are blooming in my yard today. Hope you like them.
The first is camellia Japonica Les Marbury, CJ Jean Clere, CJ lemon glow, CJ Margaret Davis and my early spring favorite Shamrocks.

Linda, those are so pretty. Right on time for Valentines Day. Just lovely. Hope you are bringing them in from the cold.
We have five birthdays in the family this month also.
Badcat, for the record, I am a man's man (whatever that mean) I have bought Maxi's from the store before. More than once. LOL!!
Karen thanks for the BOX of seeds. The "Novel" was good reading. I promise that if you take the time to write it WE will all read it. LOL!!!!!!!
I guess as far as bud count is concern, I carry a note pad during that time of the season when the buds are winding down and try to count the scapes that seem to have the most buds and scars on them for each (most) plants.
Looking forward to spring to see the poppies bloom.

Mike, I don't bring them in. Some of them are 20 year old shrubs and some are still only 6-8 feet tall. The camellia Japonicas bloom from December -April depending on the variety and the camellia Sasanquas bloom from Oct-Dec.
I usually always get camellias for valentines day. Hubby doesn't buy cut roses although he will buy a rose bush anytime.

Not too much going on today. I plan to get out with Mom for a little while and then maybe clean house for the weekend.
I have never done a bud count before. Maybe I will try to keep better notes this year.
I found a couple of notebooks from the last 2 years and I was happy to see the lists of variety's that have since become orphans and what I had actually planted in my combo pots. I found that I was really happy I didn't chunk the books when they got too full.

Gotta get going, I hope everyone's day gets bright and shiny.

Linda, Thanks for giving us beautiful blooms on such a cold blah day. It gives us hope that Spring will come. Sunday our high will only be 14 degrees. i wish we had snow cover. However, nothing like Boston.

You can wait a few more years to be a grandma. It'll give you time to save more money to spoil them better. :-) I had my son in my thirties so I know about all your friends having babies while you wait. The bright side of waiting is you get to learn from their trail and error. :-)
I was nervous about ordering TC hosta's. I won't buy TC daylilies, they are inferior daylilies. I decided to walk on the wild side and try them. Lol Hope it wasn't a mistake.

Yeah! Your going to have some little Mike's in your garden soon! Mike has great daylilies so all his seeds will be well worth planting. You could get blooms in one year in your zone. It takes us Northern gardeners 2 years to get blooms most of the time.

Bless your heart, you have ID My Magnolia. :-) Thank You, so much! I need to look into a later blooming Magnolia.

It's alright to drag things out in the winter. It helps space out our play time. It's Spring time that dragging things out will get the best of us.

Mike, Lol This might be my sequel. Your Poppy is beautiful!
That's a great idea for getting bud counts. I will probably loose my notepad in the garden just like I do my garden tools. :-) I have 3 garden knives so when I loose one or two I still have a backup. Truth is I need a fourth sometimes. The sad thing is I have a gardening apron with pockets to hold my tools and still leave them behind.

I better get back to playing with my son. He's off school today and wanting to play RISK the board game.
Hope everybody has a great day! Stay safe and warm!
Karen

Karen, I really don't mind waiting to be a grandma. LOL I was 33 when my son was born. I can wait believe me. I have nieces and nephews having little ones right now, so I don't mind waiting at all. LOL Like you said, I learn from them.

I think some of the other varieties of the mag. sou. were Jane and Alexandra ( or something similar.) They bloomed later than the rest but check them out first, it has been a long time so I am sure there are even newer varieties.

The only TC plants i have ever bought were from a nursery in Fl. that sells on ebay. I have never tried daylilies or hostas. Those were dwarf bananas, but they were apparently not as hardy as I believed.

I had to seriously resist buying another little walk in plastic greenhouse today. It wasn't easy. I should Never go to the cheapo stores in the spring when they put those things out! I was strong. LOL

Most of the time, the daylilies take 2 years from seed to bloom for us too. Maybe if I started them early enough though, they might. I somehow have never managed to follow 1 of my seedlings all the way to bloom . I have always either lost focus and not paid attention, or they were planted and lost the tags.

I started a new daylily bed last year. It only has daylilies and 1 purple coneflower planted in it and needs some other things added, but this year I would like to fill some sunny spots here and there with the daylilies that I grow.

I am excited to see what grows/blooms this year.

Karen, if your son likes to read, I used to teach 4th grade. I know some great kids books he might like.

Linda I am hoping that you can I'd my mag too. I will post a pic soon. Happy Valentines Day

Mike, I will definitely try.

We are supposed to have a much colder week ahead. With most of the country having blizzards, I certainly can't complain. I hope you all are out of the way of the storms coming.

Happy Valentines day to everyone.

I am beginning to see life around some of my crinum lilies and a few other things. Hopefully they are well ahead of the forecasters as to when spring will arrive.
I will check in with you all later.

Linda, Lol I was 33 when my son was born. My son loves to read, it's writing that he hates. :-) He's reading at a fifth grade level. He reads books about Dinosaurs and Ice Age Animals. He read all of The Magic TreeHouse series. Then he moved onto the I Survived series. Now, it's all books about critters from the past. It's amazing he can pronounce the dino names with no problem. I get tongue tied trying to pronounce names like Tehuelchesaurus and Tuojiangosaus. Why couldn't they all have simple names like Utah Raptor, I can say that. Lol

I'll look into Magnolia's with later bloom times. It'll give me something to read about while it's so cold.

You never want to buy a TC daylily. They are inferior daylilies from everything I have read. I'm not sure about other plants from TC. I have been trying to find information on TC Hosta's and from what little I have found it seems TC Hosta's are just fine. I'll find out this year, I guess. Lol

You are stronger than me. I would have bought the greenhouse probably. You could have called it your Valentine's Day present. But, I do have to put on blinders in the Spring also or I would be in a lot of trouble with my DH.

I haven't liked any of my daylily seedlings yet. Lol I had a couple spider seedlings but they had ugly color or real short scapes. i'm hoping this will be the year I have a seedling I like.

I think me and Mike are in the path of the Blizzard. They aren't making a big deal out of it here really. I think Northern Ohio will get hit harder than me. I live in South Western Ohio a little North Of Cincinnati and a little South of Dayton, Ohio.
Mike is up by Chicago, I think. He might be shoveling for Valentine's. Sorry, Mike!

Yeah! You have signs of life in the garden. :-) It always makes me happy to see things coming to life again. I hope this cold snap doesn't hurt your new growth. I've never tried crinum lilies before. I'm not a lift and store gardener at all. I tend to shy away from things that aren't Hardy to at least zone 7. I try zone pushing all the time with the understanding I might loose things. I will keep things in pots and handle bringing them in for winter. But if it goes in the ground it stays in the ground here.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody! Stay safe and warm!

Karen,
One of my son's favorite series was the " My life as" books by Bill Wallace. I think he read them all. My life as dinosaur dental floss, my life as a smashed burrito with extra hot sauce. etc. Also the dinotopia books if you can still find them have fabulous stories. One of the my son loved the best was " upchuck and the rotten willie" . It might have been a bill wallace book too, but I believe he would still read it! I know what you mean about the dino names. He could pronounce them all. I just love to see kids reading.

I too push my zones. I tell myself every year that if it isn't hardy, I won't plant it. Truth is, that never happens. I also tell myself I won't buy anymore epies. That doesn't happen either.

The crinum lilies are gorgeous when they bloom. The bulbs I have all came from my grandmother. I have shared them a lot and last year I moved some of the larger ones into more sun. I hope they bloom for a long time this year.

Hubby and I spent yesterday looking at garden magazines and such at a local book store. I think he has big plans for this year too, but I hope I can convince him to start new beds or build containers more than re-arrange things. It remains to be seen. He hates cold weather so I am safe if I can get somethings blooming before it gets too warm. LOL If it is blooming he won't move it.
I mentioned the greenhouse again, but hubby has decided he would rather build one that buy another plastic 1. I think the plastic would have been better because the one he has to build goes to the bottom of the project list. I decided I will try to get new plastic on the older 1 and not worry about it for this season.

Karen you are right. I am south of Chicago. I too also push the zone thing. Flurries only here.

Mike, hope it stays just " flurries".

We've got the cold that goes with your snow! It didn't get out of the 30's yesterday, and probably won't today. I guess we have to have winter sometime.

We're all zone pushers it seems. :-)

The snow is falling harder to the South of me. Poor Kentucky is getting all the accumulation. I'm getting a thin blanket for my gardens. They claim the snow will be heaviest starting at 2:00. The poor birds are lined up fighting at the feeders. It's cold out there!

Linda, I have been reading about Epimedium's. You sparked my curiosity and I had to look into them. They are a woodland plant which is why I wasn't familiar with them. They would never be happy in my yard. Hopefully you'll share pictures of yours when they bloom.

Lowe's carries heavy gauge plastic you could use to cover your greenhouse. They sell it in big rolls so you could save the leftover to cove the greenhouse your DH builds you. I hope he's faster at projects than my DH. My DH is the procrastinating King! Lol
I have to force my husband to look at gardening books. I always get " yeah that's nice" as a response. Lol Maybe you could give your husband his own patch to express his gardening idea's. That would save your gardens. Be firm when you tell him to stay out of your beds. Good Luck!

I think we have some of the Dinotopia books. He's reading Walking With Dinosaurs at this time. He's been into documentary type books lately.
Do you know any tips to get boys to like writing? Oh, the drama that ensues when my son has to write. Doctors would be challenged to read his hand writing, it's that bad. Lol

Mike, Have you picked out your seeds yet? I'm going to put a couple WS containers out this week. I really need to thin the seed supply down to one container.
Let me know if you need a link to instructions for growing the Lilium seeds. They have several hoops you must jump threw to germinate them. Lol

Where is BadCat? Woman! We miss Ya!

Badcat needs a hot hot shower after tiling a shower today and to lay down and relax a bit lol I havent been home all weekend it seems. She will return tomorrow to catch up..after pre-K in the AM.

Karen, You had me going with epimediums lol. it is epiphyllum that I grow. Orchid cactus.
I bought some plastic at HD, but I haven't gotten it put on yet.

Handwriting was and is a nightmare. LOL One year at Thanksgiving, the kids had to make a list of what they were thankful for... I could only read part of my son's and when I asked about his list, he told me " Ya know Mom, you don't need to know everything!" LOL


I started a few wintersow containers today, some daylily seed and dutchman's pipe vines.
Sometimes hubby's projects take on a life of their own. He started putting a roof over my deck last year, and he still has framing to do before he can put the roof up. In his defense tho, he has been really sick the past year and I wouldn't complain. He just hasn't been able to do as much as he wants to.
He does want to make a new flower bed, maybe I can convince him not to move things. LOL It remains to be seen.He never liked my gardening before, but now that he has retired, he wants to get into it.

I've got to go make coffee or something. I need to warm up.
See ya later.

Linda, LOL at your son's response. With tablets and pc's etc, hand writing is slowly going away like the prehistoric animals and mamals. Let's face it, most of our (grown folks) writings have been thru a keytboard. The kids are no different. It will be up to the schools and parents to require otherwise.
Karen I will need the instructions. I will assort my seeds this weekend and make a firm decision then.
Linda I am still waiting on your ADDY.
Have a great day everyone.

Linda, That is funny! I was wondering why you had a bunch of woodland cuttings in a cold frame. Lol I'll have to read about epiphyllm. I'm not familar with them either.

I started some Asclepias Tuberosa and some Liatris seeds and put them on the North wall outside. I tucked the jugs in a milk crate so maybe they will stay put.

Mike, I found this link to be useful, they take all the hoops away and make it sound easy.
http://www.lilynook.mb.ca/Articles/Lilies_from_Seed.html
The seeds came from Casa Blanca collected this past Fall. I have not checked them for viability.

We ended up with 4" of snow. I'm happy, my gardens have a blanket to protect them during this arctic cold weather. I'm putting bird seed out three times a day. Poor little birds they are stacked up trying to keep warm.

I'm going to get back to cleaning. I get cold if I sit down to long. :-)

I thought it was funny too. He has always been quick with a retort, but to come up with that when in reality he couldn't read his own writing was just too much. He was only about 8 at the time. Things haven't changed much. LOL I used to hate typing, but now, I do type more than I write.
Going to hang out with Mom today and then having dinner with hubby, It's our 30th anniversary so I won't do anything in the greenhouse or garden today.
It is rainy and about 50° but the temps are taking a drastic fall for the rest of the week.

I read an article that Blomma had posted in a link last night. I learned a lot about prolif's. I don't think I have ever seen 1 except maybe on a hosta. Can you tell my daylily plants have been "underloved". I have so much more to learn.

here is the link she posted.
http://pick-a-lily.squarespace.com/daylily-blog/2009/8/27/daylilies-for-free.html


Hope everyone's day is awesome!

Linda ..sounds like something my boys would say lol

Mike- Only electronic my boys get are their leap pads...no computers...no video games. Done Deal

Karen- I lived lol

Havent seen my seedlings in 4 days..havent watered in 4 days lolol only lost 1.
Going to try and keep up here =o

Linda, Happy Anniversary! Hope you and your hubby enjoy your day.

I find prolifs every year on different daylilies. I just stick mine in the ground after dusting with rooting hormone. They take off in no time. Some Daylilies produce prolifs more often than others. It's not that your daylilies have been unloved. Your just getting bitten by the Daylily bug. It starts with just one pretty bloom then next thing you know you have 50 daylilies and need more and more. We all have it and try hard keep it under control. Sometimes like last Fall, I fail.

BadCat, Your teaching those seedlings to be tough from the start. No wimps! Lol
Glad you lived, I'd be lost without you. ;-)

Linda, happy Anniversary!! Hope you and hubby had a super day. Babcat, Badcat!!! LOL!!
Karen thanks for that link. I will check it out later.

Thanks everyone, we did have an awesome day and a great dinner to celebrate.

It is warmer today, so I thought I might start some perennials in pots and just let them come up when they will. I think they will be fine without the plastic over them if I can keep the squirrels out.

I made a daylily bed in the back yard last year and when I got it finished I really didn't like the shape of it. I thought it looked like a grave. LOL but It was the sunniest spot I had. I need to plant something in with the daylilies to give it some height and shape when the lilies are up but not blooming. I packed it full of seedlings and those that were spread out around the yard. I am excited to see it bloom this year, but it needs something else in there too.
Suggestions?

Linda, Glad you and your husband had a nice Anniversary.

You could sit bait pots around your seed pots. They tend to dig in pots on the outer perimeter of a grouping. Just put some pots of plain dirt around your seed pots. Another option is to put aluminum foil on the ground around your pots. Squirrel's hate the feel of it on their feet and will avoid it. Good Luck! It's not easy to deter a hungry squirrel.

Daylily companions that add height. Buddleia make good daylily companions and add height. If your bed is small they won't work very well. Liartis and Echinacea and Nepeta are all great companions. Shasta Daisies and Asters and Gaillardia are are also good options.
I'll be back in a minute.

Ok, it was a lot of minutes. :-) I've been busy trying to keep my son from destroying my house. School has been cancelled all week and tomorrow is no exception. Come on Spring, we need you!

There is a very interesting thread in the perennial forum about plant of the year selections. Rouge21 started the thread. It's interesting to read people's experience with different plants.

I was poking around on Vermont Wildflowers website earlier and found a great resource to help ID seedlings. Here is a link to the page
http://www.vermontwildflowerfarm.com/plant-identification.html
I have a problem with weeding seedlings from my garden. Maybe, this will help me to stop. They also have articles about bee's and butterflies and humming birds and ways to attract them.

I'm having trouble getting my Four o'clock seeds to germinate. My nastuaridium seedlings are popping up like crazy.
I have 3 albino daylily seedlings from a South Seas cross. My son wants to see how long they live. So, I will humor him and see them to their death. Albino seedlings never make it longer than a few months in my experience.

Karen, do you soak your seeds before planting them? If so, try adding a little bit of lemon juice to your soaking water. I started doing that with passie seeds and it worked so well, now I use it for everything.
I have never thought about using foil to deter the squirrels. Thanks for that tip. I will try it around some pots of ginger lily.

I have been on the LA this morning. I had to bid on a few from Dololly. Lol This is my first time bidding on DL's this year. This time last year I had already bought over a dozen DL's. I'm getting better, maybe. I'm going to blame my lapse of will power on this cold weather. :-)

Linda, Your Welcome! Foil works for cats also. You can wrap the foil around water bottles and sit them around your pots. If they sell Dafodils in bloom in your area buy them and stick one in your flower pots. They deter all digging critters. You can trim the foliage down to the bulb if you don't want the flowers. You only need the bulb in the soil to repel critters. They sell them in every store around here in the Spring. I wait till the blooms have faded and buy them on clearance real cheap.

I'll try lemon juice. I have 5 more packets of Four o'clock's to play with. I did soak them overnight in water and scratched them on sandpaper.
I was reading about the Gompherea seeds. It seems we need to soak them in water overnight before we sow them. It sounds like they might need a heat mat also. The good news Is people have luck growing them from seed.

I started some gomphrena that badcat sent me a couple of days ago. I am waiting to see them come up.
Most of my four o'clocks self seed so much that I wait until spring and then move them where I want them to grow.
I can't seem to get started today. I tried to make some danish love knots with my wire, but i can't get them to look the way I want them, so I decided to put the jewelry stuff away and check the seedlings. A few more things have germinated and I am making a list of what i need to do in the greenhouse. A lot of things need water, but I hate to wet them when it is so cold. I may be forced to bring a few things in the house and wait to see if the guys notice.LOL Especially the seedlings.

I know the squirrels won't mess with daffs, but I never thought about just putting the faded bulbs in the pots. I bought some tuberose begonias 1 year and the squirrels would let me watch as they dug them up and took bites. Maybe I will put some daffodils in the pots and try those again.
I haven't been out to see what the garden center have recently, but I should go looking. ( like I need to tempt myself.
I am still staying away from the lily auction.

My Four0'clocks have been covered up by Old Gold Junipers. They fought a good battle but lost in the end. I want to plant some Four 0'clocks at the base of my Hardy Hibiscus to help deter Japanese beetles from eating all my blooms.

I'm having trouble keeping it going today. I keep taking breaks after each little thing I do. I have managed to clean my kitchen and put a Cornish hen in the oven for later.
Are your temps suppose to go back up Saturday. They claim we will get out of this deep freeze on Saturday. However, not before we get more snow tonight.
I always have to lug things in and out during Spring. Last year was real bad, the cold never stopped until June. Maybe, I should stop starting more seeds. Lol You've reminded me what a pain in the ka toot it will be this Spring dragging them in and out. Thank You!

I have a darn chipmunk that likes for me to see him eat various things from my garden. He tosses newly planted daylilies out of their homes. A total menace! BadCat needs to come and hunt him down for me. She's a sharpshooting varmint nightmare. Lol

My DH said I could bid on some stuff. So you see, I had to do it. Lol three more days and I'll know my damages.

No way would hubby " agree" to me bidding. LOL I have to do that when he is interested in something else and I have a little money set aside.

Yes, saturday, 59° and Sunday 68°, then back to the 40's for most of next week with lows only in the 30's. Those are temps that I can deal with.

I moved a few things around in the greenhouse, and dumped some of the plumeria that I knew were too frozen to come back, then gave it up so my son and his friends could have a warm spot to hang out . I didn't mind though, I needed a break and I had a long talk with myself about keeping so many that have to be pampered when it is cold. ( rest assured, I will not listen)

Isn't it funny how some of the animals want us to see them eating our plants. I promise you, there was 1 squirrel that would get something and then get right in front of the windows to make sure I could see what he was eating. Hubby said he wanted me to know he was grateful for the snack.
I told him no way. I raised birds at the time and all of the feeders stayed full of very expensive bird food with lots of dried fruits in it. That little tree rat just wanted me to know he was controlling the garden and digging!