I was out in the garden trying to train my new poaching shovel... it got just a little excited and slew a dragon! Oh woe, one lily just went home to lily heaven....... I hope!
I think this little shovel might need more training anyone want to volunteer their garden?
SHAMMY ON YOU.
Oh No Llilyfan, you butchered a lily bulb! A sad day indeed. I'd plant it back and wait a couple of years. You might be pleasantly surprised at how forgiving Mother Nature can be with us "stewards of the land".sometimes.
Iowaron
Oh Lilyfan--shall we come and mourn with you??? I was digging up extra tigers & moving Orientals out of the afternoon sun yesterday (stupid me!) and chopped a couple bulbs myself. I need to remember to use my digging fork instead of my shovel!
Lilyfan.
Replant the best bit of the bulb. Put the scales in well wrung out material - peat moss, spagnum moss - vermiculite - whatever you have. Put them in a baggie in a warm place and leave them alone till you see white rootlets =-or sometimes green growth. You will have a surprise. Lots of babies. I always take a few scales off any new lilium bulbs andbag them up just to be sure in case ;mother bulbs rot during the winter.
Inanda
Had a proper wake today, a few beers and a few tears! I'm overcoming the demise of this one bulb since I still have several more in the bag from dividing them. It is just that even the accidental spearing of ones loved ones comes as such a shock at first.
I've put my little poaching shovel on the 'empty hole' detail until he can control his enthusiasum a bit more.
My little hand spade found a newly planted asiatic this past weekend. I'm still in a "funk" over that. Cursed myself and my stupidity. Mentally made note to self to also use a fork from now on. I had justed planted the little asiatic the weekend before!
As Iowaron said I replanted the pieces and will bide my time for blooming plants.
I keep running into daffodils I planted in years past! Darn, gardens look like swiss cheese & STILL not enough room for my new lilies. (Digging furiously!)
I don't have that problem (YET), but I sure do sympathize with you. The loss of even one is not acceptable! You need better trained spades and poachin shovels... :)
Wanda, been having the same problem with the daffodils. Guess I should have marked them rather than just throwing them wherever they would fit!
I've been hitting a few daffs too, wouldn't it be nice if they threw up some fall foliage like the grape hyacinths, I've got those everywhere. Maybe if I'm really board next spring, I'll plant 1 GH next to each daff, might look odd, but it'd give me an idea of where they are.
Yep. There are daffodils from the former owner who wasn't around here much the 6 years before I moved here. So most didn't even come up the last 2 years. Finding them in odd places (under where I removed sod, etc.), I never know where. Probably a good thing that I'm re-planting them. Although, hard for planting stuff. I put in 6 Georgette orienpets this year (all I could afford). I was hitting lots of surprises-house foundation rocks, old cut down tree roots, etc. But they are in!!
I put bulbs under my perennials. As perennials grow up in the spring, they start hiding daff. leaves.
Another place is everywhere under the hems. Will see how things go in the spring here. They are right by the sidewalk so may all get picked. Who knows?
Inanda
Thing with grape hyacinths is - if you've got em you've got em all over - how would you know which were the markers? lol
Every fall when I'm planting I tell myself in the spring I'm going to mark where the daffs are and of course I forget. I'm always digging them up. Maybe they are moving when I'm not looking, going visiting?
I think that must be it. Migratory bulbs. Who knew? LOL
Blooms - "if you've got em you've got em all over"
I didn't think about that, they do seed like crazy. It'd only work for a while in one of my newest beds. I planted a bunch of daffs in it last year but no gh's. I'm having problems now because I scattered them out so much and I am constantly wanting to add new stuff and hitting bulbs.
3 older beds have the daffs all in the center or along the back so they're not a problem, I know if I dig in certain spots I'm gonna hit some : ) The older beds are the ones that have all the grape hyacinths. The worst are the 6 free ones from Michigan Bulb 4-5 years ago, there must be 100 now. The newer larger ones I've planted don't seem to multiply or seed like those.
Oh well, back to figuring out a unobtrusive way to mark those daffs......
I do ok with my daffs, tulips and muscari as I place those at the front of my beds. I did tuck some tulips in today under my daylily foliage so we'll see if I hit them in a year two when I go to divide the DL. My bad luck is with the lily bulbs!! @#)(%&#@!!!
langbr, I planted a few lilies this year, so please fill me in on the prob so I can be expecting it ... :) .. better to be prepared than surprised... I stuck crocus in everywhere this year... did I do wrong, ya think?
Of course not! Think you'll remember where they are in a year? Or 2 or 3.... hee hee That's when the fun begins!
I SEE said the blind lady... The only reason I know where they are now is cause I just put them in... By tomorrow I will not know where they are! I did make a 'map' of where I put the daylily and lily bulbs, though! I bought a mixed bunch of daylilies from ebay (they were cheap!) and they arrived today, so I got them in the ground along with the crocus, the lavendar joy (I got 5 of them!), and some 'ditch lilies' that I found in need of transplant (heh heh)... (my trusty poachin shovel is a little vixen)... I am so tickled to have some things to bloom next year. Several folks here have been sooo kind and shared with me for postage.. so I am excited and really looking forward to spring... (now if I can just keep the pillagers out of the new beds!!)
Starr - I usually plant my lilies in groups of 3. I *do* mark them but only use one marker for the group of 3. Sometimes my spacing is a bit off when I go to plant something new next to the grouping and I get that awful surprise. I just replant the speared bulb and hope that it blooms in a year or two (depending on how bad I stab it). Brenda
I don't mean to sound dumb, but do you plant in groups of 3 for a color effect, or ? I am just trying to soak up whatever knowledge I can and avoid as many errors as possible.. lol..
Question: When I was planting yesterday, a couple of 'pieces' came off the side of the bulb. What is that 'piece' called and can it be planted?
Hi Starr -
I plant in groups of 3 or more because a 3-foot tall single lily isn't all that impressive as 3 or more stalks in full bloom. Don't get me wrong....I have plenty of lily cultivars that I have a single bulb either because it was expensive or because I wasn't too sure how I'd like it or because it is VERY similiar to other cultivars (lots of white orientals with gold-centered banding).
The piece of bulb is called a scale. You can, in fact, do what they call "scaling a bulb" which is removing a few scales to propagate that bulb. It takes a year or two for scaled propagation to reach blooming size, but as several have said it's a great way to get extra bulbs. Here's a link to that technique:
http://www.landspro.com/page2.htm
If I have any break off I usually just plant them along with the bulb.
Brenda, thanks for the info... I am learning as fast I can... lol.. do you put the scales in the same hole with the bulb, or can you put them in a different hole? I did not plant the scales with the bulb .. I still have them here in the house waiting to see what to do with them... can I plant them out in the garden now, or should I try to grow them in a terrarium? Thanks for the link... I am going there now...
Starr - I toss mine in the hole with the bulb or after I've back-filled in some of the soil so it's only a couple of inches below ground level. The link will show you how to do the scaling in a baggin with some peat or vermiculite. As an experiment why not follow their instructions and then when you check them in early January you can pot them up and keep them in a sunny window facing south. Then plant them out in the Spring. Won't see blooms this year but probably next year.
That sounds like fun... I will let you know how it goes.. I won't mind not getting blooms this year as long as they grow into plants... what a wonderful thing... Thanks, Starr
I too plant lilies in clumps. I like the verticle accent above my daylilies, iris & other perennials. It's cold & dark early, but I have more lilies to go in. Dig I must!
Thanks for sharing such great ideas... Guess I am going back to ebay and see what is left... that is the only place I can still find anything for sale... so far anyway... every site I go to says taking order for spring... heck, I wanna plant NOW... lol... I did find two auctions for iris on ebay ... it was two iris for 4.00 ... I should get them any day now...
Starr I'm not an enabler like Moby, but this might be helpful......
http://www.daylily.com/cgi-bin/auction.cgi?cultivarsother
I've bought from buggycrazy and she has NICE bulbs for a good price. Most of her stuff right now closes tomorrow morning 11/3. She relists all the time though. You do need to register to place bids. This is my FAVORITE auction site as you can get iris, lily and daylilies. They also have folks selling hosta if your in to those too.
Thanks!! That looks like a great site... I have it up and will go through it tonight when it is quiet... and everyone on DG goes to bed... lol...
..sneaky!...
Pffffthpt....Moby. I couldn't get you addicted there, so I thought I'd work on Starr a bit.
LOL! Some people need to stay away from alcohol or gambling - I need to stay away from that place!!
ROFL.....I *guess* so if you're calling it "THAT place!" lol
I won't ever tell how much I've spent there. If I ever put that number in writing I'd be afraid DH would find it.
Too weird!! I looked at that site you posted Brenda. The location of the seller says Tangent, OR. They live about 5 miles from me!! Wonder how I could find out where they are....I'd like to drive by to see what their place looks like.
And maybe do a little poaching? ;)
too funny!... let us know what you find out mgh... :)
Hmmmm.....poaching.....I could do a little of that! ;-) DH and I are going driving tomorrow....think I'll make a detour through Tangent. I'll let you know if I find anything! :-)
can't wait to hear what you get... I mean what you find out... lol
