Get it together, Girl! | And a bonus Haiku...

<posted January 2, 2014>  This is the daylily H. 'Mort Morss' by Jeff Salter

Here's today's tip: You have to keep this obsession under control.

The story is all too familiar.  Tales of collections gone awry, with good intentions now nearing hoard status.  You have plants without tags, plants in pots, plants in your neighbor's driveway....they are everywhere and you are still buying more..smiling on the outside and screaming on the in as you hide the USPS priority boxes that just showed up today.  Again.

This year, I challenge us to focus our collections.  It should be concise and fun to prevent you from overload and burnout.  

BUT HOW DO I DECIDE?  I LOVE THEM ALL.

1.  What are my favorite daylilies in the garden?  Pick about 5.  Do you have others that are similar to these, but not quite as fabulous?  Dig them out, divide and pot up for visitors, surprise gift needs or a plant sale donation. You don't need six gorgeous creamy near-whites with a bubbly edge.  You only need the best representation of that gorgeous creamy near-white with a bubbly edge.  I ultimately decided it was H. 'Boundless Beauty' for me.   You agree?

H. 'Boundless Beauty' introduced by Patrick Stamile

2.  What daylilies have never lived up to the hype (or its internet/catalog representation?)  Bite the bullet and get them out.  Very few low-performing daylilies are worth 2 square feet of garden real estate and I promise you- even the best gardeners cant grow some daylilies "as advertised."  Do not take it personal, forget about how much you spent on it and pot it up.  GET.  IT.  OUT.  It is hard to admit, but I will cull out the daylilies H. 'Blue Desire' and H. 'Time Stopper' and H. 'Bali Watercolor' this year.  I keep hoping for something from them and they have yet to deliver in several seasons.  Gone!

Blue over the lack of blue in my garden in the daylily H. 'Blue Desire.'  Culling this one out.  :(

3.  What large clumps do you have that can be thinned out?  I had a three-year clump of MEXICAN MAGIC in my garden in Michigan.  When we moved in the summer of 2011 and dug up that entire garden, I dug up that clump.   Left undisturbed for three years, a double fan division was now 24 fans.  I cut off about five fans for myself and potted up six other multi-fan divisions and sold them for $20 a piece!  I was able to get top dollar because I potted them in 1 gallon pots, printed a great photo of it for each pot and wrote the registration information in Sharpie on the photo.  My plant sale guests loved the extra touch, and they had a nice photo to keep of the daylily.  No one complained about a $20 daylily!  This is the photo I used.


The point is to make the collection of daylilies you covet as concise as possible.  De-clutter it, if you will.  Even if you have acres of land, an explosion of mediocre daylilies may be adding to your stress and lack of enjoyment in the garden.  

Give yourself a bit of green rejuvenation in 2014 and cull that collection!

Til next time...

7 comments:

~ Kathy said...

You have described my obsession perfectly and your last sentence sums up how I felt for several years.

Last year I really made progress on giving away, throwing out, and reorganizing. What a good feeling it was! Still a lot to do, but I'll continue working on it.

You know exactly how to put thoughts into words. I'm listening.

Kathy Rinke
Brown City, MI

Nikki Schmith said...

Thanks, Kathy! Its good to hear from you and I hope you are staying warm in MI. See you in May!

Rose Mary Dixon said...

Nikki, so well said & glad you decided to do another post this week. I can't wait to pot up my ones that have never done well! Hope "Poor Floyd" is better today! How cold & how much snow do you have?

Joel said...

Great post Nikki! Slimming down the collection is allowing me to focus more on the positive qualities in the remaining cultivars. Now I just have to beware when people like Kathy R. slim down their collections - and offer great sales ;-)

Joel

Nikki Schmith said...

Snow here is reaching about 12" and the windchill is near -10. Its winter now for sure. Just two weeks ago I was gardening in a sweatshirt spreading Milorganite. Wow.
Floyd is still in intensive care and should be home by Tuesday. Sigh.
N

Wendolyn Nicholds said...

Happy New Year 2014
Great tips for my reorganization move.
I seam to be riding the same horse.
Now for the exhibition show.
Climbing off my anti procrastination plateau
Focus
Cheers Wendolyn
Beautiful photo

C.Mahan said...

You have a beautiful blog! I can't wait for my husband to finish his clinical's and graduate so we can move into our 'forever' home. I finished my MBA last year and I am ready to move on from this tiny town! Stopping by from the SITSTribe weekly challenge and my non blogger site wahliving.com

 

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