SOLD OUT!

(The van I rented was saved for the smaller plants, lots of Sempervivum and adorable things like them. I was worried that people wouldn't like them but they sold like hot cakes at 2 for $5)

This is a half finished posting. (now finished :-))

We are sold out.

By 1:30 there were slim pickings

At 2:30 we loaded the last "left over" 20 plain green hosta into the rental van and declared

SOLD OUT
(At the last minute Ronnie was able to get us a big box truck. Thank goodness because the van I rented was a joke. It would have taken us 10 trips with that little thing. Here's part of the floor of the box truck, with Hosta and almost 200 pots of Daylilies)

Thanks to all of you, those who came, those who worked, those who bought and those of you who sent all those good wishes.

When I get back in the house later I'll add some photos to this post.(This was the double rack in the box truck. It was chock full of Sedums, Liriopes, and mini daylilies)

Plant Sale 2008? It was a smashing success and we broke the bank!

Plant Sale - NEWS FLASH!!!

(Photo from Plant Sale 07)

NEWS FLASH!!!

A few minutes ago, as the rain poured down, a truck drove down my driveway. Ronnie Pasquini of Pasquini Landscapes just offered a huge donation of top quality perennials.

Not only are they already potted up, he will personally deliver a full truck load tomorrow morning directly to the sale.

Plants he mentioned were Ferns, two types of gold Hosta, Lamium, Lamiastrum, Sedum 'Autumn Joy' and more.

Do you believe in "pay it forward"?

I do.

In the middle of the night

I learned several important things tonight.

First of all, I learned that if you try to take photos of Hosta at 10:00 p.m. in the dark with only a flood light shining, every moth in the neighborhood will dive bomb your head.

Secondly, I learned that when you least expect it, an angel will step forward and deliver big fat juicy clumps of Hosta at the last minute. These luscious clumps just arrived and will spend the night in our breezeway.

We are under severe flood warnings for tomorrow. 2 to 3 inches of rain plus more in many areas are expected along with strong winds. There's even a special warning to expect basement flooding. I just finished moving as many pots as possible under some kind of shelter. Tomorrow is the last day for me to prep everything for our big plant sale on Saturday. I have my husbands white water rafting outfit (slicker and matching pants) waiting for me to wear. Still, for the first time ever I might be potting in the garage.

The last lesson I learned tonight was a tough one. I had to run to the school to speak to the band parents about the sale and give some instructions. I was running late and ended up not cleaning my nails nor even remembering to change out of my muck shoes. The meeting was half over when I got there.

I talked about the plant sale. A parent asked if it was ok if her son worked the afternoon shift instead of the morning shift. I didn't understand what difference it would make and then realized she was concerned if her child worked in the afternoon and we sold out by 11:30 that he would not get credited at all. I assured her that no matter what time we sell out, children that arrive for the afternoon shift would get full credit just as the morning shift students.

My phone just rang, quite late for here. It was a friend who was at the meeting and she told me that the whole time I was speaking there were several parents snickering and saying "she actually thinks she's going to sell out...she'll be lucky to sell half that stuff".

I'm heartsick...

but I'm also a gardener and I'm one of the most optimistic people I know. My mind is still whirling trying to come up with other plants I could dig at the last minute. My mantra is, "it's for the kids".

It can be dark in the middle of the night.

Here's looking at you...

On Tuesday I saw this Hosta when I was leaving the home of one of our garden club members. It struck me as such a odd sight, I was thrilled that I had my camera in my bag.

In my own garden I have been noticing Hosta that are getting that "donut" shape. Lots of ring but no jelly in the middle. That was my thought when I took this photo.

Downloading it onto the computer the first thing that struck me was the way it looked like lots of little eyes peeking out of the foliage. Does it look like that to you too?

This was an immaculate garden and it seemed like almost everything was in a perfect ring. This was the Astilbe.

Of course when I got back home I found no perfection, just lots of Old Country Gardens tumble (that I so adore). I wish I had pulled that silly dandelion before taking this photo.

Plant sale craze is in full swing, sorry for the sporadic posts. I'm off again to buy a mini-blind to cut up for more tags.

Till later,

Melanie

Do you do Daylilies?

There's something about being a plant collector. Something that we can be oh so proud of when we are surrounded by similar collectors and yet somewhat embarrassed about when with less understanding folk.

I began gardening as many people do, with vegetables and a few simple flowers. Then I was bit by the perennial bug. I was hampered by a limited budget but I tried hard to get my hands on all kinds of perennials. One day a woman at work gave me a hybrid daylily and the fever took hold of me.

The opening photo is of a darling little daylily named 'City of Sin'. I don't know what it was about being a daylily collector but it drove my life and the lives of those around me for more years than I care to count.
Finally though the fever broke, there was a light at the end of the tunnel and it wasn't this luscious 'Starlight Serenade'. I never totally gave up my perennials and slowly but surely they called me back to the mainstream gardening world.

It's taken me years but I think I've finally found a balance in my garden between daylilies and perennials. One thing about daylilies though, they increase like the dickens and you have to do something with them.

It's one thing if you have a big clump or two of a beautiful plant like this 'Tuscawilla Princess' but what happens when you have 450 different varieties? Ok, they don't all clump up at the same speed and time but chances are that every year you are going to have 50 - 75 clumps that need to be divided.

I will always be grateful to my daylilies. Through them I've met a world full of wonderful people. Now that I'm less active in the daylily world, they continue to give to me by allowing me the chance to share them with others.

'Paper Butterfly' seen here is one of the first daylilies to bloom in my garden. Isn't it lovely?


If I could have more of one daylily it would be this amazing 'King's Golden Treasure'. This daylily bloom is the size of a dinner plate and was hybridized right here on Long Island by an extremely talented man by the name of George Rasmussen. I would love to have drifts and drifts of this shocking bloom interspersed with clouds of Rudbeckias.

The deep purple's are fabulous but for some reason I couldn't find one decent photo. 'Bela Lugosi' is much richer than this photo shows. I'll have to work on taking better photos in the future even though I will be in Germany this summer while it's daylily season in my garden.

If you had told me I'd fall in love with a brown daylily I would have laughed at you. That is, I would have laughed before I grew 'Brown Witch'. This photo doesn't do this daylily justice, it just glows in the garden.

There's lots of award winners such as this 'Custard Candy' that do so well here on Long Island.

Check out these pie crust edges on 'Embroidery Plus'. Guess it was well named :-)

Whether they're big, medium or small like this adorable little 'Laura Abdallah' they're all beautiful in my eyes.

Best of all, most of these will be available this Saturday at our Plant sale. The information is on the sidebar for any local readers to check out.

Oh don't run out and buy a plane ticket here, 'King's Golden Treasure' won't be on that sale table and I haven't yet decided to divide up 'Brown Witch' because I couldn't stand seeing people snub her.

So what about you? Do you do daylilies?

Perennials in Containers

When I have a bit extra money, I like to buy concrete containers for my garden. The best thing about these types of containers is that I can keep them out all winter and not worry about them cracking or breaking. My oldest pair is 22 years old and I love them as they are all aged and mossy.

This container is one of a pair. I've had them for 3 years now but the color of the concrete is still too white and new so I moved them to a shady location in hopes they moss up quicker (I've also heard buttermilk would help the process).

When I got these containers I put a small Hosta and a small piece of Astilbe in each pot. That was it, I left them alone for three years other than an occasional watering.

Today I popped out those plants. They had grown all together and the only way to get them out without damaging the foliage was to roll those containers onto their sides. The "plant balls" slid right out, kind of like getting a big muffin out of a muffin tin.


Here's a close-up of one of my plant muffins. The Astilbe had already leafed out but the Hosta was still tightly furled.

One simple starting slice with my trusty root knife and the pieces almost fell apart (well, almost, with a bit of elbow grease). Here you can see them, the soil was nice and black and still crumbly (it was compost, not potting soil).


I was able to cut each Astilbe into three large pieces and each Hosta into three large pieces too. At the same time I had a nice size chunk to put back in the pot while those other pieces were potted up for our sale.

The Hosta variety was Hosta fortunei Aurea marginata and the name tags were still easy to read. The Astilbe is a lovely tall lavender one that I've had in my garden for years.

This is what the Astilbe looks like in bloom with daylily 'Mokan Butterfly'. This photo caused these two plants to sell like hot cakes last year. I don't even care that I don't know the Astilbe name, it's so beautiful and increases so well that I never want to be without it in my garden.

Off to bed, tomorrow is a long day. Tonight I was carrying a platter of weisswurst and Hamburgers in from the grill and tripped while coming in the door. Rather than drop the meat I twisted my back and landed on my knee cap (hard tile floor). All the while a little voice was shouting in my head "Save the Hamburgers!". I already know I'm going to be stiff tomorrow but mmm dinner was delicious.

Hijacked!

How to you say "I'm sorry" to somebody you hijacked?

Oh woe is me, I think I hijacked somebody today. I was expecting one or two people to stop by and help me with some plant sale things. Somebody was supposed to drop off five clumps of Hosta (they never arrived). I also knew a delightful woman named Chris (a student from my class) was going to stop by at some time to check out the plants for the sale.

Well, my fried brain thought that Chris was here to work when the poor gal was probably just here to buy. I barely let her get out of her car before I handed her some gloves and steered her over to the potting area. Two minutes later she was stuffing daylilies in pots as fast as I could divide them. Not a single complaint but my head kept telling me something was wrong.


At that time another woman arrived. This woman has come here several years now and buys like crazy. I have a secret suspicion that her goal is to grow everything I grow because she buys almost one of everything I have potted up (unless she bought it last year).

Poor Chris, every time she picked up a pot to question me about the plant the woman would take it immediately and add it to her pile.

Most of the plants weren't labeled or priced yet, the photo above shows the bloom on the Stokesia seedlings I had potted up. I don't remember if Chris got one, the other woman surely did.

This hardy Geranium was given to me years ago. One day when I divided it I found a name with a tag but I'll be darned if I can remember that name since then, all I remember is it was a persons name, not a word like "Orion". It seeds nicely in semi-shade and I know Chris got a pot of this one.

(Oh wait! Hooray!! I just checked out a Geranium site and as soon as I saw the name I knew it, this is Geranium oxonianum 'Claridge Druce'.)


There was only one pot of Polygonatum humile and I made sure Chris got that too. Calie had just knocked it over earlier and we had plopped them back in the pot.


This is Centaurea montana. Both Chris and the other woman chose these plants even though they started wilting in the pots. We had such a nice misty morning and all of a sudden the sun came out full force. Almost everything was wilted and I mentioned that the plants would be happier in the shade. Chris took my hint and moved all of her choices to the shade but the other womans poor plants started to look like spinach that was in the frying pan too long.


It wasn't until Chris left that I realized I had hijacked her. I am so embarrassed, I can't believe I made her work here. I've got to think of something to make it up to her. She was really admiring this Hosta 'Whiskey Sour' but I only have a small piece in my garden.


Maybe a pot of Corydalis and a pot of Iris cristata? I forgot I potted up a few of these darling Iris and they were tucked in a shady corner. Also a piece of the nice Epimedium that's finishing up out front. I promised her a piece of that as soon as I get to digging it.

What a way to start out a new friendship.

Boy is my face red (and it's not a sunburn either).

Shopping Spree!

On Friday my friend Kim and I went to our favorite nursery. We lost total track of the time, I'm guessing it was a few hours that we rambled about deciding on which new lovelies to buy.

One of the first things on my wish list were variegated Iris. Obviously other people had this on their list too because there were only three pots left, I took two and Kim got the last one.

When we got to the Sedum section I picked up one pot after another and announced "already got it". Kim is a good friend, I don't think she rolled her eyes once. It appeared I had every one already until I came to this 'Diamond Edge'. I can't say it totally wowed me but come on, I already had every other variety :-)

Kim must have wanted me to get this sweet little Pulmonaria because she kept pointing out how darling it looked. Since Kim has a new garden that is almost all full sun, she couldn't get it for herself. I took the hint and got it and I'm so happy I did!

This Aruncus didn't have a tag but it didn't stop me. I have many clumps of the dwarf Aruncus athusifolious and it's such a wonderful plant. How could I pass up a chance to try another variety. The sign at the nursery said it will grow 5 feet tall, how cool is that!

Amsonia 'Blue Ice' jumped in my cart when I wasn't looking. I've been growing Amsonia ciliata for a number of years and can't say I love it but this baby still wanted a chance to change my mind.

Campanula persicifolia 'La Belle' also called me over. I haven't had too much luck with many Campanulas here, I think it might be our acidic soil but the peach leaved varieties do well and this pot was just chock full.

Astrantia 'Snow Star' was brazen enough to bring a twin along, two pots came home with me. I don't know what it is about the Astrantias, I've been growing them for years and they've never gotten any larger but I keep trying and trying with them.

Symphytum, yes, no groans please. This variety didn't have a tag, it was low growing and had pink buds with white blooms. There is a sign with the name at the nursery, at least I have a reason to have to go back again :-)

Two new Epimediums for me (Kim got them too)! 'Orange Queen' was just too fantastic with orange blooms and how could we possible turn up a chance to grow 'Shrimp Girl'. After looking at the size of these plants and seeing how much they were I decided to change the price of my jumbo pots to $7.


Oh how hard it is to walk past the hardy Geranium section. I could take one of each even if I already had it in the garden. There were so many to choose from but we both couldn't say no to Geranium sanguinium 'Tiny Monster', Geranium 'Philippe Vapelle' (had this one once before but didn't give it enough sun), and Geranium 'Brookside'.

The Hosta section is like the Sedum section, I can walk the whole row and say "got that one" but I came across a new arrival of 'Abiqua Drinking Gourd' which I had lost the first year I was growing Hosta. Hooray!

Finally, as you can see in this photo I definitely don't have enough Sempervivum yet so I bought four more varieties. I'll save those photos for another post. I thought I was very restrained because they had so many new varieties and I really wanted them all.

Ok, now it's time for bed. Every muscle in my body aches. Today I potted up at least 100 pots and tomorrow is my last chance to pot up the last 100. A few new gardening friends are supposed to come over and help. I'm so happy, hope you all don't mind learning how to pot up Daylilies because that's what's on the planning board.

For the rest of this week the posts will be geared to the Plant Sale we're having on May 10th. Bear with me, I'll be back to my usual garden craze after Mother's Day.

Melanie

What's better than a rototiller?

What?

Digging in the compost heap again?

What could possibly make you think I was digging in the compost heap?

Nope, not me, I was sitting here nice and calm all afternoon.

Woofs and Licks,

Calie the wonder-doodle

My package arrived!

My package arrived! I was so excited I met the UPS man half way down the driveway.

It's been many years since I've ordered perennials (other than daylilies) by mail. We've had a wealth of nurseries here on Long Island and I rarely had to go far to find what I wanted. In the past few years though a number of those locations have closed down. Also, I have been lusting over a particular perennial for a few years and just could not locate it.

My shipment came from Digging Dog Nursery in California. I had chosen the ship date so I knew exactly when these plants would come. Inside the box was a nice letter telling me what to do when my plants arrived. I actually stopped and took the time to read the letter.

Time to pull back the stuffing and here they are, the stars of my order, Lysimachia ephemerum. I have only seen photos of this plant and read a number of accounts that it is a "clumper" not a "runner" like other Lysimachias. Only time will tell. If you want to see why it excited me so much you'll have to go to google images and type in Lysimachia ephemerum. I wanted this plant so badly that I ordered two of them and they looked just beautiful already, big fat, healthy plants.


The rest of the plants were more "fillers" for me. They are:
Campanula latiloba 'Alba
Centaurea Macrocephala
Uvularia grandiflora
Verbascum chaixii 'Wedding Candles'
Verbena hastata
Lychnis viscaria 'Schnee'
Salvia Sclarea 'Vatican White'

Other than the Lychnis, these plants were smaller than I was expecting but I'm really not familiar with them so it just might be what they look like in pots.

Upon unpacking them I gave them a good soaking as per the instructions. Then, since it was already early evening, I put them in a large pot for protection and brought them into my breezeway. Today I will plant a the larger ones directly into the garden. The smaller plants will go in pots with potting soil and given a little TLC. They just might need some fresh air and sunshine for a week or two.

In a little while I will go unpack my car which is loaded to the roof with the plants and containers from last night's class. As soon as I get things put back together I will take photos and show all of you some of the container arrangements I decided to do.

Today should be chock full of gardening as Kim and I have plans to also go to our favorite nursery for a little shopping spree. So much to do and see!

Till later,

Melanie