Columbia River Daylily Club

January 2009

“The weather outside is frightful, the snow is so delightful” but it hasFrom the Vice President played havoc with the  appearance of the garden. Winter dormancy is one thing but the way my garden looks now is frightful. My calla lilies are great oozing green blobs. All of my fuchsias are big bushes with slimy green leaves attached. The daylilies are yucky green limp mounds. The weeds look great; in fact, they are the only thing that looks good. With everything else melted, they stand out and are actually growing. After several days of snow weighing it down, my camellia is now history. It’s been there for over 20 years, one of the first things that I planted in my garden, so I will miss it. That gives me an opportunity to plant something different in its spot. I am looking forward to replacing it with either a pink or red crape myrtle or a “Vulcan” magnolia, both of which stay fairly small. I’m leaning towards the crape myrtle because it flowers in the summer. My neighbor has a pink one and it is lovely when it blooms. I can idle some of the day away by looking for a suitable replacement.

I haven’t started yet, but the lure of window shopping for new daylilies is strong. Maybe if I look at enough pictures and web sites I will get my fill and not order anything. There are some buying opportunities coming up so I may wait for them.

The joint meeting in March will certainly provide some great Curt Hanson intros. I don’t know if my piggy bank has enough in it, but once the bidding starts one never knows!

A new year is starting with lots of activities for club members to join in. The club will be participating in the Portland Yard, Garden and Patio show at the end of February. Not only do you get in for free, but you get to shop as much as you want at other vendors. Now is the time to stock up on new garden gloves or tools. March is the joint meeting of CRDC and Puget Sound Daylily Club with Curt Hanson as guest speaker.

We would like to participate in the Master Gardener/Vancouver sale in May. The National is also in May. Just a few events to look forward to. We also anticipate recruiting new members at the YG&P Show.

If any member has any ideas to bring to the Board please do so. We would entertain any idea to make the club more active. Remember to check our web site periodically, since dates and meeting places may change.

I would like to start open gardens on Saturday or Sundays during the bloom season for our club members. If you like that idea let me know. Remember… Friends who come to look at your garden are not seeing the weeds, only the beautiful flowers.

In the meantime, I will wait for the opportunity to get out into the garden and start to clean up, or be on the web window shopping.

Tip of the Day

At the end of gardening season last year, I took all of my garden gloves (oh yes they were yucky, I was ready to trash them) and put them in the washing machine along with my gardening shoes. Lo and behold! They came great. Now I have about 4-5 pairs of renewed gloves.

MaryAnn Borcherding

I hope everyone made it through all the snow, rain and mudslides without damage. My yard came through without any problems. It will be quite some time before I wish for a white Christmas again. We’ve had quite a winter so far. Now that we’re heading into February, I’m going to stick my neck out and be a little optimistic and say the worst is over. Things usually start to improve in February, so I’m hopeful. Since it’s the dead of winter, things are pretty boring in the greenhouse. Winter is the perfect time to get caught up on clean-up chores that I never want to do during the summer. There’s always a lot of pots to dump out and flats to gather. It’s a perfect time to wash down the inside walls of the greenhouse with something plant-friendly. Winter is also a good time to clean up the flower beds when the weather is nice. Cleaning the beds during the winter seems to make them less overflowing with weeds in the spring. I try to get some Preen down at the same time.

Have you placed your orders for spring plants yet? Better hurry while the selection is good. It’s no fun to be disappointed. I have quite a stash of plants coming this spring (all daylilies). Most are going to be used for breeding, so they will probably be planted in pots until a spot opens up in the greenhouse and they can be planted inside. I have focused the past couple years on eyed and edged varieties, purples and ’blues’ and unusual forms. There are so many fun ways to go, it’s hard to decide, but always fun to explore. The bigger challenge is having enough space for all the plants you want to grow. The plants I thought would be blooming by now haven’t bloomed so I’m accumulating seedlings faster than I’m getting rid of them. It gets hard to plan when they don’t cooperate.

I’m still optimistic that the holdouts will bloom this season. Since I’m a gardener and gardeners are dreamers, I feel sure there will be some nice plants in those holdouts, so throwing them away before they bloom is NOT an option. I’ll just have to wait, no matter how long it takes. Still, it’s a disappointment when Fall arrives and there are seedlings that are obviously healthy, but haven’t shown any scapes. It’s impossible to figure out which ones are going to bloom and which ones aren’t. Some of the smallest plants surprise me by flashing their stuff and other times, the biggest, healthiest plants that SHOULD have bloomed the prior season, are just sitting there taking up space looking green and beautiful, but not divulging any other secrets. The days are getting longer again and I always start to notice the change in the daylight during February. I know I shouldn’t rush life away, but I am anxious to get through February just so we can get to March, when spring truly starts showing her stuff. I’m not a winter person, so the faster I can get through winter the better.

What am I growing this season? My greenhouse is so full of daylilies, I don’t have room for flats of annuals, so I will be planting annuals that I can start directly out in the garden. Marigolds, cosmos and alyssum will be a few of my choices. Just a few months to go! I’ll volunteer to be the cheering section for spring.

Linda Powell