Stella catches up

Tonight Stella’s Ruffled Fingers decided to stop watching and to start blooming.  Stella’s Ruffled Fingers is starting to open tonight.  By morning it will be open.   For now we can line it up with two of its seedlings that were blooming today.  And use a little imagination until it is fully open.

Two seedlings and Stella opening.  Tomorrow Stella will be a pink version of the yellow bloom.

Seedling blooms and seeds are being planted

The yard continues to fill with scapes.  Bloom is about to move from a slow trickle to a strong current.  Four or five blooms a day is soon going to be a thing of the past.  The first bloom has opened in the seedling bed.  More importantly this year’s seeds are in the process of being planted.

The seedling

and the seeds

More of the things daylilies do

There is a daylily named Shape Shifter, it is one I actually have.  However shape shifter also describes one of the habits of  daylilies.  The don’t do it all the time, and they don’t necessarily do it often, yet they do it sometimes.  In this case it happens to be this change, the stalk for the stamen ends up attached to the petal half way up the petal body.  From half way up it again becomes free of the petal.  Two of the three petals do this.  The third stamen is attached to the petal all the way to the pollen body.  This type of growth is often seen in daylilies that are doubles.  Normally daylily stamens have a stalk that runs from the base of the flower and is free of and unattached to other parts of the flower.  Moonlit Masquerade is not a double flower.  Today it is just another shape shifter daylily.

 

This is a close up of the stamens.

The season unfolds

The seeds are sorted.  In the envelopes at least.  Now to open the prizes and put them in the dirt.  Each step has its share of surprises.  Missteps and miscues that cause things to be set aside.  Crosses that were mismarked or don’t agree with the notes.  Seed pods that are empty or otherwise unusable.  Seeds that shrivel in the envelope or that were never added to the sorting and the list goes on.  The other night the seed envelopes and the sorting list were resolved.  There were changes to both.  Soon the seeds will go into their natural element and this storage maneuver will come to an end.  When the rain lets up that is.

Mean while Moonlit Masquerade very much likes the idea of blooming and so far has refused to take a day off.

Blooming today and giving out numbers

Yesterday one bloom.  Today there are three to choose from.  Moonlit Masquerade bloomed again.  And a simple orange spidery flower that has no name.  And this seedling bloomed too.  It is one of five plants from a cross of (Little Rainbow x Talon) x Stella’s Ruffled Fingers.  It is the first of those plants to bloom and its siblings are not far behind.  Of all of them it resembles Stella’s Ruffled Fingers the most.  Its bloom is a creamy yellow, while Stella’s Ruffled Fingers is a pink.   Today this plant will get a number, 13-0614-001.  As each of the siblings bloom they to will get a number.  During the course of the bloom season they will be crossed with each other.  The hope is they will pass on the quality that makes Stella’s Ruffled Fingers so popular here.  The ability to rebloom all summer long.

Seed planting time

Bloom may have started, right now the next thing to get done is seed planting.   This year’s seed bed is just about ready.  I made a slight adjustment to the bed size and put in pavers for the pathways.  The seed list has been sorted so the most desired crosses will get planted.  There is room for about 600 seeds.   Now all that remains is to pull the seeds out of storage and plant them into rows.  This probably won’t be the last year they are planted in June.  It is a touch later than I like.  I aim to plant in May and some years it actually happens.  Last year’s seedlings are pushing up plenty of bloom scapes so I am not too worried.

Mean while more and more plants are getting ready to bloom.  This one looks like it is ready for the morning.

through the darkness and the rain

hmmm could I be making the transition over to mystery novels ?  Started to write this last night, just barely started that is.  Lightning started flashing immediately and since the battery is suffering from assault ( constant re-charging ) and (no longer is a ) battery, the option of an un-plugged quick post was not there.   So here I am this morning.  The storm has wound down to a drizzle.  And it is now official.  Bloom season has started here in this garden.  Glimpses of the neighborhood Stella de Oro not withstanding we have an actual bloom here in the garden.  Moonlit Masquerade, the same bud compared to the lilies close to a week ago has come around to being a bud no more.  A blossom this one is.  Not the most graceful of blossoms on this drizzly morning.  Still the mystery is solved, bloom season is started now !  And Moonlit Masquerade done it.  The butler is officially off the suspect list.  hmmm he still looks suspicious……

 

And this is how Moonlit Masquerade finished the day, still not quite open all the way.