Okay. Time to stop being intimidated by all these knowledgeable people with multitudes of gorgeous daylilies (Hi, y'all! ) and ask some questions.

I grew some daylilies from seed. These are crosses that Cindy offered last year, for postage. I managed to keep track of who is who, which, people! for me is a lot. I intend to try to continue keeping track.

From the seeds I planted I ended up with 23 plants. It's probably a good thing that's all I got this far with because space is getting to be at a premium here. I'm dividing these into two groups and planting them in two areas that are not quite adjacent to each other, in one of my new beds, in full sun. I prepped one of the areas this morning and will do the other either late afternoon or tomorrow.

The seedlings are pretty small still but I feel they will all benefit from root-growth room. I understand I won't expect any blossoms until next year.

Soil is amended with alfalfa pellets and steer manure. I may be planting them a bit closer together than would be best but I hope that by the time they need more room, they'll be easier to keep track of (because bigger!) and I'll have an idea where to move them to. For now, I consider these to be in a nursery bed, sort of, while they finish growing up. As well, by the end of this season, the annuals planted around them will come to their end so expanding the dl areas will become easier if need be.

Right now the seedlings are planted in small pots, some four inch and some a bit larger. Some had more developed roots than others did when I potted them up but they all look okay.



First is just the tray, sitting on the area I prepped this morning. Second photo is showing them in more context -- that whole bed is new this year, was created by lasagna method on grass. I still have to dig out grass roots for each section I plant in but it's working so far.

Any glaring things I should be doing differently here? Thanks for any suggestions or comments!

Your seedlings all look fine except for one (second from the top on the far right) looks a little smaller. I wouldn't hesitate to plant the rest but if it were me, I might baby that one a bit more but I'm kind of a plant hoarder so...

I would also try to minimally disturb the roots when you were transplanting them even if that meant leaving a bunch of media attached.

I agree, and dont plant too low, remember they will pull down some.

Thanks both! @JWWC, that one that looks so small -- it's funny, I can't remember which now but as I potted them up I noticed that above ground size and root development were not at all correlated one to one. Some of the smaller ones had bigger roots and vice versa!

I appreciate the tip not to plant too deep, also. (I guess that's what you mean, @gardenglory, by too low?)

As for babying and stuff, honestly, that is my instinct but at this stage of things I am needing to make a degree of progress and having to say in some cases, "Yer on yer own, plant."

I'm working on several new beds at once, and trying to get all to a stage of relative completion soon -- for one thing there is a neighborhood garden tour on June 6 -- they're going to get a work in progress no matter what but, you know, it would be nice to have most things in place, in the ground.

How exciting Kyla! They look good to me! I know for sure that they will love the alfalfa pellets and a little growing room, so you are off to a great start! Can't wait to see what you get when they bloom!

Thanks, @Natalie. I prepped the area for the second tray yesterday and will plant those today.

I think I will list the parents in this thread too because that will help me keep track of them! I looked them up before planting to try to assess how tall different ones will be, though it didn't make any difference in how I located them after all. And I am not sure if that is much of an indicator anyway. Have to wait and see.

I have numbers written on wooden tags in pencil, hoping pencil will not fade as quickly as a pen would but I need a better tagging method. They're too small to use metal labels. Any suggestions?

Kyla - Welcome to ATP!

Your new garden bed looks awesome! You are off to a very good start. I also got some free seeds from Cindy, as well as bought some from her on the Lily Auction. The freebie seeds you got may be similar or the same as I got. If so, it will be fun to compare the flowers when they bloom. Since you live in a colder winter zone, it might take 2 years for yours to bloom, so don't be discouraged if they don't bloom in 1 year. You will be delighted when they do!

As far as markers for you seedlings, I use a letter and number system with a cross-reference list that I keep on my computer AND in a notebook. (We all know about computer crashes!) I do hybridizing too, so I keep all that together in one notebook. I tried permanent marker or pencil the first couple of years, but quickly discovered that both will completely fade out. So ... what I have been using as a marker has worked out VERY well for me and has lasted 2 years so far with very little fading. I use clear plastic disposable knives and Puffy Paint to write the letter/number code on them. Let it dry over-night and then just stick them in the ground next to each plant when they are dry. The knives and Puffy Paint I buy at Walmart for very cheap. I discovered that using dark colored Puffy Paint is easier to see than the pastel colors. I put the writing end down into the ground and let the handle of the knife stick up. Being clear, they are hardly noticeable. The handles sticking up keeps my dog from going into the garden bed since she doesn't like stepping on them! LOL!

Also some folks use garden bed mapping where you make a map/drawing of your garden and mark where each plant is. That works if you can really space your plants out and none die.

Here is what I am talking about.

Another inexpensive way to Mark plants is aluminum soda cans. Cut them flat then into section and use the plain inside surface ( I fold them to make them stronger). Use a pen to engrave the name into them, never fades. Can be used as an underground back up marker too. And you can recycle the aluminum when done with the tags

Thanks for the welcome, @beckygardener Becky -- I'm not totally new to ATP, been here since last August (and was on Dave's Garden a while ago, for a while... ) Anyway, always nice to be welcomed.

Thanks for the clear plastic knife idea, that ought to work nicely! And @Lilydaydreamer Lisa, thanks for the can idea, but I don't have aluminum cans around, and also, would likely cut myself on those sharp edges. I may try it though as that engraving sounds quite permanent. I could invest in a six pack of something....

Ah, just to give y'all an idea of context, I have been starting new beds in what was a lawn, since last summer. Here's the view from the back porch just now, with those two small daylily-start areas on the far right of the larger bed, from this angle:


I bought some unnamed dls in a group last year from bluegrassmom (her "rainbow garden" offering), for another bed on the side (not shown in that photo) and just now found one of them has a bloom scape, my first!


Of course I have no idea what that is, or any of them, but it will be pretty I'm sure.

Kyla, if it was me, I'd find a different thing to use for the tags. The pen/pencil may not fade, but the wood will probably rot from the water. I use vinyl miniblind slats, cut into the shape of a tag, and write on them with pencil. They have never faded. I used popsicle sticks one year, and the wood rotted below the dirt line. These were on non-daylily seeds, so no big deal, but it was a good lesson learned!

Your gardens are very nice!

Thanks, yes, you are right, the wood is a temporarly labeling system only! I intend to get some of those nice metal labels but for teeny things like these dl seedlings I need something smaller. I already have a paint pen -- several -- that I use on winter sowing jugs and which does NOT fade at all, that I bet will work on those plastic knives just fine.

Shoot, I might just cut up some of the used WS jugs and use those.... they won't look very tidy though.

I would never use purchased metal labels for my seedlings, I go with "almost free" or recycled things for the seedlings! And yes, smaller is better, because it looks better! Your idea of using the jugs is a good one!

I wouldn't get the metal ones for your seedlings. If you had some registered ones, the metal ones are great.
You can't beat a couple hundred tags for a couple bucks.
Mini blinds by the thousands.

No no no! The metal tags are for other stuff going on, here and there. Not for seedlings.

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'm sure at one time or another I will use all of them.

So here's the list of parent plants. I wintersowed the seeds and while it was successful enough I didn't get full germination. (Not set up to do any other method however!)

I divided the plants into two groups mainly because there was room for about half of them on one tray. So they ended up in two adjacent areas. Nothing to do with characteristics of parent plants went into any decisions, cause I don't know! These are all from the dip group (think I recall they were offered as dips or tets.) I'm noting how many seedlings of each made it this far in parentheses.

So, Area 1:
1. Buddha X Skinwalker (one)
2. Renaissance Maiden X Lavender Curls (two)
3. Starsearch X Sexy Sally (three)
4. Lighthouse Peach Jewel X Magic of Oz (two)
5, (Angel's Flight X Lilting Bell) X Royal Jester (two)
6. Galaxy Explosion X Firestorm (two)

Area 2:
7. Trahlyta X Luscious Lollipop (three)
8. Dallas Star X Fireworks Display (one)
9. Phenomenal Phoenix X Rebekah's Gothic Spider (three)
10. Gudrid X Octarine (one)
11. Flutterbye X Lavender Curls (three)

There was a twelfth that didn't germinate (and I would have to look for its parents' names, don't have that to hand here). I sowed four seeds of each and have seeds left over for most. I have the seeds in their original wrap in a plastic box, in the refrigerator. Anyone have a sense of how long they would be viable stored that way?

Your beds look awesome Kyla!!!

I probably will be giving away free seeds again sometime in June. Still have a lot left.

Cindy! Ack! More seeds!

*covers eyes so as not to see tempting seed message*



Thank you.

Plastic knives for plant markers???? BRILLIANT!!! great idea.

Just be aware that plastic knives and mini blinds often get rearranged or stolen completely by crows, squirrels, and other wild critters. I have recently gone to the metal name tags, and have only had one completely pulled out of the ground so far. I still use lots of the discarded mini blind slats, and a number 2 lead pencil to write on them with, but I plan to buy more of the metal name tags. I am sure I will always have lots of the mini blind labels in the garden, but the main plants will one day have all metal name tags that will stay where I put them.

Kyla - Your seedlings have parents similar to what I got from Cindy but not the exact same cross. I think Cindy sent me crosses that had at least one parent that was NOT a dormant plant since I live in the south where we don't get very cold winters. Some of my seedlings from her have already bloomed. One of my favorites is Cherry Custard Cheesecake x Palace Garden Beauty. Lots of blooms, nice branching, and very fertile both pod & pollen! Can't ask for a better seedling!

There is a monthly seedling thread here on this forum. May Seedling Blooms thread:
The thread "May Seedling Blooms" in Daylilies forum

The seedling bloom thread is a fun thread to see what many gardeners are getting from their daylily crosses!