There are a number of unusual happenings in my gardens, and I've always wondered what they could really be about. I'm not sure that they are due to any illnesses, bugs, neglect (no way! lol), or even full moons ... just a hodgepodge of "sightings" that keep tickling the back of my head.

I'd welcome anyone's input where they have seen something different going on that resembles something here, or found something that might explain it, or might even be able to offer tips on what to do about it (if anything at all ... some of these occurrences keep my gardening days quite interesting ... as you'll see, they each have earned garden names due to their unique behavior - I'm not sure I really want to disturb them if I don't need to).

Anyone else who's drawing a blank on something odd in their daylily garden that they can't automatically ascribe to illness, bugs, etc., is very welcome to post their own pics of mysteriously behaving plants!

Here's the first one; meet The Three Stigmas of Eve:



Eve has an advanced case of what I often find in my garden - split stigmas. Usually I see just one of the three tubes that make up the stigma split off from the other two. I normally pollinate any/all of the tubes, assuming that they each lead to a repository for one of the three lobes that turn into a unified pod. But, I've never really kept track of whether the pollination takes, whether any pod might result that matures with at least one or two healthy and fruitful lobes, or whether any buds just abort.

Anyone here ever met a friend of Eve's, and kept track closely enough to find out what was going on?

Victorian Vapors lives not far from Eve, and she is in a constant state of apparent dismay. She's been like this for three years now, and though I have righted her up and replanted her any number of times, she goes right back to the same pose, kicking her roots out and leaning back as if about to faint. Right now she is in the process of splitting into two separate fans, but is quite healthy as always ... and nothing I've tried has altered her inclination to "rest a bit."



Other than replanting, which clearly has never dissuaded her ... does anyone have any idea if I need to get her to an analyst's couch (maybe that is just what she wants, to recline in peace and get it all out?) or maybe a pinch of epsom smelling salts would be all she needs...

The Fainting Bush is one that I almost wish would stay that way - like a Salvador Dali painting on the ground. But, in a way I'm glad that it rights itself. This normally occurs right after a scape has finished with all its blooms. The fan just pancakes onto the ground, looks pathetic for a week or three, and then just as quickly pops right back up again with new foliage to boot. I can almost hear a whisper right after the scape finishes up blossoming: "My gosh that was exhausting!" ... and then "Timber!" as the fans collapse.



I know I am not alone in having fans that sometimes do this ... fess up, you guys, when does it happen in your garden? Any thoughts about why?

I'm going to post Godzilla and the Sumo Boys together here, as I think they may be the same thing just at different degrees of engagement.

Godzilla, on the left, is trying to climb out of the ground by using its roots like legs. If I don't figure him out soon, I fear I may find him on the roof some morning swatting at the birds that like to roost there. And Sumo Boys, on the right, may just be letting me know that it is time to divide and separate, but they appear to be so more at peace than their garden name implies.

What do you think, divide, replant? Relocate all related fans together and just try to put the crowns down lower? With the Godzilla group, the main crown is already well under the soil, so maybe its time to untangle the others and get them to tread-ground at their own levels. With the Sumo Boys, well, I see this so often with otherwise healthy and happy daylily fans that I'm not sure I should disturb their embrace.

I see that first problem several times each year but not very often on the same flower, I just think all blooms have a bad hair day, I don't think you will ever get seed from a bloom with that problem.

The second and last problem may be related, looks like they are pushing them selves out of the ground, sometimes I see that in pots as the plant grows the roots push it up.

The third thing we call summer dormancy, which is common in this area after bloom and the temps start to climb.

chalyse said:
Here's the first one; meet The Three Stigmas of Eve:

Eve has an advanced case of what I often find in my garden - split stigmas. Usually I see just one of the three tubes that make up the stigma split off from the other two. I normally pollinate any/all of the tubes, assuming that they each lead to a repository for one of the three lobes that turn into a unified pod. But, I've never really kept track of whether the pollination takes, whether any pod might result that matures with at least one or two healthy and fruitful lobes, or whether any buds just abort.

Anyone here ever met a friend of Eve's, and kept track closely enough to find out what was going on?

With all the daylilies we have here I see this often and it is just a sporadic thing on which cultivar will have them. It doesn't happen on the same ones each year so like Fred said it's just having a bad hair day I used to pollinate these but have found they don't set pods so I stopped. You may actually get one to set but I just don't bother with it.

Your root issue seems like what Fred said also. I usually just cover them up with soil but if the main fans are already well covered then you will be possibly putting them too deep. Depending on what type soil you have or if you add admendments they will decompose with time and settle down and be more compacted, this could cause the roots to be exposed as well
A lot of times I will have 4 or 5 smaller fans growing in the middle and their roots growing up and over the bigger roots (I suppose trying to get to the soil) and if I don't divide them those fans sometimes will suffer and stay small, if I cover them then the rest of the plant is too deep. I just wait until the end of our season and divide and replant them.

Any reasons for the floppy or collapsing fan?

I haven't seen anything like the exposed roots except when a sprinkler has gone berserk and washed the soil away! Questions I would have are how deep were they planted in the first place (depth of top of hard part of crown), what are they growing in (native soil, amended soil, clay, loam, sand, mostly soilless media), how well aerated is it, and what is the irrigation system (type, frequency etc.). Diagnosing plant problems always sounds like one is being given the third degree but it's really going through a necessary process of elimination. Daylilies are supposed to pull themselves down rather than up!

I feel my daylily mind expanding more already ... thanks so much to you all for the information on what you have seen and experienced. I'm so grateful for the leading-questions asked, too, since I'm never sure what to include!

The first one, Three Stigmas of Eve, I can try to pollinate and document, and will be much more patient about it knowing that Michelle has also tried without result. Sometimes just knowing that something will likely be a rare result and only after many tries over time is encouraging enough to keep on, when time and attention allows.

The second, Victorian Vapors, is grown in my "blast furnace" bed that is mostly a mix of loamy and sandy - we are not many miles from the shore of a large estuary but in an area with lots of vegetative contributions to the soil. Unfortunately, the bed was left untended and dry for at least five years before we moved here. I've amended it over the last six years, but just with basic stuff from garden centers (some mulch the first year, potting soil with slow release fertilizer in it, and fresh topsoil). The first two years trying to bring the bed back to life were harsh, really 95% of what got planted could not hang on through an entire 100-degree summer, even though they were all purchased locally. By years three and four, after yearly amendments as previously, things started to take hold. I also had to put in "steps" to stop the angle of the bed from just draining any waterings right down to the front border. It gets minimal automated sprinkler action (2-3 times a week at night) but I try to keep it more deeply fed with additional hand watering 3-7 times a week depending on need because of temps.

The third one, The Fainting Bush, is then likely ( @Gleni ) a form of Summer Dormancy that Fred has noticed. I hadn't thought about that, but yes, it did occur just at that time. Most of the cultivars that I'd ascribed to having SD did not flop, they just stopped sending up scapes and started withering back in size (and maturity) as the summer heat wave dug in. But it sure would make sense to me, now, that it might cause some of them to lose turgidity in the foliage, too, and have nothing left to stabilize the fan until some recovery begins.

The fourth pair, Godzilla and Sumo Boys, are both in pots with Miracle Grow potting soil mixed with a bit of garden soil. So, it could very well be they are pushing roots against something below, and I like the ideas offered that I can explore further. They do seem, some of the fans, that they are having trouble agreeing on which will determine the depth of crowns. Godzilla has a large crown about 1 inch under soil, but the rest of that bunch are less than 1/2 inch and above-ground. Sumo Boys, I think, have crowns that are both about 3/4 inch down.

Again, thanks everyone, bunches, for your helpful thoughts and experiences!

I thought this seedling had a virus ten years ago but it kept right on blooming like this. If it was not so cranky about fertility I might have found out if it passes it on---weedy

I have two plants I've never taken a photo of that have a feathery little pair of extra petals that encase three anthers on three petals---on one of them the darn things are purple-one of these years I may get to cross them----Weedy

Oh how beautiful! The stripes are so symmetrical that I guess I'd have wondered whether it was genetics or illness, too. I'm so glad it blooms true ... do you know who the parent's of it were? And, have you tried both setting pod and using pollen, and on a variety of both dips and tets? I have found several in my garden that, though they are recorded as a dip or tet, are only setting pods or fertilizing the opposite ploidy, and one so far that sets and pollinates both ways.

Sure would be great to get some seedlings! And, *puts camera in your hand for the feathery photo shoot*

Parentage----I think---(Autumn Accent X August Flame) X Lord Camden, but I keep very poor records!!----Weedy Siblings---

Wow ... talk about color "popping" ... and I can see from the green of the foliage that it must be true-to-color. Wow.

A cool red!

Well here a strange oddity......


There is a double daylily (which looks like SARA GRIFFIN JACKSON daylily) growing out of the VIVA PINATA clump. How this happened I don't know. I will have to tag the fan so I will know which it is and come this fall when I dig this up I will see what the deal is because just looking at the fans above the soil they look like they are on the same clump growing from the same crown. The two named daylilies were not planted near each other last year nor would they have been divided at the same time (I do it alphabetically- planting and dividing).

Michele - Could a SARA GRIFFIN JACKSON hybrid seed have somehow gotten into the VIVA PINATA clump? Sometime the seeds produce plants/blooms that look very similar to the pod parent.

tink3472 said:Well here a strange oddity......


There is a double daylily (which looks like SARA GRIFFIN JACKSON daylily) growing out of the VIVA PINATA clump. How this happened I don't know. I will have to tag the fan so I will know which it is and come this fall when I dig this up I will see what the deal is because just looking at the fans above the soil they look like they are on the same clump growing from the same crown. The two named daylilies were not planted near each other last year nor would they have been divided at the same time (I do it alphabetically- planting and dividing).

Wow, that's VERY odd!!!

Tink, what a great mystery!