If your nights are still too cold for your Scarlet-sided pobblebonk I can only imagine how cold they'd feel here!

Just a single unchanging note, Glen, moderately drawn and at precise intervals. Well, that's what my uneducated ears tell me anyway, though they're far from the best ears!

I haven't heard it again since Sunday, but I'll try to make a recording when I do. I'm thinking of recording some of the wildlife sounds anyway, to share some of our endearing southern critters here. It can get noisy.

Rick, I think I'm still a kid.

Did some bulb relocation. Some cleaning up of the beds. And planted the fall bulb order. Except for some bonus bulbs. Thinking on what to do with them. Maybe give them to my mother and my MIL.

I just planted my last shipment of lilies. Ground is getting sort of 'crusty' up here but the sun thaws it out enough for planting. Almost done. Just need to plant in rows the extra bulbs I have (small ones) for next year identification and sorting.

Was quite excited to find seeds from Lemon Chiffon peony in the little organza bag I had put around the pond only to discover that Itoh's are sterile. Drat.

Lemon chiffon is not an ITOH. Your seed, if you mean on LC,is probably good.

It was an unusually sunny day for this time of year this far north but cool and perfect for working outdoors. I managed to get maybe 1/3 of my potted up lilies and a few other plants dug into a trench in the old vegetable garden for the winter. Hopefully I will be able to get the rest of them in tomorrow or at least all the trenches dug out and ready for the plants.
The best news of all though is my husband has been working non-stop on our septic system and replacing all the old pipes in the house since he has been home. As of 15 minutes ago everything is hooked up and working again. Calgon take me away!

Oooh septic system. Fun. In Wisconsin a home owner can not touch a septic system. Only a licensed plumber. And the DNR here is involved with them and do random checks, along with inspectors. But glad you are all up and working again. Starting to get cold out soon, don't want to use the outhouse lol

Congrats to you (and your husband) on the working septic field!!!

The moment you realize, when placing newly scaled bulb underneath books, you forgot to take last years scales of Summer Palace out of that same place. Ooops.

Last night there was a Frost advisory so I brought the few things i have in pots,intimate the garage. Going to get some old blankets to cover them up with tonight

Last Saturday was our North Star Lily Society bulb sale. I picked up Mahogany bells (a martagon type) and Emily (unregistered division VI). Planted them today and look: Mahogany Bells bulb scales are segmented!



And what are segmented scales, you ask?
http://garden.org/thread/view_...

I wonder what was Mother Nature's intention with segmenting scales like that.

I've never seen any suggestive literature. Scales are really modified leaves, botanically speaking. If ancient ancestors had both leaves and leaf stems, perhaps the segment division arose from their juncture. There are examples in nature where both leaf and leaf stem look exactly the same. Or, if ancient ancestors had pinnate leaves, perhaps that notch is vestigial from that juncture.

Today as the sun set, I dug for gold. Well not Au gold.... This is better!
(Besides, I can get real gold ore up at our cabin in northern Minnesota.)

A beautiful rotted stump in the yard. So nice and soft I could dig it out and crumble it in my hands. The stump had occupied the hole is in front of the bucket turned on its side. This compost material is quite unique, harboring specific fungi that boost the soil ecosystem in ways the some woodland plants must have to grow. I'll incorporate it into the soil where I grow Ll. lijiangense, papilliferum and distichum. I think these species will benefit the most.

Good enough to eat!

Isn't this guy cute?

A double decker.

As my kids would say, "Totes adorbs" lol

I just got home a few hours ago from our old home and was able to dig up some of my "can't bare to leave them" plants. I managed to get the rest of my lily bulbs planted before I left thanks to my DH helping to dig the trenches. Two of the plants I wrestled out of the ground to bring here are Nepeta Six Hills Giant and good old Nepeta Walkers Low. These are my reliable garden perennials grown not just for their beauty and reliability but because they protect my lilies from the deer. The Nepeta can get a bit aggressive in their growth, so I plant them either to the front or back and around the edges of large garden beds. I guess aggressive isn't quite the word I was looking for...the roots of Nepeta are so thick and dense that I don't want to try to have my lilies compete with them because I am pretty sure they wouldn't survive. The Nepeta is my best deer repellent plants I have ever grown though and I couldn't have the extensive gardens or plants that I have had over the years without them. I was getting a bit frantic about not having them transplanted yet here, imagine the tears if I lost all my precious lilies to the local deer population. I managed to NOT dig out any of the lilies in the old gardens though. I feel guilty about digging the rest of them up because they are such a feature of the gardens but have a worry that new owners might not care for them. It kills me to see years of labor plowed under or neglected by new owners. It never gets easier to accept. One good thing though is that until I actually get the house listed I can harvest all the plants I want from my own gardens...I think I have a two week window or so to change my mind about those left behind lilies.

You're doing the right thing freezengirl. Take everything you want with you. You never know what the new owners will do. They can buy new lilies if they really want to .

On old aunt of mine moved from her house. The new owners removed everything she has ever grown, then asked her if they should keep some weeds

freezengirl said: I feel guilty about digging the rest of them up because they are such a feature of the gardens but have a worry that new owners might not care for them.

It's going to break your heart more to see the neglect or paving over with grass by new owners, than it would feeling guilty about digging everything you want. Even if the new owners are gardeners, they will have their own vision of what their garden should be. It would be a rare circumstance that their ideas would jive with aspirations. I say get everything you want and give away anything you would like.

P.S. Remember your transplanted martagons may not emerge next year, but should return the following season.

I had wanted to dig these way earlier in the year, but never got to them until now. These are some of my martagon section crosses, Amelita x Super Tsing:
AxST-7, AxST-8



AxST-8 also has a side bulblet. This one probably has another year or two before it sends up its own stem.


AxST-3 is quite vigorous. Already a triple nose.