This is a first! I've never seen anything like this on any of my daylilies. This is what I would call an instant re-bloom scape that has obvious buds on it, but it also has these growths? What in the heck is this growing on the scape? It does not appear to be leaves. Nor blooms. Anyone have any idea?



@admmad , @char , @sooby , and others - Perhaps one of you know????

Here's the same photo only not cropped and enlarged. Might be easier to discern what this growth is:

It looks like it is going to be a flower but I'm sure not a normal flower.

Could be a bud builder.

Is there any other type of plant that has leaves like daylilies? I am wondering if it is something else growing as a fan right next to EEE14. It is a separate fan that looks like it is growing in the EEE14 clump.:

This is what my EEE14 blooming daylily looks like:

Could it be some sort of wild (and perhaps invasive) crinum lily? I am saying that because the leaves on some crinums might look like daylily leaves. The daylilies in the front border are planted in an area that was refilled with sandy dirt after we had our septic drain field redone about 2 years ago. I have been finding these little bulbs growing in that area. I have no idea what they are, but they are definitely bulbs. I have been doing a search, but can't find anything that looks like the little tubular flowers that I am seeing on that stalk. I don't believe it is a daylily at all, but something else growing in with my daylilies in that border. What though, I am not sure ....

It could be daylily flowers that have gone wrong. They form what looks like three tubes. I think I have a picture in my laptop somewhere and will try and find it tomorrow.

Sue - I would definitely like to see your photos!!! Thanks! What would cause such a deformed scape?

I couldn't stand it! I went outside in the dark and drizzling rain and tried to pull up the plant. It would not come up out of the ground. Instead I broke off the leaves and scape (appearing to be attached to those fan leaves). Here are some more photos. Whether or not the leaves are actually part of this scape, I don't know. The scape was indeed coming out from those leaves. The leaves have what looks like rust (no surprise there!), so the leaves are definitely daylily leaves. The scape though I am not sure about. I used a handheld garden fork to try to dig up a possible bulb, but nothing but roots. Perhaps the bulb is further down under the ground? Or perhaps it is actually a deformed daylily plant scape. (I have my doubts!)

Here is the plant before I tried to pull it up. The base of the scape is coming from the leaves where the red arrow is pointing:


Here it is AFTER I removed the scape and leaves. Everything was torn at the base of each piece.:


And here is a close-up of the buds:


Too weird!!! If this is a daylily scape, how on earth does this happen? I did some googling and have not been able to find anything about such a deformity or any crinums that might look like this. Could this be another imported plant from another country or something in my soil or fertilizer causing this if it is actually a daylily? The original scape had perfect blooms as you can see in the photo above.

Edited to add: I put the scape with the deformed buds in a vase of water to see if the blooms open up. If so, I will take photos of what those tubular blooms look like and post them on this thread.

I think I have stumbled upon what it might be. It is called, "Bud blasting" and I found a photo online of exactly what it looks like. Scroll down this article and you will see a photo that looks very similar to what my buds look like:

http://www.agirlandhergarden.c...

Now I have never heard of bud blasting before. Ok. I will admit I am a little worried now. The blog above mentions that the following year she had more doing that. YIKES!!! Anyone know anything about Bud Blasting?

This is about the only article I could find on Bud Blasting:
http://www.gardeningknowhow.co...

Sue - I looked closely at the buds and you are right ... each bud is developing 3 tubes as you described. Any idea what causes this?

I usually see these in my yard during the early season. Only 3 or 4 petals that separate too early when they're green,. I refer to them as spider fingers, I know what spider blooms and know there's a spider fingers daylily. but I don't mean that. I just abort them, then by mid season all the buds look normal.

beckygardener said:

Sue - I looked closely at the buds and you are right ... each bud is developing 3 tubes as you described. Any idea what causes this?

So far I haven't found my picture but I'll take another look later. I don't know what causes it, just that something presumably messes up the development of the bud. I don't see it very often and I don't worry about it. Your first link mentions tarnished plant bugs (which are not Lygus rugulipennis as suggested in the article, unless you're in Europe). Here's a link to pics and info for the more common North American version (Lygus lineolaris) in the AHS Daylily Dictionary:

http://www.daylilies.org/ahs_d...

I have suspected them myself for the "three tubes" effect. They inject a toxin into growing parts of plants. I don't see the large buds dry up and abort as pictured in the link, though. I have seen it with small buds. It's hard to say whether it's environmental (e.g. too dry, too hot) or pests like the aforementined TPBs or thrips or both. I have both critters here and, as I said, haven't noticed buds that large die.

I wanted to post a photo of some kind of wild bulb that I find in my daylily border. This is what I was thinking that weird plant growth was in my garden (not realizing it was actually a deformed daylily scape). The leaves look very similar to daylily leaves. But the scape is much smaller and has little flowers on it! Whatever it is, it grows really fast! I find them from time to time in with my daylilies.



Any idea what it is?

Could it be a Galtonia? It's definitely looks like some sort of bulbous flowering plant........Maryl

Maryl - Thanks for the possible place to start looking to ID this plant. It sure looks like it could be from the Galtonia family. It is almost on the invasive side here in my front garden border. I've pulled up probably 25 of them over the past 3 months. Some have huge bulbs with lots of roots. I don't like them in with my daylilies because they are competing with my daylilies for water and fertilizer.

No matter how big the bulb, the scapes and blooms on this unknown plant are tiny. If it produced big white or pink blooms, I'd probably spare them and plant them in their own area, but these serve no purpose to even the wildlife that I can observe. So they get tossed into the woody lot next door.

You might want to check under invasive plants for Florida. There's one called a Grass Leaved Orchid that looks similar to your plant. I can't tell much from your pictures about how the flowers look. If you find out what it is I'd be interested in its name........Maryl

Thanks Maryl. Hetty IDed it for me and it IS an invasive from Asia:

THANK YOU, Hetty!

We were all stumped and as I feared, it is an import that spreads seeds by air. No wonder I have so many growing in my front garden bed!!! Yikes!!

Here is some interesting read about it:
http://www2.fiu.edu/~kopturs/p...

That certainly is interesting.

Yup. The Grass Leafed Orchid alright. You just don't think about Orchids being invasive, but in Florida plants/animals can grow amazingly well..........Good luck getting rid of it...........Maryl