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June 16, 2024
“In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.”
– John Steinbeck, 1902-1968, American author, In the Winter of Our Discontent (1961)
A May to Remember
What a delight the past month has been here in Ann Arbor! Lots of sunny days with enough rain to keep the gardens green and growing, cool nights and pleasant days, perfect weather, in short, for being outdoors planting, weeding, pruning, staking…as well as enjoying the scents and beauty of the iris, peonies, lilacs and early roses! It has been, as always, a delight to see the sprouts of dahlias come poking above ground, spreading their eager leaves to take in the sunshine, and to anticipate the blossoms that will come later in the summer. While some bulbs like rain lilies and surprise lilies may not yet have made an appearance, we hope your garden is off to a great start as well! If you’ve encountered difficulties, do let us know so we can try to discern what may have gone wrong.
Don’t Miss Our 2024 Summer Daylily Bonanza!
As our long-time customers know, we usually offer a rotating selection of our iris and daylilies,
meaning there could be a wait of several years before a particular variety is available again. But since we’ll be digging many of our daylilies and iris this year to move them to our new growing fields, we’ve decided to offer far more varieties for spring and summer than we typically do, making this a great year to look for your favorites, or ones whose colors you simply love, when you can see so many of them at once to compare and contrast. They are winter-hardy, not needing to be dug and carried over winter, and have long been treasured by gardeners for their adaptability and longevity – most of the “ditch dayliles” we see today are descendents of ones that early settlers brought with them in their journey to provide low-maintenance beauty for their new homesteads. (H. fulva can, in fact, be invasive, which is why we don’t offer it in its original prolific/weedy form.) Daylilies and iris are also favorite pass-along plants since they form clumps over time which are easy to divide and share with friends. So seize the moment - our huge project is your splendid opportunity!
Breaking News for Hortus Bulborum Fans…
We’re happy to say that the Hortus (institutional Dutch preserver of heirloom bulbs) let us know that they’ll be able to share five rare tulips with us for fall shipping! They include
spritely Duc van Tol ‘Red and White’, 1750
splendid, uniquely-colored ‘Je Maintiendrai’, 1863
silky, deep purple ‘Klopstock’, 1863
warm and sunny ‘Pluvia D’Oro’, 1925, and
the very rare flamed tulip ‘Rubens’, 1903.
We’ve just posted them to our website along with 12 others that are back in stock. Hortus bulbs always have limited quantities and tend to sell out early, so order soon to avoid disappointment!
“The Perils of Proper Peony Identification”
Because of our mission to preserve historic varieties, we were happy to see an article of this name by Nate Bremer, the current president of the American Peony Society. As he explains, “there are literally thousands of registered and historic cultivars (plus a multitude of unregistered seedlings” at the same time that peony-growers at every level are hoping to identify varieties that have been passed along by friends or family or discovered in a newly-acquired garden. The challenges, he says, are that “Many peonies look very much alike, making identification difficult for even an expert who has experience with numerous cultivars. Simple photos – often shared on social media – are not nearly enough to identify most cultivars and more in-depth research will likely be necessary to accurately identify a ‘no name’ cultivar,” including bloom time, fragrance, details of the structure of stamens, pistils, leaves and stems, along with how the plant emerges and blossoms open.
In addition, differences in image quality and color representation along with the variables introduced by growing conditions of soil type and climate make identification from a photograph “nearly impossible”, Bremer says, and so the APS social media administrators frequently respond to identification requests “with answers like: ‘There are thousands of registered peonies, many of which look similar or nearly identical…APS recommends avoidance of assigning a name that could be incorrect and cause issues in coming years” and enjoying the plant for its beauty. Because peonies can live for so long and are likely to be divided and shared, “there is a good chance that a misidentified peony may end up in commerce at some time in the future, only to cause further problems for those who purchase it.”
APS has commercial members (including Old House Gardens) who advance their efforts by striving to provide true-to-name cultivars and to correct any mix-ups that may sometimes occur. The photos above, for example, show how similar ‘Festiva Maxima’ (on the right) and ‘Frances Willard’ (on the left) can appear. Long-time customers may have noticed that we don't offer them both for sale in the same year. Doing this with varieties that are frequently mistaken for one another is one of the ways that we practice good variety-name "hygiene", keeping the right name associated with the right variety, and you can do your part by keeping careful records and passing along accurate information with any divisions that you share!
A Few Bulb Tips for June
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Dead-Heading Iris and Peonies – Cutting faded blooms redirects your plants’ energy from seed-making to future growth and bloom. Cut down iris bloom-stalks (not individual leaves) as close as possible to the rhizome, but cut back peony bloom-stalks no more than is needed to make the plant look good.
Dividing Daffodils – When daffodils get overcrowded, they bloom less. The best time to dig and divide them is when their foliage yellows or shortly afterward. You can replant them immediately or store until fall.
Multiplying Your Rarest Tulips – In most gardens, the best way to give your rarest tulips the dry summer rest they need is to dig them up after the foliage yellows and store them in a dry, well-ventilated place – maybe hanging in mesh bags from the rafters in your basement or garage. Then put a note on your calendar so you don’t forget to replant them in the fall!
Staking Dahlias – For a bushier plant, pinch out the center shoot after three or four sets of leaves develop. Although dahlias grow upright and may look like they don’t need support, they do. Learn more.
Controlling Red Lily Leaf Beetle – The earlier you find and destroy these pests – which are currently expanding beyond New England and into Michigan – the better. Learn more.
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