Dressed For Success!

Well, you have all patiently commiserated with my 2005 tales of lily woes. Killing frosts and bunnies wiped out 75 % of the new lilies I had planted. Most were just leafless stalks or a wlted mess after the onslaught of an Iowa spring.

THIS YEAR I am determined to see my lilies bloom. Liberal application of Plantskydd has driven the bunnies off & I found a way to foil the frost fairy. Put little paper lunch bag hats on all the emerging plants! (99 cents for 50) I held each one down with a nail or well placed stick jammed thru the bag and into the ground. I tore bags & "tented" across the shorter clumps.

Unlike the sheets & towels that Walker happily removed from the flowerbeds last year, these babies protected my lilies for 3 days & nights of late April frost.

YES! Remove the bags to find happy lilies in the sun. I WILL have blooms this year! (I'm re-using all the bags to pack iris roots for the Iowa Round Up and shipping to friends. The paper bags seperate the roots & it's easy to write name & details on them.

Wanda,
Your baby lilies absolutely glow with happiness. You are a very good mommy. :-)
PS: Ain't Plantskydd grand??

Wanda, I'm so happy your family is on the survivors list! Way to go, now will we see some of those soon to be luscious blooms at the show in June?

I love Plant Skydd.....................I have chased those furry long eared hopping reproduction machines out of my lily beds numerous times this spring, but they haven't touched any of the lilies! YEA!!!!!!!! And those bounding eating machines who have been taking lessons on reproduction from the afore mentioned have stayed away also!

So how is Walker the Wonder Dog? Has he fully recovered and on the happy road to garden mayhem?

I like the idea of putting the iris in a bag for the plant swap. I was planning to use nursery pots and have them potted up. Do you let the roots dry a few days beforehand? I'm also assuming that you cut the top growth back by half. This is going to be my first plant swap, so anything you can suggest to make life easier would be helpful.

I cut back the iris blades to 4-5 inches or so and trim the longer roots. I wash them, dip them in a 10% bleach solution, rinse & dry a day or so in the sun. The paper bags give more room for name , type & color. And you can throw ALOT of them in a box for traveling.

I use the same method for shipping. Keeps them dry & seperated.

Wanda, invest -and I mean invest - in Martagons. They don't mind quite a bit of frost.
inanda who loves your hats.

How clever is that! Great and very practical idea!! Hope you get lots of beauties this year!!

LOL Wanda! Good idea! For some reason your photo reminded me of the comedian from the 70's? The one who would come out with a paper bag on his head. What was his name? "The Unknown Comedian? You look like you have a yard full of lilies trying to hide their identities.

Susan.

LOL Lilies trying to hide identitites? No, that's when DD Liz' puppy Norman pulls out garden stakes that impede his run thru the beds chasing bunnies. Walker #2. How can God be so cruel? Ha Ha

I HAVE planted a handful of species including Martagons. Even THEY have gotten past the bunny/frost double whammy in my beds this year! YES!

And Walker is doing just fine. Obnoxious as ever....

Congrats Wanda! And good thinking. I keep envisioning you like Scarlet O'Hara standing in the garden saying, "as God is my witness, I'll never be without lilies again" lol.

LOL I can see that......

As long as Plantskydd and paper bags work. I'm not too high tech.

We are expecting snow and minus temps for the next couple of days. I'm outside working with my down jacket !@#$%ity.

Poor lilies. At least the marties will be OK.
G

Wanda, thanks for sharing that idea. I lost quite a few of my lilies this year, when we got a hard frost last Sat night. They are spread out too much to cover with blankets. So next year I know what to do. Polly

Like I said, good old Walker the Wonderdog had WAYYYY too much fun with the sheets last year. And this method does not mash any lilies. I stretched cut open bags over shorter groups. And my lilies look GREAT today!

I wish you had posted the thread b4 the frost...I ran out of sheets......100 LA Lilys got frostbit...darn

Happened to me last year--wilted all my orientals, Orienpets,LAs and trumpets to the ground. Froze the buds on the few asiatics that escaped the bunnies. Not a happy lily year for me.

For an investment of 99 cents for 100 bags & 99 worth of nails to hold down the bags on the shorter ones. And I reycyled the bags to pack iris for shipping and the Iowa Round Up.

Are you coming to the Iowa Round Up? Saturday in Des Moines. HUNDREDS of free plants in the plant swap, great food & 70-90 DGers IN PERSON! Definitely worth the drive...

Sorry...I would have liked to....but I am on call...and have to work. Do you have lots of Iris? I like alternating Iris with Lilys...it keeps them seperate...so I can locate them.

Oh Wanda...b4 I forget....Do you have any tricks for hail? I remember a couple years ago....when hail sliced the garden plants to ribbons?

menkids, sorry to hear about your LA's. How sad! Do you think any of them will bloom?

Susan

Very clever, Wanda.
Wonder if you could raise sandwiches this way???

Funny!!

Wanda, did you take the bags off each night or leave them on?

I left the bags on for 2 nights, 3 days until danger was past. Since they were paper, rain could get thru but protected from cold.

Hail tricks? Stand under a reallly strong umbrella? Hail is nasty, no doubt.

Do I have iris? That's funny. 327 Dwarfs, Intermediates, Border Bearded, Tall Bearded. 25 dwarfs blooming right now plus 3 Intermediates with lots more budding up. Iowa clay loves iris.

Sea Monster SDB.

Please tell me you have this planted by Nessie?

No. It was in place 2 years before Nessie. hmmm. You are right though, I could move it over there....

Ready for this weekend to start? Got everything ready to pack the car.... Iowa Round Up--here I come!

Sea Monster is great. How in the world do you have room for all those dwarfs? I seem to find it hard to find places for them. What's your secret?

susan

I tore more grass off and added another front row all the way around the yard! My flowers are all planted in clumps with room to grow. But you know how it is with the dearfs--I'll probably have to divide them later this year. I like the unusal colors plus the early blooming period.

I also have small daylilies & assorted perennials in the front rows. Just love them dwarfs! I have Intermediates & Minature Tall Berdeds scattered in second rows. And LOTS of tall beardeds.


This Mister Roberts clump was only 3 roots last year & is covered with blooms this year. BIG blooms on a dwarf plant.