Dwarf reblooming daylilies have finished their first and main flush of flowers for the summer. Some of those stalks have developed seed pods and others have just dried up.
We want to encourage those daylilies to rebloom, which they will do, but cutting out the stems with seed pods will encourage them to develop new flowering stems sooner.
The flower stalks that have dried up can usually be pulled easily because they aren’t supporting anything. Those with seed pods need to be cut out, and I try to make the cut down into leaf clump as far as possible so I don’t leave a visible dead stump.
Water them well when you have finished and they will reward you with continuing to rebloom well into fall.
And speaking of watering, I had a person ask me last week why their bean blossoms were not setting beans.
Excessive heat often will delay that initial bean development, but this would be too late in the season for that problem to be happening.
When I asked about watering, she replied that she gave them a little water almost every day, and that revealed the problem.
Our top soil moisture for the most part is gone, so when you apply a small amount of water, that water does not penetrate the soil very far and quickly dissipates into the surrounding dry soil. A little water frequently inhibits root development because the roots are going to stay where there is moisture.
However, thorough, deep watering will encourage the roots to go looking for moisture as the surface soil becomes dry and subsequently develop a much more extensive and supporting root system for the plant.
I prefer to use a soaker hose because I can get the most efficient use of water by soaking the root zone instead of all the space between the rows.
To date in my garden this year, I have done this kind of watering two times. My garden is big and my vegetables are really producing so there’s evidence of the value of the deep, thorough water theory.
It is important to use our precious water as efficiently as possible to get the maximum benefit from it.