Catch 22

I swore I would not work putting pots in the Southwest garden again today.  I lost the bet with myself.  Because there was an area on the thriving side that looked sad and I was curious.  What did I find?  Lots of tree roots.  Even the daylily that I put in a half pot a couple months ago had roots growing up into the pot – but the daylily was doing better than without the pot.

Such findings make me feel a little nauseated, really.  I made an investment in daylilies after doing a pilot out there.  All my pilot plants did (and do) beautifully.  So, I make a bigger garden spot there.  The problem is that I think the scale is drawing the roots.  In the pilot, I hand watered.  But, now I have to mass water and fertilize.  The half pot I dug up had roots woven around the outside of the pot in its exact shape.  They dominate.

So, now I think I may have to do real garden pots (as opposed to nursery pots) out there, after all.  The reason is that if I cut big enough holes in the pot bottoms to protect from root rot, I get root invasion.  Catch 22.  The real (decorative plastic) pots that I used in the front garden have a second bottom piece to help with drainage – so I can have a large drainage hole and roots can’t really grow up into the daylily space.  Oh, I will work with the nursery pots for this year. But, I see the future.  I am feeling like a farmer now.

I also divided several more daylilies.  Little by little, the fall work is getting done.  I am really ready for a boring split shift where I walk the dogs downtown. I feel overwhelmed with daylilies.  Seriously.  Am I ready to be a farmer?

Anyway, enjoy my blooms from today.  I’ll worry about the tree roots.

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