BETTER Flowers for MONARCHS and Pollinators! -- (Ditch Your Daylilies!) 

Thank you so much for watching! I appreciate the support!! 💓

I’m glad it might be helpful! Fall is a wonderful time to plant, in my experience! They’ll grow their roots over the winter and I find they cope with summer better than my spring plantings. But this year I was also pleasantly surprised at how well my spring plantings did! Congrats on removing the ivy - that is a feat to celebrate!! 🙌

Thank you so much, that’s very kind!!

That's a beautiful story and speaks very much to my own journey with gardening! I began with many donor plants from my parents gardens, and never even heard the notion of "native" or "nonnative". Decades later, when I was trying to learn more about how to attract birds to my garden, this was the first time I ever heard the idea of local ecosystems or native plants. And as I learned more I was totally blown away! My hope for this channel is to share what I've learned and offer some ideas for native plant alternatives. I think many people are still learning, just like me! And the only way for nurseries to start offering more native options is for the consumers to be aware of them and asking for them. So lovely that you, your family, and wildlife are all enjoying your nature preserve - that's the best possible outcome for a garden, in my estimation! 💓

🙌 Awesome, Happy spring! And good luck with your new garden!! Mine brings me a surprising amount of joy!

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I took a wild food class from a guy who wrote a book w/a chapter on daylilies and he said saying that these are mostly edible, but every once in a while there will be one with toxic ovaries and there's no way to predict it really. So the ovary should be discarded from the flower bud before eating and you should also avoid yellow flowered varieties from people's gardens which may be non-fulva spp. or hybrids with non-fulva spp.

@@Hayley-sl9lm So weird! Thank you for confirming! Maybe related to individual allergies / physiology or something!

@@gardenforbirdsEdit: I looked it up in John Kallas' book Wild Edibles volume 2 (the guy whose class I took) to clarify -- and he says that the problem is that with many cultivated daylilies, the exact species is not readily identifiable and some species of Hemerocallis, particularly the yellow-flowered altissima and lilioasphodelus , can contain the toxin hemerocallin in the roots. A study from China in 1989 looked at Hemerocallis citrina and two varieties of fulva and found no toxins in the roots of those species. So while this can't prove that all varieties of those two species of daylilies don't have the toxin in the root, it's consistent with the lack of reported poisonings of this species in North America. Livestock poisonings have been reported in China from animals eating the roots of H. thunbergii, esculenta, altissima, lilioasphodelus, and minor. So those are to be avoided. But the author couldn't find any documented poisonings from people eating tawny daylilies in the Americas so he advises just staying away from any yellow-flowered varieties from people's gardens. Also if you plan to eat the flower buds, remove the ovary as is done traditionally in China. His book has a whole chapter on how to use them so they can definitely be a legit foragable with the right know-how. I wanted to correct my earlier comment which I think was from him relating an anecdotal experience where someone had served daylily buds and gotten sick, that sometimes rarely the buds of an individual clone could cause stomach upset if the ovaries aren't removed.

@@Hayley-sl9lm Awesome! That’s a lot of good info!! 🤯

I was excited to learn about the native lilies - hadn’t seen those ones before!

Thank you for watching! 💓

I’m so glad it might be useful to you! I love seeing all the different pollinators, it’s so much fun and adds a dimension to the garden that really brings it to life!! Thank you for watching! 💓

Oh yikes, that sounds tough. I’m hoping to get a video out next week on prairie plants - I had a tough spot along my driveway too, compacted soil and bakes in full sun. What we call tough conditions, the prairie plants call dreamy! 😅 Mostly require full sun, but they might be a good option for you depending on your location!

Yes, fortunately most of the hybrid varieties don’t seem to invade so far. I’d still prefer to spend my money on some native milkweed, though! 💜

Thank you! And thank you for watching!

Yes! They’re quite beautiful and apparently beloved by Tiger Swallowtails!

Me either, I had actually assumed they were native until recently when I looked them up! Thank you for watching! 💓

When I googled this, I found the yummiest looking recipe for daylily tuber fritters! 😂

They tend to do that! 😅 Hope they come up easy for you!!

Love it! You’ve reminded me that my dad once fried some up for us in tempura batter! 🍽️

For some reason the whole comment didn’t show before! Prairie Moon Nursery gives the option to filter their plant selection by just those that tolerate walnut trees: www.prairiemoon.com/black-walnut-tolerant - I need to check if they list milkweed, but hopefully this can help give some ideas!

The smothering strategy might work for you - cover with a layer of cardboard and a heavy layer of mulch, a few inches thick. Then you should be able to plant directly into the bed if you part the mulch and slice the cardboard. I’ve not had much personal experience with roses but have heard they can be finicky. You could consider a robust alternative that you know will thrive - I’ve been loving my inkberry holly bushes (Ilex glabra), or something like black chokeberry which makes edible fruit and has really stunning fall color!

Daylilly tubers are easy to dig out. They're right below the surface. Just spend a hit digging and pulling out. They aren't too hard to get rid of.

@@cindystuder9090 Good to know - I was almost (almost...) wishing I had some to dig out, so I could speak from experience!

Thank you so much! I have a separate video to explain more about why burning bush can be problematic (and some different options to consider)! 💓 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sv2dtHwcq3E.htmlsi=Epa_UYp8zFin-LRf

How interesting, I wonder if the bulbs were mislabeled? I read the same about some cultures eating them after someone else reminded me they are edible - looks like there are some daylily bulb fritter recipes online!

I hear you, winter sowing can definitely be hit or miss! You could try direct sowing into the ground in the fall maybe. I’ve heard that can be a great time for seeds that need cold stratification, since everything else goes dormant and usually there’s a decent amount of rain (depending on where you are). I’m guessing only annuals might bloom this year if you direct sow now. I haven’t tried germinating milkweed myself yet, but have heard some species are harder to grow to maturity from seed. I’ve so far just bought small plants from Prairie Moon Nursery online, and those have done well for me! 💓

After making this video I started noticing quite a few Canada lilies in local neighbors’ gardens - they’re quite beautiful in person!

No arrogance here. I have both, and hundreds of native plants.

Someone else had the same problem with planting near a walnut tree - this site gives some suggestions for alternatives! www.prairiemoon.com/black-walnut-tolerant I read that the US has also used ditch lily for erosion control - wish they’d used native plants, it seems like quite a few invasive species have been introduced to North America for this cause! 😣

My mother always called them Tiger lilies when I was growing up , but when I looked it up for this episode I saw there’s a different lily that is technically the Tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium). Apparently each day lily flower only blooms for one day, which probably gave it its name! Tiger Lily is highly toxic, while daylily is generally considered edible - although I’m seeing that about 1 in 50 people do have “violent intestinal issues” to daylily! www.mainegardenideas.com/garden-thyme-blog/is-it-a-tiger-lily-or-an-orange-ditch-lily

Someone else mentioned the same - too funny! 🍽️

That one is Asclepias tuberosa, Asclepias is the genus of the milkweeds 😀 these ones are native to eastern and southwestern North America

I like the latin name, Ascelpias tuberorsa best instead of butterfly milkweed.

Cheers!

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Awesome to have you!