We bought our farm in May of 2017. There are three fields and this "lower" field had been designated as the daylily area. We began digging the first beds in August. These beds were tilled with a tiller-not a tractor. It was hard, sweaty work. My kiddos were such a help to me. These are the first two beds we finished.
By October we had five of these rows dug and began planting daylilies. They grew wonderfully. We had access to a creek nearby and we were able to water them well.
You might need to be a plant geek to understand my excitement about the future of these plants. I could picture them blooming the next year. Four foot wide swaths of color running down the field in these flowing beds.
Fast forward a couple of months. My plants were tucked away for the winter.
By the end of December it looked liked this. See those white things "floating" on the water? Those are the tags for all those daylilies. We were heartbroken. We had done our due diligence. We had looked at flood maps. Nothing indicated this was a flood zone. We convinced ourselves that this was a fluke. It had been unusually wet and this would never happen again. It would all be ok.
In February it looked like this:
Not quite as much water in this picture but it had been even higher than it was back in December. I knew it would be bad and I had gone out to see what I could do to save my plants. The water is receding and you can see the white labels sticking up off to the right. I spent the day trying to dig plants in this mess. I had to decide which plants were most important to me. They were thrown into these crates and hurriedly planted.
Our entire plan for the farm had to change. All the plants would be moved to the middle field and new beds would have to be planned and dug. It was such a big disappointment but we are pushing ahead. I have to believe that it will all be for the best and someday the gardens will be fabulous.