Notable Newbies for 2009

I had a few new daylilies bloom in my gardens this season that arent the newest or most expensive, but they are notable. Of the 200+ that I now grow, there is something to say about each and every one of them - which is why I add them to my collection. All of my daylilies are considered "specimen plantings" because they each serve a purpose and should be studied for their individual merit.



These selections below were highly anticipated and lived up to the hype they came with. So, although these arent necessarily my favorite daylilies of 2009, or my favorite photos of daylilies taken in 2009, I felt it important to note some in hopes that you may want to add them to your collection, too.



First, there is H. 'Ron Valente.' If you can get your hands on a piece of this one, you should do so as quick as possible. I have never seen anything like it, as the person who sold it to me advised me as I wrote a check too big to tell my husband about. The color cannot be described. The eye pattern is like liquid, dripping out onto the petals and sepals. The coloring of the eye and its drippy-ness varied from bloom to bloom. It is a big, bright, crayola-purple with no hint of red or mud in it at all.



H. 'Morningcloud Marmalade' is an introduction from Michigan's own Greg Schindler - hybridizer of my most favorite H. 'Matchless Fire.' I often say that I enjoy daylilies with all five of my senses, and this is one that envokes my sense of hearing. Some daylilies scream for attention with the color or brazen form; this one does not. It softly called from the front of the border for a closer look at its blushed edges and whimiscal form. A prolific bloomer and moderate increaser, this one was clearly among the most photogenic daylilies in the yard.


H. 'Spacecoast Freaky Tiki' was a surprise gift from my daylily buddy Nicole. It is certainly freaky. Although each bloom was uniform and perfectly formed, the color variations were not- which made it most enjoyable. Sometimes the stippling was more intense, and sometimes the soothing sherbert base color dominated. It is short, small and will certainly be one I will use in an exhibition next year.

Oh my...H. 'Cameroons' was a knock out. Saturated color and tall sturdy scapes helped this one gain my attention this year. I also grow a clump of it at my mom's garden in southern Illinois and her specimen was even more stunning than mine. I suppose the heat in her area helped the colors more than my cool, wet summer mornings.

And finally, H. 'Belly Button Slipknots.' Anyone who knows me and my taste in daylilies knows that this is not my traditionally favored form. I like formal, round, thick substance and form in my daylilies. Despite all their favorable characteristics, spiders and unusual forms arent knows for their thick anything. I am now publicly admitting that unusual forms and spiders caught my fancy this year. I blame a visit to Dan Bachman's Valley of the Daylilies for this new facet of my taste. The below daylily is one of his introductions, bought in an auction in early 2008. Seeing thousands of these in his yard this summer filled my eyes with movement, grace and volume. I also grow his H. 'Jazz at the Wool Club' and I love it. Dan has a collection of daylilies that are named after Far Side cartoons, which cracks me up. Again, sometimes the name of the daylily solidifies its place in my small collection. This one was a humungous flower, on a fairly demure scape, but surprisingly, the scape held up and did not lean at all. Something about the russian sage in the background accented her just right. Dont tell anyone I like spiders and unusual forms. It will ruin my reputation. ;)

I already have 5 in mind for a post just like this one for 2010. I have turned over about 40% of my collection this year, so I have many new ones to look forward to for next summer.

***********************************************************************************

In case you are curious, here are places I find daylilies:

www.daylily.com - a daylily-specific auction site

www.brownsferrygardens.com - two nicer people could there be

www.gardeneureka.com - use this site if you know the specific daylily you are looking for

www.valleyofthedaylilies.com - Dan Bachman's place in southern Ohio. He has thousands...

Kiss The Rain

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow quipped, “The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.”

Well, duh.

The weight of such a statement was lost on me until this growing season. It rained. And rained. And rained. And rained some more. Plains flooded. States received record season rainfall within a days time. Mosquitoes flourished and I had to develop a "let it rain" attitude. Quickly.

Daylily season for me is what baseball season or hunting season is to others. My season (remember, I garden in Michigan) starts for me when the ground peeks out from under the snow about April, when I start to clear away winter debris, and if I can get them out of the frozen ground, repair and replace plant identification tags. From inside, I stare at the barren beds dreaming of what is to come when the temperatures get above freezing. During the winter months, I spend an inordinate amount of time planning what activities I will add to my gardening calendar alongside the time I need to spend in my own gardens. Needless to say, it is a short season for me so I take each day by the neck and squeeze gardening out of it until the sun sets.

The American Hemerocallis Society offers many meetings, symposiums and tours throughout the season, and many local groups also organize their own tours. There are about 60 accredited exhibition shows around the country and too many daylily plant sales to count. I made my way to many of them this year, and Longfellow's words haunted me every step of the way.

• 
  
  I experienced record rainfall in Florida while touring with the AHS National Convention in May. At some points, the rain water in the gardens was above my ankles.
  
  
  
• 
  
  It rained the night before the June exhibition show in Illinois.
  
  
  
• 
  
  It rained buckets while I toured Ohio gardens during Northern Mecca July 4th weekend.
  
  
  
• 
  
  It rained the first day of tours at the Region 2 Summer Meeting in Chicago.
  
  
  
• 
  
  It rained the afternoon of the July exhibition show in Michigan.
  
  
  
• 
  
  It rained on two days I was supposed to tour local gardens and cancelled my excursions.
  
  
  

this is my right foot splashing in a tour garden in Florida

It rained. A lot.

Rain upsets some folks. It messes up their hair, gets clothes wet and makes some people smell funny. It ruins flowers, cancels picnics and closes carnivals. Until this sweet summer season, the rain (excluding a soothing daytime thunderstorm) used to upset me. I embraced it this year. I even danced in it a time or two. It felt great. It reminded me of a time in college when a few roommates and I spontaneously ran outside during a warm Florida rainstorm and splashed around in the parking lot of our little run-down-should-not-have-been-allowed-for-human-occupation complex. (I think I still have those pics somewhere...)


My point is, when did we become too crotchety to enjoy a cleansing shower from a gray sky?

H. 'Sweet Tranquility'

This year, on more than one (or four) occasions, I chose to "do a Longfellow" and enjoy it. I should do that more often.

Frank Smith's H. 'Orchids and Gold'

I'm so predictable.

I'm so predictable.

At the 2008 Region 2 Summer Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, I was gifted two cultivars introduced by Wisconsin hybridizer Nate Bremer www.solarisfarms.com.) I did not grow any Bremer daylilies and had never seen any. I anxiously awaited their bloom this year.

I only had one question for myself - "Why didnt I know who Nate was and why didnt I grow more of his daylilies?"

The form and substance are near perfect according to my interpretation of the AHS Standards used for exhibitions. Color is saturated and clear. Branching is "as advertised" and amazing. Of the hundreds of daylilies blooming on Monday, these two took the prize for most interesting and most beautiful.

I must know more about these daylilies. So, where do I go? I visited the AHS Daylily Databse at http://www.daylilies.org/DaylilyDB/ to see more registration information.

This is where I realize I'm so totally predictable.

Information on FOURTH ROCK - (Bremer, 2004) height 28", bloom 4", season MLa, Dormant, Diploid, Fragrant, 28 buds, 3 branches, Red with maroon band above green throat. [(SILOAM GRACE STAMILE x BROOKWOOD MAMASAN) X (SILOAM PAUL WATTS x BROOKWOOD WOW)]

What all these brackets and such mean is this:
The first long parenthetical phrase tells me the pollen from SILOAM GRACE STAMILE was placed on the pistil of BROOKWOOD MAMASAN and resulted in some seeds being produced, which resulted in a daylily plant sprouting and producing a flower. The second parenthetical phrase tells me the same process was repeated for SILOAM PAUL WATTS and BROOKWOOD WOW. Those two resulting flowers were then crossed to make seeds which ultimately sprouted into a daylily that was registered with the American Hemerocallis Society as FOURTH ROCK.

BROOKWOOD WOW (seen above) is my all time, hands down, no bones about it favorite daylily. Ever. I have won Best In Show twice with it (seen in the sidebar) and have shared it with everyone I know. It is stunning. My fellow club members say I can no longer bring it to the exhibition show, because it is so perfectly perfect every time. Not surprised I love a "kid" from it. BROOKWOOD MAMASAN is my second favorite Brookwood daylily of all time. I won the Section with it at the 2009 Central Illinois Daylily Society exhibition show (seen below on the left.) Stunning. Also not surprised this one is in the lineage of another daylily I am beginning to love.

Predictable. I'm okay with that.