Indian (giver) Summer

It is Michigan's annual 3-day version of an Indian Summer.  There is hardly a trace of the new moon in the sky and I am quite a sight sitting on the back deck with a short sleeved shirt on and a thick blanket over my lap.

In the gardens it means warmer days with chilly overtones and jackets in the sunshine.  Where pinks, corals, butter golds and luscious purples once bloomed, there is a blanket of a different color palette...burgundys, burnt oranges and transparent golds.  It is sad and beautiful at the same time, and just enough premature hope for next season makes the sadness tolerable.  I can think of only a few other seasonal occurrences that make my heart glitter like the colors of a Michigan autumn...

The bonfires outside are probably my favorite part of fall.  I actually met someone who didnt like outdoor fires.  "They dont do anything for me," she said.  I wasnt quite sure how to respond to that and I'm sure the look on my face said so.  I could sit for hours under a blanket in my adirondack lounger and listen to the crackle of a fire. 

So, as I sat in front of one of these fall fires last night, I thought about my last post about the daylily show.

My mind then drifted to me pretending that there was a private daylily show held in my garden of only my flowers and I was the only judge.

A little background if you are interested: In an accredited AHS exhibition show, there are 10 main sections in which you can exhibit a daylily, and those sections are mostly organized by size or form. For discussions sake, the sections are:

• Extra large (blooms 7" or larger)
• large (blooms 4.5" up to 7")
• small (3" up to 4.5")
• miniature (up to 3")
• double
• spider
• unusual form
• youth
• popularity poll winners
• and seedlings.  

The sizes are determined by the person who hybridized and registered the flower with the AHS. Whatever that person lists as the size of the bloom on the flower determines what section in the show it will be placed. Clear as mud?

 

If I would have had this private show in my yard this year, based on performance, garden presence, and the standard scale of points for judging daylilies on scape, these are my winners:

H. 'Banana Cream Beauty' - extra large

H. 'Sabine Bauer' - large

H. 'Belly Button Slipknots' - spider

H. 'Siloam Grace Stamile' - miniature

 

For contrast, miniature H. ' Siloam Grace Stamile' shown sitting on a 10" bloom of H. 'Mojave Sunset'

H. 'Little Incident' - small

H. 'Fresh Start' - double

H. 'Wild and Wonderful' - unusual form

Best Seedling - love the pinched throat, pleated edges and long sepals.  It also bloomed at 40" with an average of 21 buds per scape.  This one received a red ribbon (second place) at the central Illinois daylily show.

I didnt have a Popularity Poll winner in my yard, although H. 'Primal Scream' was noted in the background of the photo of H. 'Wild and Wonderful' and it could have won if I was forced to enter it.  :)  I also do not have a youth winner, as you have to be under 18 years old to win that section and Im a couple of years past that...

If you would like to know more about exhibiting daylilies, more specifically the judging process, please download the handbook for judging daylilies here.

Is it neurotic that I'm already thinking about what to take to the shows next June and July?  Nevermind, dont answer that.