A recent discussion on the AHS E-Mail Robin was of Virginia Peck, and her contributions to the daylily. Sydney Eddison's book, A Passion For Daylilies calls her "one of a kind." I think that phrase describes her daylilies to a tee. Eddison goes on to mention, "in almost every color category, there are distinguished Peck introductions." I agree wholeheartedly. Among the many, two Peck daylilies that I adore and would recommend are:
WIDE WIDE WORLD - a 7" raspberry fuchsia with a radiating peach throat. This one has wonderful foliage all year and multiplies fairly well. The branching for me is among the best in the garden and it is a beacon of "different" color with its tangerine-ish throat. (and remember, its 7"+)
and
AS WE WERE - almost the same color combination as WWW, but on this one, the throat is a screaming orange. I have never seen another daylily with this orange of a throat. All six tepals are also tightly and pleasantly recurved, showing off the bright orange throat. I first saw this one at Iron Gate Gardens following the Carolina National.
I like these two because they have a characteristic that set them apart from other cultivars. I have limited space here in my city garden, and as I have said before, each one I put in has to earn its real estate. These two do just that. Both for their truly unique coloring (if you know of others with orange throats...let me know) and one for its tightly recurved form.
Remembering that trip to Iron Gate brings back some wonderful memories. Gloria Hite and I were traveling together and on our way to the airport decided to "pop by" Vic and Van's. Well, if you have ever been there, you know you dont "pop by" at all. It was the first time both of us had the pleasure of visiting there. It was quite a treat to see Grace there, too, helping check out customers and bag plants. What a neat, neat place. Needless to say, both of us almost missed our flights, and the plane staff was not too pleased with our big, black garbage bags full of foliage knocking through the aisles of the full plane.
I did end up missing my connection in DC, and sat in the terminal with this suspect garbage bag for almost 8 hours waiting on another plane. Boy, did I get some stares. But, I did get to be a daylily ambassador to many folks who had no idea about the hybrid daylily. I was happy to yank a division out of the bag to show that indeed they do not grow from bulbs and do an impromptu lesson on dividing. I had quite a crowd standing around listening to me chat about daylilies.
You never know where you'll find a new daylily nut.
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