WOW! | Daylily Blog on simple AND interesting...

The breathlessness continues today.  H. 'Holiday Party' was the show stopper.  I measured this bloom at 7.75", which is way larger than it is registered, but the first blooms are usually the biggest.  I have had some serious lust over this one for a few years and finally added it to my collection last fall.  This three fan clump produced scapes with about 10 buds each.  It is in a prime viewing spot in my front perennial border and it sure stopped some foot traffic yesterday.  I must find a way to be more tolerant of the nosy passersby.  I find myself bottom-end-up in the front garden digging out, planting in or pulling weeds when I hear someone talking to my backside.  Maybe I will start to wear a sign on my behind that says -"iPod in use...do not disturb gardener."  I could even put a smiley face on it to make it seem more friendly.  No?  Okay.

As I meandered to the other island bed in the front of the house, there was H. 'Mexican Magic.'  Oh, be still my heart.  This muted purple-peach-apricot color combination is so unique.  I also like how the petals are slightly raised from the sepals, allowing me a peek at their pattern, too. 

The term used for the pattern in the throat area is "applique"  which some pronounce app-luh-kay (with the emphasis on the final syllable) and others pronounce app-lee-kay (with the emphasis on the middle syllable) while still another group says app-leek (with the emphasis on the last syllable.)  You pick your own pronunciation, I'll just continue to call it stunning. 

I got this one from Bill Maryott and his BOGO sale last year.  He's running a massive sale right now that is worth checking out...click here for his website.

And then there is one that is typically not on my radar, but truly exemplifies its given name - H. 'Simplicity In Motion' by region 2's own Sharon Fitzpatrick.  It really is about eight inches of simplicity in motion.  Not too many overt bells, whistles, teeth, patterns, app-leeks, pleats and the like...just blissful form and function.  The edges fade to a complementary white as evening arrives.  The bloom is extended as well, which means that it stays open well into the night, after most daylilies have started to close up shop.  It is tall and has scapes that support the bud count and bloom size.  All good stuff.  Look at those sepals.  See how they curl at the ends?That's simple beauty.  And it's interesting.  A combination that is hard to come by. 

As always, if there are daylilies I write about that you may want to add to your own collection, here are a few sources I recommend for finding something I've mentioned.  However, when at all possible, I always try to buy from the hybridizer of the plant.  It helps support their efforts, and I am more confident I will get what I want if I order it right from the horses mouth.  Secondary markets are great for most things, but for some stuff you want extra assurances...(IMHO)

1.)  Google it.  For instance, go to google and type "simplicity in motion daylily" in the search bar and see what comes up.  Usually you get several options from which to purchase the desired daylily.

2.)  http://www.daylily.com/  This is an auction site dedicated to selling daylilies and daylily related producs.  Visit the site and key in the name of the daylily to search the auction listings for it.  You may just get lucky and have some fun along the way.

3.)  Use the Eureka.  Go to http://www.gardeneureka.com/ and scroll to the bottom of the page.  There are about 20 daylily-specific nurseries that sell thousands of varieties.  Click on their names to see what daylilies they have for sale.

4.)  Ask me!  I may have some to share, sell or trade.

I've stopped waiting... | Daylily Blog on rejoicing in NOW.

This morning I lost my breath.  I lost my breath when the corner of my eye caught an explosion of color outside my bedroom window.  An audible "Oh!" lept out of my mouth before I could filter it.
Daylily season is here.
My gardens have passed the first-bloom, it-will-look-better-next-time stage and is in full-on explosion mode.  At least half of my daylily cultivars are blooming now and there are very few that do not have scapes yet.  The color is rejuvenating to my soul.
I've stopped wishing for daylily season to get here.  It is right outside my door.  I filled a five gallon bucket six times over with liveheads last night.  I handpicked each bloom and enjoyed its intricacies up close, one at a time.  This is how my day melts away.  Every day.

I've stopped wishing for those mornings when my feet are waterlogged from wandering too long in the dew-soaked grass.
I've stopped wishing for my eyes to be filled with color instead of just brown and green.

I've stopped clicking through last year's photos of the garden, wishing that I could smell those 'African Queen' trumpet lilies or run my hands up an intoxicating frond of russian sage.  I can smell them now.  Sometimes I breathe in so deeply that it hurts, but I don't want these moments to pass too quickly.

It's here. 

And although my head knows that the days are quickly passing and the avalanche of bloom will be over just as quickly as it started, my heart is rejoicing in its presence.

Picking favorites is futile now - each bloom laughs at me as I try, each one is more beautiful than the next.   When I step back, inhale the garden and feel the corners of my mouth turn into a grin...that's how I know the sweat is worth it. 

Did you have that grin today?

It sure felt good.

Daylily event not to be missed:  The Southern Michigan Daylily Society Daylily Exhibition Show, Saturday, July 24th, 2010.  Bordine Nursery - Rochester, MI location.  Visit this website for complete schedule and tutorials on daylily exhibitions.

Photos- top to bottom:  a kaleidoscope of color ready to explode in one of my border gardens, H. 'Swashbuckler Bay Boy,' and H. 'Nicole Enduring.'  Photos taken 6/27/2010.

Daylily Haiku Thursday | The Color Purple

purple's the color

of regal and righteous days -

lush beauty and bloom!

     

L-R: H. 'Lake Midnight Beacon,'  H.'Midnight Angel,' and H.'Destined to See'

     

L-R:  H.'Black Velvet Baby,' H.'Ninja Storm,' and H.'Wild and Wonderful'

All flowers above blooming in my Michigan garden on Thursday, June 24, 2010.  The season truly has arrived and I have never been more ready.  There are about 30 cultivars blooming now with more showing their glorious faces each day.

Summer's freedom tastes so sweet. | Daylily Blog on Travels and Trials

Over the weekend, I travelled 1221 miles for daylilies.  Yep, I sure did.

I always try to make the most of every trip I take. Since I have been a child, road trips have meant packing your favorite things, piling in the car with snacks and cold drinks and setting off to see everything you can along the way. I love road trips in general (I have seen all 48 contiguous states by car) and doing them alone is sometimes extra-awesome.

I started out by making plans with my parents to take our son for a week's vacation – alone. It's his first "big boy vacation" by himself and they were thrilled at the thought of keeping him by themselves for a week. It was wonderfully strange to send him on his own, off on his first summer vacation at Nana's. He is becoming quite the young man. I feel so honored to witness the moments that will someday become the memories of his childhood summers. I hope I'm doing a good job building some great stories for him along the way. The last thing he said to me as they drove off in Papa's truck was "Have fun, mom!" Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, dear son.

Next stop: Chicagoland Daylily Society. I met Dixie and Gene and Dixie Sladek at a quaint little restaurant for dinner before the meeting. Several other very cool folks joined us despite the tornado warnings, 50 MPH winds and torrential rains. Dinner was complete with about 25 daylily blooms from my seedling beds. The food was good and the conversation was even better. 

A tray of my own seedlings, blooming 6/18/10...

At one point during dinner, I found myself and Greg Bartoshuk lecturing about 6 of the restaurant staff on daylily anatomy and hybridizing. It was a hoot and I got some great feedback on seedlings that no one but my immediate family has ever seen before. Pictured on the right below is my favorite seedling so far this year.  It's 7 scrump-dilly-icious inches.  Love it.

We headed off to the Community House for the actual meeting and got underway sharing my "2009 Daylily Experiences." I think everyone enjoyed my stories of my adventures last year. I wish I could have stayed longer after the talk, but they had a business meeting to attend to and I had another destination waiting for me…

Five hours and forty minutes south is Evansville, Indiana (points C to D on the map above.)  Saturday morning I was scheduled to be a judge at the SWIDS Daylily Show, so I planned on driving south until I got bored Friday night and then check into a hotel to drive the short remainder into Evansville on Saturday morning. However, Mother Nature had other plans.

The horrible weather around Chicago chased me down the western border of Indiana and ultimately got the best of me.  I have never seen it rain harder in my life. Big, pelting blankets of rain made it literally impossible to travel over 5mph (yes, 5) for more than an hour. No streetlights, no other cars, no houses or businesses for miles. The only outside light came from violent bursts of majestic lightening – giving me glimpses of the looming, woody landscape on either side of me.  Trees were downed across the road, branches were flying in front of my car, and all I could think about was getting swept away in an unseen flash flood in the middle of nowhere and there would be no one to find me for days. So, to calm my fears, I made the saintly OnStar representative stay on the car phone with me until she navigated me to a motel about 40 miles east - which was 40 miles in the wrong direction on my trip to Evansville. Leaving out most of the other gory, scary details – the evening ended just before midnight with a police escort, a scary motel with only one room left and an unexpected four-hour drive ahead of me in the morning.

And this is only day one of a three-day daylily adventure…

Saturday morning was a completely different universe than Friday night. The sun was bright and hot, even at 6:30am, and the skies were blue and beautiful. I wove my way south through Indiana on completely rural roads, and was surprised to find not one, but TWO daylily specialty farms along the way – "The Daylily Farm" on Indiana Rt. 114 and "Windig Ridge Daylilies" on I-63 south. How surprising and refreshing to pass by these bursts of familiar color! I wish I had the time to stop, but enjoyed the comfort of knowing there were other daylily fans in the area.

The show was a fun event.  Putting on a daylily show in perfect weather is a challenge, but SWIDS did it with much grace after the thunderstorms rattled and ruined many blooms that morning. 

Purple ribbon winning exhibits:  L-R  H. 'Green Spill,' H.Gloria Swanson,' and H. 'Swingin Miss'

Still, even with that challenge, they put on a nice show.  H. 'Janice Brown' took Best In Show and like every show I judge, exhibit in or attend, I learned quite a bit about exhibitors and exhibitions. 

Now on to point F on the map, and the final stop before my own bed - River Bend Gardens (Mike and Sandy Holmes) and Pretty Petals (Kimberly McCutcheon.)  I invited myself to their places on Saturday as a respite from my roading.  We had a wonderful time on Saturday night (thanks to blueberries, lemonade and a great dinner done by Sandy!)  Kim and I turned in early after some hilarious conversation (some daylily-related and some not!)...we both were victims of tough weekends and tired bodies.

Sunday morning, the sun rose on fields of beauty at River Bend.  Kim, Mike and Sandy are daylily hybridizers and they each have their individual focus and their own goals.  It is like visiting three gardens in one there!  I took hundreds of photos and have been drooling over them since Sunday night.  Their gardens are on the Northern Mecca tour over July 4th weekend.  I'll save most of my photos until after their tour...I dont want to let the cat out of the bag on what's going on there until the visitors soak it all up.  But here is Kim's H. 'Blushing Leopard.'  This photo was about noon and this is planted in full, hot sun.  I didnt see any melting at all.  The eyezone is amazing.  I'll be ordering this one from her at http://www.kimsdaylilies.com/

It was a weekend filled with much adventure, great food and wonderful friends.  I saw daylilies in forms and colors I have never seen before at River Bend and Pretty Petals.  It was 1000 miles well spent. 

I wonder where the next adventure will take me...

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Here comes summer!

seasons come and go -

dancing and creeping and flowing

into another.

Here comes summer!  Picture is H. 'Spacecoast Small Talk'  Google it!

When I Am Queen... | Garden Etiquette

Note:  If you  have stumbled upon this post by accident, or by coercion, you should know that "the Queen" is my occasional, alter-diva-gardening-ego.  She has shown up today to make a fantasy decree about garden etiquette.

Hear ye, hear ye!  If you ever find yourself in anyone else's garden, as a welcomed guest or as an uninvited intruder, the Queen hereby posts the following notice of non-exclusive, and non-negotiable Garden Etiquette:
1.)  Have an invitation - implied or otherwise confirmed.  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT show up at someones garden unannounced.  If you happen to be in a situation where you do not remember driving to someones garden, yet there you are amidst the daylilies without an escort or an invitation - YOU ARE NOT WELCOME.  The garden host may be too nice to tell you what a complete, self-important jerk you are for showing up unannounced and helping yourself to the beauty, but I am not that nice.  Don't show up to browse seedlings, check out the greenhouse or see the new pond without an expressed invitation.  Do not let the garden owner come home to find you in their fields casually browsing as if you owned a stake in the place.  People will surely talk behind your back for a long time to come if you do and you'll find your welcome wears thin much quicker than it used to. 

2.)  Do not ask for anything, or assume you can have anything while you are visiting someone else's garden.  Again, the garden owner will most likely be too generous and nice and share with you whatever you ask for - that's what we do.  Please do not put garden owners in this situation.  Many people do this very thing for thier own good and yet would not repay the favor if the situation was reversed.  Do not prey on generosity in the spur of the moment.  Do not ask for pollen, plants, dibs, or pieces.  You'll look silly and people will be talking behind your back again.

3.)  Do not ask to use the bathroom.  Enough said.

4.)  Do not bring your pets without calling ahead to confirm their attendance.  (When I say pets, I include children under 5 here as well.) 

5.)  Do not comment on how much nicer something that you see in someone else's garden is growing in yours.  Also, do not use the phrase, "I have one just like that one" unless you know it is the same cultivar or plant.  Too often you will find that you have insulted the garden owner by saying that the $5 pot of sedum you picked up at the Home Depot is the same as their $60 rare, imported cultivar of succulent goodness.

6.)  Do not point out weeds with statements like, "Wow, look at that!" or "Why did you let that grow?" or "Is that a weed?"  You can see how the response to any one of those statements is not good for you.  If you are so sure it's a weed, and would allow your mouth to comment about it, then you surely aren't above bending down, picking it out and hiding it in your pocket so as to not embarrass the garden owner.

The Queen has spoken.

P.S.  In all seriousness, please adhere to the above suggestions in their most basic form.  Gardens are a very personal thing.  If you have never had people come to visit your own garden, or if these rules seem silly and overstated, that means they apply to you.  We are talking about YOU.  Stop it.

8 ways to take my breath away... | Daylily Photo Blog

With memories of Georgia still popping about in my head, here are eight daylilies that exhibit some real distinct qualities as seen through my lens during the American Hemerocallis Society's 2010 National Convention. 

I've been contemplating the term DISTINCTION lately, as daylily exhibition season is upon us, and as a senior exhibition judge, I will most likely be asked to rate daylilies with my own guided, yet ultimately objectively subjective expertise.  

Above are H. 'Butterfly Cove' and H. 'Spacecoast Small Talk.'  Notice the midrib blending in the first photo.  It's like a tracer from a sparkler - flashy and smooth.  I see a lot of silver in it, too, which is very distinct.  It's a 2007 introduction by Pat Stamile.  On the right, you have perky 'Spacecoast Small Talk.'  I saw this flower in a few of the tour gardens, and it was glorious in them all.  It has this distinct quality of petal "cresting" like an iris does.  The top three segments of the flower are the petals, and on this cultivar, they are raised up from the sepals, more so than on other daylilies.  You can see it in the bottom bloom in the photo.  See how the petal sits up off the sepal?  They all do this and it is a very nice diversion on an otherwise average-colored flower.  My favorite photo of this flower will be the feature in this week's haiku post...make sure to check it out!

The above two photos almost make my mouth water.  H. 'Jackie Kropf' and H. 'Paradise Royal Purple' are stunning examples of daylilies with distinction.  Both bred out of Florida, these two are unmistakable.  Look at the sepal pattern on H. ' Jackie Kropf' and notice the eyezone on the petals.  I love how the eyezone is penetrated by the midrib, pulling out its patten onto the petal.  Neat.  Neat.  Neat.  I wonder if this one passes on that attribute to its progeny...

The flower on the right reminds me of plush velvet.  The creases and folds deliciously go on forever.

Above are H. 'Christmas Beau' (very cool play on words) and H. 'Exotic Pattern.'  I just love the folds, or pleats in the throat area of H. 'Christmas Beau.'  You all know my wrinkled-nose feelings about red daylilies, but this is one I would add to my own collection - because it is DISTINCT. 

The flower on the right just seems to explode from the throat with color and interest.  Although I like my sepals neater than the ones on this flower, I very much enjoy its echoed pattern.

Finally, H. 'God Alone' has an edge that is well, one that only God alone could have dreamed up.  It was almost half of the petal surface - which you can see from the bottom petal in the photo on the left.  That is dreamy distinction.  Many flowers are this color, exhibit this shape and exhibit an edge.  This one is ornate and bigger than any other I have seen.  On the right is H. 'Cant Believe My Eyes.'  This one showed six blooms open on one plant, and each one of them was a clone of the other, which brought its distinctive quality to light- consistency- a quality that all pretty face daylilies cannot claim.  Sometimes these detailed double-edged daylilies arent consistent, and only open up camera ready every few blooms.  I saw this one in two tour gardens and it was magnificent in both.  Now that's a distinctive quality...

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Sinister Minister Daylily Photo

dark saturation,

spilling onto the petals

and filling my eyes.

 the deliciously dark H. 'Sinister Minister'

Well, if Emily Dickinson can like dandelions... | Daylily Blog on Choices

There is enough room at the table of gardening for everyone to have their favorites - favorite flower, favorite colors, favorite smells and sounds.  This power of choice and gluttonous variety is probably what drew me to daylilies.

There is a massive display on Emily Dickinson at the New York Botanical Gardens and I find it refreshing to hear that she loved dandelions.  Many of her works (close to 2,000 poems in total) spoke to flowers or gardening.  If you remember any of your high school literature, Emily wasn't the happiest writer in the anthologies we were forced to read (and grew to love), which makes her affinity of dandelions all the more appropriate.  A garden thug, the dandelion does not boast a following of societies and dedicated clubs who cherish its' existence.  But Emily did.

I have met gardeners who find the smell of jasmine both intoxicating and disgusting, and those who never saw a rose they liked.  How sad to find the morose in inherent beauty - not everything is meant to be judged.

The good news is, whether it is in gardening or in life in general - there is something out there that can make your heart flutter.  You just have to let it happen.  I know that's easier said than done - especially with gardening.  We're always trying to make the right choices in color, texture, form, substance, size and drought tolerance. 

Emily Dickinson had it right. She celebrated the minute, the discreet, the often morose and the even dandelions in all their weedy glory.

I'm coming to realize that one thing does not have to posess all of these qualities, but just do one or two really well. That one shining thing that makes a flower or plant truly distinct. That distinction earns the plant its real estate in my garden - doing one defining quality really well.



Here's my wish that you find something on your table that makes your heart flutter...

All photos from the 2008 MCDS Daylily Show in Columbus, Ohio.  This year, it will be held at the Franklin Park Conservatory on July 11, 2010.   I'll be there!  Google it.