Day Ten of Ten: Favorite Blooms of 2010 | And on the last day...

The end is here.  Fitting that I'm wrapping up this series during the first week of autumn; as the season winds down, so does this series.Of course I'm choosing to end this run with three of my favorite pinks from 2010.  This year I made leaps and bounds in my gardening therapy - finally admitting that pink was my favorite color in daylilies.  I love pink.  You can read more about that here, if you want to read more on pink.

On the left here is a mystery bug...do you know what it is?  Click "Email Author" below to let me know what in the world it is.  They are fascinating little pieces of art, but I'm not sure if they are beneficial or not...help!  Anyhoo, on with the unveiling of the last choices:

H. 'Hearts and Flowers' is a joy.  It's firm and bright and clear and tall.  The pinks are real pink and the yellow/green is striking.  I have grown this one since 2002, when I received it as a gift plant on the bus during the AHS National Convention. 

I had admired this pink on the Daylily World website, but at that time couldn't afford to add it to my collection (I couldn't fathom spending $100 on a daylily- oh, how I wish I felt that way nowadays...)  It hasnt been a super-fast increaser, but it does add a new fan or two each year and blooms profusely- just look at those pics!  A bonus is the polymerous characteristics it exhibits in the garden, shown in the picture on the right.  That's AWESOMENESS.  This one is not only a favorite this year, but it has been a favorite for many years.  David Kirchhoff is an incredibly gifted daylily hybridizer.  If you have never seen the Daylily World website, please do yourself a favor.  He is a legend in the daylily community and his contributions (both professional and personal) will have a lasting legacy. 

H. 'Pick of the Litter' (seen on the right) is a flirty little thing that I first saw on display in Long Island, New York.  I noticed it while judging a daylily show there and lusted after it for a  year before ordering it directly from its hybridizer, Charles Douglas of Browns Ferry Gardens.  This workhorse plant (at least) doubles in size every year.  It has this wonderful quality of being two daylilies.  It shows one face in the morning and another one after glistening in the sun all day, and I love both faces.  It is a wonderful shade of gray-pink, showing undertones of blue and clear white.  I would recommend this one for the front of the bed, somewhere you can enjoy its subtleties.

Okay, just one more before I close this series...

H. 'Morningcloud Marmalade' is one of the coolest daylilies you might never have heard of.  It is hybridized by Michigan's own Greg Schindler.  I love this one because it is just starting to bloom once everything else is winding down.  It's a breath of fresh, pink-edged air in the garden at this time of year.  The base color is truly this white and the edge is truly this pink- what a contrast!  This beauty is tall, textured and BIG!  Greg is also the hybridizer of what is likely my most favorite daylily - H. 'Matchless Fire.'   Take my word for it - you need both of these.Thanks for following this ten-post series on my 2010 Favorite Blooms.  I enjoyed growing all of these in my daylily collection and plan to keep all of them for 2011. 

It will be interesting to see what tickles my fancy next year...I wonder if any of these will make the list again...  ;) 

Go back and read all the posts in this series here. Enjoy!

I listed the following hemerocallis cultivars for my 2010 favorites (as seen in my own garden):

'Cinderella's Dark Side' (Apps)

'Tempest in a Tutu' (Owen, P.)

'Ron Valente' (Moldovan)

a Bob Faulkner seedling I call the "rainbow firefly"

'Leonard Sauter,' (Carpenter, J.)

'Raspberry Goosebumps' (Polston)

'Eyes Right Jones' (Wilkerson)

'Lee's Loss' (Gates-Hansen)

'Woman at the Well' (Emmerich)

'Worthy One' (Wild)

'Northern Fancy' (Stamile)

'Butterscotch and Ginger' (Klehm)

'Spacecoast Brazen Bandit' (Kinnebrew, J.)

'Wild and Wonderful' (Stamile)

'Edna Shaw' (Wilson, T.)

'Calico Print' (Kropf)

'Hearts and Flowers' (D. Kirchhoff)

'Pick of the Litter' (C. Douglas)
'Morningcloud Marmalade' (Schindler)