Two Shots | Daylily Blog on the whole picture...

I don't do enough of this.  I have thousands of "headshots," or pictures of the flower faces, but not enough clump shots.  The picture on the left is a "headshot."  It illustrates beautiful macro characteristics, but doesn't give me a picture of what the whole plant looks like planted in my garden like the photo on the right does.

This is H. 'Pearl Harbor,'  a past AHS award winner and widely grown daylily introduced by Dr. Bob Carr in 1997.

I'll use this post as a reminder to take more whole plant shots in 2011.

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Deep Inside...

Deep inside each one,
is a cave of glowing light.
No day like today!

Daylily blooms truly only last one day.  At the end of their time, they take a bow and shrivel into our memory.  Covered in rain or basking in the sun, daylilies are versatile and forgiving.

Throat colors in daylilies range from pale white-yellow to deep, screaming orange.  I've seen them in green, olive and chartreuse.  Some daylilies have wide ones, some small or not at all!  Much like humans, the daylily voice comes from its throat.  A distinct throat really adds to the overall look of the bloom.  There are some sexy images of distinct daylily throats here.

Haiku is late this week.  But I hope you still enjoy the thoughts.  If you look close enough, you can almost see me in the raindrops.

Daylily Haiku Thursday | A Pair from Daylily World...

   

Melting memories,

flowing fast from winters grip

and toward sunny days!

Here are H. 'Rune Mark' and H. 'Star Wishes' from the team of David Kirchhoff and Mort Morss at Daylily World.  There are very few serious daylily conversations that happen on this planet without mentioning these two or their progeny in some way.  They are classic - both the people and their daylilies.  I was lucky enough to visit their original Florida location in 2004, just before they started the relocation to Kentucky.  These photos were taken of the beautiful clumps in Florida.  The heat that day was enough to make me remember it clearly, and so the freshness of these blooms is even more wonderful.  I know that I sure didn't look this crisp in that heat!!

I like H. 'Star Wishes' because that halo balancing on the edge of the bright yellow throat really does look sky blue in the morning.  Fab.

Substance and Form... | Daylily Blog on the Finer Details

Some days I have a good hair day, and some days not-so-much.  Daylilies have those kind of days, too. 

Here are two daylily traits that make me wrinkle my nose and say "ew."

On the left, this bloom is out of form and has breaks in the color.  Notice the sepal on the right of this picture.  It is separated from the rest of the bloom, showing off its yellow-ness.  It is unlike the other sepals, and therefore is out of form.  It would lose a point or so on the exhibition table for this form. 

FORM is defined as the placement of petals and sepals in relation to each other, the definite shape of the flower as seen from the front (circular, triangular, double, star, informal, etc.) or the side (flaring, flat, recurved, trumpet, etc.). Segments (petals and sepals) may vary in length, width, shape, and number. Segments may be wide, narrow, ruffled, pointed, rounded, tailored, fluted, crimped, curled, spatulate, crispate (pinched, twisted, or quilled), or cascading (narrow curling or cascading). Weather conditions also influence form.  Unfaulted form is worth 10 points (of 100) in a daylily show.

So, if I were seeing this bloom as a judge on an exhibition table, I would take off points for form and a point or two for the breaks in color seen in the eye zone area of the petal on the left side and on the corresponding sepal at the top of the picture. If this bloom were exhibited as is, I would also take off grooming points for the pollen that is all over the bloom. Exhibitors should carefully dust that off with a cosmetics brush or paintbrush. (blowing on it might cause more pollen to fall...) Don't press too hard with that brush, though, you might damage the surface, which will result in more point deductions!With the definition of FORM above, I turn my attention to the bloom on the right.  Ew.  That is one of my least favorite looks for a daylily- what is commonly referred to as "canoeing" or "cupping."  The bloom doesn't look like this in the morning or on cooler, shadier days.  Some judges say this is a substance problem.  Some say its a form problem.  Where ever you decide to take off the points, it is a fault.  Substance and form are judged separately in the show and they are each worth 10 points (of 100.)  If I were judging this exhibit, I would deduct major points for substance.

From Judging Daylilies, substance is the thickness of the tissue structure which determines the holding quality. In judging substance, the firmness as well as evenness of petals and sepals are points to consider. The amount of matter and moisture in the petals keeps them firm and crisp. These characteristics enable the flower to withstand weather conditions, retain form and freshness, and give life to the color.

That is substance and form, as used to evaluate blooms in a daylily show.  Together they make up 20 points of the 100 given for an on-scape registered cultivar.  I think they are also useful terms to understand when evaluating blooms in your own garden or in your seedling field. 

(In case you were wondering, today is a good hair day for me personally.) 

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Orchid Moonrise

 

showing off, dreaming

of narrow wins and losses.

they both count.  really. 

Shown above is a shot from the Indiana daylily show I judged last summer.  It was the first time I saw this cultivar in person and although this form is not usually my cup of tea, I feel in love with the veined petals, quilling sepals and happy chartreuse throat.  This was a great exhibit, which was groomed perfectly.  Notice how well-branched this exhibit is!  You can see the lateral branching half way down the scape. 

Part of the reason I love daylily shows is the opportunity to see and appreciate the flowers at my eye level (which isn't too hard to do if you know how tall I am {not}.) 

This beauty is H. 'Orchid Moonrise,' hybridized by the late Ned Roberts.  It was registered in 2003 as 36" scape, 7" bloom, early season bloomer, Dormant, Diploid, 12 buds, 3 branches, Unusual Form Crispate, Purple with gray eye above yellow green throat.  Although 12 buds isn't a lot and most likely in Michigan it would even be fewer, I still loved this exhibit.  A lot.

Morning and Evening Faces...H. 'Mohican Summer'

We all start out the day fresh and crisp - full of substance and saturation.  As the day matures, we melt.  And fade.  And start to sag in some unnecessary places.

These photos were taken nine hours apart on the same day and of the same bloom of H. 'Mohican Summer' (hopefully it is obvious that the photo on the left is the morning photo.)  By evening, the midribs have protruded and have been bleached by the sun.  The substance has thinned to almost transparent. 

I love this beefy daylily.  It's tall, sturdy and very masculine.

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Diamond Dusting

sparkling bits of light

twinkling at me (teasing me)

to look more closely.

This is H. 'Navajo Princess' (Hansen, 1992) seen at an exhibition show in Springfield, Illinois many years ago.  I still come back to this photo when I need a good example of diamond dusting in daylilies.  Click here to see the official AHS definition for "diamond dusting" and see other photo examples of this very elusive and desirable characteristic.  This daylily also has a previous Stout Silver Medal in its pedigree - 1994's winner, H. 'Janice Brown.'

With the inches and inches of glittering snow outside, I needed to see something else that sparkled.  I hope you enjoy this one!

Nikki Schmith- the daylily | Daylily Blog on Legacy

The time you devote to thinking about your legacy has a correlating relationship with your age.  As one increases, so does the other.

Aside from my daylily obsession, I also scrapbook.  I scrap because I have an natural desire to be a memory keeper for my family.  Someday I know that I will not remember all the details of the everyday moments in my life, and I'll look to my scrapbooks to provide a visual reminder of our past as a family.

As I have grown as a gardener, certain plants have become pages in the scrapbook of my life in daylilies.  I have gifts of daylilies from special friends who are no longer living.  I have gifts of garden art that cherished people in my life have made.  My son and I have created spaces in the garden where we have built many dirt tracks or miniature quarries.  The garden is a living scrapbook.

When Kimberly McCutcheon asked me if she could give one of her 2010 daylily introductions my name, I was honored.  This is a photo of it I took in June of 2010.  You can see more about it here.  It's now a piece of my legacy; a tangible item that can live on in this place and dance in a daylily garden when I no longer do. 

Maybe it will grow in my son's garden someday.  Then I can always be there. 

I can only hope.