Daylily Haiku Thursday | Daylily Blog of Great Garden Tour Memories

I miss Long Island. In 2006, they hosted about 500 daylily fanatics for the AHS National Convention and my mind has not let go of the images I encountered while visiting those unforgettable gardens. What I remember most, especially at this time of year when the night sky is so many stirring shades of blue and purple, are the hydrangeas....

revealing color-

heavy heads flop gracefully.

you're full of promise!

There were at least twenty different hydrangeas seen on the Long Island Garden Tour - different leaf shapes and configurations, each one more fabulous than the next. The flower heads burst with color not seen in such volume before! Purples, pinks, magenta, blues, and even turquoise heads bobbed in the breeze off the Atlantic that weekend and I was mesmerized. Wow. That was six years ago. So much has changed since then...some of those gardens no longer exist, some of those people have passed on, and some of those families do not live as one anymore. I've been to four National Conventions since that one on Long Island and each one has different memories, but from this one, I remember the gardens the most.

The relevant point about hydrangeas is that their form and structure wonderfully contrast the daylily in many ways. The hydrangeas are loosely "round" in growing habit, leaf shape, flower structure - which sets off the sword-like, arching foliage and tall, erect scapes on the daylily. I think the two are an unlikely yin and yang in the garden. The daylily blooms pop against the lush, green foliage of the hydrangea and their bloom times (depending on variety) are complementary as well.