Colors In the Sky | Daylily Haiku Thursday

H. 'Exotic Pattern', H. 'Paradise Royal Purple' and H. 'Edith Buccola'

the sky on fire

with sweet licks of warm spring air.

hot inspiration.

The sunsets in the country are amplified more than any I ever saw in suburban Detroit the last twelve years.  Every night it is a show as the sun finishes its daily routine.  The temperatures here have been warm and the rain has really sent spring popping.  My Eastern Redbud is covered in purple!  

We worked to get all the pots out from under the deck and Im happy to say that after moving all those plants last year, I only have 16 pots of "NOiDS."  (that means "no identification.")  I have 16 pots of lush daylily foliage and no tags to identify what it is.  They are keepers, I know that much.  So I will leave them in the pots and wait to be surprised by what blooms.  I did discover my pot of H. 'Dragon Fang' that I thought was lost, so that's great news...  I know that some of those NOiDS are Bob Faulkner's H. 'Dragonfly In Flight' and one of my ultimate favorite daylilies- H. 'Matthew Martin' - a very unique copper-colored daylily.  It shows off copper diamond dusting, too, which is just another one of its great qualities.  You need it in your garden.  I hope I find the pot I brought with me somewhere in my NOiDS.

Here are some different faces of H. 'Matthew Martin.'  I've yet to capture that copper diamond dusting...

A Very Special Announcement | My First Introduction!

I am very proud to announce the debut of my first registered daylily!  

In lieu of a haiku this week, I wanted to share this special announcement with you...my first daylily introduction - H. 'Blessings in a Backpack' - will be officially registered and released in 2013!!
  

It is a fiery orange and gold bi-tone with consistent paprika sepal stippling and a haloed golden throat.   Segments gleefully display tightly crimped edges.  Selected for its vigor, outstanding show presentation and garden value.   Here are its stats: 5.5”, 35”, ML, Dormant, Tetraploid. 22 bud count, 3 way branching.

In 2013, this first introduction will be released and sold in limited collections to benefit child hunger in the United States through the established and successful “Blessings In A Backpack” school program.  For many elementary school kids, the cafeteria meal is the only one they get and on the weekends, nothing.  The Blessings In A Backpack organization provides backpacks full of nourishing food and gives the child the peace of mind knowing they will eat that weekend.  It builds self-esteem and feeds their minds and bodies.  It is a cause I think we should all get behind - feeding our own first.  It only takes $80 to feed a child for the whole school year.  I know that you will help me next year in raising enough money to feed 50 children.  

Yes.  The need is that great.  

Pause to think about your own refrigerator and pantries right now.

I'll need $3500 bucks to feed 50 kids for the whole school year and its the first time I'll ask my friends and daylily fans to help support my passion.  This daylily will be part of a greater collection, and details of how you can help the cause will come out at the end of the year - but I'll ask you to earmark some cash for me in 2013 to feed some growing minds and bodies. I won't be sending a check to someone to hope they do some good with it - through Blessing In A Backpack's established contacts and procedures, I'm going to adopt a school here in southern Illinois and with the help of these daylilies and my daylily friends - feed them with my own hands.

Your first chance to buy this daylily starts on March 14, 2012!

Because I also support the daylily ambassador community in the AHS, for the Region 2 Internet Auction I have donated two fans of H. ‘Blessings In A Backpack.’  This is the only double fan to be offered outside of next year's fundraising effort to provide food for our nation’s own hungry children.  Winner of this very special auction will receive a double fan this Spring.  No other divisions will be released until Spring 2013.  If you are not a user of the Daylily Auction site, contact me via email and I can help you out.

You can see it on the auction and place your bids here!

I've loved it since it first bloomed and although it isn't full of fad, ruffles and teeth - its saturated, prolific, proportionate and very deserving of the garden real estate it takes up.  Its scapes and branching are show-quality, and I plan to get it into a couple of shows this summer to let the judges chew on its merits.  

These two photos show it in clump form, baking in the Illinois heat at 100 degrees+!  It fades when the heat is extreme, and provides highlighted midribs as a bonus when it gets real hot.  

I hope you like it as much as I do, and I hope you not only bid on this one-time auction but that you support the greater cause next year to feed school children in the United States through Blessings In A Backpack.

Click here to see all the Region 2 Benefit Auctions!  Act fast...they are ending soon!

First time offerings of first introductions by Bob O'Neal, Larry Work and Patti/Ron Byerly are also being auctioned.  Larry Grace's SOLD OUT and much sought-after H. 'Dr. Stump' is also listed and is a HOT item!  There are also 60+ other donations from generous Region 2 supporters being loaded each day.  Check it out - bid high - bid often!

The Big Time | It's okay to covet.

Driving out near Carlyle Lake, I passed this happiness-waiting-to-happen.

Overgrown and in need of some TLC (the structures, not me) I pulled over and got lost in a thought of owning it.  I thought about what the name of the place would be and how I would set it off from others in its niche.  I noodled on making it a destination and not just a place to buy plants.  I imagined one building for selling/growing while the other could be done up for events and flower shows and celebrations and high teas and classes and church services.  I thought about how I'd refurbish the buildings in the back into barn wood-covered beauty, adding a garden art store and air-conditioned seating area that offered the best peach lemonade in the state.  

It was awesomeness.  The people who visited my gardening destination were laughing and smiling and spending a lot of money.  People were learning and everyone was clamoring to book their next event here.  All of the classes were sold out and every garden club within 100 miles planned to visit.

It wasn't for sale, and I wouldn't know where to begin even if it were.

I let out a big sigh, put the car in drive, and continued on.

H. 'Tricou Fedora' - neat throat texture and awesome diamond dusting!

The daylilies planted last fall ALL seem to have survived their first winter.  The last week we have had several warmer days and today for lunch I walked the garden to look for no-shows.  There are only two that have not cracked the surface, but I know those two are super lazy dormants, so I'm not too worried.  I did notice that several clumps that I divided before I left Michigan have come back better than ever.  More evidence to support that the daylilies do indeed like to be "messed with" every now and then to give them a burst of growing energy.  For instance, H. 'Holiday Party' for instance was a large, undisturbed clump of about 20 fans.  I reluctantly sold some before we moved and worried that it would never bloom as beautifully as it did in 2010.  I replanted four fans last fall and today I counted nine!   This past weekend I also got all the remaining potted daylilies out from under the deck, where they were stored last Thanksgiving for the winter.  They are all now in the sun and already growing green and straight!  

HOORAY - we made it!  

Here is H. 'Holiday Party.'  It's a stunner. 

Why Exhibition Shows Are Important for Hybridizers | Haiku Thursday

an empty canvas.

endless possibilities-

our fresh spring days!

- written in the elevator during the 2012 Winter Symposium 

Cincinnati was the place to be last weekend if you are crazy about daylilies.  Region 2 put on quite a party and as always, I came home inspired by people and plants.  So inspired that I could not resist digging and dividing 8 large clumps yesterday.  YES, in February AND in 50 degree weather. I made 29 divisions of those 8 clumps and potted them up for various events this spring.  I have really good luck digging established clumps late in the winter.  When potted, they produce a great mini-clump that is very attractive to newbies at farmers markets and street sales.  These 29 divisions should help pay for a new camera!

  

At the daylily symposium, I chatted with a fellow who is a daylily hybridizer with a high distaste for Daylily Exhibition Shows.  He knows that shows are kinda my thing (you can read many of my other show-related posts here) and wanted to talk about a presentation of mine called "World-Class Daylily Shows," during which I address the issue of hybridizers and shows.

In the presentation, it is my contention that many hybridizers stay far away from daylily shows, and that the American Hemerocallis Society and show organizers should do more to encourage their participation - in fact - we should roll out the red carpet for hybridizers who want to bring their creations to the show in either the named or seedling sections.  

The fellow who called me wanted to discuss and cuss some points I made during the presentation.  He wanted to hear what I considered the direct benefit to hybridizers making an effort to attend and enter shows.  "What should he do it?" - he asked.

I gave him the AHS position first and said that exhibiting in daylily shows allowed hybridizers to:

1.  exhibit their new cultivars as observed in the originating garden

2.  receive feedback from judges (who use a published scale of points) on their seedlings and introductions

3.  compete for major AHS awards

4. have winning cultivars and seedlings published in the Journal and in regional publications.

5. have their name and winning entries published on AHS websites and portals, including the AHS Awards and Honors pages.

He liked some of those points, rolled his eyes at others and argued that the return on investment for cutting a scape is too low for hybridizers to consider exhibiting.  I told him one scape is an easy sacrifice to make to see the public's reaction to your seedlings and introductions.  What is a better gauge for determining whether your seedlings "have a place" in today's semi-saturated daylily market?  Put them out there and see how the 100 or so passersby react to it.

He went on to say- "Well, you know most judges don't know what they're even looking at.  They haven't been out of their own yards, or outside of shows.  They're out of touch."  My only answer was to tell him to then do them a favor and show them whats going on in the hybridizer's gardens!  Take your seedlings in!  Talk to the judges after judging.  Stand by (in a non-stalker sort of way) and listen to what the visitors say (or don't say.)

Look at it as a captive focus group!  You get the benefit of a great evaluation and you don't even have to serve lunch!  Judges and show visitors are just more facets of the daylily community.  They have a special place and a great respect for the plant and the process of showing.

I'm still working on getting a show together here in southern Illinois.  Hopefully I'll have something good to report soon.

I hope you take the leap this year and show a scape or two.