Long Day's Journey... | Daylily Blog Archive Stroll

This is H. 'Laura Harwood' showing off an abundance of bloom.  The registration information is as follows:  (Harwood, 1997)  height 23", bloom 7", season M, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Diploid, Fragrant,  Burgundy purple with a yellow cream halo and a very green throat. ((Blue Lustre × Really Lizzie) × Regal Finale)

This year she is a contender for the AHS' Stout Silver Medal and we will find out if she won in just about a month.  Garden Judges all over the country have cast their votes for the single winner and I am very anxious to see which daylily will win the highest award given to an individual cultivar.  

While looking for a post I had written on judging seedlings a few years ago, I was pleasantly distracted (for about 3 hours) reading through the archives of past blog posts.  Statistics say I have posted 266 times over the past three years and have over a quarter of a million page views in that same time frame.  That is a lot of reading done by a lot of readers.

thinking of the past

remembering crisp flowers

curling in the sun

Anyhoo, while crawling around in the "blog attic" looking for something else, I found a few past posts that I found interesting and meaty.  Maybe you'll enjoy a stroll in the past, too.

Skin In the Game - A post on "getting better."

Speak Up! - A post on presentations and the audiences who sleep through them.

Eliminating the Mediocre - A post on collections.

Collection of (for) me - Another post on collections.

A Little Bit of Strategy - A post on getting your seedlings considered for AHS awards.

What's Overrated - A post on keeping up (or not) with the Joneses.

Here is more of H. 'Laura Harwood.'  She has her quirks, but when she's good, sh's reallllly good.  Color is sunfast, which means it stays purple all day here and doesnt "melt" in the heat.  Bright, wide, green throat is just enough.  

These four photos were taken in three different states in three different zones and have not been retouched at all.  I really like this flower.  I hope it did well in the Stout Medal competition; we will find out in mid-October when the AHS Board of Directors meets and announces the winner.  Here is a list of past winners...  Last years winner was the first daylily introduced in the 21st century to win this prize.  It's on my wish list....

Til next time!

I need some copies of this poster. HELP!

Ill pay postage and handling.  Clean unfolded copies preferred.  

Email me here.

Flower Sex | Daylily Haiku Thursday!

That's flower sex for daylilies.  

If the pollination was successful, and fertilization occurred, a seedpod will form and produce seed.  As with people, many factors contribute to the successful fertilization of a daylily, none of which I will explore here.  I just wanted you to know enough to be dangerous.

If you want more information on this process, please visit the Daylily Dictionary for terms like anther, filament, seed .  Here are also some of my past ramblings about seedlings here and here and here.

Once the pod ripened in late summer, I harvested the seed, stored them in a cool, dry place until February.  I then planted the seeds inside.  Once the winter broke, I transplanted them outside and waited at least one full year to see these flower faces.

Now we've had "the talk."  I feel better.

Here are some seedlings that bloomed this summer in Illinois.  A seedling is a daylily plant that has been grown from seed that has not been registered with the American Hemerocallis Society.  Once it is registered, it has a registered name and is referred to as a cultivar.  Until then, we refer to them as "seedlings." 

These flowers came from seed made by me using the method described above.  I like them and I thought you would, too. 

The last one on the lower-right above is a favorite of mine and reminds me of stormy, steamy nights spent on Singer Island in south Florida.

He will be registered and introduced in Fall 2013 as 'Ghosts of Singer Island.'  He's tall, dark and handsome. He smells very good, too.

In my mom's Illinois garden (seen below), the scapes reached 48" and most all blooms were in the 7" range.  The surface is mysteriously (and wonderfully) matte and color is clear raspberry-plum.  Here he is towering over the rest of the seedling bed.  

I love the form on this one below, but am not crazy about the color combination.  Maybe Ill use it on some bolder colored things next year.  Im thinking of my pending registration H. 'Girl on Fire.'  If this one would keep the form and teeth, yet absorb the girl's color, I would be in love.

This one below got lots of attention at a 2012 exhibition show.  There he is on the left, misbehaving with his form in the early morning garden.  Then on the right, he showed up with perfect form and bright yellow sepal edges, INSIDE at the flower show.  

I love it.  A lot.  It wowed at the show!!  But its still only two fans after three summers. Boo.  Hiss.

I have a VERY SMALL seed growing operation.  Heck, the first seeds I ever made I sent to someone else to germinate (Thanks, Frogs.)  I don't like growing things from seed.  Too many variables.  But, I got better at it over a few years and now like having the little tabletop greenhouses inside during the late winter months.  Some grow 20,000+ seeds.  I grow about 200.  

Small time.  VERY small time, but I'm having a very BIG good time.

summer's out of reach-

brown, green and orange fall in swirls

too fast and too soon.

Fabulous and Falling into Fall... | Daylily Blog

This time of year is so refreshing.  Although foliage and garden tools look faded from overwork, the unexpected daylily rebloom and animal activity is an exciting replacement.  The skies are deep blue and construction has begun once again.

This time last year, I was feverishly trying to create my largest island bed from scratch, with pneumonia.  I looked out at 500+ potted plants each day with determination and desperation.  It seems like yesterday and ten years ago all at once.

Quite honestly, with the late planting of the whole garden last year and the record setting drought and heat this year, I was prepared to lose most of my collection to rot and the elements.  I shake my head when I hear myself say "its been the best year ever for my collection."  I watered tenaciously and purposefully, offering liquid feedings of MiracleGro every other week.  

H. 'Cerise Masterpiece' is reblooming this week - just in front of the birdbath where my new zen frog chills out.  I sought out a similar one to the meditating frog seen in the Hensley Garden during the National Tours this summer and found this one in a cool store near the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  

H. 'Chaotic Erotica' is in rebloom, too.  This is an Illinois-born cultivar from Martin Mayes.  This one has cool form, and distinct white sepals as the day goes on.  They almost bleach completely white by the end of the day, holding on to the electric lavender edge.  Love it.  I'm going to use some of this pollen next year for an idea I'm chasing...

There is rebloom all over the garden for the first time in my 20 years of "doing daylilies."  True rebloom was a myth to me, only appearing sporadically, if ever in my Michigan gardens.  Yesterday I counted fourteen cultivars that are sending up scapes bigger than their first set in June.   

H. 'All Creation Sings' is sending up THREE rebloom scapes after blooming its most beautiful ever this summer.  It is saturated and formal with neatly done sepals and a SUPERFANCY edge that tooths and hooks and bubbles like crazy.  I'd like to see that edge on something with no eye.  Wouldn't that be cool?  

Here it is blooming in July.  

That one is definitely one of my ultimate favorite color combinations and stand the test of time in my collection.  Great job, Homeplace Gardens and Cindy Dye.  You can see some of the other rebloom scapes in the garden below.  I have H. 'Valdosta Again', H. 'Spacecoast Color Scheme', H. 'Pursuit of Pleasure' and H. 'Alchemy' shown below:

H. 'Born to Run' has been the biggest surprise.  These almost-too-beautiful-to-look-at blooms are abundant on a scape taller than its first set.  I do know that I should cut these scapes off, to allow the plant to get ready for winter sleep, but I'm selfish.  I can't cut them.  Not now.

The creatures are abundant.  My hummers are filling their bellies for the trip south, fighting and chirping away each day.  I fill this feeder about every third day.  Hungry little things.

The frogs are big and green.  I like to look at them, but I do not like when they hop on my bare foot unexpectedly.  Or when they hide in the toes of my Crocs and I do not find them until my foot is already in the shoe.  Sigh.

In any case, the fall work in the garden has begun - moving, culling, replanting, selling, trading, sculpting new beds, adding more compost, adding a top dressing of Milorganite, cleaning garden tools...there is always something to look forward to...

With and without an umbrella... | Daylily Haiku Thursday

So you might have seen me in the gardens this year with a big white golf umbrella.  It was the most anticipated tool in my garden arsenal this year.  

While at the Region 1 Pollendabbers meeting, from a suggestion by Heidi Douglas, I bought a few while at the meeting from Amazon.  I had searched for white photography umbrellas before, but found the prices too much for my needs.  Heidi suggested searching for "white wedding umbrellas" to see if a different mix of the same type of product would show up.  Indeed it did!  On Amazon, from my  iPhone, I ordered three of them on the spot (one for my friend Nan Ripley in Iowa, too.)

Here I am using it during actual rain on the garden tour.  It has many functions!  It is fashionable (especially when choosing to wear a white cotton dress in the unexpected rain), supporting on slopes as a walking stick, and shades the blazing sun from the blooms during photo taking.  The latter is why I originally wanted it.  I wanted to test the theory myself that shading the blooms from direct sunlight produces good photos.

Here are two photos of the newly acquired H. 'Andy Candy.'  This is one of the first daylilies I saw go for a huge sum of money in a small club auction.  When it came out in 2003, it was a hot one.  Sold out everywhere.  Single fans selling for $100...I just never got my hands on it.  Fast forward almost ten years, and I picked it up FINALLY for $10 at a club sale table.  Three fans bought and planted last fall are seven fans now.  It is a short thing, but very floriferous!  It also rebloomed here in Illinois.  BONUS.

So, I took a picture in the morning sunlight, just after the flowers had fully opened.

the sun beats hot. down.

onto freshly opened blooms - 

stretching to please us.

Nice photo, yes?  I like the backlighting, and I love the golden glow of the base color.  The eye and edge look saturated and velvety.  The pollen is bright and obvious.

I could tell on my camera's LCD that the photo above looked a tad "hot" so I popped open the umbrella for a second shot, just minutes after taking the one above.

The verdict is still out on whether I like this shot with or without the umbrella.  

You?

This Daylily Can Help Make A Difference! | My First Daylily Introduction

H. 'Blessings in a Backpack' (Schmith 2012)

Buy this daylily and feed one at-risk elementary school child on the weekends for the whole school year!

Originally I envisioned this first introduction being released and sold in limited collections in 2013 to benefit child hunger in the United States through the established and successful “Blessings In A Backpack” school program.  But the need is now, and these daylilies are ready for new homes!

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 through this program for the whole school year.  

Yes.  The need is that great.  

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

H. 'Blessings in a Backpack' has been officially registered with the AHS and is now available for purchase!  I have only 15 divisions available this fall, shipping September 18 from Illinois!!  

100% of sales from this daylily go to the Blessings In A Backpack organization to feed kids in rural Illinois communities.

H. 'Blessings in a Backpack' 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.

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 it earned a Purple Ribbon in the 2012 Southwestern Illinois Hemerocallis Society Daylily Show.  

If you would like to help me help others, RIGHT NOW, here's how:

4 ways to help make a difference:

Call 248-739-9006 or email to reserve your plant and make payment arrangements.

Paypal $90.00 (inc. shipping) to schmiths71@gmail.com

Mail $90.00 (US funds / inc. shipping) to:

Nikki Schmith | 424 Pheasant Court | Worden, Illinois | 62097

You may also donate $80.00 directly to BIAB through their website and then contact me to receive your plant.  

Again, 100% of sales from this daylily go to the Blessings In A Backpack organization to feed kids in rural Illinois communities.