Daylily Haiku Thursday | The end of 2012....

Daylilies are a delicious diversion to daily crazy.  Much like the unbearable pain in Connecticut, they remind me that life is breathtakingly brief. 

Hug someone extra hard.  I did.

This will be the last post until after the new year- I will take a couple weeks off from the computer to enjoy the holiday, soak up my family and read to my son.  Maybe I'll scrapbook.  Or maybe I won't.  I'll surely stoke a lot of fires, cook a lot of soups, and give a lot of hugs.

Have you seen some of the new collections for 2013?  I liked these:

Slightly Different Nursery

Pretty Petals

The Lily Farm

Ladybug Daylilies

Herrington Daylily Garden

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and be nice, y'all.  It's easier.

Structure and Mystery | Daylily Haiku Thursday

behind, I witness

structure and mystery of

a beautiful face!

Showing It Off! | Daylily Blog about Show Season 2012

Daylily exhibitions get better each year. The quality and quantity of exhibits, the skill at grooming, and variety of show formats keep me interested from year to year.  Show season is my favorite part of "doing daylilies" and the 2012 season did not disappoint.

This year I was able to show in one, chair one, and judge three.  I traveled to four different states (three different AHS regions) to experience the madness that is a show day.  Georgia, Illinois, Missouri and Michigan played host to four amazing shows, each one with something different to offer.  There are a few "legendary" shows that I have yet to visit, and I'm hoping in 2013/2014 to be able to see at least one in Alabama, Mississippi or Texas.

Here's a quick summary of what I saw in 2012.  Enjoy the show(s)!

GREATER ATLANTA / COBB COUNTY DAYLILY SOCIETIES

2012 - Combined Show in Atlanta, Georgia

Georgia, in my opinion, is still the reigning queen of superb daylily shows.  It is the state that boasts the highest number of judges and accredited shows each year.  Here is the post I wrote when I came home from this show.  

This show made a massive effort to reach out to the public with good plants for sale, a great educational exhibit, and a ton of clearly-identified members who were NOT busy with show duties to answer questions and smile at visitors.  Here is an aerial view of their "public area." Sorry for the pole in the middle of the photo, but look at all those volunteers dedicated to selling plants, showing educational displays and gaining new daylily friends!

Below on the left is the Best In Show winner from this show, H. 'Arctic Tern' exhibited by Claude Carpenter.    (Lambertson, 2006 height 38", bloom 7.5", season MLa, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Diploid.)  Claude can not only shoot a great photograph of a daylily, he also grows and shows them impeccably!  I am glad to not be competing against him on the show table!  After seeing this one on a few show tables, I added it to my own collection this year for arrival in 2013.

  

CENTRAL MISSOURI DAYLILY SOCIETY SHOW

2012- Columbia, Missouri

For the first time, I traveled WEST of the Mississippi River for a daylily show!  I was invited to judge the Region 11 CMDS show at the most beautiful Columbia Library and I had a wonderful time!  

The club organized a large design division, and I was in awe at the skill and imagination of the entries.  I love to see daylilies in standard flower shows, and learning how to create a winning design is not something that comes naturally to many people.  Here, here and here are some of my misadventures in design.  The last link is the funniest story.  I re-read it before I posted it for you here, and laughed just as hard as I did three years ago writing it.  (I can't believe its been three years!)

Here are more shots of their show, cleanly organized at the library.  While a location like this does not allow for many outside visitors, the members were able to gather together and enjoy their exhibits and share time with one another.

SOUTHWESTERN ILLINOIS HEMEROCALLIS SOCIETY

2012- Alton, Illinois

I threw down a personal gauntlet when I moved to Illinois in 2011 that I would bring the Daylily Exhibition Show experience to this area.  The Southwestern Illinois Hemerocallis Society rose to the challenge and hosted an accredited AHS exhibition show with over 100 entries and a boatload of fun and goodwill!  Here is the whole post about my experience at this show. 

This club used minimal resources and a ton of donations from supportive friends like the Shale Lake Winery (thank you for the free bottles!), and Richard Norris, Kimberly McCutcheon, JR Blanton and Dan Bachman, who donated recent cultivars for our head table prizes!  The total financial burden to the club was under $500, which was offset by the huge plant sale that they held in conjunction with the show.  WAY TO GO, SWIHS!

SOUTHERN MICHIGAN DAYLILY SOCIETY

2012 - Rochester, Michigan

The show season ended with a visit to my daylily club "alma mater" in southeast Michigan.  What a joy it was to judge their show.  They have tough competition in this club, and very generous donors for their head table prizes.  The 2012 season was a strange one, and having a show the last weekend of July was a nail-biter for them.  Many growers had nothing left to show, and others were showing rebloom scapes!  Many others were thrilled to exhibit daylilies that are usually not in bloom when the show is held, as they are very late bloomers.

My panel started with the seedling section - which was also the largest section in their show by a few entries.  What a variety!  John Kulpa, Martin Kamensky, Chad Bush, Ken Kuzminski, Brian Howarth, Elaine Schultz, Greg Schindler, Kathy Rinke, and so many other local hybridizers (sorry for not remembering all of you!) exhibited in this section.  I am glad that these hybridizers are showing off their seedlings in accredited exhibition shows!  

Here we are below with our panel and our clerks - (from left) longtime judge and exhibitor Phyllis Cantini, youth/Canadian member Alex DesMarais, me, Garden Judges Liaison and Indiana resident Laurel Richardson, and super-friend and daylily enthusiast Patrice McCollum.  I think combined Phyllis and Patrice have over 45 years of service to this club and to AHS at various levels and they are valuable resources.

I want all local daylily groups to believe that they can do a daylily show, too.  It doesn't take thousands of dollars and a fleet of able-bodies.  It simply takes a commitment to follow provided protocol and a desire to share daylilies with the public in an interesting way.  Shows have their challenges - physically and philosophically - but their place in the educational mission of the AHS cannot be denied.  AHS holds about 60 accredited shows across the country each year.  We continue to grow and change the system to meet the changing form of our favorite flower.  I hope if you are interested in holding a show with your own local organization, that you know you can email me for encouragement and information.  

Do one in 2013.  Whether it is exhibiting for the first time, organizing a show for the first time, or even just going to one for the first time, you wont be sorry that you did!

When it begins... | Daylily Haiku Thursday

may today be filled

with wonders and surprises!

only good ones, please.

On the above left is the AHS award-winning H. 'Lil Black Buds' by Ken Begnaud of Louisiana.  I got this as a bus plant from the Baton Rouge National Convention a few years ago and it has thrived.  The buds are the darkest I've ever seen.  It makes for quite a show- even without blooms.  The others shown are from top - H. 'Fourth Rock', H. 'Brookwood Black Kitten', and bottom right is H. 'Carolina Pink Pinwheel.'

I miss these scenes in the garden.  The start of things.  The beginning.

For today, it's Happy Birthday to me!  The candles are burning and I'm still thinking of a good wish...  

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Black and White

reach deep down into

the loamy soil of your time

and open, open!

H. 'White Wizard' (which has a gorgeous pearly sheen not easily captured on film) and H. 'Brookwood Black Kitten' (which is a tiny little flower) to remind me that there are few issues that are truly black and white.  

Thankful | Daylily Blog about things that matter...

I keep a traditional pen-and-paper journal in my garden toolkit and I find myself writing in it many times throughout the year when a thought hits me in the garden.  I love doodling, I love handwriting, and I love the memories it will evoke when I read it sometime in the future.  I paged through that journal this weekend, looking for a list I made of soil amendments for a new raised bed.  I found the list, and found other inspiration, too.

As an ode to Thanksgiving, here are some things inspired by my journal for which I am thankful...

ONE | Diversity.  What brought me to daylilies was the rich diversity of form, size, shape and color.  I found once I got to "daylilydom" that the people who love them are just as diverse.  This mix always provides great conversation starters!  I'm thankful that there are always choices, and if we don't like the path we are currently on - we can choose to change.  

TWO | Hybridizers. The people who choose to focus full-time on bringing us new daylily hybrids are the oil in our engine.  Their imaginations, innovations and instinct propel our hobby to new places each year.  New catalogs are starting to arrive and websites are getting 2013 updates.  My wallet has never been thinner.  If you are curious on "who" these people are, please check out this link for a real comprehensive list (by person).  

 Nicole Harry's H. 'Dust and Gravity'

THREE | Learning new stuff. Every day there is something new to learn in daylilies.  There are lots of good discussions now on e-robins, Facebook group pages and other blogs.  Right now two hot topics I'm learning more about are raised bed edging options (all of the beds in my new gardens are raised) and cheating with Photoshop to either become a better photographer or hybridizer.   Regardless of what side of the debate I am on, I enjoy the opportunity to contribute to an intelligent discussion with other passionate people.  (that last sentence was a great mix of sincerity and sarcasm...LOL!)

FOUR | Real Books.  For as much as I love my Kindle Fire HD and other gadgets, I love real, paper books.  Above is a shot of some of my recent reads.  There are so many good books about daylilies out there to chew up this cold season.  Every winter I seem to re-read Sydney Eddison's A Passion For Daylilies.  That never gets old.  Buy a copy for some of your daylily friends.  It is an enthralling and colorful story of ALL our lives.  Here is a search on Amazon showing more daylily-related books you might want to check out.

Mort Morss' H. 'Curtis Montgomery'

FIVE | Committees.  Yep, committees.  This time of year the AHS organizes its many committees for the coming year and I am excited to be a part of a few again in 2013.  I am a firm believer that if you have a beef, the best way to get some resolution is to follow the proper protocol, even if you do not believe in the politics behind the protocol.  I always try to keep skin in the game.  I join committees not because I have scads of free time for meetings and more email, but because I believe in improvement.  I'm thankful for rational, kind minds that lack ulterior motives. 

 Ted Petit's H. 'Bella Isabella'

SIX | You.  A Girl and Her Garden grows because of you.  I'm thankful right now to be surrounded by those whose lives touch me more than they will ever know.  Every time I have a crazy adventure in the garden, I think of how I will share it with you.  Every photo I shoot that takes my breath away, I race to share with you.  Because of you I strive to be a better writer, better photographer, better grower and a better gardening steward.

H. 'Carolina Pink Pinwheel' from Gene Tanner at Browns Ferry Gardens 

Click here to see the fabulous Browns Ferry website.

FYI: this was the best pink and best branched daylily in my garden for 2012.  I have never seen true 5 and 6-way branching in my garden before (Michigan or Illinois) and this one had it in spades. Registered as an evergreen, it is not phased by cold winters in my experience.  Although it comes from two parents that have not done well for me despite several tries, this daylily is amazing.   

Click here to read a haiku about pink.  And here for more pink.

And click here for another post on pink.

2013 has some wonderful things in store for this little place in the blogosphere, and I hope you will continue on this journey with me.  Thanks for sticking with me 4 years and hundreds of stories!

Region 11 Summer Meeting - 2012 | Daylily Haiku Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I live inside the gazing ball - looking out at everyone else's straightened life while mine is a swirl of tilted views and skewed landscapes.   I'm visiting Michigan this week for work, a place that was my home for the almost 13 years, and my brain is struggling to remember what it was like to live here.  

There I am on the surface of this gazing ball, Auntie Em- and we ARE IN KANSAS!

In June I was invited to attend the Region 11 Summer Meeting on the Missouri/Kansas border. I was very excited to attend and help them with their auction.  I also have seen very few daylily gardens west of St Louis, so it was looking to be an exciting trip.  

One of the two great gardens I was able to see on their tour was the home garden of the Hart's (Lois Hart- Region 11's treasurer and director-elect.)  Their "Thin Wallet Ranch" reflected their fun and casual aura.  Even the name cracks me up!  I can totally relate.  We deboarded the bus and enjoyed a long walk up their long, shaded driveway.  Neat art projects dotted the way until we reached the end and the garden spilled out before us.  Lois had the daylilies from Region 11 hybridizers prominently marked and I saw many that I immediately needed to add to my wish list.  A star performer in two gardens I saw was H. 'Catspaw Sunrise Sunset', shown in the first photo below.  It was the clump award winner for their meeting and I understand why.  In the two gardens I saw it in, the clumps were LOADED with well-branched and heavily-budded scapes.  The little flowers were perfectly formed.  I will certainly be seeking this one out in the spring.

Here is the registration information: Catspaw Sunrise Sunset (Plahn-D., 2007) height 20", bloom 3.5", season MLa, Dormant, Diploid, 28 buds, 3 branches,  Red yellow bitone above green throat. (Siloam Paul Watts × Spell Fire)  I think there are some neat hybridizing opportunities here.

H. 'Catspaw Sunrise Sunset' and H. 'Color Me There' (a R2 hybridizer)

  

 H. 'Music Please' and H. 'Raj' 

Lois' sense of humor was found in many of the art pieces accenting the garden.  Their house loomed above these art glass spikes; the dreamy, full wrap-around porch overlooking all this beauty.  

shining in the light

stretching to find a sparkle

in the summer sun

I love glass in the garden. Something about the refinement of glittering glass outside screams confident whimsy.  

In my own garden, I have featured a glass collection.  This collection is on my patio and is partially protected from the open elements by two house walls.

I have been collecting this type of glass for about 20 years; I always seem to find another piece in a random roadside flea market - and rarely have I seen two alike.  I like the way they defy the ruggedness of the garden and bring the inside out in a fun way.  Many were broken in the move last year, and I gave many away before I packed my favorites.  This is all that remains of my collection now.  I took this picture this morning.  Sometimes I fill them with water and put different blooms in them each day during the bloom season.  Some are filled with marbles from my dad's childhood and others hold tiny bog plants not afraid of a little soaking.  They are fun, colorful, and like Lois' garden, they add a bit of happiness to my green days outside. One of the first thing first-time visitors ask about the glass is "do you leave that outside all year?!"  And the answer is no.  I bring it in after Thanksgiving and put it out sometime in March and I have never lost a single piece to the weather elements like wind, snow or rain.  Like my infamous super ball collection, friends have taken to picking these up for me when they find them on the road.  Im happy to reimburse them when they present me with the cool finds!!

But, I digress.  Back to Lois'...  

This is a double from Kropf...H. 'Scarlet Marie.'  I love the infusion of color.  I traded for a big clump of this one, so next year I will enjoy it in my own garden.

And this is a shot of the cool garden railroad set up on one of her patios.  I got some background on the pieces and just had a hoot learning more about it.  Look at those cars.  They are "bug themed" and perfect for a garden train adventure.  I bet if my son saw this he would immediately want one in our own yard.  Maybe that is a thought...Lois' husband said he had a hard time finding all these matching cars, but I have never been one to back down from an internet shopping scavenger hunt!  ebay and etsy here I come!

The garden was on all four sides of their house, anchored in the middle by the pool.  I love the long beds, easily accessed from both sides.

You can see in this picture below where she has marked all the Region 11 hybridizers with blue flags.  It was a treat to see them featured.

There were so many stunning views in her garden - even in the shade I found some great pictures!

The bus boarded and we were off to find more treasures along the Kansas/Missouri central border! 

I just love the colors of the midwest...