Glamourous Seating Areas | Daylily Haiku Thursday

<posted 8/29/2013> I have been thinking a lot about "garden seating" lately. As my garden grows, so do the number of visitors during bloom season.  This year it was about 150 spread out across June and July- some friends and some strangers who have now become friends.  

People just don't want to stand or walk around gardens.  The best conversations happen on garden benches all over the world every day in the summer.  I have two large seating areas off the back of my house, that provide seating for 15 if necessary for a BBQ or a midnight fire.  But, if we want to be out among the plants and gardens, there is nowhere substantial to sit.  Yet.

So, as I ponder what the perfect in-garden seating will be for us, here are some shots of great seating areas I have encountered across the country touring daylily gardens.

Seating areas in Oklahoma and Ohio - one extreme to the next, yet both scenes would make for a nice gathering.  I love the red and blue combination above. 

Seating areas should also provide the sitters with "something to do" like in the photo above.  Tim Bell's garden in Georgia shows off scapes of seedlings for their visitors in the picnic area.

Below. the swings and wind chimes provide for great movement on this pergola, also in Georgia.

This spot above, in Louisiana, was walled in on one side by an aviary - and provided shade and movement for the garden passerby.  

Below, also in Louisiana, a large shaded area with circular seating gives the guests great positioning to chat and laugh in the garden!  (P.S.  Always have a garden trash can.  I think I'm going to go into the "paint the galvanized trash can in spunky ways to sell to gardeners" business, FYI)

The above gardeners really have an eye for garden seating.  This "pink" scene below is in the same garden.  The choice to match the mass container plantings to the punchy seating was smart.  There was a very playful vibe here.  I have great memories from this visit.

Cooler climates in Ohio showed us lush green growth near pond seating. These seating arrangements below were picture-perfect.

And most of the time I take advantage of the seats.  If for no other reason but to enjoy what the gardener has provided for my visit.  I always get a great view, and more ideas for possible seating in my own garden.

Here I am across the country enjoying garden seating...

So my planning continues on what to do for in-garden seating away from the house.  Colorful, playful, neutral, functional, fun, statement, durable...all things to consider...

Pinterest isn't helping any.

Daylily Haiku Thursday | Feeling Emotion

<posted August 22, 2013>  This is H. 'Spacecoast Dark Obsession.'  It is so breathtaking - the dark shades really evoke some emotion to the passerby.  Do you grow this one?  I used to, until a trade coaxed it out of my collection last summer.  I really enjoyed it when I grew it.

Did you see the post yesterday about my new daylily introductions?  You can see it again here!  It is a big announcement and I need your help, so I hope you check it out.  Many folks have already placed their orders and they go out on Monday!  There are still a few left if you want in on these limited introductions for a great cause.  This money is not going into my pocket, friends, it's going to feed hungry kids in my own community!  :)

Click the banner below to read the story and find out how you can help!

Special 2013 Daylily Introductions | Having a Purpose!

<posted August 21, 2013>
On the left is a photo of one of the raised beds filled with my seedlings.  These are daylilies that I have sprouted from seed and grown into adult plants.

I make and sprout just a few hundred seeds each year - it's a super small operation- and I am excited to announce that two introductions for 2013 are here - two daylily introductions that are hopefully going to make a difference this school year for kids in Worden, Illinois!

Last year, you might remember I introduced H.'Blessings In A Backpack' to benefit an organization that makes sure our elementary school kids eat on the weekends and maintain their self esteem along the way.  (The daylily sold out quickly and we fed 15 kids for the 2012-13 school year with the sales from that one daylily!) 

My ultimate goal was not to just donate to a faceless charity helping kids somewhere else, but to raise money to affect my own little village of 900.  

Here is your chance to help again this year!  UPDATE:  As of Friday, August 23, both selections are sold out!  From my heart, thank you.

Worden Elementary (where we have just started 3rd grade) is working to establish a "backpack" program via Blessings In A Backpack right now!  Letters are written, proposals are pending and yet kids are still hungry.  In our school of 300, about 60 need weekend help.  I want these daylilies to help raise the minimum $5,000 needed to start our program. I need your help.  

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.  

Wanna help?  You can by purchasing one or both of the below plants!  UPDATE:  As of Friday, August 23, both selections are sold out!  From my heart, thank you.

This gal came from seed made by Bobbie Brooks many, many years ago.  I bought these seeds maybe seven years ago from her at the Region 2 Winter Symposium and bloomed it the following summer.  It is from Valente / Stamile breeding and has been a happy face in my garden since its first season.  (The registration is pending with the AHS Registrar at this time and should be complete within the next 30 days.)

I tried to abuse it.  I tried to kill it.  I put different divisions in shade, in hot sun and in awesome soil.  On the left, below, is a triple fan blooming in a neglected pot behind my dad's garage.  On the right, below, is it blooming in the best soil in my garden.

At 4:30pm on a 90 degree day in full sun, it looks like the below left shot.  And there is a shot of its scape, buds and branching on the below right.

If you're interested in growing this one in your garden, use one of the methods to purchase it at the end of this post.  I'm only releasing 5 divisions (triple fans) at this time.  Act Fast!

And now, here's your second opportunity to help feed kids:  UPDATE:  As of Friday, August 23, both selections are sold out!  From my heart, thank you.

I've loved this dark and brooding gentleman since I first saw it years ago.  It is moody and mysterious and holds on tight to its color all day - much like I grip the vivid memories of my college-age adventures on Singer Island.  His sepals twist and fall like the angry midnight waves of the Atlantic and the form is always enjoyable.

The scapes, seen in the below left photo, are very tall and the blooms dance well above the foliage (which stays a nice, clean green all season.)  It shows in the small flower section of the show, which is a plus for a flower of this color.  Most of the small sections I see are full of pastels and light colored things- this one stands out in the genre.

Like H. 'Lime Salted Love,' I'm only releasing 5 divisions (triple fans) at this time. 

Of all the new, cutting edge, fancy, huge, super daylilies available, why did I select these two plants?

1.  They are both great garden plants, which means they are good if you grow one daylily or 500 - these clump nicely and have symmetrical all-around characteristics that add nice balance as a specimen in any garden.

2.  They are proven in Michigan winters and Texas summers, putting on a "bouquet show" each day.

3. Both bloom mid to late season when other colorful things are winding down.

4.  Both hold very well in hot, full sun with little color or substance loss.

5.  They have both received blue or purple ribbons in AHS-accredited daylily shows, which means a panel of trained judges have seen merit in these daylilies as show exhibits.

These two daylilies are ready to ship.  Each division is at least two, large, blooming size fans.  In most cases, the line outs (done in fall of 2012) are triple fans.  They are not recently divided plants.

One purchased daylily = one happy kid!

4 ways to get your daylily (or two):  UPDATE:  As of Friday, August 23, both selections are sold out!  From my heart, thank you.

It only takes $80 to feed a single child through this program for the whole school year, so these daylilies are priced at $80ea + $10 shipping.  

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

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

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

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

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

I hope you can help me help them.  UPDATE:  As of Friday, August 23, both selections are sold out!  From my heart, thank you.  Although I am sold out of the daylilies, you can still donate to Blessings In A Backpack or the Worden PTO directly if you are so moved.  Email me for more info if desired.

It's important.

Change is good. | Daylily Haiku Thursday

<posted August 16, 2013> Two years ago this month we bought this house. The gardens began from a blank canvas of terrible fill dirt.  Let’s just say I broke two tillers trying to till the ground.  (all while fighting pneumonia...the things we do for daylilies!)

Plan B necessary.  Go UP, and not DOWN.

Raised beds...for all these potted plants that came with me from Michigan in August of 2011.  Two people (one from Long Island and one from southern Illinois) have asked me recently how I deal with the Illinois clay, so that inspired me to show the transformation here for anyone else interested in my bed-building adventures.

I called in trucks of topsoil,

Then I called in trucks of compost, and I added 400 lbs of Milorganite over the top of THAT.  Then, I tilled it all together.  And that time I didn't break any tillers, thankyouverymuch.

Check out the next photo to see what this area looks like now!

The result is an imported, raised garden with the drainage it needs to thrive.

I started with a blank slate, as our house was just being built, so I was able to start my gardens from scratch.  (Lucky me!)  I'll most likely never have the opportunity in my lifetime to start from scratch so completely, so I tried to do it right the first time.

Look at the next photo...this is what the area shown above looks like now after two full summers. There are 210 daylilies in this bed at last count, punctuated with hardy hibiscus, autumn joy sedum, lilium, prarie grasses, burning bushes, ninebark, wormwood, shasta daisies, echinacea, sage, and...and...and...!

As I type, a sod cutter, tiller and truckloads of soil are poised and ready for action next week.  A new island bed is coming this fall (construction starts Monday when my husband goes out of town, LOL!!) - just the place to showcase the 60+ daylilies and other cool perennials I have procured this summer.  The process starts again...more metamorphosis.

LATE BLOOMERS:

There are some cultivars in the garden now that are really putting on a show. I don't have the heart to tell them that its almost September.  Here are a few that are causing a stir in the late garden:

THELMA DOUGLAS from Charles Douglas of Browns Ferry Gardens - It is late, full, bright and fancy; not too many daylilies that bloom this late have this many bells and whistles in my garden (or in many I have visited.)  They are having a 60% off sale - I'm just sayin'...

ART IN MOTION from Nicole DeVito of Nicole's Daylilies - Three sets of scapes after being planted this spring on an early arrival from Florida puts this one on the map for me!  The reblooms are just as beautiful as the first set.  I cannot wait to see what this one does once established.  I am thrilled to say that I got her JANET AND BILL, BELIGHTFUL and HEARTBREAKER ALEX at an auction here in Illinois recently.  Go, me.

SOFT HEARTED MOTHER from the awesome Paul Owen of Slightly Different Nursery- Very long bloom season, and thick substance!  The pattern is very distinct in color and behavior and always blooms perfectly formed.

Why I Continue To Blog | Daylily Haiku Thursday

<posted August 8, 2013>  The daylily in this week's Haiku Thursday is H. 'The Blue Parrot' by Dan Trimmer.  It is registered as 25" tall with a 6.5" bloom.

I saw this one for the first time in Valdosta, Georgia a few years ago and almost gasped out loud at the sight of it.  Such a glowing, neon purple.  So vivid.  So real.  So fabulous.  I bought it and planted it in a hot spot in my garden and this year it was a great performer.

The garden is winding down here; rebloom scapes are putting on a second show and I am enjoying it very much.  I have more rebloom this year than I ever have had in any garden I have owned.  Yesterday I counted 22 cultivars with substantial rebloom scapes.  I'm thrilled- most thrilled with the second scapes of H. 'Betty Harwood', H. 'A Thousand Sweet Kisses', H. 'A Force to be Reckoned With', and H. 'Art In Motion.'  

Here is what was blooming in the garden last Saturday.  I took this tray of blooms to the daylily sale in Springfield, Illinois and it was quite a hit.

I am also thrilled with the late season stunner, H. 'Thelma Douglas' from Browns Ferry Gardens.  This late in the season, it is rare to have something as fancy as H. 'Thelma Douglas' blooming in the garden.  There are about 20 buds left on each of the many scapes this plant has sent up for me to enjoy, so I have at least another week or two of this gorgeousness. 

This one is named for Charles' mother, and if you don't grow it, you should consider it for your late season garden.  Check out Browns Ferry Gardens website, they are having a massive markdown sale right now...

Something that is on my mind today is the thought that many people recently have asked why I continue to blog. 

“Why not just Facebook or Twitter?” 

“It’s so much easier to tweet.  Why blog?”

Aside from the known facts that blogs are free and are more highly-rated as "fresh content" with search engines, each time I blog, in my mind I am starting a conversation at a party with hundreds of my closest friends who are interested in what’s going on in my place in space. 

Why not JUST Facebook or Twitter?  Well, Facebook gives me an instant place to share quick thoughts and jump in on a passing conversation, and I am very active in a few daylily-specific groups like the AHS page and the Daylilies page, but it is too fast for gently massaging one topic for a day or two.

Twitter moves way too fast for my style and my purpose.  Plus, I don’t like the words “hash tag” or the number 140.

The blog allows me a place to showcase pictures of my adventures and write an unlimited amount of easily digestible text on the Internet.  

I can start a conversation about daylilies anytime I want to by simply publishing a post.  

From each blog post, I typically get many email responses– each email results in a chain of exchanges about the post, almost always meandering off-topic, sometimes heavenly and sometimes hostile, yet always fulfilling.

H. 'Supermodel' (Gossard 2008)

Just recently I have received quick emails from Adele, Susan, Shelly, Heidi, Jim, Ann, Barbara and Mike as spin offs of something I posted on this blog.  8 conversations.  8 connections that are worth cultivating.

That’s why I blog.  Those connections.  Those conversations.

To talk and share and laugh and let everyone take it in at their own pace.  

Plus, we can all do it in our jammies – which is much less work than real party clothes.  ;)