<posted November 21, 2013> The last time I checked the calendar it was September 5. I see that someone has arranged for Thanksgiving to be next week. Awesome.
Sometimes when I get overwhelmed, its easier to get quiet and just marinate in what is going on around me. I think that's what happened at the beginning of September. I was overwhelmed with finding new tenants for our rental property, putting my own garden to bed, and embarking on the busiest travel streak for speaking I have had in a long time. Since we last spoke, I visited Atlanta (twice), Raleigh, Indiana, Minneapolis, Detroit (twice), Toledo, and worked at a very busy Plant Sale in St Louis.
I thought about the speeding seasons while working in the garden yesterday (yep - yesterday.) I came in and grabbed a few of my favorites just to let you in on some cherished moments from the last few months.
First, in June Region 2 had its summer meeting in the Dayton/Cincy area and I worked at Pretty Petals Gardens for the auxiliary tours - digging/washing plants and hugging visitors when they arrived. My Mimosas were a hit and so were these overalls I bought at the Region 11 Summer meeting in Tulsa this June!
Heidi Douglas and I shared a few quiet moments on a swing in Bobbie Gratz' awesome garden. This was a special visit because we to see Bobbie's champion dogs, their award winning hosta collection and many other thoughtfully laid out gardens on their property. There are so many pics of this event I plan to share in upcoming winter blogs...
Martin Kamensky won the Howard Hite Award for Hybridizing Excellence in Region 2 and I was honored to present him with the award in person at the regional awards banquet. It was a touching moment; I am proud to know such a kind, generous soul. After 30 years hybridizing daylilies, Martin knows the secret to a lasting program is patience and people. I treasure his SHY PIROUETTE, LEMON SOUFFLE, CHEERFUL EYES and PICTOEE MAGIC in my own collection. They are standouts and if you can get your hands on any of them for your own gardens, you should. Here we are sharing a laugh and a cry over his achievement.
In September my "home" club - the Greater St Louis Daylily Society had its annual sale at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It was two great days of reaching out to the community and sharing our fun with daylilies. I gave away several AHS memberships and plants and shared lots of printed material for passersby on the Education/Welcome table. Michael Bouman was there as a personal shopper extraordinaire! I was inspired!
I also bought way too many plants. (again) Buuuut, who can pass up LITTLE BLUE ANGEL, LARRY'S OBSESSION, SYMPHONY OF PRAISE, and MANDARIN CREME for $5-$10 each? Not this gal. To be fair, I took several fans of MARGO REED INDEED, DYNA GIRL and SPECIAL CANDY to share with others.
I traveled to Toledo (via Detroit and a quick tea with my bestie Nicole) and got to visit the Black Swamp Daylily Society. They are a multi-plant group that do a very interesting and successful daylily "expo" each year to educate their public on the daylily. Is your club going to try to do a public display in 2014? You should. :)
A highlight of my year was attending the AHS Board of Directors meeting in Atlanta- officially being named the incoming Director for our region and being able to stay over after the meeting to hear Tim Herrington and see Michael Hines and Claude Carpenter and the Waldrops and the Bishops and the Arthurs and Joanne Stewart and Judie Branson and Nan Ripley and Kyle Billadeau and the Kirbys and so many more dear heartbeats. And go back to my favorite restaurant in the universe, The Spence, and share a luscious moment over roasted bone marrow. I love Georgia.
Here is Tim in a screaming green shirt to complement his program on "Pursuing Green" in daylilies. I have said it before and I will continue to blab on about what a stellar guy he is and what amazing daylilies he introduces. If you have not seen his 2014 offerings, you need to visit here and commence drooling.
(HALLOWEEN GREEN and BANANA CREAM CUPCAKE)
(HONEY CRUNCH CUPCAKE and ONE EYED WILLIE)
I saw his RHAPSODY IN GREEN at a show in Atlanta this year and it was just plain unearthly. Here is my pic of it at that show. Wild, huh? I have asked Santa for this one...
Anyhoo, I also got to spend a bit of time with Dan Hansen of Ladybug Daylilies in Geneva, Florida. He came as a speaker to the Greater St Louis Daylily Society and gave a great presentation. Using video as his "background" he narrates three videos and lets the flowers in the field speak for themselves. It was refreshing, and I'll be looking in to doing this for a few of my presentations in 2014. Here we are with Theresa Roth - she's one of my favorite Illinois gardeners and she is head-to-toe fab.
I also flew to Minneapolis in late October for the Daylily Society of Minnesota's Fall meeting. I had to pinch myself as I sat in Karol Emmerich's basement theatre looking at slides of her futures and listening to her narrate their merits. They always meet the night before their big meeting to chat and share slides. The next day I was honored to share the podium with Stacy Swain to present to their fall meeting. Stacy is a pattern aficionado, and her presentation was full of great eye candy and thoughtful challenges.
A bonus to their meeting is the location. It is held in one of the coolest one-stop gardening mecca-stores I have ever visited. Bachman's. You could brunch there on hearty quiche, shop for garden art, or get lost in a very large miniature department (which Kyle Billadeau and I did together. It was so fun to shop with someone who enjoys it with as much abandon as much as I do.) They have wonderful corporate meeting space, ballroom and displays. What a treat! (TSA certainly didn't appreciate all the bags of fairy plants I delicately carried on the plane. )
November showed up and the St. Louis group had their year-end banquet and we were treated to the presentation of Josh Jaques from Bayou Bend Daylilies in Woodworth, Louisiana. His BAD MEDICINE is on my list, and will certainly do as well as his BIG CANE and SUNSET GRILL have done here. Josh had the pleasure of having me pick him up at his hotel and take him to the banquet. We got there eventually. And, overall, mostly in one piece. He is a gem of a guy who is standing on the shoulders of some daylily greats and doing daylilies his own way. They sure know how to do daylilies in Louisiana.
God, that was a lot of travelling.
I gave a lot, but I got a ton of soul-replenishment in return.
Laughing with Paul Owen in a roadside Wendy's...
Sharing a champagne toast with Kimberly McCutcheon in her garden...
Cussing and discussing with Dan Hansen...
But, this view of my own garden when I came home from all those daylily-related trips?
The best.
P.S. This week's haiku features Kimberly McCutcheon's H. 'Starry Eyed Piranha.' The coloration and crimped edge sets it off in the garden. It's tall and sunfast. I saw that Kimberly recently released her 2014 introductions and while looking at those I was prompted to go to my digital photo files to see what else of hers I grow. She is really racking up some field cred. Her H. 'Royal Lavender Star' won a show out east this past summer. The seedling that won in a 2013 Michigan show is now registered as H. 'Beautifully Broken' - a name close to my heart.
1 comments:
Love the pictures specially your own garden with the beautiful flower beds. Thank you for sharing!
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