Oh, 2013! | Last Haiku of the Year

Oh, 2013.  A tradition for me is to do a "changing of the guard" for my wall calendar on New Years Eve.  Regardless This allows me to feed my unhealthy need for Sharpies and organization in the same activity.   Paging back through the ink-stained pages of the 2013 calendar, I feel super-pleased at how the year ended up.  

If this was the last full year I had on the planet, it was a darn good one.  

We continue to be so grateful for the blessings we experienced in the garden, around the garden and because of the garden in 2013.  I shared 38 haiku and over 300 photos this year.  There are another 1200 great photos you haven't even seen yet from 2013.  Wow.

Whether you are a quiet observer of my adventures or an outspoken friend (NO PAM) you are the most awesome part of my adventures and I'm looking forward to sharing another year with you.

In 2014, I'm already scheduled in Nashville, Milwaukee, Virginia, Springfield, St Louis, Asheville, Wisconsin (again!), Michigan and Indiana!  I'm wishing for another healthy and happy year for all of us.

Be nice, y'all.  It's easier.

See you in 2014!

Great Daylilies That No One Is Talking (loudly enough) About...

<posted December 19, 2013> I don't pretend to know what the right daylilies are, but I do know of several daylilies I grow that aren't widely grown or widely chatted about on various public forums.  But they should be.

I think of them as hidden treasures in my collection.

One of them is today's haiku picture and it is H. 'Empire of Desire' by Richard Norris of Ashwood Daylilies.  It is a HUGE bloom on tall scapes that really has a lot of different points of distinction.  Of the many yellow-daylilies-with-relief-sculpting-and-green-throats registered today, this one is top of my list.  Let's start at its core - the bright lime green throat, representing the jealous "heart" of this empire.  The deep carving, casting shadows on the wide, supple petals, heavy presence...the ironic, innocent-white edges...you get my drift (a la Fifty Shades of the Daylily!)  

That's how it goes in my garden.  

I don't grow a single daylily that doesn't have a story.  It comes from someone special or its hybridized by someone I admire or I first experienced it somewhere memorable or it carries the name of a memory I want to often revisit...a real connection.  My friends who aren't gardeners like to walk the garden with me to just hear the tales of the plants that live here.  It's a living scrapbook.

That's how it is with most daylily gardeners.  We connect our gardens to our inside lives, to our other lives, to the lives we once led or the ones we are destined to live someday.

I thought I would show you some other photos of daylilies I think are worth a try.  These are daylilies with special distinction.  Some connection.  

Another one from Richard Norris' H. 'Remembered Kisses.'

This daylily feels masculine.  Its strong and purposeful always has just the right amount of motion to make it stand out above others in this genre.  The raspberry-red edge is consistent and interesting.  The feathered edge of the eye zone provides even more interest on those vanilla segments.  I love the interplay of colors in the throat of this daylily, too.

On what other plants in your garden can you use such adjectives!? 

Visit Richard's website, see his 2014 introductions!  If you want a list of other recommendations from him, let me know.  Seriously! 

Here is H. 'Texas Beautiful Bouquet', hybridized by Josie Bomar and registered in 2007.  It is a DORMANT plant, which is good for my mild climate and for gardeners in warm and cold climates. 

The magical swirl of color in this bloom gets me every time.  It has classic pie-crust edges and unbeatable substance.  Another huge point of distinction for this one is its FRAGRANCE.  Its mesmerizing.  The buds also start to open the previous day, so you get this nice ballet as the buds crack open.  You can see that in the below picture.  And the bud count is not to shabby, either (its higher than its registration data reports.)  I love this plant.

Then there is H. 'Tornado Chaser' (seen below.)  I love the long petals that allow for great color and movement.  Look at those curls!  The color of the lavender band breaks just where the petal cannot stretch anymore and is forced into a spiral of curls.  It is never unwieldy and it is always beautiful. Kimberly has some gem daylilies.  One of the daylily clubs I belong to is placing an order for her 2014 collection for our club auction.  I cant wait to see what she sends along a bonuses - she's always generous with club orders.

The green throat stays all day, and I enjoy that very much.  It is planted right next to my own introduction, H.'A Thousand Sweet Kisses.'  These two blooms below are having a conversation in the garden on a rainy day.  I wish it were me and Kimberly instead of just our two introductions!  Check us out...

I can't count how many times I have said the two words 'Truffles Milanese' this year.  It was probably the most talked-about daylily in my garden.  This picture says it all.

It is clear, clean, erect, strong, consistent and it smells reaaaaally good.  (I'd insert the easy pun here, but I'm afraid it wouldn't pass the censors.)  

I sold out of it this year to visitors alone.  Some blooms were over 8".  By the end of bloom season I would walk by it and just shake my head. Ridiculously amazing.  You need to call David Kirchhoff right now and order that one.  

The next hidden treasure is Herbie Phelps' H. 'Unforgettable Wonder.'  Herbie sent this to me years ago in a trade for H. 'Matchless Fire.'  What a great trade!  This one has a saffron-colored base that is very appealing among yellows.  I love the ultra-crimped edges.  If you get really close, you can see a gorgeous gold filigree sewn into the edge.

Another double I could not get enough of this summer was H. 'Cockspur,' - seen below and registered by Missouri's own Bob Tankesley-Clarke.  

My fab BFF Nicole in Michigan gifted this to me years ago.  She always knows what I will like; she has a sense of crazy in her taste, too.  I love the veining. This bloom pulsates with color (especially the bright yellow throat) and it stands very tall in the garden.  It also bloomed 100% double, which means each bloom that opened was double. Not all daylily who say they are double do that, sometimes they misfire and only show one layer of petaloids...

So, with Christmas and New Year's approaching, you should search out one or more of these cultivars for your own collection or to gift to someone else so they can add something to their "living scrapbook" with memories of YOU!

I still haven't decided what will be the one new intro I buy for myself this Christmas season....stay tuned!

Busy Time with Busy Minds | Daylily Haiku Thursday

<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.  

I would recommend the following eight cultivars from Herrington Gardens - Proven in Illinois and Michigan are HATS OFF TO SUE, EVERYBODY LOVES EARNEST, ONE EYED WILLIE, HONEY CRUNCH CUPCAKE, PEACH CUPCAKE, BANANA CREAM CUPCAKE, HALLOWEEN GREEN, HANSEL AND GRETEL (IMHO better than the amazing DOROTHY AND TOTO.)

(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.  

Remember my trip to her farm with Carter earlier this summer?

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.  

Check them out here!

2013 Don C. Stevens Award Candidates- In My Garden | Daylily Haiku Thursday

<posted September 5, 2013>  This is H. 'Kennesaw Horizon' showing off some rebloom awesomeness.  I love Waldrop daylilies - just sayin'.

I've just sent in my ballot for the 2013 daylily awards through the American Hemerocallis Society.  AHS Garden Judges vote on a very large ballot of cultivars for many awards each year. It's a cool privilege to be on the list of people who get to vote on the society's highest cultivar awards.

One of the many available "specialty" awards is the Don C. Stevens Award, which recognizes

"boldly eyed or banded daylilies" 

as observed in the voter's own region or in AHS National Tour Gardens. Judges can select from the provided list of hybridizer-nominated cultivars, or can write in their own choice for a winner.  

How does one become a Garden Judge and earn the right to vote?  Click here.

If you are an AHS member, you can log into the Portal and see the 2013 Ballot here.

This year, of the 22 listed for the Don C. Stevens award, I grow 9 in my own garden.  Here are past winners of this award.  Click here.  

As I look through this list of historical winners, I am reminded that I have an unhealthy affinity for boldly eyed and banded daylilies.  I grow a lot of the past winners of the Don C. Stevens Award.  H. 'Jane Trimmer', the 2009 winner, continues to be a star in my collection!  It has a matte texture that I really enjoy.  Here it is showing off this year:

I recognize that some will object to my public commenting on the Garden Judges ballot, but my comments below do not in any way intend to sway your decision one way or another (if you are a GJ, that is.)  Judges are asked to vote on cultivars they have personally observed in their own regions or on a National tour.  My photos do not qualify as having "seen" them.  Consider this an editorial.  A conversation.  Not a campaign.

In no particular order, and only in my personal and emotional opinion, my favorite contenders for the 2013 Don C. Stevens award, as they grow in my Illinois garden are:

GAVIN PETIT 

(Petit, 2004) height 27in (69cm), bloom 6.5in (16.5cm), season M, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid, Fragrant,  Tangerine with black eye and edge above green throat. (Awesome Blossom × (sdlg × Only Believe))

JACKI KROPF

(Morss, 2004) height 28in (71cm), bloom 5.87in (15.0cm), season EM, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid, 27 buds, 3 branches,  Clear yellow with dark plum eye and plum outlined gold edge above yellow to green throat.

SYCAMORE FRUIT PUNCH

(Bell-T., 2008) height 24in (61cm), bloom 5in (12.5cm), season EM, Rebloom, Evergreen, Tetraploid, Fragrant, 20 buds, 3 branches,  Yellow with medium red eye and edge above green throat. (unknown × unknown)

How did I ever choose a winner!?!?    What did I choose?

And does my choice agree with the other garden judges?  

We shall see soon enough - just after the fall board meeting in Atlanta next month.  I'll be there!

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.