What brought me JOY in 2013 | Daylily Blog

An adorable friend posed a question on a daylily-centric email robin today. She asked, 

"What brought you JOY in your daylily garden last season?"

I thought this was such a fun question and it made my brain feel good to think about it.  This is H. 'Carolina Pink Pinwheel' by Gene Tanner at Browns Ferry Gardens.  It was certainly one of my first thoughts when I thought about joy.

This topic is right on time, Kathleen.  (who, if you don’t know her, EXUDES joy!)  See her gardens here.

The most-influential daylily that comes to mind when I think of 2013 summer joy is GOD SAVE THE QUEEN from Mort Morss.  So much going on in that daylily.  It is so photogenic and puts on a display like no other modern cultivar that I grow.  

Some days I would just walk by the clump and shake my head at its awesomeness.  The height, the color saturation, the teeth, the eyezone, the size of the bloom, the strength of the scape.  Man.  LOTS of positives.

The near-equal runner up for materializing my summer joy is TRUFFLES MILANESE by David Kirchhoff.  Insane substance, enormous bloom size, color tone, fragrance...super joy!  Here it is:

I have mentioned this daylily about a bazillion times since it bloomed last July.  I just counted 24 "keeper" photos of it in my 2014 files.  If you don’t think you like doubles, or don’t have one of David's modern truffles - invest in this one. It adds a dimension to the garden that most other doubles don’t.  It is clearly a double and makes no apologies for its "extra."  It was 100% double, with more buds than advertised.

The extra joy in these two cultivars is that they are both dependable. Consistent.  None of that waiting for a good hair day kind of stuff that so often comes with new and hyped daylilies.  You know what I mean, right? The new cultivar you buy that has 8 buds and 6 of those open marred somehow and you just happen to be at regional the two days it blooms nicely?  

Yeah, those.  Ahem.

I don’t have that problem with these two cultivars.  Every day (and lots of them) the blooms and bouquet are amazing.

Daylily World gets the stable ribbons for MOST JOY in my 2013 season.  WIN and PLACE.  Thanks, David and Mort.

Here are some of my Honorable Mentions:

H. 'Godiva Jam' by Judith Weston

H. 'Margo Reed Indeed' by Jim Murphy

H. 'Dragon Fang' by Jamie Gossard

H. 'Balloons Rising by Megan Skinner

These are daylilies that brought me joy in my 2013 season.  They are shining examples in a large collection of also-awesome daylily specimens.  Thank you to all the hybridizers who strive to bring JOY to the world.  You can bet the flowers you produce all have a little piece of you in them!