Crickets, katydids and croaking... | Daylily Blog about this time of year.

<posted August 28, 2014>  ::   I feel my fingernails digging into the last days of Summer, begging for it to stay just a few more weeks.   The air is filled with crickets, katydids, croaking and face-melting humidity.  Gotta love the Midwest.

The swallowtails are everywhere.  That is one in the photo above, enjoying some of the 'Milk Shake' echinacea.  So many kinds of swallowtail and echinacea!  I never get bored.

The monarchs are finally here, too, feasting on the bronze fennel and butterfly weed that has taken over a large corner of an island.  Today I noticed one skinny caterpillar and one single chrysalis.  They flock around this planting in the morning, when the dew is still seen on the ferny black fennel fronds and then return again just before the night falls.  I am so glad to see them here as they evoke many memories for me, all of them colorful and happy.

The frogs and toads are plentiful, too.  Only two snake sightings this year - ew.  Hummingbirds are crazy- eating everything but the nectar from the feeders.  I keep it fresh, yet they do not eat from it; they prefer the butterfly bushes, climbing mandevillas and the cosmos.  Silly things.  They joust at the big blooms from the hardy mallow, but I never see them land.  So funny.  The best hummingbird happening this year was in early June when I was misting some hanging ferns.  There was a distance of maybe 20 feet of mist between me and the ferns.  After a few minutes one hummingbird flew into the mist and hovered.  Then another.  Then a third.  They flitted in and out of the mist, chirping and darting and freaking out my husband.  He was watching from the deck and couldn't believe their dance!   (he's gotta get out more.)

Did you hear that Joe Goudeau is back in the game with some great 2014 intros?  I finally got my hands on his GREEN EGGS AND HAM!  I have this 'thing' for Louisiana daylilies.  I am especially looking forward to WHIPPED CREAM AND STRAWBERRIES, which I just got at the R11 Summer Meeting.  

Here are two of his older ones that I just want to eat:

CHA CHING and BARE NECESSITIES from Joe Goudeau, growing in
my Illinois garden last summer.

I also forgot that I added PINK FREEZE last year, but the large clump that bloomed this year obviously didn't forget me.  Planted as three small fans last fall, its now 5 HUGE ones. Here it is blooming this year.

Nicole DeVito, the hybridizer of PINK FREEZE is coming to speak in St Louis on September 19.  Everyone is welcome to attend the presentation, followed by a short auction of her introductions and the clubs return plants.  

I also grow many of Nicole's other introductions. I added GOLDEN TICKET and LIKE A DREAM this year.  Maybe I'll grab more when she comes next month.  

I'm sure you remember how much I like her BULLETPROOF.

Daylilies are, as many testify, just as much about the people as they are the plant.  Seriously.  How many of you have ALL the introductions by certain hybridizers because you love the PERSON who introduced them?  The work is reflective and inclusive of the effort.  Even when I'm alone in my garden, I am surrounded by friends and memories; I want to make sure those memories are the ones worth remembering.

Here is an ugly people-story I could not NOT share.  Recently, I had a completely unnecessary and unkind exchange with a well-known auction seller. The first of its kind after LOTS of years on this fab site. When my purchase was complete (I held up my commitment to buy from them even after the terrible attitude) and their new introductions arrived, they promptly went in the trash.  

Yes, I know that doesn't hurt anyone but me and my wallet in the short term, but I made my own silent statement by doing so.  I couldn't stand to think of walking past those plants in the garden and remembering the mean-spirited exchange that happened during the transaction.  So I threw them out.  And then I didn't have a problem digging up and selling off the other plants introduced by said Nasty McNastypants.  Not my circus.  Not my monkeys.   

Til next time - be nice y'all.  It's suuuure easier. 

summer always ends where it starts | Daylily Blog

<posted August 20, 2014> 

Oh, good.  You’re here.  I thought maybe we had both forgotten where "here" was.  I am glad we didn't.

This summer was the best daylily summer ever – let’s just get that out of the way.  I have posted at least 100 blogs in my mind as the adventures unfolded, but just never connected brain to keyboard.  Almost 90 straight days of self-absorbed gardening, trying for the first time in years to spend more of summertime in my own garden than in others.  

I toyed with the chronology for my return to blogging, finally deciding to tell tales of what happened at the beginning of this growing season, working toward the end of summer as fall descends.  Nights are already getting longer, and the sunsets fall more quickly these days.  

70 long, sun kissed days ago, my official gardening season kicked off with the Oakland County Master Gardeners travelling by bus from Michigan to visit my Illinois garden.  It was a weird happening, really, since my daylily-centric garden had ZERO daylilies blooming when they visited on June 5.  But, the 60 of them thoroughly enjoyed the home cooked dinner and the informal lecture about daylilies.  People oozed everywhere in the garden, peeking here, leering there – asking, commenting, touching, smelling, smiling and laughing.  

Here's what things looked like before the bus showed up at 5pm.  

They bought plants, talked to my mom, met my local friends who were here to support me, and were entertained by my gentleman son.  My husband was even here, shaking hands and retelling stories he had heard me tell over the years.  (He really does listen.  Gush.)

When the people deboarded, I had iced cloths ready for them to use to "wipe off the ride." Since they had been on that bus all day, I thought it would be refreshing to clean their hands and face with a citrus-scented wet towel.  See it there by the bus door above?  

This is what it looked like up close.

Small touches of welcome are dotted throughout my garden; it is fairly small in size and so I try to make the most of every square inch.  I have to keep the visitors attention for the whole visit...

This has been my favorite spot to star gaze this year.  The lower patio is where the disco ball is, too, so you know there are always hi-jinks afoot in this area.  Remember, these photos are from June 5...seems like forever ago.

One of the visitors said, 

"I'm having such a great time.  It's like visiting a favorite far-away cousin's house I don't get to visit often enough."  

I thought that was very sweet.  It's how I felt, too.

Anyhoo, the summer always ends where it starts.  With anticipation, with plans, with intentions and hopefully with an iced wheelbarrow of beer - as seen above.  2014 was no different. 

I anticipated these visitors for over a year.  A charter bus of eager friends-to-be in my garden.  Having their visit planned for so early in the season, May was spent furiously polishing every aspect: pulling weeds, edging beds, laying mulch, potting containers, prepping water features…the stuff you would normally do over the course of a season was done almost before the first scape stretched toward the sky.  Looking back on it now, the few all-nighters and countless gallons of sweat were a cheap price to pay for being really ready for the season so early.  But, we will get to the rest of the season later…

I read somewhere that summer always folds in on itself; its end in its beginning.  I am happy to be ready to enjoy the beginning again.

Til next time - here is Daylily Haiku Thursday a bit early this week.  

You can also connect with me on Facebook here for more frequent tales from the dirt.