DAYLILY Blog | What's making me happy this week? | Daylily Haiku Thursday

<posted November 20, 2014>  The daylily H. 'Spotted Fever' is a really neat one to have in the garden.  It always doubles and has a different face each time. Sometimes its more pink, sometimes darker - but always full and interesting.

Inspired by a regular feature of a favorite podcast, I thought I would share with you some things that are making me happy this week.

1.  The release of the new 'Illustrated Guide to Daylilies' released by the American Hemerocallis Society.  You can order it easily online here or by mail following the directions here.  As its description says, 

Written with the beginning gardener in mind, this is a completely new revision of an old classic, with up-to-date information about all things daylily.  Of particular value are chapters on how to obtain and select plants for growing in your area; when, where, and how to plant; how to prepare your garden, and how to care for your daylilies.   For the novice and the experienced gardener, it is a lavishly illustrated, full-color book, with superb photography submitted by nearly 100 members of the American Hemerocallis Society.  For the first time, there are complete chapters on the Stout Medal winners (1950-2014) and the Lenington All-American recipients (1970-2013), each of the Leningtons now illustrated with a beautiful photograph.  There are chapters dealing with daylily shows and the use of daylilies in arrangements; chapters on pests and diseases, as well as beneficial denizens of the garden.  There is information on how to hybridize and register daylilies, how to photograph them effectively, and how to make use of them as a culinary delight.  There is a brief chapter on companion plants, featuring many of the “Perennial Plants of the Year.”  Having opened with chapters on the history of the daylily, its foliage and flower, the book concludes with a detailed history of the American Hemerocallis Society, a glossary, a bibliography of daylily books, and a complete index.

It boasts 128 pages and 278 illustrations.  I cant wait for my copy to arrive.  I think these are some of the best educational, affordable outreach tools we have in AHS.   And, I might be biased because I was a contributor to the book, but dont let that influence your decision to pick some up for the holidays for your casual daylily-loving friends.

2.  The cool variety of videos about daylilies on YouTube.  Check out these results!  There are interesting videos on germinating and planting seed, some on cooking Daylily Fritters and others on dividing and planting.  Some (and by some I mean most) were not created by AHS members.  I wonder if these enthusiasts know about AHS?  This was a fun 10 minutes.

3.  Spontaneous emails from faraway friends.  Twice this week an email popped into my inbox from unexpected senders.  Both were full of quiet encouragement and happiness without even trying.  

4.  Receiving the engraved AHS Achievement Medal last weekend from Jim Cruise, chairman of the 2014 Central Illinois Daylily Society exhibition show. It was the only one awarded in Region 2 in 2014, and this region hosted the second largest number of daylily shows.  It is an interesting medal to seek, and I'd encourage hybridizers to enter this section of an accredited show.   
Having the medal in hand took me back to the hot heat of that July 5 day and the room filled with 'scent'uous daylilies on display.  Here's the back of the medal, showing the nice engraving done by AHS.  You can click on it to see it larger.

He's loved this flower since its maiden bloom, which he was the only one to see and takes great pride in retelling the story of the day he saw it open for the first time.  (I love both the flower and the story very much.)

If you've forgotten what the AHS Achievement Medal is, and want to read up on it to prepare your 2015 strategy for winning it, you can check out full information on it here. 

This is the entry that won the Achievement Medal.  It was registered as H. 'Beer and BBQ', as an homage to my favorite childhood tale involving my dad.  Its pod parent is Dan Bachman's H. 'Susan Ruoff.'  Cool dude, cool lady and cool flower.  Cool all around.  Yes, please.

Here are also some great national resources on shows in general.  

As 2015 is just around the corner, NOW IS THE TIME to rally your local group around the idea of a public daylily display in the coming year.  Here is a link to a post I wrote about why daylily shows are important to hybridizers.  

(FUN FACT: In the center of this photo below is Dolores Bourisaw, the lady responsible for my addiction to hybrid daylilies!  She's the one second from the left.)

We had many first-time exhibitors that day, and I'm hoping they agree to put on a show again in 2015.  

So that's a bit of what's making me happy this week, friends.  What made you happy?

Til next time- 

DAYLILY Blog | This Fence on Daylily Haiku Thursday!

<posted November 6, 2014> So we paved paradise and put up a parking lot.  Actually, a fence. 

It's like what happens when you paint a room and get a bit on the ceiling.  No matter how hard you try, you always notice that one spot.

That one spot (about 20 of them, actually) was driving me crazy.  When the fence went up this week and I walked out in the garden, it was a totally different experience. I was focused on what was INSIDE the fence, not on what was OUTSIDE, and out of my control.  I like my neighbors a whole lot, but I've learned over the last three gardening summers that I like my privacy more. 

This fence puts a limit on my scope.  It gently says, "here are your boundaries - stay in here."  With the open plan of our subdivisions backyards, its easy to see/think that your backyard is the whole swath.  And my type-A vision sees that whole swath as "ours." No matter how fabulous my fraction of the swath is, I still notice  that broken broomstick in the above picture that I want to sneak over and yank out of the ground every time I step outside.  

Maddening.  

This fence changes the shape and the elevation of the gardens - at least my perception of it.  The beds seem taller, the plants seem closer to me, the grass seems greener and the hardscapes look more grand.  The installers got a kick out of all the plant markers; I chatted up daylilies, of course, noting there are now almost 80,000 registered varieties and how I show some of the plants I grow competitively.  At most, they were mildly entertained and very gracious.

There are two 5' gates on each side with self-closing hinges, which makes it very convenient to continue to host garden tours and for the dogs to discover their own backyard safely, without a leash.

Although I no longer can pretend imagine the community backyards are all mine, all of this makes a ton of sense on many levels.  These are my boundaries.  

It's kinda like a hug for my house.  It feels so good.

Til next time!