DAYLILY HAIKU THURSDAY | How long is long enough? | a girl and her garden

<posted July 16, 2015> This is Richard Norris EMPIRE OF DESIRE. If I could have only one sculpted daylily in my collection, it would be this one. Google 'Ashwood Daylilies' to see his complete catalog- you wont be sorry. Your wallet might be, but you wont. I would recommend ASHWOOD DARK SIDE, IDA MAE NORRIS, REMEMBERED KISSES and MARDI GRAS BEADS. That is a great start to a great collection of northern hardy reblooming daylilies! Promise.

The daylilies are on their way toward Fall and I have not been disappointed at all. What an amazing season! The rain has been (too) plentiful, the sun has been hot on my shoulders, and the season has filled me with more inspiration that I have had in past years. Intentional inspiration. The kind that you act on and not stumble over. I am loving it.

Top Left: NIKKI SCHMITH and Top Right: HATS OFF TO SUE
Bottom Left: LOVE IS DEEP and Bottom Right: UNFORGETTABLE WONDER

I've held on to this idea for a post for quite a while, and I when I saw it in my drafts today I thought it was a good time to pull it out and ask you the question.

My friend Melodye Campbell wrote: "It's that time of year to give my daylilies a hard look. Poor branching and bud count? Not impressed with the bloom anymore? No bloom at all? Like many of you, my gardens have reached critical mass. My mantra of "one goes out if one comes in" is hard to stick to, especially when you get bonus plants with every order, bus plants at conventions, etc.

So, my question is, how long do you give a daylily to perform? Three years used to be my limit, but sometimes I let them go longer than that. For example, ROSE F. KENNEDY took 3 years to produce a scape, so I kept it. In it's 4th year, she took off and produced 4 scapes with lots of buds. I'm in love and glad I kept her another year. I try not to move the daylilies too much, I let them stay in the same spot for the 3 years. But come on, after 3 years, if the plant is still 2 fans, that doesn't bode well . . . ."

So, what do you think?

How long do you hold on to the idea of what you think a daylily could or should do, until the reality of what it IS going to do sets in?

The answer for me is 3 summers. If something doesn't wow me, doesn't make me want to take a photo of it, doesn't make me walk over to see what its doing, doesn't perform near how it was advertised, it is outta here. 3 summers is fair.

Most of the time natural selection kills off the weak and unnecessary here, and for that I am thankful. LADY BLUE EYES died FIVE TIMES before I realized that I was never going to get to grow it and see what I still remember as the bluest thing I have ever seen in a garden. I took this photo in 2003. I remember it so vividly, that of over 10K photos on my computer I knew exactly which folder it was in without searching for it.

This was Twelve years and twelve cameras ago. I still remember Margo Reed was standing next to me when I saw the lone bloom in a national tour garden. I let out an audible gasp and she smiled knowingly and walked by. We didnt know each other then, but we do now and that memory makes me smile. I bought and killed this daylily five times before I finally decided it wasn't in my fate to possess it. Big frown face, but I still have the memory.

I also just re-bought DUST AND GRAVITY for the third time. That one seems to spend all its wad in a fabulous display and piddle out the next year. I couldn't be without it after I culled out its dying remains this spring. I love it so Ill gamble on it again.

Such is the life of a gardener. One beautiful, maddening green gamble after another.