SEEING RED | Daylily Haiku Thursday

Showing off today in Daylily Haiku Thursday is one of the few red daylilies I love, and it's Mike Holmes' H. 'Happy Holidays to You.'  I have grown it into a large clump, moved it three states, and hardly ever offer it for sale because I cannot bear the thought of digging up my five year old clump.  It's prickly in all the right places and is a nice shade of tomato red.  If you grow it, you're also aware it is on the shorter side, but again, so am I.

I like the way the petals flare up from the sepals, and I also forgive it for the consistent color breaks because other values overshadow the nuisance of it.  What I loved about my own introduction H. 'Beer and BBQ' is that it struck me as a taller, beefier, more saturated version of this flower.  (HHTY is not in BAB's lineage.  Mine had Dan Bachman's H. 'Susan Ruoff' as a pod parent.)  Here's more of H. 'Happy Holidays to You.'

Some garden judges remark when they see it that it is a poor plant due to its blooming so close to the foliage.  Certainly it is more desirable in most cases to have the scapes grow at least a foot (or  several) above the foliage, but this one has a great face that makes wonderful floating bouquets of blooms on my summer tables and is so macro-photogenic!  This last summer I lined ten small glass vases up down my dining table and placed one bloom of this in each vase.  It was a gorgeous table runner for a garden club tea that some still mention when I see them now.

Sometimes my daylilies serve other purposes than just garden value.  Some I keep for a particular fragrance. Some whites I keep because they open at night and I can enjoy them on the moon patio the night before, but they look crappy as soon as the temp hits 80F the next day.  Those get liveheaded in the morning.  #moveon

Here's a view of the seedling fields a few years ago at Riverbend Gardens in Xenia, OH

Now for a little non-daylily fun this week!  Another blogger challenged me to widen the scope of what you see from me  (ir OF me) each time you visit, and challenged me to let you in a little more than I normally would - connect with you in a different way than just gardening or daylily photography.  

So, my surprisingly, but painfully introverted self takes a deep breath, and presents to you 25 things that you most likely do not know about me.  

1. I have seen all 48 contiguous United States.  By car.

2. Our family was built through the miracle of adoption.

3. I am an only child and I have two very cool and successful sisters-in-law that I don’t see often enough.

4. I have been engaged twice.

5. I have lived in 6 different states.

6. I like horseradish.  The hotter the better.

7. I am an accredited daylily flower show judge and judge's instructor who travels all over the country judging and entering in exhibition shows.

8. I skipped second grade and graduated high school when I was 16.  (yes, I did finally get to drive the last semester of my senior year)

9. I have had my head shaved.  Well, half of it anyway.

10. I am a NASCAR fan. (Go, #48.)

11. I love Mardi Gras, Halloween and the 4th of July.

12. I like the smell of amusement parks.

13. I don’t much like escalators.

14. We have been foster parents.

15. I might have a scrapbooking supply problem.

16. I have stayed up all night on the beach.   Alone and with others.

17. The scars on my right hand are from a feral, stray cat biting all the way through it.

18. I have a problem with The Food Network.  The problem?  I watch too much of it.

19. Michigan was not on my life plan, but I miss it now that I am gone.

20. I have a cast from the original model mold of ‘The Bird Girl’ in my garden.  (you know, the haunting statue from the opening scene of Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil…)

21. In my life I have owned 6 dogs.  A Brittany spaniel named Brandy, a Siberian Husky named Sheba, two Boston Terriers (Floyd and Lucy) and two Golden Retrievers – The Head and The Rock Star (aka Spunky and Rocky.)

22. On my journey to a Master’s, I have attended 4 colleges.

23. I have never smoked a cigarette in my life, nor have I ever had a cup of coffee.

24. I have read 12 books written about or by Hillary Clinton.

25. I think if I could go back to any day in my life and start over from there, it would be the first day of high school.

Sharing all that makes my skin crawl a bit, but it's part of that collective experience, right?  

Two more shots from a visit to Riverbend.  (There's Sheila!  RIP)

Come on over to Facebook and comment something fun that people in your tribe might not know about you.  It was kinda fun and I'm looking forward to hearing from you!