Divine, Delightful, and Delicious….

…….Daylilies!

Daylilies

I recently signed up with Blotanical, a directory (or so I thought at the time) of garden related blogs from around the world. It is so much more than a directory! I’ve only been a member for a short time but have already discovered many like minded gardeners, even potential friends. I’ve found hundreds of garden blogs and I’m reading through them bit by bit, bookmarking my favorites and savoring those filled with lush colorful photos. After a day in the garden it’s fun to see what other gardeners have blooming in theirs. Check it out!!

One of my favorite bloggers from Blotanical, Lynn of Best in Bloom Today inspired me to tell you about my daylilies. It’s her favorite flower and I’m sure I don’t have as many as she does, but I do have a nice collection.  And they’re in full bloom right now!  Like irises and lilies I started with just a few & couldn’t restrain myself from buying more. And more. And then some more. I’m a plantaholic in that way, just one or two won’t do it for me. Even a few is not enough. No, when I fall in love with a plant I must have as many as I can gather & fit into my garden and then some.

My daylilies are in peak bloom right now, filling my garden with color. From typical yellow and orange to exotic pinks, reds, almost black to almost pure white. I started collecting them shortly after I became involved with iris. My firends, Paul & Thomas of Mid America Garden also grew daylilies for many years & their fields were so inspiring I bought a lot from them. They always packed my box with almost as many bonus bulbs as those I’d ordered! Receiving a box of plants from Paul & Thomas was like my birthday and Christmas rolled into one.

Some of the catalogs selling daylilies were not as discriminating as Mid America Garden. I received puny plants. Not just small, but tiny tiny tiny! Of course that was at the onset of my daylily passion and I didn’t know what they were supposed to look like, so didn’t realize I wasn’t getting the best plants. Until I learned to plant those tiny starts into good soil, they slowly limped along, producing weak stems and tiny flowers and some just fizzled out. I know, I know they would’ve fared better had I the knowledge to plant them properly!  But now I know & will help anyone who asks!

Some catalogs that I ordered from promised what they couldn’t deliver. They showed pictures of PURPLE and BLUE daylilies that I swooned over and ordered, but they always bloomed RED! My friend Angela, owner of Parkdale Gardens & I had lunch one day with well known hybridizer Dan Heims & a discussion of catalog companies enhancing photos showed me the light. There is no purple or blue daylily… Yet!  They might have blue or purple in their names, but they are not those colors!

The photos in all the catalogs that I had collected were so gorgeous, I couldn’t wait to add these daylilies to my garden. Whether they arrived small & shrimpy or lush and huge, I immediately planted them. Of course you now know by ‘immediately’, I mean after I’d dug out the rocks & imporoved the soil! Unfortunately I didn’t read up on daylillies & planted them initially in a shady spot where I wanted to see color. Or in a blazing hot area with cracked clay that I mistook for soil.

Eventually I learned about proper planting & moved my beautiful daylilies to a sunny well drained location, fed them & guess what?!!

They started growing!

Multiplying!

Becoming thick with flowers, strong stems & BLOOMING!!!

They became robust hardy plants that gave me endless hours of joy.

I am now overrun by daylilies, but love the lush look.

And I love sharing with my friends who are in need of daylilies for their gardens!

Thanks for stopping by!  Until next time……..

Did Someone Say Georgia O’Keeffe?

After the first year of pretty good tulip & lily blooms, in spite of rodents, cold temperatures, and zone illiteracy taking some bulbs, I knew I’d have to reach beyond lilies and tulips. I discovered the world of iris….

Incredible beauty to behold and if you look closely you can see a Georgia O’Keeffe painting in every flower.

Oh how I wanted to paint those beautiful frilly iris with their anthers standing tall amidst the shimmery stigmatic lips. Before I could paint, I was going to have to get them ordered and planted…back to the catalogs and lists! Oh what exquisitely captivating pictures

I poured over in Schreiners Gardens catalog. Towards the back of the catalog they had ‘collections’ where I’d save half the cost by purchasing a set collection. OK! If I save half the cost I can buy twice as much!! They were speaking my language!! Having learned my lesson the year before, I stuck to just one catalog so I wouldn’t be surprised at how many bulbs arrived for me to plant during the onset of cold weather.

I actually read up on iris culture, learning they liked a sunny location with good drainage. I chose my sunny south slope where I’d have to remove a bit of lawn and hoped the rocks had already been cleared out. No such luck! Either the sod was placed right over the rocks, or the earth was spewing rocks up from it’s center. I later came to believe the latter, as new rocks emerge from just under the soil’s surface each year all over my garden.

Have you ever removed sod? In the sun? On a hot dry day? It’s the stuff nightmares are made of! We rented a machine that cut through the sod, ran the machine in rows, then rolled up each row of cut sod, digging up the roots as we rolled.

There they sat, waiting for one of us to regain our energy and carry the rolls of sod over the hillside. Where we left them to compost for years and years and years.

Let’s see, iris need a foot of space and I have about a hundred ordered, so my next task was to start digging out rocks. And digging…. Amending, this time with chicken manure and bone meal along with the sand because I’d been told both would help the iris generate larger blooms and stronger stalks. You know the rest by now….dig, pull out rocks, dig more, pull out more rocks and finally amend the soil. Eventually I had a lovely bed into which I could plant my soon-to-arrive new beauties for the garden.

Over the years my collection of iris grew and I ordered from many catalogs. I met a delightful pair of iris breeders, Paul Black and Thomas Johnson of Mid-America Garden. Paul and Thomas are award winning breeders and to this day I love visiting their garden to spend time with them. Not only have they filled my iris beds, but they taught me how to BREED my own iris!!! I could have my own iris CHILDREN!! Each pairing produced 20 to 40 seeds & I planted them all until one day I finally ran out of room. In the sun, anyway, I still had a forest of shady area. As my collection grew and grew … and grew, I had to dig out more and more lawn. After about 15 years, I ended up with just over 500 named iris varieties plus all the seedlings I had bred. One day, not too long ago, I was too tired to play in the iris beds anymore. Every year I had faithfully dug up, divided, and replanted. I couldn’t throw away my extras, so I took them to a farmers market and sold them. It was now time to start seriously withdrawing. As my iris bloom today, they must make me fall on my knees with delight at the color, the shape, the exquisite beauty and form. If they don’t, then I ruthlessly dig out and dump into the compost pile unless any neighbors come by, willing to pick up the departed!!

End of Iris Season

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time…..