Friday, June 26, 2009
It's Daylily Day in New Jersey
Cheerful Heart is big and I like the vein pattern on the petals.
Always Afternoon is a classic- the throat really lights up.
American Revolution has an interesting color- the dark sort of overlays the red.The Saturday before July 4 is Daylily Day in New Jersey. The Garden State Daylily Growers Club has an exhibition of blooms every year at Deep Cut (Monmouth County) Park near Middletown, NJ. I'm contributing the above daylilies and some others to the sale. We offer everybody who comes a complementary bare-root daylily, usually Happy Returns and this year including Black Eyed Stella.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
First Bloom, Begin With a Bang & Mexicali Miss
First bloom on new arrival, but from New England, so it may bloom here even earlier next year. This is Mike Huben's "Begin with a Bang", of interest to hybridizers because it's extra early but NOT Yellow or Orange. I'm hosting it for the GSDG auction this year or next, depending upon how it does this summer. Because my job is to make it grow, I have to cut off this scape now, since I've confirmed identity.
I keep Mexicali Miss ONLY because it's early. It does have interesting veining.Labels: "Begin with a Bang" Mexicali Miss daylilies
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
"Echos In the Mist" (???) 4th daylily to bloom
A GREAT daylily doomed to obscurity by probable registration error. This was sold to at least two hybridizers & commercial growers as "Echos in the Mist" (EH Salter, 2000). For me it's 24ERe4 (registered 26EMRe4). BUT the color doesn't match the registration (registered as "Lavender above Yellow Green Throat"). I personally believe Salters screwed up the color on the paperwork, because the parents (Witches Wink by tet Little Print) seem to be much more likely the parents of this than of a lavender. There is another daylily being sold in the trade as "Echos in the Mist". But I believe it is LESS likely the "correct" Echos, because though it is lavender, it has a prominent eye not mentioned in the registration. It's a shame because this is early, and a great rebloomer. I've given mine the garden name "Echos India Mystic". Anybody know anything more about this daylily? Why did she misspell echoes? Did she name it for the Andrea Kane book?Labels: "Echos in the Mist" daylily Salter
Stella's Sparky Daylily Second Bloom
Stella's Sparky first bloomed in the rain about a week ago, finally produced a second photogenic one. This doesn't show the great diamond dusting from grandparent Stella De Oro.
My Podophyllum 'Kaleidoscope" survived another winter- they tend to rot during wet winters or freeze because they emerge early. But I think they're worth the trouble, and just got a "Spotty Dottie" too, but (typical of mail order plants) it's too small to photograph without a macro lens.
Leave a garden cart half full of dirt overnight, and it's almost guaranteed to rain over an inch!Labels: Stella's Sparky Daylily Bloom Early Daylilies
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Early Daylilies- Earlybirds get the Prize!
This is my new bed for Flore Pleno, a triploid variety of the fulva species. It's orange, but with 9 petals and 9 sepals. They can't be planted in the same bed as hybrid cultivars, because they spread by rhizomes. So they come up in the middle of other clumps unless there's a mowing strip around them like this.
This arrived from Florida last week with a scape, so I let one bud bloom to confirm identity. It's "Mister Right" (Joiner, 2003). I think that's a great name for a daylily worth waiting for.
The second daylily to bloom this year here in Philadelphia was Megan Skinner's Earlybird Orangeade, which she says gets its early genes from Esperanza.
The first daylily to bloom for me this year was Earlybird Sunshine, by Megan Skinner of Allentown, PA. They hybridize on a small city lot, so they sell their introductions through Manatawney Creek near Pottstown, PA. http://www.manatawnycreekfarm.com/ has additional links to the Skinners' introductions, and also has a gallery of Stout hybrids.
I tried to space out my purchases this year, but two dozen (3 orders) arrived on the Wednesday after Mother's day, our traditional "frost free" date (although Allentown, PA got a 32 degree night over a week later this year). I soak them in a weak fertilizer solution for 4 to 24 hours using milk containers with the tops cut off. (I used the kitchen pots until my wife found out.) Then I water them in with the same solution.Labels: Earlybird Sunshine Orangeade Daylilies Early
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Digging Daylily Beds for New Daylilies
I've been digging this new daylily bed forever, it seems, due to some really rainy weather, and my orders started arriving before I've finished. This is the last available spot in the deer-protected (fenced) back yard but it's on a slope. So the top side is a 4x4 at ground level, and the bottom side is a 2x8 or 2x10. After digging out the sod and rocks, I add compost and topsoil to level. The outline of lumber in the foreground is the final section, hopefully to be finished this week.
My order from Sassafras (Floyd Boatwright) was the first to arrive. I also got my orders from Memory Jordan and Tim Herrington. I'm planting them only 10 inches apart this spring, then next spring I'll relocate every other row after I clear out a bunch of old clumps for Garden State Daylily's "Daylily Day" June 28, and the Delaware Valley Daylily Society sale in August.A recommendation: check http://gottagarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/2008-ahs-national-conventiongarden-nine.html Katie Cook's photos of the last garden at last year's AHS national convention in Houston. They were worth the wait. The other eight gardens are also linked from this entry. If the link doesn't work, just go to http://gottagarden.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to the May 4 entry, or find the link from the subject list at the right. And watch for her postings from the 2009 national convention in Florida- she's attending next week and should have some great photos. Put this one in your favorites!
Labels: gottagarden AHS convention
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Roses in Snow in Snow
No cooking out on the grill tonight! 
The "Roses in Snow in Snow" I had to post for your amusement. I went out last week to record which daylilies were acting like evergreens, so I can make a note to mulch the expensive ones next year. The mulch isn't to protect them from the cold, it's to KEEP them cold once the ground freezes, so they don't do this destructive sprout-die-sprout-die dance in our extreme freeze-thaw cycles here in Philadelphia (Zone 6.9). Yesterday it was 9 degrees, with 65-70 degrees predicted for this weekend. I mulch with spruce branches, which don't retain moisture but shade the ground from the sun.Labels: winter mulch snow
Saturday, February 28, 2009
It's Not Easy Being Green in February
It's not good to be green if you're a daylily in February. This is going to get covered by 7-12 inches of snow tomorrow night, then killed back when the cold returns next week. What a waste of energy.
My Thanksgiving Cactus has put out all these buds 3 months after its regular bloom, for some crazy reason. I thought shortening days caused buds to set, but any bloom is welcome this time of year.
I'm not sure what this ground cover used at a local home & garden show is, probably a tradescantia (?), but I'd like to know what it is and if it's hardy. Please leave a comment if you know what it is.