A skewed look at the tiny bits of daily life that surround us.
 Ring the Bells of Heaven came to me as a division from my friend Mary's plant. I had admired it in her garden. It is a prolific grower that quickly established itself in my daylily bed. In fact, it grew 10 inches taller than its 24-inch registration height and had to be moved to a larger flower bed! Hybridized in 2006 (Carpenter, J.) RTBH is an award winner with 5.75" blooms. It is a dormant, tetraploid that loves the good life in Wisconsin.
 Now that winter is almost over, I have been reminiscing about the beautiful daylilies that bloomed last summer. Peak bloom in our area in western Wisconsin occurred around July 20, 2022. Here are a few photos. Daylilies pictured include Blueberry Breakfast, J.T. Davis, Final Destination, House of Misrepresentatives, Dean Corey, Sabine Baur, Time Stopper, Ruby Spider, and Stranger Than Fiction.          No matter what we do to try to protect our daylilies, dozens of deer invade our beautiful flowers. Ange has come up with a new technique to scare away the deer and amuse himself at the same time. He rigged up an air horn to scare the deer out of our yard that insist on milling around. He uses a bicycle pump to fill up the air horn, which is good for about 10 very loud blasts. The only negative is when the deer are in our yard at 7:00am! The deer are now so sensitized that all he has to do is open the door or window and the deer instantly vanish.    After losing his beloved rescue cat, Sophie, of 12 years, my son Shawn made the decision to rescue another homeless cat. He found Luna on petfinder.com. Luna is a beautiful dilute tortie estimated to be around 5 years old. She was found living with her 4 small kittens in a 4-inch gap between a comedy club and another business in downtown Milwaukee. Because she had to do so much fending for her kittens from stray cats, raccoons and opossums, other cats seem to put her on edge. Luna is slowly but surely becoming acclimated in her new home and becoming more affectionate as each day passes. She is one lucky girl! PS . Two of her 4 kittens have been adopted and the other two will surely find homes soon.    New Series is one of my keeper daylilies. I have grown this beautiful plant for over 30 years. The 7-8 inch flowers are spectacular during peak bloom. This award winner was hybridized in 1982 (Carpenter, K.). It is a semi evergreen diploid that grows well in Wisconsin's climate. New Series is a perfect border plant as it only grows 25 inches tall. It is mid season bloomer in the landscape. Two thumbs up!!!     A reminder that love can be found in the most unexpected places. Happy Valentines Day!
Photo taken by Patty in Tucson Arizona
Double Delight is one of my favorite perennial companion plants for my daylilies. As long as you cut the spent flowers, it will continue blooming until frost. It has a compact habit with multiple blooms on each sturdy stem. They are incredibly drought tolerant and easy to grow.
DETAILS
 I bought My Friend Charlie about 8 years ago and I love it more and more as each year passes. It makes a stunning large clump. Charlie is a Paul Owen daylily (2012). This dormant tetraploid daylily is very hardy in Wisconsin. It grows 34 inches tall with beautiful 7+ inch blooms. It is a mid-season bloomer that lasts well over a month!    While deadheading my daylilies during the summer I come across a variety of insects that are an integral part of my garden. I thought I would share a few of them.
 
    Nature's Blue Witches Brew (Story, 2010) is one of my favorite bicolor daylilies. This daylily came from my friend Sally. I love the unique smokey lavender-cream color. It is very hardy in Wisconsin and grows 38-40 inches in my garden. The flowers are four inches and they bloom from July 12 through August 7. This one is a keeper!   Our friend Patty took these photos in Tucson, Arizona. Since all we have is snow in Wisconsin, I thought I would share these sunny warm pictures. Fun fact – in the U.S. Saguaro cactus only grows in southern Arizona.  
 
  Sometimes things strike me as funny/annoying and I just thought I'd share:
Happy 2023 to you - keep it simple!  My son Shawn was in The Netherlands last week. Here are the Christmas decorations at one of the oldest cafés in Amsterdam.
 If you want to make a bold statement in the garden, here is the Oriental lily for you. With 8 inch flowers and an amazing fragrance, Dizzy grows up to 40 inches tall. Oriental lilies can be a little temperamental in zone 4 so I keep mine planted by my house for extra protection in the winter and make sure it's mulched well. Other than that, Dizzy requires very little care. I get many comments about how beautiful it is.
 Pictured are two of my favorite trimming shears. They really come in handy for fall daylily cleanup. If you have back issues like me, these shears are just what you need. The handles adjust to different lengths to limit the amount of bending over while trimming. These shears have been a lifesaver. My garden has never looked better!
FYI the shears retail for about $50 each. A perfect Christmas gift!  Rock Solid is very aptly named. It is weatherproof, reliable, and consistent. I received my plant as a division from my friend Mary. It's a prolific garden plant.
Hybridized in 2002 by Patrick Stamile, this dormant tetraploid grows 27 inches tall in my garden. Rock Solid is an early midseason bloomer that flowered from July 2 through August 4 (bud count 31–35). Blooms are almost 5 inches in size. The genetics of this daylily are so desirable that there are 181 child plants listed in the daylily database. Rock Solid is truly a sure thing! American Daylily Society Awards Award of Merit: 2011 Honorable Mention: 2008  Unbridled Spirit is one of my garden favorites. The beautiful pastel pink blends with my other flower colors and the ornate edges with teeth and hooks add visual interest.
Hybridized in Kentucky by John Rice (2007), this dormant tetraploid is very hardy in Wisconsin. Unbridled Spirit is registered as growing 33 inches tall, but in my garden it grows 40 inches plus. The blooms are 5.5 inches and are consistent and weatherproof. This daylily is a late season bloomer starting in late July and going into August. It is worthy to note that one of its parents is the famous Forestlake Ragamuffin. American Daylily Society Award: Honorable Mention 2011  First photo: A view of the city from the top of Edinburgh Castle Here is a blog I found in my files that I never posted-this is a departure from my flower topics for a change! When I visited Edinburgh, the city was beyond crazy busy! The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was in full swing. Every August, for three weeks, the city of Edinburgh welcomes artists from around the world. From big names to unknowns looking to build their careers, the festival includes theater, comedy, dance, circus, cabaret, children's shows, musicals, opera, music, spoken word, exhibitions, and events. The performers are scattered throughout the entire city. This made for some interesting people-watching. The historic Edinburgh Castle was also a very memorable experience. A castle has been on this location since the 12th Century, built on volcanic rock. (A photo of the castle on the rock shown below.) It is the UK's second most-visited paid tourist attraction. I was fortunate to attend the Edinburgh Military Tattoo performance on the castle esplanade in beautiful weather (people at the previous night's performance sat in pouring rain). There were 8,000+ spectators in attendance from dozens of countries on the evening I was there. The performance was amazing! I had never seen anything quite like this before. The sound of over a hundred bagpipes playing together will always stay with me.    A typical Edinburgh street. Note the soot-covered buildings. Most of Edinburgh's classic Gothic and Georgian buildings remain coated in a black residue from the industrial revolution. An attempt was made to clean the buildings, but cleaning them did additional damage to the brickwork, so the effort was abandoned.  Jedburgh Abbey, the ruins of an Augustinian abbey which was founded in the 12th century, located on the Scottish borders, about 10 miles north of England.  A 1920 anchor from the Russian cruiser Varyag at Lendalfoot, Ayrshire, Scotland
 Shocking is one of my late season Orienpet hybrid lilies. It is truly a show stopper with its large 6 to 12 inch blooms and heavenly fragrance. Shocking is a cross between an oriental lily and a trumpet lily. It is hardy in zones four through seven, grows 4 and 1/2 feet tall and typically blooms from mid to late July into August. Orienpets like full sun to part shade and they adapt to most soils very well. If you want some big impact in your garden, this stunner is for you!    |
if it's aboutmy backyard and garden, I LOVE to talk about it! archives
March 2023
categories
All
|
RSS Feed