Spring has officially arrived, even though on some days it sure doesn't feel like it. As an indoor alternative, I am celebrating spring with a low-maintenance succulent garden. It certainly brightens up my kitchen on cloudy or rainy days.

I added a bit of whimsy to my indoor garden in the form of an upcycled sterling silver spoon that is hand-stamped with the words "Kindness Matters."  I purchased my spoon online from Etsy. There are a variety of different sayings and vendors available. You can even customize the words on your spoon with some artisans.

Care of Succulents:
Succulents are easy-care houseplants. They need about six hours of sun each day, Succulents will lean towards the sun, so rotating them often will help them stand up straight. Leaning may be a sign that they need a sunnier spot. When potting, use cactus soil or mix potting soil with sand, pumice, or perlite. Over-watering can kill your succulents, so make sure you let the soil dry in between watering. Water no more than once every week while the plants are actively growing during the spring and summer. Water the soil directly until water runs out of the drainage holes of the pot.

Meet 'Banana Freeze,' one of our Wisconsin Daylily Society plant sale purchases. While shopping at the sale, it was recommended to Ange by one of the Society members who grew it in his garden. What a great tip! We've only had this daylily for a couple of years, but I can already tell it's going to be a rock star! This front-of-the-border unusual form (UFO) embodies every characteristic I look for in a daylily. From the day we planted our two fans they took right off. The 7.5" blooms are thick and waxy, consistent, and plentiful. At 7 am or 7 pm the flowers look exactly the same, whether it's rainy, hot or windy. The foliage is really nice, in addition to the amazing the greenish bloom color. And you've gotta love the cute curls on the sepals!

Hybridized  in Wisconsin by Jean Bawden (2007), this 24" tall, dormant diploid can handle any extreme weather thrown its way. In my 2020 garden, Banana Freeze bloomed from July 9 to August 12. This is not a well-known, celebrated daylily cultivar, but it is definitely one of our garden favorites.

Pulmonarias/Lungworts are among the first perennials to bloom in my garden every spring. The flowers are certainly pretty, but pulmonarias are most prized for the beautiful mounded foliage that remains attractive all season long. I always cut old foliage in July for a burst of new growth. Pulmonarias tolerate morning sun, but need afternoon shade to avoid leaf scorching. They are perfect companion plants for astilbes, hostas, and other shade-loving plants. Pollinators like them as well. Another positive (for me, anyway) is that the deer hate the fuzzy foliage and leave the plants alone.

Pulmonarias are good front-of the-border plants as they only grow about 12" tall. Plant them 20-22" apart as they happily mound up with time. They are hardy little characters that thrive in Zones 3-7 and do just fine in normal or clay soil.

I grow three Pulmonaria varieties -- 'Raspberry Splash' (spotted foliage with magenta and purple flowers), 'Silver Streamers' (silver/white foliage with pink flowers that turn blue), and 'Cevennensis' (thinner foliage with blotched leaves and midnight blue flowers).

If you love daylilies, here are some books and publications you might be interested in.

• Daylilies for the Garden - Graeme Grosvenor
  Grosvenor includes history, cultivation, maintenance, and propagation details. An extensive list of cultivars is given, with descriptions and growing requirements.


• A Passion For Daylilies: The Flowers And The People  - Sydney Eddison
  This spirited celebration of daylilies and the thousands of gardeners who enjoy growing them combines anecdotes and a background of the flower with how-to-grow information.


• Daylilies: The Perfect Perennial - Lewis Hill
  Learn how to select the right daylilies for your yard or garden, design beautiful plantings that will deliver flowers throughout the season, and care for your growing plants. The authors include a comprehensive listing of more than 200 daylily cultivars with at-a-glance information on color, foliage, height, blossom size, bloom season, bloom duration, fragrance, and more.
  
  
• The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies  - John P. Peat and Ted L. Petit
  A vast array of daylily hybrids has been developed from only a small group of species in Hemerocallis. Hundreds of new daylilies are introduced each year, and no other book describes and illustrates so many of the hybrids in one place.
  
  
• The New Encyclopedia of Daylilies: More Than 1700 Outstanding Selections  - John P. Peat and Ted L. Petit
  It's no exaggeration to say that daylilies are the premier flowering perennial. From a handful of wild species belonging to the genus Hemerocallis, breeders have produced tens of thousands of hybrids in a dazzling array of colors, patterns, and shapes.


• Hemerocallis the Daylily  - R.W. Munson, R.W. Munson Jr, R.W. Munson
  The popularity of the daylily is in large part due to the striking new hybrids developed by R. W. Munson and other breeders. This survey includes hundreds of the finest modern cultivars grouped by color from cream and light yellow through orange and red to lavender.


• The Open Form Daylily: Spiders, Unusual Forms, and Other “Exotics” -  Oliver Billingslea
  Features the work of numerous hybridizers along with stunning photography submitted by members of the American Hemerocallis Society. It is a book designed for the pleasure of the ordinary reader, as well as the aficionado who seeks more information on the detailed history of these increasingly popular forms.
  
  
• The Illustrated Guide to Daylilies - Oliver Billingslea
  Written with the beginning gardener in mind, this is a completely new revision of an old classic, with up-to-date information about all things daylily. Of particular value are chapters on how to obtain and select plants for growing in your area; when, where, and how to plant; how to prepare your garden, and how to care for your daylilies.
  
  
• Landscaping with Daylilies - Oliver Billingslea
  This comprehensive work includes chapters on daylily history, daylily care, historic daylilies, modern daylilies, the use of perennials as companion plants, garden art, landscaping with daylilies in different areas of the US and internationally, together with chapters on how to acquire, hybridize, and register daylilies. It is a book for both the general gardener as well as for those primarily interested in daylilies.
  
  
• The Daylily: A Guide for Gardeners - John P. Peat, Ted L. Petit
  Any backyard gardener can hybridize daylilies, but this blessing of easy breeding can also be something of a curse to the newcomer. Tens of thousands of new daylilies are bred each year. How to choose and grow daylilies amidst this profusion? John Peat and Ted Petit have come to the rescue in this authoritative overview of all aspects of daylily history, cultivation, and breeding.