The great thing about growing daylilies is that no matter what your income level is, you can find one to fit your budget. There are so many exceptional daylilies available that you can purchase for $10 and under. And on the other end of the spectrum, there are trend-setting daylilies you can buy for up to $300. After a daylily has been out on the open market for a while, the purchase price gradually decreases over time as new cultivars are introduced each year.

When I was first bitten by the daylily bug my kiddos were in elementary school. At that time I remember feeling guilty that I spent more money than I should have on a daylily. Should I have bought school clothes instead? I ultimately decided that the new daylily made me a happier Mom. How's that for rationalization?

Although I'm still not in a place to afford triple-digit daylily prices, that doesn't dampen my enthusiasm by any means. I just have to wait a little longer to get what's on my wish list. As it stands right now, I am perfectly happy getting the seven and eight-year-old daylilies. As each year passes, hybridizers come up with more and more innovative, cutting-edge daylilies. Consequently, there is always yet another daylily that I must have -- it's a never-ending cycle.

Pictured: Daylily 'Signs and Wonders.'  At the time I bought this pretty, it was my biggest splurge to date. Sorry? Not really.

I have fond memories of paging through Jung garden catalogs when they were mailed to our home. I always kept the catalogs because they had good plant information and attractive photos to refer to until the next catalog arrived. Even though all the information is online now, I still sometimes miss having the actual catalog in my hands.

Recently Ange and I had some business to take care of in Stevens Point, WI. On the way to our destination we almost drove right past the Jung Gardening Center -- bigger than life! WHOA, stop the car! We (or more correctly I) had to take a closer look. This was my first garden center experience of 2018 and it certainly amped up  my excitement for warmer weather.

It was fun walking around, taking my time to check out all the gardening items. Jung's have an amazing display of hundreds of different seed varieties, in addition to just about anything and everything 'garden' you can possibly think of. The staff at Jung's are well on the way to having the shelves fully stocked for the spring rush of customers. I can only imagine how the Center will look once all the annuals and perennials arrive.  It will be total sensory overload in a most incredible way! Is this the best time of year, or what?

Here is what my backyard in western Wisconsin looked like on April 3rd. Our official total was seven inches of snow. This is precisely why I restrain myself from cleaning up dead garden foliage too early in the spring. Final frost dates in Zone 4a can be anywhere between April 30th to May 15th, depending on the trending weather. I typically delay my garden cleanup until late April. I like to wait until the shriveled up foliage can be easily lifted off the plants without any resistance at all; then the spring rainfall doesn't leave the dead leaves in a big soggy blob on top of the new growth.

This morning, at 13 degrees, it feels as though the nice weather will never come. Snow is in the forecast for this afternoon, tonight and tomorrow. As pretty as snow can be, enough already!

Over the past year or two, most of my daylily purchases have been big, tall plants with large blooms. Not only do the blooms catch your eye from a distance, but deadheading is also considerably easier when I don't have to crouch over a teeny plant to remove 20-30 spent blooms each day. For these reasons I've gradually been phasing out many of my smaller plants, although I do keep a few of my favorites up close to the house. Some of my tiny daylilies have been hard to say goodbye to, but I rest assured knowing that their new owners will love them just as much as I once did. The silver lining? I keep an extensive wish list with numerous  daylilies on it that are just calling out my name. Does this sound familiar fellow daylily addicts?

So 'Black Falcon Ritual' is one of those big, tall, showy plants that I really like. With a height of 38", deadheading this guy is a breeze. The large, consistent blooms are 8" in size and have a waxy, thick texture. After a rainstorm the blooms still looks great. For dark flowers that are the color of grape jelly, they retain their color quite well in full sun. Also notice the delicate watermark. The photos don't do this plant justice -- it is so much more beautiful in real life!

Black Falcon Ritual is categorized as a UFO (Unidentified FOrm) Cascade. UFOs are a classification of daylilies based exclusively on the shapes of the petals or sepals. The American Hemerocallis Society (AHS) defines a 'Cascade' as having narrow floral segments with pronounced curling or cascading, which revolve upon themselves in the manner of a wood shaving.

Introduced in 2005 by Curt Hanson, this semi-evergreen tetraploid won an Honorable Mention Award in 2009 which indicates good performance that goes beyond the regional level. BFR is an early-midseason bloomer in my Wisconsin (4a) garden that started on July 7th last year.

Note: Black Falcon Ritual has the famous 'Jerry Hyatt' in its lineage.