I forget from year-to-year just how beautiful "Ed Brown" is - a photograph hardly does it justice. Ed Brown won the Stout Silver Medal in 2006 which, in the daylily world, is the highest award you can receive. It's a very popular daylily with hybridizers because of its great genetics and parenting ability. (All daylilies are not good parents, ha!)

I received Ed Brown from my friend Mary. Many years ago Mary and I were on a garden visit.  At the garden there was this ginormous clump of Ed Brown in full, raging bloom and Mary instantly fell in love with it. She's a sucker for pinks, ruffles and glitter. Ed has all of those things. Well, her birthday was coming up the following month, so I surprised her with the gift of Ed Brown.

Fast forward a few years. Ed, very gradually, grew into a large clump at Mary's house. The plant grew a stray scape that Mary said was calling my name -- so she cut that scape off and gave it to me. Now I enjoy Ed Brown too. So today my thoughts are of Mary.

Ed Brown was hybridized in Florida and it can be a bit temperamental in our Wisconsin climate. The plant takes a while to acclimate to its spot, but once it does -- it's amazing! 

Hint: Daylily grower extraordinaire, Roger, told me that when you have a temperamental daylily (often the southern-hybridized ones) plant it by a rock, sidewalk, or terraced area. The rocks get warm very fast in the sun and keep the temperamental daylilies warm, which they really like. Mary has her Ed planted in an area where it is surrounded by landscape rock, and I planted my Ed in a retaining wall/terraced area. 

Ange and I had a great dinner the other night with our good friends, Tim and Sue. Love, love, love Sue's cooking :) Look what I found on their electric meter...baby robins!

Taking this photo prompted me to find out more about robins. Here are some cool facts I learned from allaboutbirds.org.

An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. Only 25 percent of those fledged young survive to November. From that point on, about half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next. Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years.

Robins eat a lot of fruit in fall and winter. When they eat honeysuckle berries exclusively, they sometimes become intoxicated. So if you see a random robin staggering around, you'll know why! Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day: more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day. Because the robin forages largely on lawns, it is vulnerable to pesticide poisoning and can be an important indicator of chemical pollution. (Yet another reason NOT to have chem lawns!!!)

Robins can be found year round almost anywhere south of Canada. Birds that breed from Canada to the north slope of Alaska leave in fall for the U.S. Some robins winter as far south as the Southwest, Mexico, and the Gulf Coast.

Carved Pumpkin Pie (Salter, 2003) was a "gotta-have" for me. It was the very first "sculpted" daylily that I added to my collection. I purchased it at the Wisconsin Daylily Society sale at Olbrich Gardens in Madison. (Let me sidetrack for a moment: This sale is AWESOME, because it allows daylily lovers like me to purchase "late-model" varieties at a very reasonable price that I couldn't otherwise afford. )

When I arrived at the sale, Carved Pumpkin Pie was the first plant in my basket. It has proven to be very hardy and bloomed happily the first year I grew it. It's approximately 30" tall and has a large 6" flower. Sculpted daylilies are very fascinating to me and I hope to add more to my collection in the future.

The American Hemerocallis Society defines a sculpted daylily as: a term to describe three-dimensional structural features involving or emanating from the throat, midrib or elsewhere on the petal surfaces. Carved Pumpkin Pie is a sculpted relief form. Relief forms have ridges of petal tissues which rise from the petal surface radiating outward from the midrib or along the length of the petal between the veins.

This definition keeps it very simple for those of you who could care less, and just appreciate a pretty flower. But if this topic interests you at all, the link below has a very good article that goes into more depth on how this attribute originated and tells about the hybridizers that played an important role.
http://allthingsplants.com/ideas/view/Char/274/Sculpted-Forms-a-New-Look-for-a-Favorite-Perennial/

My friend Gaye gave me a division of this beautiful iris many years ago. It's an heirloom iris, well over 100 years old...maybe twice that old, who knows for sure? It has no name. Gaye calls it "Aunt Helen's Iris." So that's what I call it too. Gaye's Aunt Helen, who was quite a gardener, gave it to her. It's the most unusual copper-bronze color and it virtually glows in the sunlight.

Gaye wrote and delivered this eulogy at her Aunt Helen's funeral.  I thought it was really neat to learn about the person who grew this iris many decades before I did. No doubt she glowed, the same way the iris does! Thanks Gaye for allowing me to share this great tribute.

Life is to be Lived
My Auntie Helen passed on Thanksgiving Day, just three months short of her 102nd birthday. She was no ordinary woman. At 99, while out on the river fishing, her boat motor died and she rowed herself the mile-and-a-half back to her dock. The following year, she hopped on a jet in Los Angeles to hurry back to Fountain City for the party we were throwing in honor of her 100th birthday. She still lived independently in her own home until last spring when she decided she could no longer care for herself, due to failing eyesight. 

Consider the events she witnessed in her lifetime: When she was born, Teddy Roosevelt was president. The average household income in the U.S. was $865 annually and you could purchase a new home for $2,400. A loaf of bread at the local bakery cost 4 cents and you could mail at letter with a 2-cent postage stamp.  1905 was also the year that New Mexico and Oklahoma were admitted to the Union; the first Russian Revolution broke out; and a section of Sweden declared its independence, becoming the new country of Norway.

One of my favorite stories she told was of reading in the newspaper about an unsinkable ship that hit an iceberg and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean on its maiden voyage. Yup, Auntie Helen was 7 years old when the Titanic sunk.

Auntie Helen, my Dad, and their siblings were the first generation in our family to be born in the U.S. Polish was their native language at home, but they learned American customs and to speak English once they entered school. From her stories, I’d say that public education has advanced little in its approach to English Language Learners since the early 1900’s.

When asked about her secret to living a long life, she would shrug and say, “Good genes.” But upon closer inspection you learned she was a woman who took care of herself and listened to her body: She ate when she was hungry; rested when she was tired. At the first sign of an impending flu or cold, out came the herbal teas and extra naps. She created her own herbal teas long before Celestial Seasonings thought of it! I remember as a child gathering her “spring tonics” of tender dandelion leaves and water cress; excursions into the woods to collect wild mushrooms; and the fresh herbs and vegetables she grew organically in her garden. A local farmer said he knew it was spring when Helen called to say, “Roger, I need a ‘scoop’ for the garden.” (For you city folks, that’s a scoop of cow manure.)

She somehow learned to live life without stress. “So you deal with it.” – How many times did I hear her say that? She accepted life as it was. She was a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is, strong and independent woman. 

She also nurtured an active mind and body. Everyday she took her walks and breathed fresh air, collected the mail, visited her neighbors to share news, and in warm weather inspected her – and her neighbor’s – gardens, freely giving advice on what needed to be done.

She was an avid reader - books, newspapers, magazines – you could ask her about anything and she knew something about it.  She once passed a note to my son that read, “Luck favors a prepared mind.”

A few years back, brain researchers announced that working crossword puzzles kept the synapses in the brain firing properly; it was recommended as kind of a “calisthenics for the brain” for the elderly. No surprise to learn that Auntie was an avid fan of crossword puzzles long before that news hit the headlines.

Another of her “keys to longevity,” was her “afternoon highball” –whiskey and 7-Up.  She boasted that she “hadn’t over indulged in 50 years” and she had not – only one drink per day, before dinner. She continued this practice, with a written prescription from her doctor, even after she moved into the nursing home last spring. 

My sister, a nursing home administrator, once said that people die the way they lived. This was so true for Auntie. Her only son (who turned 82 in October) was with her on her last day. They had spent the previous week together, taking care of business. He commented to her that all was taken care of; that she was free to move on whenever she was ready. She responded with a nod of her head and a firm “well good.” She peacefully stopped breathing within the hour.

You’ve heard the adage, “It’s not the number of days in your life, but the life in your days that really matters”? 

How blessed Auntie Helen was to have had an abundance of both. And how blessed I am for having this remarkable woman in my life. I’ll pass on to you the best piece of advice she ever gave me: “Forget about your age. Just live your life!”

Look what's blooming today! I acquired this lovely iris in a trade. My friend Sandy's neighbor, Norm, has a HUGE patch of "Batik" growing by his home and the effect is breathtaking. I admired them when I'd go to Sandy's. I had to have it!! When I found out Norm loved hostas and I had one that he wanted - we struck a trade. A division of "Batik" for a division of "Guacamole." Norm said he bought this plant at the Farmer's Market that was held on Friday nights in La Crosse, not too far from the People's Food Coop, many, many years ago.

Also in 2012, my dear friend Sharon (who lives in the Madison area) gave me a division of her Batik iris. Lucky me! I have two clumps now :) A person just can't have enough of this iris! Each plant in my garden has a story -- all with good memories.

"Batik" is an intermediate bearded iris; a little shorter (23-25" tall) than the tall bearded types. Plants form a clump of green sword-shaped leaves, blooming in late spring. This striking iris has white petals boldly striped with royal purple, and contrasting yellow beards. No two blooms are alike; that's what makes this iris so fascinating - you never know what you'll see from day to day. It's a sturdy iris and NEVER falls over, no matter how windy or rainy it is. Choose a sunny position, with a well-drained, loamy soil and it will reward you generously.

Batik won three American Iris Society awards: American Iris Society Honorable Mention '88, Award of Merit '90, and the Knowlton Medal '92.