What a perfect name for this daylily! 'Time Stopper' was one of my awesome daylily purchases last year at the Wisconsin Daylily Society Sale in Madison. And yes, time did stand still for me when I first saw it bloom two weeks ago! Although the flowers are registered as seven inches, I measured a bloom yesterday and it was fully eight and one-half inches in size! It is certainly an attention-grabber. The photo I took is very true in color to what it looks like in my garden. Love, love, love the green and burgundy combination. I have it planted in 100% sun and it holds up quite well. Being a dormant diploid, it is also hardy in the north. Hybridized by Jamie Gossard and introduced in 2006, Time Stopper grows about 33" tall in my garden. This daylily will be even more amazing as the clump grows larger!

Isn't she sweet? This little girl lives at the barn across the road from us. I named this tortoiseshell 'Penny-Kitty' because she reminds me of 'Penny,' a cat my friend Mar had for 17 years. The day I took this photo it was relatively cool outside, but our driveway was warm from the sun. Penny-Kitty spent time lounging in our driveway. I imagine the warm asphalt felt kind of like a heating pad. She comes over just about every day to visit us. And she's a talker! We enjoy her visits because she often goes home with a companion. A mouse in Penny-Kitty's mouth is a mouse not building a nest in our garage.

'August Wedding' came to my garden in a very  unusual way. In May of 2016 I went to the Minnesota Daylily Society Sale in Minneapolis. I bought daylilies for myself and three of my friends. Upon purchase, all of the daylilies were placed into one large plastic bag. The cultivar fans for each individual plant were held together by a vinyl name tag. Here's where the dilemma happened -- when I got home, after I removed all the plants from the plastic bag, I noticed there was one tiny fan remaining at the bottom of the bag that was not attached to a vinyl name tag. Uh-oh...I had no idea which daylily this fan belonged to. Was it my own or was it someone else's?

So I did what any daylily lover would do. I planted the small fan and waited. Sure enough, this year the small plant sent up a scape and it bloomed last week. It was, without a doubt, August Wedding. Thanks Becky! It was one of yours ;)

I have to say I am already in love with this plant! August Wedding opens fully, even when morning temps are in the high 50's. It has really thick substance as well.  August Wedding was hybridized in Suamico, WI (close to Green Bay) by the Korth's of Pinewood Gardens Daylilies. It is a dormant tetraploid that grows about 30" tall. The blooms are between 5-6" in size.  Plus, it is an award winner that has ruffles and glitter. What more could a girl want?

As much as I dislike orange ditch lilies, they exuberantly grow on our land across the road. For some odd reason Ange always mows around them. He thinks they look pretty in the distance. Whatever! We had to laugh when we saw a deer munching away at them recently. I have decided in addition to erosion control, ditch lilies do serve a purpose after all. They are decoys for the hybrid daylilies.

     "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes well you just might find, you get what you need." - Jagger/Richards

Last year on July 2nd I already had 74 daylilies blooming in my garden. Today there are only 16. Huge disparity! I know the calendar says it's summer, but the cold spring weather has really slowed things down. There may not be many daylilies showing their faces, but here are some photos of what is blooming in my yard right now.