Recently Ange and I had a wonderful brunch, catching up with our friends Christine and Tony. It was a picture-perfect day, warm, sunny and slightly breezy. While sitting at their table, looking out large open French doors, you can oversee the coulees for miles around that surround their home. We couldn't hear a single sound other than the birds chirping. It was so very relaxing!

You can be sure whatever meal Christine serves it will be healthy, organic and delicious! Wholesome food and knowing where it comes from is a big deal to Christine and Tony, as it should be for all of us. No junk food here! Everything they eat is made from scratch -- they even grind their own oatmeal. We had quiche and it was nothing short of fantastic! We also had homemade V-8 juice which tastes so much better than the grocery store version.

Christine and Tony live on a small farm where they grow all their own vegetables and fruit. They also raise chickens and Black Angus beef cattle.  I learned quite a bit about chickens that I didn't know, like -- did you know they LOVE vegetables? Raw, cooked, whatever. They especially love cherry tomatoes. They'll fight over them! This former city girl finds out something new all the time!

Christine and Tony's home is eco-friendly; one side of it is immersed in the earth. The clever part is when you're inside, you can't even tell you're in an earth home! There are windows at the top even on the earth-side (north), so you don't feel enclosed at all. Their home uses very little energy. The main source of heat is a wood-burning stove and a geo-thermal floor.

This time of year Christine and Tony are super busy harvesting their garden, canning massive amounts of produce, and getting wood cut for the winter. I'm so glad they saved a day to spend with us!

You'd like my "sissy"-in-law Sandra. She carries sunshine around with her wherever she goes. And a passion for gardening. We both became interested in flower gardening at about the same time and learned together through the "trial-and-error" method. At the time she lived about a half mile from me. Her acreage was shaded by a large bluff in addition to a huge weeping willow tree and many gigantic white pines. Sandra became the resident expert at shade gardening. Her garden was gorgeous; very tastefully done with lush hostas of all shapes, sizes, and colors, pulmonarias, ferns, astilbes, and all things shade-tolerant.  By contrast I had a sunny southern exposure--perfect for daylilies. We'd go to plant nurseries together and she'd constantly chide me, "Another daylily?" "You already have so many daylilies." "More daylilies?" "You need to get other things...."

Where am I going with this?  Fast forward to quite a few years later. Sandra moved into a brand new subdivision with a large spacious lot, and yes, 95% sun.  One afternoon while I was visiting her garden, checking out a new flower bed she had created, she commented, "You know, I need to get more daylilies. They give you such bang for your buck with so little care."  

I smiled and replied, "Yeah, let's get more--more IS better!"

Here are just a few of "sissy's" flowers.

Christmas in August, that's what it is to me -- the annual Wisconsin Daylily Society sale at Olbrich Gardens in Madison, August 16 and 17. I look forward to this event all year. The list of available plants was posted online earlier in the week for those of us who like to do our homework. This year there were approximately 700 different cultivars to choose from of every size, shape and color. I had my "wish list" ready-to-go in addition to lists from my friends who also wanted some new daylilies.

Once let loose inside the huge daylily tent, you'd laugh at me (my husband does). I am on a mission to find daylilies, like a little kid on a sugar high gathering up candy. Little else matters; time is suspended until I have every last plant I want safely inside my basket.

Club members working at the sale are very knowledgeable and friendly. Besides the plants on my wish list, I always like to try a couple of new daylilies on a club member's recommendation.  I've purchased some super plants that way--ones I would have walked right by and missed out on. Another viewpoint is always valued. A huge thank you to Mark Jankowski (pictured with his lovely wife JoAnn) who always has the absolute best suggestions on what daylilies to purchase. Every daylily he has recommended to me has been "spot on." Mark and Joanne own "Angelic Acres" in Abrams, WI (20 miles north of Green Bay). They grow over 1300 different daylily cultivars and much more. Read more.

As of this morning all my new plants have been soaking overnight in a bucket, re-hydrating, since they've been packaged for about a week prior to the sale. Today I will pot them all up. The pots will sit on our warm brick patio and be "babied" for about a month while the plants develop good root systems. In mid- to late-September they will be planted in preparation for the first frost. I've had a 100% success rate with this method.

Startle is a striking late-season bloomer--this photo was taken yesterday.  Startle is an older daylily, but a very important one in the daylily realm. Hybridized by Belden in 1988, this tetraploid grows 26" tall and was one of the very first to show a gold ruffled, pie crust edge. You'll find Startle's genetics in many of today's cutting-edge daylilies. It is a very hardy dormant and grows very well for me with little or no attention.

I bought Startle in 2001 at the State Street Market in Madison. The Flower Factory had a vendor booth with lots of perennials for sale. When I saw one solitary Startle plant for sale I grabbed it fast. I have memories of carrying this once tiny little plant around Capital Square with me all morning while looking at all the other vendors' goods. As you can see, it was well worth it!

Two places to go if you've never been:
* The Saturday State Street Market around Capital Square in Madison - Interesting people, good food, music, awesome smells, and wonderful ambiance.  http://dcfm.org/
*The Flower Factory in Stoughton featuring the Midwest's largest selection of perennials, and much more. Plan to spend some time going through their numerous greenhouses. It's hard to walk out of there without buying something.  http://www.theflowerfactorynursery.com

The best part about summer is seeing my new daylilies bloom for the first time. Do they look like their picture? Do they hold up well in the sun? Do they stand up to the acclaim they have received? Just because a plant is pretty in a picture, or someone else's garden doesn't necessarily mean it will look that way in my garden. There are several variants that affect how a daylily blooms (soil type, sun exposure, temperature, water levels, and fertilizer to name just a few).

When I purchase a daylily, I'm never sure exactly what I'll get until I experience the plant through the course of its bloom season. Even one bloom season isn't always enough! Some plants take a few years to really take hold and bloom to full potential. I'm always reminded of a saying a dear friend told me regarding perennials: "The first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap." So true!

Typically, I do my research before I purchase a plant. The American Hemerocallis Society is very helpful in this respect, because each year they publish a popularity poll from throughout the United States, broken down by regions. Wisconsin falls into Region #2. You are best to choose plants popular within your own region. If a plant consistently shows up on a popularity poll - voted there by hundreds of daylily growers - you can be quite sure the plant is a "sure thing." I've never once been disappointed by a plant I've purchased from the popularity poll.

Yet on occasion I take a slight departure and purchase a daylily on nothing more than a whim, which I did last year. I purchased a plant named "Sis Boom Bah" at the Wisconsin Daylily Society Sale in Madison 'cause, well...the picture was pretty. This daylily turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.  Each bloom is consistent, always opening wide, even on the chilly mornings we've had this summer. It stands up to the elements very well and looks vibrant all day long. A definite keeper!!

Sis Boom Bah is a Wisconsin-bred daylily that was hybridized by Bill Powell of Epiphany Farms in Fort Atkinson. Hats off to Wisconsin hybridizers!