My friend Mary was watching TV in her living room one evening. After a long day of gardening work she fell asleep in her recliner. She woke up suddenly, hearing a "PLOP… PLOP… PLOP… PLOP" on her laminate floor. She jumped out of her chair wondering what the heck that noise was. Oddly enough, a toad was sitting by her front door as if it was asking to go outside--certainly not your usual house guest! Mary quickly opened her front door and the toad jumped outside into the bushes.

About 48 hours prior, Mary brought in a couple of beautiful annual pots from outside to overwinter in her sun room. Earlier, she noticed that a toad had been sitting in her pot outside. It appeared to be gone on the day she brought her annual plant pots inside. Next year, Mary plans to bring her plant pots into the garage for a day or so before they come into the house, just to make sure there are no toads residing in the dirt!

About 25 years ago I received Spanish Glow as a freebie plant with one of my daylily orders. Believe it or not, I ended up liking Spanish Glow way more than the daylilies I actually ordered. Dozens of daylilies have come and gone in my garden, but Spanish Glow has remained.

Hybridized by Jeff Salter in 1988, this semi-evergreen tetraploid grows 26 to 28 inches tall with a 5 inch bloom. The soft pastel peach is lovely. It is a mid-late season bloomer, that blooms from July through August. Spanish Glow is a perfect garden plant...beauty plus performance!

American Dayliliy Society Award: 1992 Honorable Mention

Toronto is one of my best finds ever! Not far from my office there is a large plant nursery. Needless to say, I spent many lunch hours looking at their plants. At the end of the season they would put out bargain tables. In one particular plant pot there were two solitary sticks poking out of the dirt. There was a plant tag in the pot of a gorgeous Asiatic Lily. I thought I would take a risk and try it out hoping that it wasn't a misplaced plant tag. I was tickled when the plant bloomed the following year and looked even more beautiful than the tag.

I grew Toronto in a flower bed mixed in with daylilies in the backyard. I loved the unusual vibrant color so much that last year we moved it close to our back door. I get so many compliments about how beautiful this lily is.

Stranger in a Strange Land is one of my newer daylilies. I had an empty spot in our brick retaining wall. I wanted a smaller, purple, late bloomer; and this daylily checked all of the boxes. Hybridized in 2011 by Karol Emmerich,  this Minnesota daylily grows very well in Wisconsin. It grows with five inch blooms, between 22 and 24 inches tall, and begins blooming towards late July and well into August. It is sunfast and consistent in addition to being beautiful. It was a perfect addition to our tiered retaining wall.