A reminder that love can be found in the most unexpected places. Happy Valentines Day!

Photo taken by Patty in Tucson Arizona

 Sometimes things strike me as funny/annoying and I just thought I'd share:

• While Shopping:
  "Would you like a bag?" (When you have seven or eight items sitting on the checkout counter)
  "What's your zip code?" (I just want to pay for my stuff; marketing is not my job)
  "Can we round up the dollar on your purchase?"
  "Did you find everything you needed?" (Just understand that if your answer is anything other than "Yes," you'll end up waiting in line for an eternity longer.)
  And how about the people who never seem to get their grocery carts put away in the cart corral? What's up with that?
• People who take up two parking spaces.
• Why would anyone name a daylily "Golightly?" Ditto for the daylilies named "Root Canal," "Splinter in the Eye," "Buddy's Booger," and "Toad Strangler."
• "Delicious" apples - Are these really considered apples?
• Campbell's soup labels - How long do you have to stand in front of the soup shelf to find the actual soup you want?
• Pharmaceutical commercials on TV - You gotta love the side effects of the drugs that include diarrhea, difficulty breathing, stroke, heart attack, and  death. I want that... yes please! (sarcasm)
• People on Facebook who make vague statements like "I am having the worst day of my life," seeking attention.

Happy 2023  to you - keep it simple!

Have you ever thought about becoming a master gardener? Recently my friend Vonnie earned her certification as a Wisconsin Master Gardener. This is quite an achievement! As a master gardener, she is  knowledgeable about all things related to plants and gardening.

If  being a master gardener is something you may be interested in, here is some information and a website you can go to. It is a very rewarding certification to hold.

How to Join the Master Gardener Program
​#1. Learn about plants and how to take care of them. Participate in an approved learning opportunity from the Wisconsin Extension Horticulture Program such as a county-based in-person course.
#2. An Onboarding course will explain the scope of your role as a Wisconsin Extension Master Gardener.
#3. As a Wisconsin Extension Master Gardener you apply your knowledge and skills educating others and gardening at local organizations. Volunteer service and continuing education are required to be completed and reported each year.
#4. Your involvement will lead to an increase in knowledge and skill in yourself and those your reach. You will use your knowledge of plants to improve lives of others and the community you live in. This, ultimately, will lead to a bigger change in the world around us.

mastergardener.extension.wisc.edu/get-started/

All photos are from Vonnie's home and garden. She grows a wide array of annuals and perennials. And  Vonnie's beautiful cat is named Tipper.

My experience with Dormant, Semi–Evergreen and Evergreen daylilies in Zone 4
 
Although I grow all three foliage types of daylilies, my western Wisconsin garden is predominantly filled with dormants. Over the years the dormants have thrived the best in our northern climate. Nothing seems to faze them…even a polar vortex. I grow many semi-evergreens that do very well, but I have had much more difficulty growing evergreens. Of the daylilies I would lose each winter, most would be evergreens. So obviously, I am much more cautious when it comes to growing evergreens. With a little extra TLC, like protection by the house or a location by a warm sidewalk or rock border, my six evergreens grow wonderfully and I have had them for many years ––  they include J.T. Davis, Joan Senior, Lotus Position, Mister Lucky, Wings of Chance, and Waxed Legs.

​Foliage habit definitions from the American Daylily Society:

• Dormant/deciduous –In science, dormancy describes the temporary suspension of visible growth of any plant structure containing a meristem. The term “dormant” is not restricted to deciduous plants but also applies when plants that retain some, or all, of their foliage suspend growth and have dormant buds. All daylilies, regardless of registered foliage habit, suspend growth when it gets cold enough.
• Semi–evergreen – The foliage of semi-evergreen daylilies dies back nearly to the ground in very cold climates. Some green will be seen near the base. Generally, semi-evergreens wait until spring to resume growth.
• Evergreen – The foliage habit of daylilies that retain their foliage throughout the year. In cold winter climates, evergreen daylilies over-winter as a mound of frozen pale green foliage. Evergreens may resume growth during a mid-winter thaw in mild climates. Evergreen daylilies do not set resting buds.

Pictured is the dormant daylily Dean Corey

This sounds like a crazy topic when we're talking about daylilies. Over the years, 99% of my daylilies thrived and grew wonderfully with no pampering whatsoever. In fact, I have given away some beautiful daylilies for the simple fact that they grew *too* fast and it was annoying having to divide them year after year. But let's talk about that one percent of daylilies that no matter what you do will not grow. And I'm talking about daylilies that should successfully grow in your zone.

I visited an online forum and was relieved to see I was not the only person that had experienced  this problem. Some folks said they had bought the same plant three times because they knew people in their zone that grew it successfully. Others moved their plant around numerous times until it was happy. Some folks bought the same plant twice, but the second time they bought it from a different source and the second time the plant did wonderfully.

An issue of concern could be whether the plant is a division or has been tissue cultured. It is always better to purchase from a reliable source that you know are divisions. Tissue culture plants may grow well, but more than likely may not. Blog on tissue culture

Bottom line, with more than 95,000 daylily varieties available I wouldn’t put up with these problems for too long because it is easy enough to find another daylily that is more than willing to grow happily in your garden.

​Pictured: Mississippi Red Dragon, a dormant daylily that was very temperamental for me. I knew other gardeners that grew this plant in my zone with no problem whatsoever. My plant was definitely a division. Go figure?

In 2021 I learned patience and acceptance beyond any level I ever thought I would deal with. That being said, life is still about the little things.

• I had my Ancestry DNA done. I was glad I had visited the UK since a good bit of my DNA is from there.
• On the topic of the UK, I watched all the available seasons of ‘The Great British Baking Show.’ I learned a lot and really appreciated the feel-good vibe of the show.
• Does anyone else out there own an unruly Alexa? Ours talks whenever she wants to, doesn’t follow directions, says bizarre things, and shuts off randomly. I shudder at the thought of allowing her to control anything randomly important.
• Since I haven’t been able to garden, I mentioned that I really missed having my hands in the dirt. My seven-year-old grandson overheard and shortly thereafter brought me a bucket filled with dirt and said, ‘Here Grandma Carole, now you can put your hands in the dirt.’ How sweet is that?
• My 11-year-old granddaughter is taller than me. I suspect it won’t be long before she passes up her Mom as well.
• I often use voice-to-text on my laptop. If you use this feature on your computer, you know that it doesn’t always type exactly what you say. One day I was using voice-to-text and I had to stop and sneeze… my computer typed ‘bitch.’ Yikes!
• 2021 brought a multitude of kind and caring individuals who worked hard in my garden, made food for us, brought treats and gifts, helped with paperwork, and kept me in good spirits with frequent texts, emails, phone calls, and visits. I am so very grateful and humbled.

Pictured: A restaurant in Kensington, London

Gardening is much more than just having your hard work reward you with beautiful flowers. It's also an intimate experience with nature that calms your mind and being. 

Here is what I enjoy about gardening and being outside:

• Breathing in the clean, fresh country air
• Having a cool breeze refresh you
• Feeling the warm sun on your back
• Pausing to hear birds singing
• Watching big, gentle bumblebees buzz around, tending to their business
• Smelling the dirt and getting your hands in it
• Looking  at the clouds, just like when you were little
• ​Getting dirty and grimy...really, really dirty and grimy
• Taking a break and appreciating a cool beverage on a hot day
• And finally, having your mind be nowhere else except in the here and now

Daylily pictured: 'My Friend Charlie'

The daylily season in western Wisconsin was uncharacteristic this year. After weeks of very cold spring weather, bloom started about two weeks late in early July. At that point temperatures instantly turned tropical with 90+ degrees just about every day thereafter. Most of my daylilies bloomed in a heated rush lasting, on average, a little more than three weeks each - four weeks tops.

In a typical Wisconsin season most of my daylilies bloom for at least four to six weeks, many going even longer through August and early September as they are all sizable clumps. My local gardening friends had the same experience as me, which was so disappointing! We waited all year for bloom season and it was over before we knew it. I hope this is an isolated year and bloom returns to a more usual pattern in the future. 

My season came to a fitting end on August 13, after four days and nights of constant rain. Being unable to spray deer deterrent in between the pockets of rain, I woke up one morning to find that all the remaining daylily blooms and scapes had been eaten by deer.

How was your 2021 daylily experience?

Daylily pictured: 'Spanish Glow' with two companions

As much as I love gardening, there are just a few things I wish didn't happen when I'm outside:

1. Getting a gnat in your eye. Activities come to a grinding halt. 
2. Getting a buzzing insect stuck inside your ear. Activities come to a grinding halt.
3. Finding a deer tick on your arm and wondering where else they might be.
4. Starting a project when it's bright and sunny outside, then moments later clouds roll in with an unexpected burst of heavy rain that completely soaks you.
   
5. Planting a large daylily and discovering that it's six inches off where you really wanted it and you have to re-do it. This is especially annoying if you've already watered the plant.
6. Wearing a bicycle helmet while weeding where the neighbor's walnut tree overhangs one of your gardens. Falling walnuts really do hurt.
7. Getting a hole in your garden glove and not immediately taking the time to replace the glove. Having instant regret after getting a big thorn in the part of your finger that sticks out of the hole.
8. Having a snake unexpectedly slither over your foot.
9. Finding a dead, rotting 'something' in between your daylilies while weeding.
10. Being dog-tired at the end of a gardening day and realizing you still have to clean up your mess and all your tools.

What's your gardening downer?

Some plant nurseries and  big box stores have been known to sell daylilies with 'garden' names or no names at all, with perhaps only their color printed on the sales tag. Does it matter if you buy unnamed or unregistered daylilies, or should you only buy those registered with the American Daylily Society?

There are three schools of thought on this topic:

1. Who cares? If the plant is pretty and it gives me pleasure, I could care less if it has a name. Furthermore, I don't display name tags by my daylilies.
2. I only plant registered, named daylilies in my garden. Unregistered daylilies are not eligible for any American Daylily Society (ADS) awards or can't be mentioned in the ADS Journal. I appreciate knowing who hybridized my plant, if it has won any awards, and its parentage. I like having all the available statistics about my plants. Before I buy any daylily I research it thoroughly in the ADS Daylily Database. And I love name tags!
3. Both option #1 and #2 work for me.

As you can probably tell from my blogs, I fall into the #2 category. Where do you stand on this topic?

Daylily pictured: Bill Tonn

Mother Nature is holding out on us. I can't believe it's almost July in Wisconsin and only two or three of my daylilies are blooming. This has to be the latest bloom season ever. The anticipation is killing me! Let the whining commence.

A daylily is a flowering plant in the genus Hemerocallis. The name Hemerocallis comes from the Greek words "day" and "beautiful." The individual flowers only last one day, but plants typically open successive blooms over a period of four to five weeks, some even longer.

The old-fashioned orange daylilies that you see growing in roadside ditches are native to east Asia, where they had been cultivated for one thousand years. They have long been popular with the Chinese for their edible and medicinal properties. In the 16th century, European traders carried them home and daylilies became a common sight in many homestead gardens. These orange lilies eventually spread from the gardens and took over the countryside.

Despite being around for years, daylilies weren’t cultivated much in America until the 20th century. Dr. Arlow Stout, a botanist in New York, became fascinated with the flowers. He spearheaded a breeding program and was responsible for hybridizing at least 100 new varieties. In 1934, he published Daylilies, the definitive book on the subject. He is known as the 'father of the modern daylily.'

Daylilies have come a long way from their invasive ancestors. Today's hybridizers have catapulted daylilies to a new level of perfection, with over 94,000 different cultivars currently registered.

Information from:  https://blog.gardeningknowhow.com/tbt/learn-some-daylily-plant-history/

Daylily pictured: Jerry Hyatt

Daylily obsession typically arrives in degrees. It slowly creeps up on you. When does the realization hit that you may have an addiction? Here are 20 common indicators:

1. Your backyard vegetable garden has disappeared. Dozens of daylilies have replaced the veggies. The farmer's market is where you find your vegetables nowadays.
   
2. You get rid of other perennials to make room for daylilies.
3. Sections of your lawn have been removed to make larger daylily beds. Easier to mow, right?
4. You attend a daylily sale, promising yourself that you'll buy no more than eight new cultivars.  But when you get home, somehow an additional 20 daylilies have hitched a ride.
5. Online daylily purchasing is fun, easy, and you partake often.
   
6. You have started growing seedlings in your basement.
7. You routinely trade daylily divisions with other enthusiasts.
8. On rainy days you create and work with daylily spreadsheets on Google.
9. You are compelled to make plant tags and labels for your daylilies.
10. You lie in bed at night orchestrating transplant maneuvers in your mind for the following day.
11. Your partner tells you they are sick of hearing about daylilies.
12. Proliferations grow  on your window sills.
13. No one has to wonder what to get you for your birthday. Duh!
14. You spend hours online researching what daylilies *need* to go on your wish list.
15. You own at least one or two daylily attire items.
16. You have friends and neighbors who also have daylily gardens. Prior to meeting you they had no idea that daylilies even existed. 
17. You remove trees and bushes on your property to get rid of the excess shade.
    
18. You are forced to hold a daylily sale because you must make room for more new daylilies.
19. You plan vacation road trips around garden visits to daylily hybridizers.
20. And finally, you must have the latest daylily buzz so you become a member of both your local daylily club and the American Daylily Society.

How many of these indicators should you admit to before you are considered a daylily addict? Good question! I'll venture to say that at least five true statements indicate you've started walking down that path ;) And myself? I'm definitely in trouble for the simple reason that I am familiar with each and every indicator, but I'm not admitting that they're all mine...

Daylily pictured: 'Something Angelic'

2020 was uncharted territory for me in more ways than I could have ever imagined.

I've learned:

• I am blessed with some over-the-top, amazing people in my life who mean the world to me.
• guarantees are for appliances.
• not to stray too far from the 'here and now.'
• that potato chips, brownies and soda in one sitting is not a good idea (even though my 'here and now' self would disagree).
• you can deal with difficulty whether or not you have courage.
• gratitude is necessary.
• it's all about perspective.
  
• the fortune-teller was wrong.
• material items live low on the totem pole.
• finally, and of utmost importance, it ain't so bad that it can't get worse.

Pictured: A quaint storefront I passed by in Bath, England.