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.
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.
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