Showing posts with label daylilies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daylilies. Show all posts

Sunday, July 5, 2015

ABC Wednesday - Y is for my Yen (for daylilies)

Before I begin, I would encourage you to stop by the ABC Wednesday site to see what other participants posted this past week. Click the logo.
http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/

I admit it.  I have a YEN for daylilies.  I may not have the ideal settings for them all, but they perform, nonetheless.  The varieties below receive the longest, most intense sunlight here.  At least 6 to 8 hours per day.  And that is considered a day's worth of sunlight.

Daylilies are aptly named, as each flower lasts only as long as the sunshine on the day it blooms.  But don't let that information discourage you from enjoying these plants.  As you might notice, the older the plant, the more flower scapes it sends up with multiple buds!

I enjoy the practice of "deadheading" in the early mornings... whenever possible.  I gather together the supplies (a clipper, gloves, and a large bucket) and break or cut the spent blossoms.  I also cut the flower stems back, nearly to the ground, when they no longer hold buds.  My reasoning is this, even though I know most hybrids do not make seeds, however I can save the plant energy by sparing it's making seeds or feeding a green stem, I do it.  Hopefully this practice energizes the plant.

It also doesn't hurt that it makes the plants look tidier.  :-)

Also, while I'm out in the gardens, pulling a weed here and there, is also enjoyable.  Listening to the birds' songs, and visiting with the gardens is terribly enjoyable.  I even like to call the by name, if I can!!  (These are "true confessions!"  Don't worry.  I'm fine!)  lol

The information I'm including about many of the daylilies comes from a site entitled  http://www.daytonnursery.com/Encyclopedia/Perennials/Hemerocallis.htm

So.  Let me introduce you to some of my "friends!"

'Ruby Spider' greets you, next to the driveway.


 'Pumpkin Festival' is a daylily I began from a big box store's bagged, bare-root offering
2 years ago.

 'Rosy Returns' is next.
With 4", fragrant, rose-pink blend with a deep rose eyezone and yellow throat.  The first hardy rose pink everblooming daylily.  Blooms consistantly from June to frost in Michigan; each 

Behind 'Rosy Returns' is a "Stella look-alike," except this this fellow is a little taller,
and blooms a little later (Stella finished blooming a couple of weeks  or more ago.)

The "apricot" blossoms below are unnamed. They are quite small, for the size of the plant. They are a plant I shared with my parents Many years ago!  (Probably a good 15+ or so.)

'Bubbly' also has very small flowers.  They are a double and a bit more"peach" in color.

 'Stella Supreme' is one of my favorites.  It's a light yellow and blooms and reblooms!
 
'My Melinda' is a pretty girl.

'Happy Returns' is a little more yellow/golden than 'Stella Supreme,' but it also is a bloomer and rebloomer!!  :-)
3 inch ruffled, canary yellow blossoms.  Repeat bloomer. 

YES.  I cannot help it.  If they maintain a growth pattern at all, and they bloom, I am happy.  The next daylilies are located on the front of the house, but in the shady spot.

This truly is an "unnamed."  It was developed by a Mr. Hobbs, a hybridizer,
but he did not deem it worthy to name.

 Meet 'Ed Brown.'  He likes to show off a bit! (And I encourage him!) ;-)

'Yellow Mammoth'

Siloam 'Double Classic' is also a sweet, sweet gal!
A multiple award winner with fragrant, double pink flowers.  They are true works of art!
Extended bloom time. 


YET, in other parts of the front yard, such as under the Sunburst Honey Locust tree,

'Peach Halo'

 and in the Sunny Corner Bed, reside a few other daylilies.
 (This was a already a resident when we moved to this house 12 years ago.  I don't know it's name, but I really do like it!)

It is probably 'Stella d'Oro.'  It is not now blooming, of course. It will probably be blooming later.
Prolific ruffled golden flowers have a green throat.  One of the earliest to bloom and re-blooms until frost.

 A friend (named Joan) gave it to me!  It's a large flower on a tall scape.
It is really 'Frans Hals' but I've nicknamed it "Joan."  :-)
A striking flower with alternating yellow and yellow-striped red petals.

 Another "Hobbs unnamed."

H Fulva 'Kwanzo' is a (beautiful) hybrid variety of the common "ditch lily."
It's a little aggressive, so he has to be watched!  :-)

'Pardon Me' is a shorter daylily that blooms and blooms!
3.5" red petals with a yellow throat.  A very popular, fast growing, prolific Daylily.

'Hyperion' is located on the north side of our driveway.  A little shady, but does well.
Clumps of grassy foliage, with upright stems of trumpet flowers. This classic selection has large, fragrant lemon-yellow flowers. Repeat blooming. Midseason. Plants do not usually require dividing for several years, but are easily split apart in fall or early spring. Spent flower stems can be trimmed back after flowers are finished. Remove old foliage in late fall. An older selection, but still an outstanding garden performer. Award winning. (this information from http://www.perennials.com/plants/hemerocallis-hyperion.html)

I YEARN for the blossoms to open, and they do.  :-)  Even in the backyard, where the most sunny spots have morning sun for a few hours.

Siloam 'Peony Display'

'Strawberry Candy'
Flowers are a creamy strawberry color with striking strawberry-rose eye zones and yellow throats.  Heavily ribboned petals.

'Lime Frost' (Reading the info below, it is funny because mine is blooming now! 
Perhaps it will rebloom?)
6", fragrant, diamond dusted, white blossoms with a soft green infusion throughout the tepals and a pale yellow-green halo.  Slightly ruffled tepals; sepals are recurved.  Valued for its very late bloom time at the end of summer when many other perennials are finished for the season.

'Summer Wine'

(Same no-name as Sunny Corner Bed)

 'Custard Candy'

'Purple d'Oro'  (pardon the lens cover and strap!)

'Madonna' always reminds me of the mother of one of my former second graders.

 'Total Look' was a gift from former blogger, "Iowa Boy" of Iowa City.

'Final Touch' is a daylily I began from one of those early-Spring big box store bags.  I have this daylily in two places.


This was supposed to be a pale pink daylily.  It was bare-root when I got it (again, from a big box store).  However, it turned out to be a pale peach.  Lovely, yes.  But not what I was seeking at that time.  It remains unnamed.


All the daylilies have bloomed or are blooming!  Yea!!  and Yippee!!


 Perhaps I have left you wondering what I do with that bucket of stems, spent blossoms, etc.  Anything without viable seeds goes into my compost pile.  In that way, "recycling" happens!

Have a Super Beautiful, Enjoyable Day!
SG

Thursday, August 7, 2014

ABC Wednesday - D is for Destination Hosta Farm!




Three friends and I were Determined to make garden forays to a couple of "garden centers" in extreme SE Iowa.  They area both located on Highway 2, west of Fort Madison a ways.

Hobbs Hilltop Gardens is owned and operated by Gerald Hobbs.  Gerald has been a daylily hybridizer for many years.  This link will take you to a list of his nursery stock.  Here are a couple of photos taken on Monday's trip.

 These little tree toads were Decidedly Doubtful about their territory being invaded!  :-)


Credit as to the owner of this photo, etc. is in the photo below.
I came home with Volcano (spider daylily) from Hobbs Hilltop Gardens.
http://www.stoutgardens.com/media/0a/a20792012e93046d3f4187_m.JPG


Today's foray found us exploring hosta heaven at Hillcrest Hostas, a couple of miles west of Hobbs  Hilltop Gardens on U.S. Highway 2, on the south side of the highway.  This is a link to their website.  Make sure you click on each of the tabs for more photos!

 ***

 They also have a few daylily beds, but are not yet selling them.  They do not wish to compete with Mr. Hobbs.  However, this is another photo of a Dainty tree frog hiding in a Daylily!

I believe he Definitely resented the interruption of his afternoon nap!  :-)

Okay!  Do you want to see photos of the hostas I brought home today?  Here you go!

Names, not in any particular order, are:  'Autumn Frost', 'Grant Park', 'Happiness', 'Korean Snow', and 'Choo Choo Train.'
  Happiness Is . . .  


Click on the logo below to visit the posts by other participants in ABC Wednesday!
http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/


Decidedly Happy!  :-)
SG

Monday, June 30, 2014

The Daylilies Are Coming! The Daylilies Are Coming!

(An apology to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...)
Listen my children and you shall hear, 
of the mid-day bloom of daylilies dear!
'Twas the 30th of June, in late afternoon,
taking my photos - none too soon...

Hemerocallis blossoms have just begun to dazzle and brighten... and a few are now blossoming.  Future blossoms will be featured in another post.

Rosey Returns

My Melinda

 Unnamed - Apricot daylily from Dad and Mom

 Stella Supreme


Unnamed - double peach

 unnamed yellow/gold from Dad and Mom


“A garden should make you feel you've entered privileged space -- a place not just set apart but reverberant -- and it seems to me that, to achieve this, the gardener must put some kind of twist on the existing landscape, turn its prose into something nearer poetry.”
Michael Pollan, Second Nature: A Gardener's Education 


 unnamed yellow daylily - Sunny Corner Bed - front yard,
surrounded by Veronica Speedwell



“Gardening is akin to writing stories. No experience could have taught me more about grief or flowers, about achieving survival by going, your fingers in the ground, the limit of physical exhaustion.” ― Eudora Welty


Purple d'Oro
backyard bed next to house


larger double daylily in center pond garden - backyard.  Lovely!

next to driveway and front of house... a little "flower collage"  :-)

“It didn’t occur to me that… that gardening, like music, could demand practice, patience, a willingness to make mistakes.”
― Amy Stewert 
You can perhaps tell I haven't been home in a few days... and that I truly need to be deadheading tomorrow morning (something to which I look forward!!!).  That being said, the mosquitoes are quite prevalent and hardy this year... so I will be "suiting up!"
Happy end-of-June gardening!  SG