The colors just keep coming, even in this heat.
Bless these seven beautiful bloomer
I have circled the gardens every morning with my camera.
We have had some rain, so there are many blooms.
I have several more and some Spiders to share next week.
I am also spying on a little critter. I hope to post about it soon. Suspense!
FLOWER
I have always dreamed of having a farm, so I love visiting them.
I envy the space and the history that goes along with a family farm.
Jimmy’s family has been on this farm for generations.
Joyce and Jimmy now grow hay and daylilies and keep a number of animals.
I love visiting anytime, but June is the most beautiful month for daylilies.
They have over 300 varieties. They no longer sell them. They are trying to get their numbers down to a manageable amount.
If you have daylilies, you know that many need dividing to keep blooming. I can’t imagine the work involved in keeping this many.
I walked through rainbows of color last week. Here are just a few of the flowers.
I must include some of the animals. Their horses were running too fast for photos because they were being chased by Tank, the donkey who likes to bite their backsides.
I did get to pet the goats.
I love chicken noises. These are young ones.
This little rooster was trying to crow. No noise came out. It was so cute!
FLOWER wants a FARM!
Here are six more dayliles that just started blooming in the past week.
I must admit that Nowhere to Hide is one of my favorites. Its color with dark veins and ruffled-edged petals make it unique. It was given to me by my friends Joyce and Jimmy.
I love each of these six. Each has its own attributes. I am fascinated by the subtle variations.
‘Sound and Fury’ really stands out with its rusty orange blooms. It has been moved and abused numerous times, so I was glad to see it blooming today.
‘Gentle Shepherd’ is really that white. It was given to me by my sister-in-law, Dana.
My Easter Lily is also blooming this week. The two look similar, don’t they?
Gentle Shepherd is a slow grower. I divided it four years ago and it still has not recovered.
FLOWER
I don’t want to jinx myself by saying this but,
June is usually the month all goes awry.
Something unusual usually happens in June. (Knock on wood)
I am going to try to remain calm and carry on.
If you stop hearing from me, somebody better come check on us.
It is hard to keep up with a garden during June here in North Carolina.
The wetness and warmness make every plant go through a growth spurt,
including the weeds.
To keep me from going through a daylily/Hemerocallis frenzy on-line,
I will share them in phases.
The first five are in bloom.
Whooperee bloomed first this year. It has big, juicy buds that were gobbled up by the deer last year. The spent blooms are heavy and bleed red on your hands. The deer know how to pick the most succulent blooms.
Little Lila is a sweet smaller daylily that fits nicely in a mixed border. The lime green throat is nice contrast to the magenta eye and delicate pink petals and sepals.
Lavender Rainbow shines yellow in sun. In shade it appears more creamy. I so love its blotchy lavender eye. It has slightly frilled margins which dresses is up. Fancy!
Smoky Mountain Autumn is my favorite color of pinkish salmon. I love how its petals are darker and wider than its sepals and I love that bright yellow eye.
Breed Apart is nicely detailed with a golden frilly margin to match its golden throat and pollen. Its coloration is webbed instead of solid which reminds me of Amaryllis coloration.
It is hard to pick a favorite daylily. So, I just pick a favorite for each day. There will be some more coming into bloom from now until August. I think of the daylilies as variations on a theme. I mix them in my borders, so that there are flowers blooming before them and after them.
Keep your fingers crossed for me during June. Let’s hope all goes well THIS year.
At least I have eight rabbits’ feet to improve my luck. Attached to my bunnies, of course.
FLOWER
If you want the whole story, listen to the trees.
The flowers will greet you at the driveway.
The shrubs will show you to the door, but the trees see it all.
I went to my friends’ farm to photograph the daylilies.
It is June. They are beautiful.
I felt the trees watching me.
“More folks to see the new-comers.” they said.
The silos sighed.
“Pretty faces, shallow roots.” whispered the trees.
“They know nothing. Blooming little twits.”
“Show-offs. The weeds know more than they do.”
I felts as though I were in a museum taking pictures in the gift shop.
“The story is up here.” they said.
“We have the history.”
“We saw the boy grow to a man and his boy grow to a man.”
“We shaded the cows. We saw the storms and sunsets.”
“We watched the pastures change to neighborhoods.”
“We know the history, yet you are focusing on the flashy little trinkets.”
“All they know is a rainwand and sunshine.”
“Needy and greedy.”
“Are you shallow too.” they asked?
Follow the TREES!
I went out in the garden early this morning with my chopstix.
I’d been using knives, but there were issues.
NO, I wasn’t eating sushi for breakfast.
I was marking my daylilies.
I use plastic knives with the names engraved on the blade.
These have been stepped on and broken by a certain blundering gardener.
If it is muddy, I have to wipe off the knife blade to read the name.
So my new plan is plastic chopstix with the name engraved on the top. Then use a Sharpe marker to fill in the scratches and wipe the rest off with 91% alcohol. Isopropyl alcohol people!
I sat down with my list and Dremel tool last night.
I made a whole new batch of markers.
I chose blue and green to be inconspicuous. Maybe I should have gotten red instead.
We will see how this works out.
I only broke one this morning.
Now if I can just read my writing!
Follow the forgetful FLOWER.
The first in line was Whooperee on May 30, 2015. The last to bloom was Sabre’ Salina on August 12, 2015. The parade of blooms lasted 72 days. I enjoyed every single morning of walking around with my camera.
I must admit I missed some bloomers due to a week of back pain and a week of vacation. I also left out the spiders. I omitted the six or seven that don’t have names, except for the yellow giant(pictured with Santa). That one was too big to ignore.
I have many daylilies because my best friend used to have a beautiful daylily farm. They gave me many of these. (Thanks Joyce and Jimmy.)
How do I remember all the names? My little secret is etching the names onto colored plastic knives from any party store. I use a Dremel tool, that way the names don’t fade away like when you write them with a sharpie. I stick these knives in the ground near the base of the plant. When I want the name, I look for the colored handle and pull it from the ground; instead of trying to pull the name out of my brain. It’s so much easier than trying to remember them all.
If your daylilies don’t bloom, it’s time for some fertilizer and more water. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to divide them or they are not getting enough sun.
If anyone offers you an orange, old type named Kwanso; politely say no and run away as fast as you can. It’s the kudzu of the daylily family. It will spread and is very hard to get rid of.
#1 Whooperee/May 30
#2 tied Sammy Russell and Mac The Knife/ June 2
#3 Emperor Butterfly/June 4
This giant, yellow daylily is the workhorse of the bunch. Its blooms are the biggest and it blooms the longest.
I hate to tell you this, but I do not know its name.
We got it many years ago at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens daylily sale.
If you haven’t been to DSBG, you must visit it if you come to North Carolina.
It and Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina are my two favorite places on this planet.
Follow the Flower!
floweralley 