Dixie Boy daylily

Each Face a Delight

| Flower Roberts

June is daylily season here in North Carolina. I must work hard to have uneaten blooms. It is worth all the effort to see these beautiful faces. I say their names as I visit each plant to dead-head its withered blooms.

I will share a photo of each with its name. Trying to pick a favorite is difficult. There are qualities other than bloom color that make them desirable…stem strength and length, hardiness, colorfastness, color bleeding…

Here are the ones blooming this first week of June.

Mac the Knife- fire engine red with yellow
Sammy Russell – smallest bloom of all here, deep dull color
Nutmeg Spice- looks different in different light, love the contrasting colors and how the pollen matches the throat
Peacock Alley – sweet open blooms, white margin
Lavender Rainbow – Stop to see this one every time I pass. Outstanding large blooms
Dixie Boy – happy little bright blooms with a hint of ruffled margin
Sabre Salina – Delicately beautuful
Breed Apart – love this color combo and ruffled margin
Whooperee – A favorite of the deer herd, big juicy blooms

I have forgotten the name of the next daylily so I will stop there. There will be many more.

ATTENTION LOCAL FOLLOWERS- I will be dividing and moving these as my hip allows. Write down your favorites and I will hold some for you.

FLOW

Cheater, Cheater, Color Reader

| Flower Roberts

It happened again this morning.  A new daylily bloomed with an unusual color.

Its name is South Seas, but that color…

South Seas daylily

Time to pull out the cheat sheets.

I used to use my colored pencil collection, but this got rather cumbersome…

carrying around a box of pencils…holding each up to the flower…

Now, I whip out my color charts from the internet.

Hot Chocolate calla

I happen to know that by the time it gets through my printer and the photos and the internet,

there is bound to be some change in tint, tone and hue.

I know someone is going to tell me there is a APP for that.  There is an APP for everything.

I can only use “lipstick” so many times (twice) before it gets redundant.

So now you know. The FLOWER is a cheater.  (Blushing scarlet.)

I’d like to think of myself as a color-reader over-achiever.

FLOW

P.S.  South Seas looks candy with hints of blush and a honey throat. (i.e It’s red and yellow. )

Mud and Mushrooms

| Flower Roberts

You may have noticed my latest posts are a little mushy.

It’s this R A I N.

Oh my. It has caught me at a bad part of my maintenance cycle.

I did get some weeding done, but ran out of mulch.

So that means W E E D S.

I am amazed how much growth has occurred this week.

I wish I had placed measuring sticks by each Hosta.

There are some upsides to the downpours.

I found some perfect animals tracks in the mud.

and then there are the mushrooms.

And let’s not forget the necessity for new garden clogs while my many pairs of shoes dry

after washing them.( Attention: Shrub Queen)

These are Backdoor Shoes.   I will let you know how they hold up.

Here is the second daylily to bloom. Dixie Boy.

FLOW

 

 

The Family’s Farm

| Flower Roberts

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.

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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.

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Helen Shooter

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Moonlit Masquerade

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Fama

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South Seas

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Elijah

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Nutmeg Spice

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Dixie Boy

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Daring Deception

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.

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Woody

 

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Buzz

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June and Johnny

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I love chicken noises.  These are young ones.

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Juvenile Rooster

This little rooster was trying to crow.  No noise came out. It was so cute!

FLOWER wants a FARM!