Tuesday, May 19, 2009

May 17, 2009

Hello Daylily Friends,

My beautiful wife Diana and I have just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. We were married on May 17, 1969, in Diana's home town of Milbank, South Dakota. We met when I was serving in the Air Force in Rapid City, South Dakota, and Diana was a student at the National College of Business in the same city. Our wedding took place in St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Milbank. What a wonderful day! We have had many anniversary celebrations, but so far, our 40th was the best.

It was the best because we are just happy. Diana made reservations for us to spend our anniversary in the St. Regis Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a short drive and it took me away from our garden and from my hybridizing work. The hotel was marvelous. It had a large TV, but more importantly, it also had a television in the "mirror" in the bathroom. You could sit in the very large tub and look at the TV in the bathroom mirror. We also had our own "Butler." In fact she brought us afternoon tea and we celebrated our many marriage adventures. We also had a cake brought to us by the hotel. I am showing several pictures.

We also had a grand evening in the hotel dining room. Diana ordered a large Filet, which she almost never orders, and I had "Halibut fish," which I almost never order. We began our evening in the dining room with champagne furnished by St. Regis. I also had a corn soup which was not like corn at all. It was a tremendous dinner. We talked about our best year over the last forty and we decided that it was the year that we built our house. So many adventures took place that year. My law practice was doing well, we owned the land where we built out house, and we were here practically every day to see every step of the construction. Construction began on January 2, 1986, and we moved into our house on July 3, 1986. There was a drought that year and so work proceeded practically every day until we moved in, and then it rained.

By Monday morning, May 18, 2009, Diana and I were back in our daylily garden. We were blessed to have Randall and Marvel Barron from Bixby, Oklahoma, come by and visit with us. We walked the entire garden, the Greenhouse, the Barn and then visited Diana's tomato plants which Randall and Marvel read about on this Daylily Corner. Here is a picture of Randall, Marvel and Diana admiring her tomato plants. We even saw our turtle, "Randy," walking through the garden waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. Last summer Randy ate several of Diana's tomatoes, and since he also eats bugs and slugs in the garden, he is always welcome even if he does also sometimes eat tomatoes. We regretted to see Randall and Marvel leave, but they are headed to the AHS National Convention in Florida. We know they will have a wonderful time.

Then, this morning, Tuesday, May 19, 2009, I was looking through the Greenhouse, getting ready to pollinate, when I saw a wonderful new daylily. Oh how exciting! I have seen many new daylilies, but when you see a real beauty that is better than all the rest, well, this is genuine excitement. Here is a picture of the new daylily: I might also say that I like pink daylilies that are tall with beautiful edges. This new daylily is now Seedling 9-95. It is 31" tall, it has 4-5 way branching, 21 buds and a 6" flower. I really like the edge. It is somewhat chartruse, and very wide. The cross that made this beauty is as follows: [(Grace 578 Seedling x Elegant Universe) x Best Edge]. Unlike the Grace 578 Seedling, and unlike Best Edge, Seedling 9-95 is tall. It is more like Elegant Universe with its height. The branching is nice. Whenever you have 4-5 way branching in a 9-month seedling, you know you are making progress.

So, I have enjoyed our 40th anniversary, greeted friends in the garden and I've seen a grand, new seedling. Things are going well.

Bill

4 comments:

  1. Mr. Bill,
    I want to wish you and your wife a VERY HAPPY 40th wedding anniversary and hope ya'll have many more.
    The picture of seedling 9-95 was beautiful. The wide edge , height and great branching make this a keeper.
    I went to our daylily club meeting at a member's garden in Fort Valley Sunday and when I got out of my truck, a beautiful daylily was staring at me. It was Kennasaw Mountain Hayride. It was the talk at our meeting. It was simply beautiful.
    Thanks again and keep up the good work.

    Greg

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  2. Bill,

    I hope that you and Diana have many many more wonderful anniversaries. We are just passed nine and forty seems a long way down the road. The seedlings here are beginning to bloom and every day is exciting. Pat Stamile's FRINGY opened this morning on a fantastically branched scape (6 way) and was gorgeous. I harvested the pollen before heading to school.

    William

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  3. Hi Greg,
    Glad to hear about your HAYRIDE. It is a beautiful plant. I have only a very few fans and can sell not more until perhaps this fall. Our 40th Celebration was great. Thanks for your message.
    Bill
    Hi William,
    I also like FRINGY. However, my scape is "cracked" and so my flower is not as nice as I know that it can be. And, 40 years passes fast!
    Bill

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  4. Hello Mr. Waldrop,
    I would like your opinion on which of the various "Best Edge" offspring would be most likely to pass on the best edges.

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