A Wonderful Daylily Week

Hello Daylily Friends,

I have been so busy over the past week. On Thursday evening, September 10, 2009, my friend David and I went to Atlanta to see Georgia Tech play Clemson in football. At first, everything went well. Tech took the lead 24 to 0. Then, Clemson came roaring back, and took the lead by a score of 27 to 24. I was sad. Then, suddenly, Tech found a way to rebound, and scored two field goals late in the fourth quarter and won the game by a score of 30 to 27. I finally got home and went to bed, exhausted, at about 1:30 a.m.

On Friday morning, September 11, 2009, starting at about 8:00 a.m., my friend David and I started to move seedlings from the Greenhouse to plant them outside. We left some of the seedlings to grow in the Greenhouse, but most of the seedlings went outside. We planted the seedlings 10" apart, and the rows are one (1) foot apart. The actual width of the row is five (5) feet. After the seedlings were all planted, we then applied "Snapshot" to keep any potential weeds from competing with the newly planted seedlings. David and I got everything planted in the one bed by about noon. I am showing a picture of David and myself standing beside the newly planted bed. It is good to get the work started moving plants from the Greenhouse to their permanent two-year beds.

On Saturday morning, September 12, Diana and I drove to Columbus, Georgia, to speak to the Chatahoochee Valley Daylily Society. We had a wonderful adventure going to Columbus and meeting so many new friends. We met Larry Miller, the Club President, and were so glad to see our long time friend, John Christenson. As you may know, I converted TET. INDIAN GIVER and it has been important in by breeding program. To my surprise, the lady who introducted the diploid, INDIAN GIVER, was a member of the Chatahoochee Club. Her name was Elizabeth Ferguson. I also met another person who we should all remember, Mr. Glenn Ward. Glenn introduced TOTALLY AWESOME, a magnificent diploid double. I actually purchased TOTALLY AWESOME from Glenn through the mail many years ago. We certainly enjoyed the hospitality of the Chatahoochee Club, and I am showing a picture that we have of ourselves with the Club.

On Sunday afternoon, September 13, we were very fortunate to have Ms. Nicole Harry to come and visit with us at the Cobb County Daylily Society. My friends, David and Camilla Arthur, went to the Atlanta Airport to pick up Nicole, and she then spoke to our Club at about 2:30 p.m., showing us her beautiful new introductions and many of her best seedlings. After Nicole spoke, our Club gathered together and had our picture taken with Nicole. It is certainly a wonderful delight to see Nicole, a beautiful young woman, taking such an active, prosperous, and commercial interest in producing new daylilies. Nicole is so talented and is creating new daylilies that we all want to own. Nicole brought about nine (9) plants to our Club which were auctioned for approximately $1,200.00. Needless to say, we like Nicole's daylilies. I am showing a picture of our Club with Nicole seated in the middle of the front row.

I want to show you another of our introductions that will be released for the spring of 2010. It is an unusual form that was produced by my beautiful wife, Diana Rae. You just have to see a picture of this creation. It has such "rolled sepals," and this certainly makes this creation special. Diana's new introduction will be called LEMON CURLS. It is 42" in its height, it has 5-6 way branching, and about 38 buds. Another wonderful feature of LEMON CURLS is that its scape does not bend. It stays erect which is wonderful for a diploid. Diana seems to remember that she used GOLD RIBBONS as the pod parent, and she knows for certain that she used HEAVENLY ANGEL ICE as the pollen parent. I must also say that LEMON CURLS is dormant. It should grow almost anywhere.

Well that is the news for the past few days from the Kennesaw Mountain Daylily Gardens.

Bill