It is Finished!

Hello Daylily Friends,

I have to tell you first about Little Lily Rae.  She has a new "swimming pool!"  Yes, a small, round, blue plastic pool.  We pumped it up with air, Lily Rae then jumped in the pool, and really enjoyed herself.  She splashed the water.  She played with several toys.  She laughed.  It was all so much fun.  After a while she got a little tired of the water so Diana bathed her dry with a soft towel.  Then, Lily Rae put on one of her new dresses.  She is such a Princess.  Seeing Little Lily Rae makes any day a happy day.

You may have wondered why I have been so delayed in writing a new post here on the blog.  Well, I made up my mind that the very "highest priority" here in our garden was for me to get my seeds planted.  This meant that the Greenhouse had to be completely cleaned.  Let me humbly say that cleaning a Greenhouse is a "tough assignment."  Nevertheless, we worked for weeks, and finally moved practically everything outside.  I had to go through the seeds and decide what we would plant.  Then I had to make the soil, make the tags for the seed trays, and get the seeds into the soil.  I finished yesterday afternoon.  So, on Thursday, July 26, our last seeds were planted. This morning David and Diana went with me to the Greenhouse to see what had been accomplished.  I'm just glad that this part of the task is finished.

I must also tell you about our trip to the AHS National Convention in Columbus, Ohio.  The first thing that I want to tell you about is this blue and gold Macaw that I saw.  I can't remember the gentleman's name who owned the bird, but I was privileged that he let me hold the bird on my arm.  I noticed that the owner was smoking a cigar, and when he took the bird back he let the bird also smoke the cigar.  There was a lady there who "strenuously objected" to seeing the bird smoke.  The owner then simply said to the lady, "He [the bird] is 31 years old; if he wants to smoke, he can."  Ok.

We also went to see Jamie and Dianna Gossard's garden, and what a treat it was to see it again.  My dear wife and Jamie had their picture taken together, and then Diana posed next to Jamie's big daylily with teeth.  Wow, what a sculpture.  I must also say that Jamie is growing wonderful daylilies: He has so many daylilies with teeth, so many seeds, and such an operation.  It is quite impressive.  I must also add that one of Jamie's daylilies was sold to the highest bidder for the rights to name the daylily.  The cost was $2,500.00.  Jamie is certainly a master daylily hybridizer.

Another garden that we visited was owned by Cindy and John Osman.  The first thing that I noticed was that John had built a "Totem Pole" apparatus to use to identify gardens from which "guest plants" had been sent.  I was quite surprised to see "Kennesaw Mountain Daylily Gardens" listed on the Totem Pole.  I thought that we should have our picture taken in front of this structure, so we did.  One thing that I liked about the refreshments at the garden was that they served a hot "Quiche" to anyone who asked for the treat.  They were delicious!  Our Region 5 Director, Ms. Barbara Kirby, also decided to try the wonderful Quiche dish.  How could anyone say anything but "yes" to such a deliciously appearing delicacy.

So much happened at the Convention, and I must tell you about our final visit, which was to the Franklin Park Conservatory.  There was a daylily garden at the Conservatory, and the daylilies were wonderful to see. However, it started to rain so we went inside the Conservatory.  I'm glad we did.  One place where we eventually visited was a large area filled with plants and butterflies.  I took a picture of of a butterfly that appeared to be tasting a treat in a red dish, and then suddenly, it flew up and landed on the right side of my face.  My dear wife Diana was handy with the camera, and got the picture.  The outside of the wings of the butterfly were "blue and black."  Quite a sight to see!

Diana and I want to thank the Metropolitan Columbus Daylily Society, and Cynthia and Charles Lucius, for making this National Convention a time we will always remember.  The organization was A+++.  The gardens were wonderful.  Every member of the host club always wore the same shirts so they were easy to recognize.  The food was great; the hotel was great.  A wonderful way to spend three days during the middle of July in America.

Bill