Our New Website!

Hello Daylily Friends,

Good News!  My friend Mike Holmes has completely rebuilt our website.  It is now much easier to use, and the pictures are first class.  Mike has set our last four years of introductions so that they are easily found, and then all introductions are listed in alphabetical order.  The main page is easy to use, and many pictures rotate in appearance to make the site even more interesting.  Thanks Mike for fixing our website.  We are very grateful.  See http://www.kennesawmountaindaylilygardens.com/

More interesting news.  Despite much difficulty in sending our daylilies to our friend, Karel Smit in South Africa, Karel reports that all of the daylilies have survived, and have started to grow.  Wow!  25 days in a box with no water, but still can't be killed.  Daylilies are truly amazing.

I have some sad news.  I've lost both of my plants from TET. BOSS HOGG.  Both plants looked so promising, but then the bottoms of the plants just began to erode, and despite everything that I did to save the plants, nothing worked.  Just one of the bad results from conversion work.  I think that all of the rain we've had caused too much moisture, and once the plants began to reverse there was no stopping the loss.

However, I've got some good news about TET. BURGESS CHERRY FLAME.  I treated this beautiful red, and then on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, 2015, I saw an emerging sprout.  I reported about this here on this Blog on December 21, 2015,  I thought that I would lose the cross because the strength of the plant usually goes to the emerging sprout rather than to the treated part of the plant.  Well, fortunately, after the sprout was trimmed the treated plant continued to grow.  So, today I took two more pictures.  The first picture shows the overall plant, and the second picture focuses on the bottom of the plant.  One additional clue that I'm still waiting to see is emerging roots at the base of the treated area; hopefully I'll see the new roots soon.  I am so hopeful that this will be converted.

A second plant that I'm pleased with is TET. ELFIN REFLECTION.  It is a plant from Grace Stamile that was introduced back in 2007.  Grace has it registered as a semi-evergreen, but here in my garden it is a dormant.  An obvious dormant, which makes it so important.  It has 5+ branches, beautiful color, and a promise of real use as a conversion.  I noticed that it "looked converted," and then it grew new roots at the base of the conversion.  I then added soil over these new roots, and now it is growing very well.  A couple of pictures to show the progress.

Here is an actual picture of ELFIN REFLECTION.  In the summer it is so beautiful but it is sometimes overlooked because it is so small.  But look at the spectacular blue eye.  I have a number of seedlings that I can use as pod parents for pollen from ELFIN REFLECTION.  Or, I might just use it as a pod parent.  Hope abounds!

A third plant that I'm working with is TET. SUNGLASSES NEEDED, which I previously converted.  I've had difficulty using its pollen, and so I decided to treat it again.  I'm just showing one picture.  I am so pleased that this plant went through the normal conversion process, had hard foilage, formed new roots, and then has continued to grow.  I'm really hopeful about this plant as well.  I have many plans for TET. SUNGLASSES NEEDED.  Some may have noticed that the diploid SUNGLASSES NEEDED just won an AHS Award of Merit. Also, the TET. SUNGLASSES NEEDED is the pollen parent of my just introduced 10" double, OPA KLAUS.

Here we are and winter has just begun.  As many of you may know, one of our nearby neighbors and one of her friends wanted to create a housing complex for senior citizens over the age of 55.  My dear wife and I, and many of our neighbors fought against this effort, but we found, much to our dismay, that when a Developer wants property rezoned, it will be rezoned.  One point of importance about this land, however, is that it surrounds 960 feet of Breastworks (trenches), built by Confederate forces.  The Lawyer for the Developer, a very skilled Lawyer I might add, took this to his full advantage.  He was able to have Union and Confederate friends speak in favor of the development, provided that the Developer named the streets near the Breastworks after participants in the war.  Anyway, we can hear the bulldozers everyday, so Diana and I decided to go over and take a look at "progress" in action.

To our surprise, the Developers have fenced off the Breastworks and appear to be making every effort to preserve this area.  The trees are being preserved, the nearby land is preserved, and even those who would look for Civil War artifacts are barred from entering the area.  We know because when Diana and I visited the area, we were approached by a gentleman whose last name was Noah, and he was very kind and inviting.  He simply cautioned against searching for Civil War relics.  So we didn't, but we weren't going to anyway.  A few pictures show basically what we saw.

My Greenhouse looks good!  I went out a few days ago and took a few pictures.  I have 12 hanging baskets that include Begonias and Geraniums of various colors.  These are just delightful.  I wish that I could show what I see everyday, but just a few pictures will help.  I have pink and red double Begoinias, and red and white and pink Geraniums.  These hang above the daylilies, which are also delightful and beautiful.  I particularly like the red double Begonias and the white Geraniums.  Pictures shown!

Believe it or not, I still have one daylily blooming in the Greenhouse.  It is Seedling 4-600, and here is a picture.  The cross is as follows:  ((Lacy All Over x Tet. ESP) x Lacy All Over).  My tentative name for this Seedling is WE ADORE THEE.  It is 34" tall, it has 5-way branching, 21 buds, and has a 6 1/2" flower.  It is pod fertile because I've set several pods on it in the Greenhouse.  My only reservation about its introduction is assurance as to the timing of its blooms.  I'm going to keep an eye on this flower.  It will bloom again in a few days and I will save its pollen.

Christmas was so special this year.  Diana and I were so privileged to have both Kelley Rae and Lily Rae to be with us.  Lily Rae had many gifts, but one gift that she particularly liked was the M & Ms man with the "Yellow Fan."  When Kelley showed the fan to Lily, she just went wild, she liked it so much.  Also, our weather has been so mild, that we've been outside so much that it has seemed like early spring or early fall: temperatures in the 70s.  Also, Lily Rae liked being with her Grandmother so much.  Lily Rae and Grandma just enjoyed sitting together outside on our deck bench.  Lily Rae and Kelley Rae are both so precious to us.

More news soon.

Bill