As you know my beautiful wife, Diana Rae, has been visiting with her Mother in Milbank, South Dakota. Diana is very pleased with her tomatoes, and so she took two of her 2-pounders with her to show her mother. Everybody was quite surprised because Diana's tomatoes are so large. Diana's niece, Heather, has a lovely little daughter, and her name is "Amirrah." Well, Diana took a picture of Amirrah holding one of her tomatoes in front of her mother's daylilies. Wow. The tomato is a big as little Amirrah's head! Diana really grows whopper tomatoes, and this is a puzzle to me since she prides herself on being an "Organic Gardener." Oh, remember her Seedling 11-297 that I showed on this blog back on June 23, 2011, well it started blooming with three petals and three sepals. I know that Diana will never be able to grow 11-297 at its full strength, so, while she was gone I dug it up and planted it in a pot in the Greenhouse where it is graciously receiving a full measure of real, Nutricote 16-4-9 fertilizer.
I mentioned Diana's Mother's daylilies. Diana's Mother's name is Margie. Perhaps 7 or 9 years ago I gave Margie a few daylilies, and she planted them beside her garage. Since then her daylilies have grown, and so, over the years, I have added to Margie's daylily collection with some of my best dormants. Margie's collection includes RED VOLUNTEER, VANILLA FLUFF, INDIAN GIVER, MADGE CAYSE, BARBARA MITCHELL, ONE NINETY SIX, DIANA'S EVENING GOWN, and even LYDIA'S REGAL ROBE. Let me quickly say that I have never seen daylilies grow like Margie grows them. Perhaps South Dakota has a climate that is similar to the climate in China, where daylilies originated. Perhaps this is why Margie's daylilies are so tall and lovely and gorgeous. I'm showing a picture of Diana and her Mom standing in front of Margie's daylilies. I'm also showing one of our little turtles, Randy, Jr., named after his dad, Randy. So, with our turtles being so friendly, I wasn't completely alone while Diana was away.
Well, on Monday evening, I went to Atlanta to pick-up Diana at the airport. I was so glad to see her. She wanted to stop at the OK Cafe just off I-75 for supper. We talked about her trip, and all of her adventures. I was just glad to hear her voice again. Five days is too much for Diana to be away. I'm showing a picture of Diana as she approached the car as the airport. Oh, the police are always trying to keep the traffic moving in front of the airport so it isn't easy to pick up someone, even if your car stops for only a few minutes.
I may have pointed this out, but I have been selecting orange daylilies that I made two years ago by crossing my own VARISITY ORANGE with pollen from a conversion that I did, TET. ORANGE VELVET. I have chosen to keep only the tall daylily seedlings with height, branching, bud count, and beautiful flowers. The one new seedling that I liked the most because of its rapid growth was always nice, but until this morning it did not have an assigned number. Well, I saw it yesterday on a rebloom scape, and the bloom was gorgeous. A 7" flower. Then, this morning it bloomed again. Sadly the area around this seedling is not as attractive and clean as I would like, but I took a picture that I am showing. This is just a delightful daylily that I will use to make many more oranges with many different appearances. It is now, officially, Seedling 11-318.
Remember that you can click on any picture and see an enlargement.
Thanks for visiting!
Bill
Heya Bill
ReplyDeleteGlad to see Miss Diana home, safe and sound.
Sorry to go off topic here, but can we talk about the lavender, 1-341, for a moment...
I am very interested to know how it does as a color cleaner. Have you tried using it to correct color? It appears so nice and clear here. I bet it would do a good job. And its easy on the eyes too.
Kim Langston
Hi Kim,
ReplyDeleteNot off subject; here, daylilies are always the subject! Seedling 1-341 is, indeed, a gorgeous lavender. Last spring I made seeds with it using TET. OUR FRIEND TOM WILSON as the pollen parent. Then, this spring, I pollenated 1-341 using one of the plants from the TOM WILSON cross, which was Seedling 11-180. I also pollinated 1-341 using last year's Seedling 1-421. So, I do not yet know whether 1-341 is a "color cleaner." I also do not know how it will grow outside the Greenhouse. What I do know is that it has strong, incredible branching. I also know that the scapes never split or crack. So, it is one tough plant. I will know much more about it this coming spring and summer, after it has grown outside during our north Georgia winter.
You asked a very good question!
Bill