Little "Lily Rae."

Hello Daylily Friends,

Many of you have grandchildren, but my precious wife Diana and I do not.  So, we are extremely excited that our daughter Kelley Rae and her husband Jeff are going to have a daughter sometime soon, and it should be today or tomorrow or even just this moment.  Kelley Rae's due date is September 14, 2011.  Yesterday Kelley went to the hospital thinking that the time had come, but alas, it had not.  I might note that Diana's middle name is Rae.  So, this is why we named Kelley, Kelley Rae.  When we found that Jeff and Kelley's baby would be a little girl we all went to work to find a magical name.  Our joint decision was that our new grandaughter will be named LILY RAE WHITFIELD.  Now I must ask, do you know of anyone,  anywhere, who could possibly have a better name?

I must also report that Jeff bought Kelley Rae a new pair of tennis shoes.  Diana Rae saw the shoes and liked them so much that she announced that I would be purchasing her the same pair at Dick's Sporting Goods store near the mall.  So, that is exactly what I did.  I'm showing a picture of Diana Rae wearing her new tennis shoes, and then I'm showing a close up view of the shoes.  I would note that the shoes are a bright pink on one side, and then they are black on the other side.  There are black stripes across the pink, and there are pink stripes across the black.  Our daylily friends all noticed Diana's new tennis shoes when we went to our Club's meeting on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking of our Club meeting on Sunday, our guest speaker was Mr. Mark Carpenter, who operates "The Lily Farm" in Center, Texas.  As most everyone knows, Jack Carpenter sold his tremendous gardens to his nephew, Mark.  Our Club listened intently as Mark showed many of his new introductions over the past two years, and also showed other daylilies that will be future introductions.  It was good to hear Mark tell how he moved from being a very successful executive to become a successful daylily farmer.  The story about Mark's first encounter with an Armadillo was interesting.  Mark particularly noted that he has become a mechanic, a water systems specialist, a chemical expert, doing all these things in the 100 degree plus hot Texas sun, and work long, hard hours, but Mark says he enjoys all of this.  Thanks Mark for taking the time to come and visit our Club!

Do you want to see a coming introduction?  Well I will show you one.  It will be called MYSTIC AMETHYST.  It is a cross between the following parents: (Leslie Renee x Tet. James McCaskill).  It is 28" tall, 4-way branching, 20 buds, and a 5 1/2" flower.  It is dormant.  I just adore MYSTIC AMETHYST because it is lavender in color, and it has the dark colored stamen with a green throat.  It is difficult to achieve a really good lavender, but I have done this with MYSTIC AMETHYST.  I have 20 plants, and the cost will be $100.00 per plant.

This coming Thursday evening, on September 15, 2011, Diana and I are going to Savannah, Georgia, to speak to the Savannah Area Daylily Society.  Many, many years ago I met Inman Joiner at his gardens in Savannah, and of course, I purchased a number of his daylilies including MADGE CAYSE and VANILLA FLUFF.  So, it is a joy to have the opportunity to go to the Savannah Club to speak to its members.

Hope that you are having a wonderful daylily day.

Bill