Sunday School Class Retreat

Hello Daylily Friends,

Friday afternoon, just after lunch, Diana Rae drove us from our house here in Marietta, Georgia, to Lake Guntersville State Park in north Alabama.  I used to think that our roads here in Georgia were much better than the roads in our surrounding states, but I must say that the roads in Alabama are very, very good.  I have been to Alabama many times over the past five years, and from what I have seen, their roads are "first class."  I would also say that their State Parks, from what I have seen, are also "first class."  Our Sunday School Class had its annual fall retreat at Lake Guntersville State Park, and the view was awsome.  I looked out from the balcony of our room and the lake was stunning.  Just stunning.  On Saturday morning I took a picture of the Class on a walkway in the Conference Center.  We had 71 class members in attendance, plus Pastor Elaine Wilder and her husband Paul.

We drove back from the Retreat on Sunday morning just after breakfast.  The retreat lasts until around 11:00 a.m., on Sunday, but we had to get back because I was scheduled to speak to our Cobb County Daylily Society about our gardens.  We got back just before lunch, and the trees were just beautiful everywhere.  I took lots of pictures, but then this morning here at the house there was a beautiful yellow and orange colored Maple tree in our back yard.  So I took a picture.  Fall is a wonderful time of the year.  Everything changes again.  We have to wear our sweaters and coats.  Even Beautiful Lily Rae had to put on her lovely pink coat.  Lily Rae has the proper wardrobe for the season.

I have just finished with a task that I normally have not done in the past.  I have four particular rows of seedlings, and I saw many of the flowers from these first year seedlings this past summer.  I wanted to make sure that these four rows have plenty of fertilizer, and I wanted all weeds pulled out and discarded.  So, I cut back all of the plants.  I then dug trenches between the rows, and applied 16-4-9 slow release fertilizer in the trenches.  I then covered the fertilizer, and I put down some "Preen" to help prevent weeds from sprouting.  I then covered the rows with pine straw.  I took a picture.  I hope this helps these seedlings be their very best this coming spring.

I want to show you one of my 2012 spring introductions.  It is SNOW-BERRY SORBET.  One of my friends in the Club in Louisville, Kentucky asked me, "What is a Snow-Berry?"  I had to answer that it is a name that I "created" myself.  The color of the eye in SNOW-BERRY SORBET looks like some of the berries that I see during the summer, and I thought of this when I originated the name.  The one fact that I like most about SNOW-BERRY SORBET is the distinct change in color between the eye and the self.  This distinct color shift is the one fact that make the daylily so attractive.  It blooms in the midseason, it is 30" tall, it has 3-4 way branching, 20 buds, and a 4 1/4" flower.  It is dormant, it is pod and pollen fertile, and the cost is $100.00.  I'm also showing a picture of SNOW-BERRY SORBET growing in a clump.

More daylily news in a few days.

Bill