The 60s; Warm & Humid Winds!

Hello Daylily Friends,

We have spring weather here in Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia.  I've just been watching the afternoon weather news, and we have temperatures in the 60s.  The wind is coming in off the Atlantic coast, and it is "warm & humid."  I understand that this will bring fog and even spring rain on Wednesday.  In fact, I understand that the rains cold be severe.  Meanwhile, I've had another bloom on
SAWYER'S GIGGLES.  My last effort at pollination was not successful, so this time I've tried TET. ROSE F. KENNEDY.  I sure hope that this works.  It would be good to tie these two reds together.  I'll let everyone know if I'm successful.

I also must tell you what Diana and I did that past Saturday morning.  We went to see Erica Glasener who spoke at the Marietta Council of Garden Clubs about designing a garden for year round pleasure.  With the warm weather we've been having, the room was packed with people.  Erica hosted the TV Show known as A Gardener's Diary for 14 years.  Diana and I were honored that Erica came and visited our garden which was her program for one of her shows.  It was really good to see Erica again.

Diana has just come in, and she has been in the garden looking at our blooming Camellias.  She picked several flowers, but I was particularly impressed with the red flower.  It is so, so beautiful!  I've just taken a picture in the kitchen to show it here.  I hope that you like it as well.  I have no idea of what the name of the plant might be, but I'm sure that it is one that is probably well known.  I think that I bought it at the nursery.

I have also been very pleased with the dormant plants that I brought to the big Greenhouse from the little Greenhouse.  Once these dormants encountered the warm air from the big Greenhouse heater, they immediately went to growing.  I have been impressed with TET. ROSE F. KENEDY and with TET. VANILLA FLUFF, but the conversion that has really caught my eye is TET. EVELYN GATES.  I took a picture of it this morning, and it is just gorgeous.  I'm showing a picture.  The big fan is the one that I treated last year, and it is very, very stiff and hard.  Although I haven't yet seen the pollen, I have high hopes because my good friend Larry Grace already had it converted, and I was just trying to take it to 100% tetraploid pollen.  Again,  I'll show the pollen at the first opportunity.

I have also been working in the big Greenhouse to solve the nuisance I've had with gnats.  I've sprayed a mixture of Ortho's Malathion directly on the plants, I've treated everything with Bayer Tree & Shrub, and I've used Real Kill "smoke bombs."  I'm sure that there are still gnats in the Greenhouse, but they are becoming hard to find.  I've done them a lot of damage.

More news soon.

Bill