Wernher Von Braun

Hello Daylily Friends,

This morning I went to the Greenhouse to check on Diana's Seedling 11-322.  I knew that it was going to bloom, and indeed it did.  Such a lovely bloom.  On my past Blog, on Sept. 1, 2012, I posted pictures of what it looked like outside, and now I'm posting a picture from the Greenhouse.  Outside, during the heat of the summer, there are many more "teeth," whereas in the Greenhouse there are still teeth, but much fewer.  It is obvious that the summer heat is needed to see the teeth at their best.  I also am showing a picture of a fire that I started this past Wednesday before the rain came again.  I burned all of the accumulated tree limbs that we had stacked over the winter.  I will probably gather more limbs and burn them as well, but for now, the accumulated limbs are gone.

This past Saturday morning we had the most fun.  We got up early and drove to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens to visit with the North Alabama Daylily Society.  What an adventure meeting new friends!  For example, we met the esteemed Ms. Rosabelle Van Valkenburgh.  The Honorable Ms. Rosabelle is 92 years young, she drives very well wherever she decides to go, and she is very healthy and strong.  Rosabelle was one of the founding members of the Huntsville Botanical Gardens, and today she maintains the incredible collection of Daylilies at the Garden.  Indeed, she has a name tag for each daylily, and these tags are very nice.  We were very honored to have our picture made with Rosabelle.  I was trying to convert Rosabelle's daylily that the Salters named for her, and which is mentioned on my Blog on December 4, 2009.  I can't remember making the conversion so I'm going to have to check this out in the Garden.  Anyway, it was wonderful to meet the real Rosabelle Van Valkenburgh.

When we arrived at the Club meeting we were taken by Roger and Cherry Hooper to lunch at Landry's Seafood House which is a fine restaurant.  I enjoyed the Clam Chowder, and we talked with Roger and Cherry about their Club and also about Huntsville.  Huntsville is where the Great German Scientist, Wernher Von Braun, did much of his research in rockets.  He built the V-2 rockets used by Germany in WWII, and he helped build the rockets that took the U.S. to the Moon.  Indeed, he is known as the "Father of Rockets," and is the greatest rocket scientist in world history.   So very interesting.

We then went to the Club meeting, and there I met Ms. Martha Braswell who is the daughter of the well known, Richard Webster, who made such great strides in creating spiders and unusual forms.  I understand from Martha, that Richard thought of spiders and unusual forms as being in the same catetory.  Thinking back, I thoroughly enjoyed talking to the members of the Club because they had such wonderful, interesting questions, and so much information, and this just made the whole experience so much fun.

Back at home we've settled in and are getting ready for this coming Sunday when we will visit the Club in Birmingham, Alabama.

Bill