Another Big Day for Daylilies

Several new first blooms today. We are getting towards mid to late season, so a whole new cohort is coming up.

Nile Crane had two first blooms today. One nice, one awful. I took a photo of the nicer one of the two.

Nile Crane


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

I am so pleased that Flore-Pleno -- a daylily I got from a friend's garden (actually her driveway, literally a corner where the asphalt was breaking down) -- is blooming this year. As you can see, I won't get many flowers because a lot of the buds are shrivelled and dying. But I will take the few blooms that I get. The plant did not bloom at all last year.

For more information on this daylily, see this post.

Flore-Pleno


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

A new acquisition last year, planted in the bed dedicated to daylilies, Lucky Catch is to me a fascinating daylily. I can't quite tell if it's reddish-pink, or pinkish-red. What I'm trying to say is that the colour is so close to the cusp between pink and red that it's difficult to say on which side of the line it falls.

Lucky Catch


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Another one from the same bed, also new last year, is Strutter's Ball.

Strutter's Ball


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

If you guessed that I like this one because it's dark purple, you'd be right.

Now, I didn't get a very good photo of this next daylily because it was waiting for the afternoon to open up, and I took my photo in the morning. But you can certainly get an idea that this is a near-white daylily -- about as close to white as I've ever seen -- once it opens up wide and proud. It's called Ice Carnival.

Ice Carnival


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

And here is one you haven't seen, even though it's the second bloom for this plant this year. I couldn't photograph the first one because it was really UGLY. I happen to think this is a very beautiful daylily, so it's worth keeping, even though it has a fair percentage of deformed flowers.

Destined to See


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Well, that's it for new daylilies today. Hope you all are having a great weekend!
...
Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

All the Pretty Ones

Only one new daylily today: Pandora's Box.

But I am going to include some examples of daylilies I have shown before, to flesh out the post. For example, Always Afternoon got beaten up by rain when it first bloomed. Today, however, I managed to get a great photo of a near-perfect flower. I think the plant deserves to be seen at its best.

First, however, I will unleash Pandora's Box.

Pandora's Box


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Now, here is that great example of Always Afternoon I was talking about.

Always Afternoon


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

And because the daylily called Tuesday is so new (registered 2003) and so beautiful, I'm going to include a shot of it, "just because".

Tuesday


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Oh, and here is a Strawberry Candy that turned out particularly nice, with a lot of pink in the petals, instead of being more orangey like it usually is.

Strawberry Candy


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

...
Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Some More Firsts Today

A few more first blooms today. The mid-to-late season daylilies in the new daylily bed planted last year are starting to bloom, with yesterday's 'Justin Miller' and today's 'Green Eyes Wink' and 'Tuesday'.

Green Eyes Wink


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Tuesday


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Then there is my favourite small dark daylily, 'Cricket Dance'. As usual the camera has rendered it more red than purple, but I assure you it is a nice dark daylily. It is also one with lots of scapes, and lots of buds per scape -- so if bud count is important to you along with dark purple colouring, I highly recommend this one. (The colour does tend to bleed, though, when it rains.)

Cricket Dance


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

The final first bloom(s) today on a daylily was 'Siloam Doodlebug', another one that has a high bud count.

Siloam Doodlebug


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Another species of flower that just bloomed today for the first time is this little sunflower. These are self-seeding from bird food.

Little Sunflower


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

And finally, although it's well past its first bloom, today 'Lavender Rainbow' had a polytepalous flower.

Polytepalous 'Lavender Rainbow'


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

But wait! What's that in the lower left there? A bug? No, it's two bugs. And it looks like they are having fun.

Bugs Having Fun


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

...
Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Ka-BOOM!

Well, in some circles it's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. I don't usually participate, but boy do I have a lot of blooms in my garden today. This won't be a text-heavy post, because there are a lot of photos to display, and I spent the evening watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the theatre tonight. But I digress...

First, here are the first blooms so that I have a journal record of them.

Justin Miller


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Siloam Plum Tree


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Luxury Lace


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Naomi Ruth
(a miniature version)


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Strawberry Candy


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

American Revolution


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Wayside King Royale


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Unknown


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Based on my notes, the unknown flower could be 'South Seas' (for which I have a label, but no planting location recorded). However, most versions of 'South Seas' are a lot more orange than this. So I'm not sure how likely that is. Another possibility is that this is my 'True Blue Heart' daylily, only the growing conditions have turned it yellowy, so that the cream is orangeish and the lavender is mauve. The shape of the flower is correct for that scenario. It's a terrible colour shift though, if that is what happened.

Now here are some other notable photos from around the garden.

Polytepalous 'Raspberry Swirl'


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Actual 'Wayside King Royale' Plant -- Six First Blooms Today


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

A Couple of Beautiful 'Dad's Best White'


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Five 'Grecian Gown' Today


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

All American Plum


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

I desaturated the red in the photo to try to get an approximation of the actual colour as seen in the garden, instead of the colour the camera captures (which is always too red). This one beats 'American Revolution' for dark colour this year, though they are both lovely dark daylilies.

Somewhere among my later blooming daylilies I have one called 'Africa' which I am anxious to compare the others to. It would seem that the dark daylilies come up darker in wet years rather than dry ones, but that is only anecdotal based on a couple of years of experience. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

Oh, and finally, my seedling gave me a second flower today. I am liking this one much better than the last. It has a delicate watermark, a bit of a ruffle to the petals, and white midribs to make the flower more interesting, even if the colour could still use a bit more "pop".

Seedling Second Flower


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

...
Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

The Beasts and the Beauties

Well, I skipped posting yesterday because both the flowers and the photos were nothing special.

I used my regular 18-55 zoom lens instead of the prime f1.7, and on top of that the bright sunlight was very strong. So the photos are quite ordinary. Also, my daylily 'Root Beer', which I purchased from Floral and Hardy Gardens to add to my collection of dark daylilies, has turned out to be a weak and sickly plant. These are the two flowers it gave me yesterday, on a scape barely four inches tall! Quite a disappointment, unfortunately.

'Root Beer', Weak and Sickly
(Photo taken July 13)
Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Another unremarkable first bloom yesterday is a daylily I call 'Cassadiana' (because that's what was on the label). At least this one has a tall scape. However, I think it looks just like a reddish "ditch lily". There's nothing wrong with it. It's just not one of my favourites because it didn't turn into the daylily I thought I bought.

Cassadiana
(Photo Taken July 13)
Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

THE BEAUTIES

Today, however, is a completely different story. For one thing, I remembered to use the right lens.

There are several first blooms worth noting, and the repeat bloomers are starting to fill in the garden. Mid-July is of course one of the best times for daylilies. (Although, my new daylily bed in the backyard is purposely full of late bloomers, so its show will be starting at the end of July into the beginning of August.) Here is a photo of daylilies in the front garden today.

Daylilies in the Front Garden


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved


Bela Lugosi bloomed for the first time today, with two flowers on display.

Bela Lugosi I


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Bela Lugosi II


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

I am showing both flowers because the second one has an extra petal tucked in behind the others, which you should be able to see in the photo.

Still in the front garden, a lovely first bloom from 'Persian Ruby'.

Persian Ruby


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

While in the side garden by the chain link fence we have an incredible three flowers on 'Chicago Atlas', which is also blooming for the first time today.

Chicago Atlas


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

And finally, my bumblebee experiments from previous years are paying off again today. A first bloom on one of the seedlings that is still growing in a pot. That it survived and bloomed is the triumph here. I think the flower itself is sort of blah.

Seedling Experiment


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

That's it for now. Stay tuned to this blog for all your 2009 Daylily Season coverage.
...
Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Two New Blooms

Today there are two firsts in the garden, along with some notable second blooms.

Of course, recording first blooms is of paramount importance here. The lovely 'Raspberry Swirl' showed her stuff today.

Raspberry Swirl


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

And then we have 'Cimarron Knight'. He usually chooses a rainy day to exhibit his first bloom, so I was expecting something yesterday. But no. This year broke the trend.

Cimarron Knight


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

As for notable second (and later) blooms, there was more to see from 'Dad's Best White' and 'Little Business', which are partnered together under the elm.

Daylilies in the Garden


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

And then there is the very ugly second bloom for 'Executive Decision'. Although daylilies are for the most part beautiful, they can also be responsible for some badly misshapen and blemished flowers, such as this one.

Executive Decision Second Bloom (Ugly!)
Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved
And then we have a second bloom from 'All American Plum'. It is an even darker, richer colour than the first bloom. I have to admit my favourite daylilies are the dark ones, so I am always pleased when one shows up that manages to downplay its burgundy-red tones and emphasize the darker, more blackish-purple ones. Unfortunately the camera picks up more red than natural light does, so this photo -- as lovely as it is -- doesn't do the live flower justice.

All American Plum Second Bloom


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

That's it for today. Stay tuned. There are a lot more where these came from.
...
Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Perennial Planter and Battered Daylilies

"Northern" climate gardening (I hesitate with that, because there is a whole lot more North that is north of here) can be both tricky and rewarding. One of the things that is particularly tricky and rewarding is growing perennials in planters and having them come back year after year.

I have to admit that my knowledge of this came pretty much out of my more laissez-faire approach to gardening in the past two years. I had great plans to transplant those perennials from the container to the garden, but somehow that didn't happen -- and the plants didn't even complain about it. You know, by dying.

Perennial Planter


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Anyway, here is a big plastic planter that can survive being left outside all winter, and planted in it are a large sedum 'Autumn Joy', an unknown purple heuchera, and (just recently) a yellowy-chartreuse hosta. The sedum and heuchera survived the winter in the container and came back splendidly. In the case of the sedum, I think this might actually be its second winter.

So anyway, that is something to think about if you know you are a lazy gardener like I've been lately.

On to other aspects of gardening. The flower collecting aspect. Since I collect daylilies, and this is July, well, you just know there's going to be at least one daylily in this post. And -- surprise -- today I have two. But sadly, they have been battered by an early morning rainstorm, so these will not be the most photogenic daylilies you have ever seen. Especially this one, 'Always Afternoon'.

'Always Afternoon' Battered by Rain


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

This next daylily survived the storm a bit better. The flower itself has more substance, and the plant is in a more protected location sheltered by trees. I don't have a proper name for this daylily. It came in a pot labelled 'Moristar Mix' (Moristar being the brand name of the grower) and so that is what I have always called it. But clearly there is no registered daylily called 'Moristar Mix', so I'm afraid you are out of luck if you want to go looking for it. (There are dozens of similar-looking daylilies out there, though.)

Moristar Mix


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

This is the flower whose bud you saw in yesterday's post.
...
Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

A Few More Daylilies

Today's batch of first blooms includes two strong reds and a delicate pink.

The two red daylilies blooming today are 'Executive Decision' and 'Little Business'.

Executive Decision


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

Little Business


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

The pink is my no-fail showstopper, 'Barbara Mitchell'. This daylily has a kind of understated elegance as it peeks out from beneath the Camperdown elm tree. I wonder if the Barbara Mitchell for whom the flower was named was like that too.

Barbara Mitchell


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

And just for a bit of whimsy, here is a long shot of 'Little Business' blooming behind the statue of Buddha, making it look like there is a flower tucked behind his ear.

Buddha Statue with Flower


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

And as for what tomorrow holds, something tells me we'll be seeing this one open up and display itself.

Waiting for Tomorrow


Philosophical Karen © all rights reserved

...
Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.