Lewis Daylily Garden

Shirley Farmer's daylily Shabby Chic.

2012-02-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

One of the more exciting things for a daylily hybridizer is having a daylily delivered in spring, seeing it throw up a scape, and if the bloom looks as good as you'd hoped, you get to use the pollen and put it on your favorite daylilies. That was the case with Shirley Farmer's Shabby Chic this year. Not an easy daylily to find since it was just introduced in 2010, I was lucky enough to buy a fan for a pretty hefty price on the lily auction. I had read a lot about the daylily on Mike Holmes blog, so I was excited to purchase it in December of 2010. Now I would say when you get a single fan of something, the chances it will scape in the first year are pretty slim, but in mid July Shabby Chic started blooming for me. Boy was this daylily easy to set pods on. I might also add that it's pollen is very fertile as well. All the photos below and above were taken in my garden this year.

The cross for Shabby Chic is ((Forestlake Ragamuffin SIB X Enchanted April)(Angels Smile X Idas Magic)X Forestlake Ragamuffin). Introduced by Shirley Farmer's daughter Rebecca Stegall in 2010, it's parentage is interesting in the respect that Shabby Chic has Forestlake Ragamuffin's sib in the cross. There are not too many daylilies that possess that parentage and for me it is exciting to get to use such genetics in my hybridizing. To quote Dave Mussar from Mike Holmes blog, Dave says, "Shabby Chic has a double dose of Reckamp breeding in it, with the cross from Enchanted April being (Techny Peach Lace X Wedding Band)."

"Shabby Chic also throws green teeth," as mentioned by John Benz on Mike Holmes blog. Both Mike Holmes and John Benz have a Shirley Farmer seedling called "Shirley's Green Teeth," which is a green toothy seedling out of Shabby Chic.

Shirley Farmer was a retired school teacher that hybridized in Bellbrook, Ohio. She and her daughter Rebecca co owned a nursery called Serendipity Gardens. Shirley was also responsible for starting the Midwest daylily hybridizer's meeting, which I would like to attend in the future, if I can find some time away from my busy work schedule. The next meeting of the Shirley Farmer Midwest Daylily Hybridizers is March 10th, 2012. For more information you can contact Sandy Holmes at ohiodaylily@yahoo.com, or log onto the Region 2 daylily website.

I never had the good fortune of meeting Shirley Farmer, but it is quite an honor to grow one of her favorite daylilies. I should also mention according to it's description that Shabby Chic puts teeth on first generation kids and is a strong dormant producer. A must for anyone hybridizing teeth.

Nicole Harry Devito's Black Tie Affair

2012-02-12T09:48:00.000-08:00

Back in 2009, the big national convention was down in Florida and my wife and I wanted to try and get to as many daylily gardens as we could. Nicole Harry was one of the newer hybridizers that had some introductions of interest to me, so we had the good fortune to see her daylilies and meet Nicole one Saturday morning. Of the many daylilies I liked, the one that stood out that day was a seedling simply entitled A-6. It really blew me away. Such a nice dark rich color with some very prominent teeth. The photograph at the top of the page was taken the day we visited. That following fall, Nicole introduced seedling A-6, now known as Black Tie Affair. If you go to Nicole's website at http://www.nicolesdaylilies.com/, you can find Black Tie Affair listed under the fall 2009 intros. In Nicole's description of Black Tie Affair, she says it was the number one hit of the 2009 National Convention, and if she had it potted up ready to sell, she probably would have sold out. I feel fortunate I was able to buy Black Tie Affair the following spring and it has done quite well for me. I have featured two photographs taken in my garden this year at the bottom of the page. Black Tie Affair is from a cross of Mort Morss X In Cahoots. One other thing I'd like to point out is her 2012 introduction, Bright in the night is out of Black Tie Affair. If you are down in the heart of Florida, don't miss out on seeing Nicole Harry Devito's daylily garden.

Karol Emmerich's Gnashing of the teeth and Desire of nations.

2012-02-10T10:41:00.000-08:00

Usually during the winter, I spend a lot of time perusing hybridizer's websites and the Lily auction, trying to figure out which daylilies I'd like to buy to add to my collection. I don't have an unlimited budget and usually depend on my pizza delivery tips to buy new daylilies. Being a landscaper during the summer, I depend on delivering pizzas part time to pick up the slack in the winter and help pay the bills. It has worked quite well for about 25 years. With limited space in my yard, I find myself trying to pick only the best hybridizing daylilies in recent years, daylilies that hybridizers consider their best parents.

After reading some articles in the AHS journal written by Karol Emmerich a few years back,

I started emailing Karol asking her about her hybridizing. She has been very kind in sharing

information about her daylilies and hybridizing in general. I have never met Karol in person, but hope

to in the years to come. (It is always hard to find time to get around and see every daylily nursery, but

I do my best.) The two daylilies I wanted to feature today are Karol's Gnashing of the teeth, and her Desire of nations. It was so exciting to see Gnashing bloom for the first time in my garden this year. I took the pollen and spread it all over the place. I have two photographs at the top of this page of Gnashing of the teeth, taken in my garden this year. Karol also suggested her daylily Desire of nations which is featured at the bottom of this page. She said it is a powerful hybridizing tool, and I didn't hesitate to cover it with pods, and spread it's pollen around the yard as well. Obviously it is gonna be a couple years before I will see my results, but it will be exciting to see these seedlings bloom. If you would like to see some of Karol's seedlings from these daylilies, log on to http://www.springwoodgardens.com/. Karol also writes a blog which you can access through the Region 2 daylily website where she details her work and shows pictures of her new seedlings. I look forward to growing more of Karol's daylilies in the years to come.

Dale Hensley's daylily "Heartless"

2012-02-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

Since I am writing about daylilies that I liked in my own garden this past season, I wanted to start out with a really nice red tet. from Dale Hensley introduced in 2011, called Heartless. In his description, Dale calls Heartless a white based red, which is what I feel separates it from the other reds in my garden. Dale goes on to say, "This one will stop you dead in your tracks. Simply unforgettable."

This is one of those daylilies you can see from a distance, a trait I look for in daylilies. The cross that produced Heartless is [(Lillian Kane X Season Finale)X Servando]. Heartless is a 6.5" flower that sits a top of a 40" scape, and is dormant. Both the top and bottom photos were taken in my garden this past year. Definitely a red everyone should have!

Curt Hanson's daylily, "Up on the roof."

2012-01-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

Having lived two doors down from Curt Hanson from 2000 till 2008, has enabled me to see his daylily hybridizing up close, and probably annoy the heck out of Curt when I would drop by quite frequently during the daylily season. Curt is a good guy for putting up with me for all of these years. I think I have learned a lot by just watching how Curt goes about his hybridizing. One of the things that Curt emphasizes in his daylilies is that it must have good plant habit. The Curt Hanson daylily I am featuring today, "Up on the roof," has stellar plant habit. I'm sure you've heard of the expression, "that daylily is branched like an oak tree."

Well, "Up on the roof," fits this description to a "T!" Just take a look at the picture at the top of the page, taken in Curt's garden in the summer of 2010. Introduced in 2007, "Up on the roof," is from the cross of "Women Seeking Men X Worlds Collide." Curt lists the height at 53 inches. When you visit Curt's Crintonic Gardens in Gates Mills, Ohio, the first daylily you notice as you walk through the gate is "Up on the roof." It sports 5 way candelabra branching and is easily fertile both ways. I have included two photos taken in my garden. I am excited to see what the offspring look like in the coming years. Curt already has one introduction from "Up on the roof" called "Building the Colossus," introduced this past year. You owe it to yourself to include this daylily in your collection. I look forward to featuring more daylilies that performed well in my garden in the coming weeks. I hope you enjoy seeing some color during the dull winter months.

Joel Thomas Polston's daylily garden

2012-01-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

The same weekend we visited Jamie Gossard's and Mike and Sandy Holmes, we also went down

near Dayton, Ohio to visit Joel Thomas Polston's daylily garden. It was a nice sunny day, and as you can see from the top picture, Joel has some beautiful Clydesdale horses. My wife Kyle is pictured above getting acquainted with them. Joel showed us his daylily collection and there were some really nice toothy daylilies just about everywhere. I included two pictures of my favorite daylilies of the day. The bottom left one is seedling 09-JTP-32T out of Red Ragamuffin, and the bottom right one is seedling 08-JTP-18-T, which is a seedling out of Lady Stephanie Victoria Redding. Very nice daylilies. Joel was very kind in showing us his daylilies and we enjoyed our visit.

Mike and Sandy Holmes daylily garden.

2012-01-20T07:49:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are in January and I wake up to temps in the single digits. At least the sun is out today....something you don't see much of in Cleveland, Ohio in January. Anyway, it only seemed fitting to share some pictures of Mike and Sandy Holmes daylily garden after just writing a piece about Jamie Gossard's garden since they are located so close together. I believe both gardens will be on the garden tour for the big conference this summer.

I believe the first time I met Mike and Sandy was at Steve Moldovan's place one summer. Steve and Roy needed help getting a seedling bed dug, and I was wanting to help to gain some experience, while being able to help Steve do some work that was difficult for him. Mike and Sandy were there that day, along with Bill Chambers, another friend of Steve and Roy's. It was a difficult undertaking, but having everyone working together made it a little less taxing. I remember the hardest thing was tearing up the rolls of black weed fabric that had been there for some time. At the end of the day, Steve was nice enough to give me a plant of his great purple, Vatican City in exchange for my work. I thought that was worth every ounce of effort. Going forward in the years to come I would bump into Mike and Sandy at Moldovan's gardens and it was always nice to catch up with them about their hybridizing. I finally had some time this summer to get down to the Columbus, Ohio area and after visiting Jamie Gossard's gardens, I proceeded over to Mike and Sandy's place. Wow, what a cool location for a garden. You can see from the top photograph how beautiful it is. The daylilies you see in the front of the photograph are Banana Smoothie (very tall yellow), and Voracious Vixen. (lavender) I might also mention that you can also see daylilies hybridized by Kimberly McCutcheon there as well. The daylilies I have photographed below are Sandy's introduction, Martha Lowry (top photograph) named for her mother, and the bottom photograph is a Mike Holmes toothy seedling.(bottom photograph) I don't have the information as to who the parents are for the Mike Holmes seedling, because I was taking a ton of photographs of so many nice seedlings in Mike's fields. Perhaps Mike can give us the details in the comment section. Mike and Sandy are a pleasure to talk to and some of the nicest people you will meet in the daylily world. Make sure you stop to see their daylilies this summer if you get the chance.

Jamie Gossard's garden.

2012-01-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

About a year ago in late July, Lebron James anounced to the world that he was taking his talents to South Beach. Me, being a big Cleveland sports fan was crushed. I asked my wife, Kyle if she would go down the next day to see Jamie Gossard's garden to which she agreed. The following day it was pouring rain, and Kyle had a terrible migraine headache. In spite of that, she went with me on the 2 and 1/2 hour drive down to Columbus, Ohio. I love my wife dearly. She has gone with me to a bunch of daylily gardens in rain and in sun. Even had a brief encounter with a rat snake as she walked into one nursery in Florida. Scared her half to death. We laugh about it today. Anyway, the first time we went to Jamie Gossards it was pouring rain non stop. Jamie did his best to show me a few things, but it was just raining too hard. We decided to try and go back down this year....and wouldn't you know it, it was raining again. Lucky for me, it was a passing shower and by the time we got down there it had cleared up. Jamie gave me full tour this time. The toothy daylily I have pictured above is a really cool toothy daylily that Jamie calls "Sun 1," for now. I was really impressed with the size of the teeth. The photograph below is his introduction, "Heavenly Pink Fang." I am really impressed with H.P.F.'s color. Steve Moldovan was a big color guy and that was one thing we always saw eye to eye on. H.P.F. has outstanding color and the teeth are very prominent. The other thing I like about H.P.F. is it's consistency. Every bloom looks good from the first to the last. I believe Jamie said the big conference is in Columbus this year and anyone on the tour should really enjoy seeing Jamie's daylilies. The thing I enjoyed the most about visiting Jamie's garden is he has such a wide range of daylilies. From some of the best toothy daylilies, to some spectacular UFO's, and some really cool patterned daylilies. If you are visiting Ohio, don't miss out on your chance to see Jamie's place.

Kinnebrew's daylily garden visit

2012-01-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

Another one of my favorite visits when I go down to Florida, is to visit John Kinnebrew's daylily garden. I have been very impressed with some of the new toothy stuff I saw in the seedling beds. Let me say that John Jr. has always been very generous with showing me his introductions and seedlings and is always happy to share information about his daylilies. The two daylilies I want to feature are from his seedlings. The top photograph is a seedling out of Jamie Gossard's Heman. The bottom seedling is from a cross of Spacecoast Behavior Pattern X Regal Fantasy. Regal Fantasy is a Jeff Salter daylily. I have to say I was very impressed by the size of the toothy Heman seedling. You can see John Jr.'s hand behind it as a way to gauge how big the bloom is. Always an enjoyable visit to Kinnebrews daylilies.

Some cool Lambertson daylilies.

2012-01-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

It's a nice sunny day here in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. All the snow has melted and you can see the grass, which is very unusual for January weather. Heck, I'll take it. I wanted to post a couple of Luddy Lambertson daylilies I photographed this past summer at his place. The top photograph is a seedling. I do not know the parentage, but I sure loved the teeth. The bottom photograph I think is his new intro, Blue-breasted Bee eater. I sure love Luddy's blue eyed program. Great job Luddy!!!

2012 is here!!!

2012-01-04T13:33:00.000-08:00

Well, my daylily friends, 2012 is here. Where I live, we are in a lake effect snow area and over the past couple of days 7 inches of fresh snow has fallen here. Temps are in the low 20's, single digits if you factor in the wind chill effect. It's January in Cleveland, Ohio, not my favorite time of the year, but it is the beginning of a new year. Anyway, one of my hopes with my blog is to show you daylilies that I see as I travel across the country each year. I thought I would start out the year by featuring photographs of two seedlings I saw at Guy Pierce's garden taken this past June. The top photograph is seedling 96-821T838. It was definitely one of my favorites that day. I do not know what the parents are, but I can tell you I will be excited to buy it when Guy introduces it. The bottom photograph is seedling 819. The parents of the bottom photograph are Bass Gibson X Eight Miles High. What incredible teeth on both daylilies! Great job Guy! In the coming weeks and months I will feature more pictures of daylilies from around the country, and those that bloomed in my garden this past summer. I hope you enjoy them and happy new year to you all!

Ron Valente....One of Steve Moldovan's favorite purples.

2011-12-29T12:43:00.000-08:00

I'll never forget the fun I would have traveling from Gates Mills, Ohio out to Avon, Ohio to Moldovan gardens during peak bloom. The more I got into hybridizing, the more I would try and bring blooms over to share with Steve and Roy on those weekends. Steve and Roy have always been very generous with sharing pollen with me over the years. In the years leading up to Steve's passing I tried to bring blooms over to try and give back for all they had given me. I'll never forget this one particular time, where I had brought a bloom of Ron Valente over. Ron Valente was a Moldovan introduction in 2004, but unfortunately a lot

of the stock was wiped out when a sewer line broke and flooded the back yard. The reason I was bringing a bloom over was because Steve didn't have any Ron Valente pollen to work with because of the flood damage. When I walked into the garden that day, I thought I saw another purple in bloom that I mistook for Ron Valente, so I tossed my bloom to the ground. Steve came down to the guest house and while talking to him I told him I had brought a bloom of Ron Valente, but I saw he had another plant of it. Steve immediately said that the purple I thought was Ron Valente was not, and where did I throw the bloom? I pointed it out and Steve hurried over to see if the pollen was still good. Thankfully it was and Steve was able to use it that day to cross with. I always paid close attention to what Steve was crossing with and the year of his passing there were more "Ron V." tags crossed on more daylilies than I can remember. This past summer Roy was seeing the results of those crosses for the first time. I'm sure it will be even more exciting to see how those plants mature. For me it is important to remember how much Steve loved using Ron Valente. It was selected by Ron Valente himself in the seedling fields. The cross that produced Ron Valente was Vatican City X Imperial Wizard, two of Steve's grand purples! I am starting to see the results of my crosses using Ron Valente and the seedlings show promise. Like all of Steve's purples, Ron Valente possesses grand plant habit with great bud count and branching. It is easily fertile both ways and it is a purple every hybridizer should grow. Photos above and below of Ron Valente.

Mahdi (Moldovan 05) translated means leader or guide.

2011-12-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

One of my earlier memories of being in Moldovan gardens brings me back to walking up to the back of the house where I usually parked my car. Most visitors parked their cars back by the guest house in the back, but for some reason I always liked parking in the driveway and walking down past the older daylilies, then into the seedling beds. One day as I was walking back up I noticed this late seedling in August that had amazing plant habit. It was branched like an oak tree, and yet not one flower had opened up. For me to stop and gaze at something before there was an open flower on it was unusual. In the preceding visits Steve pointed it out to me saying it was going to be introduced. He even let me take some pollen home to cross with. I didn't know what I was doing in my early hybridizing and I must admit most of my early crosses were real duds. Steve named this amazing seedling Mahdi, which loosely translated means guide or leader. I remember while talking to Steve at the guest house in back, he would tell me that Mahdi was turning out to be one of his better parents. He and Roy took me over to a daylily they called the "Mahdi red," which Roy was to introduce in 2009 as Dante's Inferno.(photo of Dante's Inferno below.)Mahdi was introduced in 2005 and quickly sold out. I missed out on my opportunity to buy Mahdi in 2005. If memory serves, some of the remaining stock of Mahdi was killed from a flood of water from bad sewer line, but Roy got a plant of it back in 2006. Steve passed away that year. It was a very difficult time. Poor Roy was going through a lot of tough times, but at the end of that season was nice enough to divide his double fan of Mahdi and give me a single fan, something I will never forget. I took that fan and put it in a favored spot, then when I moved in 2007, I tried to give Mahdi one of the best spots in my new garden. I have been fortunate to increase my plant to clump strength, and Mahdi has been an easy breeder, both pollen fertile and pod easy. I did get to see on of my Mahdi seedlings bloom recently and it shows some promise. (see photo beneath Dante's Inferno below.) The cross of the seedling is Mahdi X I remember you. I remember both Steve and Roy saying don't be afraid to take Mahdi into red daylilies. Again, whenever Roy and I talk about some of the best Moldovan parents, Mahdi always comes up in conversation as well. Mahdi's cross is Vatican City X Sparkling Champagne. It is one tremendous Moldovan daylily with a lot of breeding potential.

Vertical Horizon......what a great parent!

2011-12-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

Whenever Roy Woodhall and I would discuss the daylilies that were the best parents introduced from Steve Moldovan, Vertical Horizon would always come up in conversation. Vertical Horizon was introduced in 2006, and since it's introduction it has been the parent of great daylilies such as Piece of Sky, Pirates of Penzance, and Vintage Victory just to name a few. I've always enjoyed the photograph of Steve Moldovan posted above. (image courtesy of Roy Woodhall) You can see Steve hybridizing right next to a clump of Vertical Horizon. When I first started coming to Moldovan gardens, I was mostly impressed with daylilies with a gold edge. That was the big thing back in the early 2000's. It wasn't until I stopped out one weekend and Steve took a bloom of Piece of sky out of the refrigerator that I became enamoured with blue eyed daylilies. What better place to start than the parent of Piece of sky, Vertical Horizon. It was a no brainer. I purchased Vertical Horizon in 2006, the year of it's introduction. I think I planted the first seeds from crosses involved with it in 2007. I am starting to see some of it's seedlings these past couple years and I am very impressed. Walking the fields out at Moldovan gardens these past couple years with Roy, you can see that Vertical Horizon isn't just a good parent for eyes, but an excellent parent for patterns. I'm sure we will see many future introductions from Vertical Horizon out of Moldovan gardens in the future. In case you were wondering what the parents of Vertical Horizon were, the cross is (Merchant Marine X S381-96(Moonlit Masquerade X Mason's Mark). Vertical Horizon is dormant, with a 6" flower, sitting atop a 36" scape, with 4 way branching. It has been easily fertile both ways producing pods filled with ripe black seeds. It has been a pleasure to grow Vertical Horizon. (image below courtesy of Roy Woodhall)

Steve Moldovan, the daylily.

2011-12-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

I thought I would continue blogging about some of my favorite daylilies, and today I thought I would write about Steve Moldovan, my friend and his namesake daylily. When you think of purple daylilies, you think of Steve Moldovan. Steve's purples are in a class all to themselves. Of all of Steve's purples, some of my favorites include Ron Valente, Seraglio, Mahdi, Imperial Wizard, Vatican City, and Strutters Ball just to name a few. His purples all had Steve's trademark great branching and bud count. Today I'm going to talk about his namesake daylily, Steve Moldovan. The cross that produced Steve's namesake daylily is (Seraglio X (Sahib X Tie and tails). To paraphrase Roy Woodhall's description, it says that this was a culmination of 3 of his major purple and red lines. Steve noted this cultivar as being "the future of his purple breeding," and marked it with five stars on the tag! Roy was nice enough to let me have some pollen from seedling S919-01 the summer that Steve passed away. Being a rookie hybridizer I just took it to all my purple daylilies at the time. I wasn't thinking outside of the box when I made those crosses, but in spite of it I had some success, and one of my 2012 intros is from the daylily, Steve Moldovan, which I named Henry Egert. Back at Moldovan gardens I was fortunate to walk the seedling fields with Roy Woodhall the following years, and it would seem that the daylily Steve Moldovan wasn't just a wonderful purple parent, but it is also an excellent breeder for patterns. I like to think that I'm starting to think a little outside of the box with my crosses today and I hope to see some exciting things in the future. I'm going to attach my best photograph, which shows the pattern that appears in the eyezone area. I have really enjoyed growing this grand purple daylily and if you get a chance to buy a fan, don't hesitate to do so. It has 36 inch scapes, with 6 inch flowers, and 4 way branching. It is a great northern daylily which has increased well for me these past 3 years.

Gaudeamus. Another great Moldovan daylily!

2011-12-02T06:37:00.000-08:00

Well, what I had hoped to use my blog for was to share pictures of recent daylily introductions that perform well in my garden and share my observations. I have a lot of spare time in the winter, and this seems like the best time for me to put this blog together. Anyway, I can't say enough good things about one of my favorite hybridizers, Steve Moldovan. Steve was a good friend and mentor to me in my earlier years of hybridizing. I hope to highlight some of Steve's best intros in my blog this winter. Gaudeamus seems like a perfect start. Gaudeamus was introduced in 2009. According to Roy Woodhall's comments the daylily was selected and moved from a seedling field to a more desirable bed the year it was discovered. This is rarely done at Moldovan gardens. I was fortunate enough to see it back in 2007 for the first time and was blown away. Gaudeamus has amazing 4 and 5 way branching. I purchased a single fan in 2009, and since it is dormant,

it seems very happy to be planted in the ground. I seem to remember hearing it wasn't as happy in the greenhouse. It was easily fertile both ways for me this past summer. It is out of Forestlake Ragamuffin breeding, but according to it's pedigree, it has a lot of Vatican City in it as well. Hmmm. Maybe I need to experiment using Vatican City in my teeth program??!! Gaudeamus means let us rejoice in Latin. If you get a chance to get a fan of Gaudeamus, don't hesitate to do so. I have bloomed a couple seedlings from it and it definitely passes it's teeth on to it's kids. I hope you enjoy this picture I am attaching taken in my garden this past summer.

Blue eyed seedling. (future intro, Dick Goddard)

2011-11-17T06:53:00.000-08:00

Well, instead of posting depressing pictures of my front yard as in previous posts,
I thought I would talk about one of my more exciting future introductions, Dick Goddard.
I probably won't introduce this daylily until 2015, since I don't have much of it at this point,
but it is probably my best seedling to date. It is a cross of Steve Moldovan's Seraglio (pod)
X John Rice's Don Herrell. (pollen) The first time it bloomed was last year, but the plant
hadn't really established. This year it stole the show. Nice plant habits, desirable foliage,
good branching and bud count. It set pods easily and is pollen fertile. I look forward to
using it more in the years to come and hopefully it will be a good parent. It is being named
Dick Goddard after a local Cleveland, Ohio weatherman who is also very active with our

animal humane societies in helping animals to get adopted. Dick has been doing

the weather forecasts here in Cleveland, Ohio since 1961, and is still going strong

at 80 years old.

First snowfall of the season.

2011-11-12T07:31:00.000-08:00

Friends,

Well, on 11-10-11 we had our first measurable snow fall of the season. Always too soon for me.
The older I get, the less I enjoy winter. I think my wife and I may move further south in the state
of Ohio in the years to come. Anyway, my landscaping season is coming to a close soon, so
I should be able to share some sunnier photos from this past season of my daylilies and some

of other hybridizers that I think you might enjoy as well. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

What a wet year!!!

2011-11-08T10:03:00.000-08:00

Well daylily friends, it's been a very wet year. In fact the wettest on record for our area in Northeast, Ohio. They've only been keeping records for 141 years. Anyway, I've always wanted to write about my favorite garden flower and share my opinions, insight, and experiences with others. I've been hybridizing since 1999, and boy have I made some mistakes. I guess the key to making those mistakes is learning from them,
and I think I've done a pretty good job of that. I'm gonna try and post a photo of my front yard taken at
the end of October so you can see just how wet it was. I've never had so much standing water for such
a great length of time. Somehow the daylilies seem to have adapted to it. They are very tough perennials. That's what I love about them. I'll try and post more pictures from this past season for you to enjoy in the coming months. Love to hear any feedback and welcome your insights as well. Happy gardening to you all.