Red Oak Garden Notes no. 21 Daylily Time has come

Little Audrey Daylily

Gentle reader, I've been writing about the past, but today it is time to return to my garden notes as the daylilies are exploding in all their glory.   Between my sister and I we have 219 varieties of daylily.  They are fairly easy to grow and hardy in our northern climate.

I was first exposed to daylilies by my friend and mentor Bernnett Reinke, who was a very enthusiastic collector.  Every three years or so, in order for these to thrive, the plant should be divided.  Thus it was that Bern gave me my first daylilies.

When we bought Red Oak House, I joined the Central Dakota Daylily Society and attended my first member auction in the basement of the Bismarck Public Library.  At the auction, the bounty of the club's divisions are sold.  Pictures of the cultivars are shown on the screen as well as the particulars like color, height, time of bloom, and so on.  The club chooses the daylilies carefully for our growing zone and also selects for beauty.  Since, then, it has become an annual event for my sister and I, and we come armed with our Excel list of varieties we already own and our newsletter list marked up as our wish list.

In addition to my database, I have markers for all of my perennials. My sister does a better job than I as she also has a map of her flower beds.

In the fall, she and I are going to have a plant sale.  It will be lots of work, but our plants have grown to the point that we can do this with those we both have, and we can build a slush fund for purchasing new varieties.

Peak bloom time has not yet arrived in my yard, but it is almost here.  Meanwhile, here are more photos from today.

Zola's Pink Nightgown

Evening Enchantment Daylily

Mom's Pink Divinity Daylily

Stoplight Daylily

Topgun's Helen Jones Daylily

Vatican City Daylily

Another Day Daylily

Stella's Ruffled Fingers, a re-bloomer

Alabama Jubilee Daylily

Ruffled Rainbow Daylily

First Bird Daylily

Huckleberry Candy Daylily

Spirit Fox Daylily

Strutters Ball Daylily

Radiant Simplicity Daylily

Because I have more than just daylilies, Chocolate Drop Sedum

The first my sister gave to me, Happy Returns Daylily with Radiant Simplicity in the background

Pow Wow and Prairie Splendor Coneflowers

Carpenter Shavings Daylily

Flameburst Daylily

Colorado Moonrise Daylily

Listening to the radio as we drove home, we heard news that some parts of the Bad Lands received 1" of rain in last night's storm.  That is terrific news and I hope it is helping them in the efforts to tamp down that monster.

It is good to be home.  My sister has left a container full of her raspberries in our fridge.  It is cool in the yard this evening -- all things being relative.

I've got some de-heading to do.