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So ... what did I learn this year? I learned that it's all about Location, Location, Location. And that for some daylilies (DLs), being in a raised bed in all day sun is anathema. Take 'Mary Ethel Anderson' that I bought about 6 years ago at a fire sale. For five of those six years, she never had more than 10 leaves, never bloomed, never increased. But she never died, either! She was a parent of 20 other registered cultivars according to The Database. Several people had given me rave reviews about their 'Mary Ethel Anderson'. So 2 autumns ago, I decided to plop her into a small space between the house and huge clumps of ever-increasing 'Mage's Memories' and 'All American Chief'. Maybe Mage and Chief would encourage Mary to grow up and to enjoy her 5 hours of sun and expand her roots into amended clay. 'Mary Ethel Anderson' stopped me in my tracks in May 2024! She was sending up scapes where no scape had gone before! Bless her heart! Not only that, she rebloomed from late July to mid-September! (Pardon my exclamation points, I know I'm not supposed to use them so much but ...) In other words, she excelled ... finally!
Notice the buds on her scape in the first image, the slight picotee edge, and the red eye that's so intense it's difficult to notice the green throat. What's especially unique about this beauty is it's a strong miniature in the right place but a weakling weed in the wrong place. She's an ugly duckling that turned into a gorgeous little swan with a 2.5" bloom. Mary Ethel Anderson (Salter-E.H., 1995) height 18 inches (46 cm), bloom 2.5 inches (6 cm), season MLa, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Diploid, Cream with red eye above green throat. Awards: AM 2002; HM 1999; DFM 2000; FS 1997 In all fairness to Mary Ethel, her grower should've understood that raised bed environment sooner. Raised beds can never be watered enough. And summer weather in northwest metro Atlanta can typically stay in the 90's for weeks and drought-like months are becoming the norm. Oh! Get this! Six weeks ago, I moved 'Baby Jessie' next to 'Mary Ethel Anderson' because Jessie has been a non-performer for me for 4 years. Guess the parentage of 'Baby Jessie'. Go on, guess! Yep! Mary Ethel is the pod parent! I swear I did NOT know that until 90 seconds ago when I looked up Jessie in The AHS/ADS Database. Baby Jessie (Eller-N., 2005) - height 18 inches (46 cm), bloom 2.75 inches (7 cm), season M, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Diploid, 15 buds, 2 branches, Double 80%, Cream with cherry red eye above red throat. (You Angel You × Mary Ethel Anderson) By the way, when I was gifted 'Mayor of Munchkinland', I was told to keep it out of all-day sun. The Mayor is three feet from Mary and Jessie and thriving. Mayor of Munchkinland (Herrington-T., 2010) - height 24 inches (61 cm), bloom 2.9 inches (7 cm), season EM, Rebloom, Dormant, Diploid, Fragrant, 50 buds, 7 branches, Canary yellow, red eye above a green throat. (Impish Eyes × Everybody Loves Earnest) Awards: Stout 2021; AM 2019; HM 2016; JC 2010; DFM 2015; DCS 2017; FS 2015 Q: What do they all have in common? A: All three are Diploid Miniatures and need kindly treatment. For a great tutorial regarding Diploids vs Tetraploids, I'm going to refer you to this Cottage-in-the-Meadows website ... as I've gone on long enough. https://cottageinthemeadow.plantfans.com/BlogPosts/THE_DIFFERENCE_BETWEEN_DIPLOIDS_AND_TETRAPOIDS Well, one last word - if you have an underperformer, it may be your fault.
The 1st First is that my one and only registered daylily, 'H. Witch's Honey,' first appeared in commerce in 2023! Compare it to it's mother, 'H. Witch's Thimble' and you'll see the family resemblance. Both are miniatures with wine colored eyes and both have blooms that stand well above the foliage. What's truly striking about 'H. Witch's Honey' is how its striking mango color catches the gardener's attention immediately. The next intro is likely to be another mini that towers 3 feet above the foliage! PS - I am NOT charging much for my intros. They were free to me as I was doing what I love!
The 2nd First is that I attended my first American Daylily Society Convention since the one in Valdosta in 2010. (Our club hosted "The Place to Be Seen in 2015" convention in Atlanta but I was too busy to realize I was attending the convention so I'm not counting it.) The auctions, awards, comaraderie, etc. were amazing but for me one garden in particular grabbed my attention, Eden's Edge. The owner greeted us and I paraphrase what she said, "This isn't a daylily garden. It's a garden with daylilies."
The 3rd First is that this year I sold my daylilies out of a tiny and crowded 10x10 foot booth at our Master Gardeners' Expo in May. You know what made it tiny and crowded? The number of people interested in buying daylilies, asking what are they and how do you take care of them amazed me. I gave away many years worth of The Daylily Journal one at a time to customers. I was too busy to notice but my husband said that the bored vendors in the 20x20 foot well-decorated booth across the aisle from us just stared in amazement! Yes, we came close to selling out on Friday, dug and washed more Friday night and absolutely sold out early on Saturday! I didn't even have time to buy anything myself except three tomato seedlings! Darn! Success is hard! My 4th First is selling on Facebook online auctions. I am unsure whether I'm shooting myself in the foot or not by telling you this. Essentially, I'm sending you to another venue to buy your daylilies. But at this stage of my latest career, why not help all daylily people buy and sell and trade and give away the plants that we love.
So every once in awhile, I make myself useful and contribute a short article to The Georgia Daylily aka the ADS Region 5 'Newsletter'. Thank you to Editor Claude Carpenter for laying out the verbiage and images so perfectly.  A picture is worth a thousand words." Indeed! The images below show Daylilies ADDED IN 2022 to the RitaBees website. Click any image to go the ADDED IN 2022 webpage for AHS/ADS info and pricing. Stay Safe and Enjoy!
Long story not-so-short, I am so pleased that I wasn't too busy to answer the phone those two days or I would've missed many of these opportunities to know interesting people ... through daylilies. Moral #1: Stop and smell the daylilies! Oh! That may be my next blog ... fragrant daylilies. Fast forward. I don't know enough to justify an entire blog devoted to fragrant daylilies. So I'll add it here. Some are very fragrant. A customer recently bought out my entire stock of 'Magic Amethyst' because she once walked by a large bed of it and was so struck by its fragrance that she promised herself she'd build her own garden of just 'Magic Amethyst'. My regret is ... I don't have any to build MY own bed of it. Sigh. (I'll keep an eye out for it.) Moral #2: Keep better inventory!
Where do daylilies (DLs) come from? One place is ... generous clump sales! These below were acquired from a Respected Seller who's making room for ... actually I don't know what Respected Seller is making room for. But I was sure interested in investing in what Respected Seller was divesting! It's work for me prepping new beds and coaxing the fans to quit holding hands ... well, feet actually ... AKA 'separating clumps'. But work well worth it! Below are AHS/ADS database photos of Rita Bees' nine most newly acquired daylilies. I promise to replace these photos with my own soon as a few are showing scapes this early May weekend.
Take a look at a few daylilies that are new to the Rita Bees Gardens & Apiary website or have been put back on the website after they increased ('Tim Herrington', 'All American Chief', 'Smile-n-dales', 'Brookwood Hiawatha'). If you click on each image, you'll be directed to AHS/ADS info on that cultivar. If you hover the cursor over each image, it's cultivar name will appear. You are welcome to browse all of Rita Bees offerings to your heart's content on these cold winter days - just as you would a printed catalog. As I'm typing at 11:00 AM EST, the temp is 27 deg F. Our gardens are mulched, our bees are tucked in tight with plenty to eat and we're waiting for 50 deg days to take our brand new ebike on the Silver Comet Trail. (Now that's a re-learning curve for a short chubby elderly lady gardener who craves new activity! I'm through with jigsaw puzzles until next Dec. ;-)
Blessings for You and Yours in 2022. Stay safe and well.
Seriously? It's September already? Yes, it is! But where are my daylily reblooms? Only 'Fruitful Endeavor' (Grovenstein-L.&E., 2006), 'Double Glamour' (Brown-B., 1970) and 'Pandora's Box' (Talbott, 1980) out of almost 200 cultivars are reblooming consistently. Last year, the gardens were colorful all summer and into early October. Anecdotally, not scientifically, I can say it's either the weather or ... if the rebloom was fantastic last year, it won't be the next year or ... Mother Nature knew we needed cheer in 2020's COVID atmosphere. I'd like to believe it's Mother Nature but it's very like the weather.
2020 was hot with many consecutive days of above 90 degrees and when that happens, even in northern Georgia, it's often many consecutive days above 95. And I had to water a LOT last year. This year, many days were overcast if not downright rainy. I only watered 3 times this year ... in June, not July and August. And the foliage is beautiful! But foliage is not what makes you stop and stare - it's the blooms! Where are they? Closer inspection shows the rebloom is coming now because we're getting more sun (?) despite Hurricane Ida remnants which swung through here. September color in the garden will be good. Patience is needed. Deep breath.
Remember: September is a great time to divide and replant your older daylily clumps and to buy and plant new cultivars. Start by visiting Rita Bees.
Have a Safe and Productive Spring! 2021 is here!
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AuthorRita Bee is simply in awe of what she sees when she stops long enough to smell the flowers and observe what lands on them. Archives
November 2024
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