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Bee 'n Garden Blog

Seize the Day-lily!

3/17/2023

 
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. 
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New Additions to 2023 Website

1/5/2023

 
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! 
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Adventures in Oz
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Arms Reaching Out
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Blue Pools
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Blue Waves
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Faye Leggett
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Four-play
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Jammin's Halo Heart
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Jared Timothy Bell
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Little Blue Eyed Jewel
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Mouse Eyes
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Oz's Cowardly Lion
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Rosabelle Van Valkenburgh
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Royal Cypher
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School Bus Dreams
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Tet Malachite Prism
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Ultimate Illusion
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Vorlon Oddity
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White Eyes Pink Dragon
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Yuletide Magic
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Unknown Heirloom (Gift from Elise)

'Rita Sue' meet 'Rita'. 'Rita' meet 'Rita Sue'.

5/28/2022

 
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'Rita Sue' (Smith-HR, 2006) Photo by Rita Sue Buehner
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'Rita' (Russell, 1949) Photo by Rita Sue Adkins

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'Painted Lady' (Russell, 1942) Stout Silver Medal - 1950
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Hugh Russell - hybridizer
So ... this story is less about daylilies than about who you meet because of daylilies. My name is Rita Sue. A few weeks ago, a Rita Sue from Kentucky phoned me to ask about a 'Rita Sue' daylily listed on the Rita Bees website.  After talking about lots of things, we ended up with an interstate trade deal better than any you'd read about in the Wall Street Journal. In exchange for 'Rita Sue' and a few others, she'd send me 'Rita' and a few others. Coincidence #1 and #2 - we're both named Rita Sue and both are from the rolling hills of Kentucky.  

Coincidence #3 is that when I was making a label for 'Rita' I found it was registered by Russell in 1949, my birth year. (Hold onto that hybridizer named Russell - that's Coincidence #5.)

​#4 is that last week I answered a phone call, again not knowing who it was. I RARELY DO THAT! Angie S. was calling about daylilies and we too talked about a lot of things including her uncle, Hugh Russell, a hybridizer from the mid-20th century. He owned 30 acres of daylilies and in 1950 received the second Stout Silver Medal ever awarded for 'Painted Lady'. (Everyone knows the Stout Silver Medal is THE highest award in daylily-dom.) Here comes Coincidence #5 - Hugh Russell was the hybridizer of 'Rita'!  
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!
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Magic Amethyst
Magic Amethyst (Stamile, 1996) - height 27 inches (69 cm), bloom 5.5 inches (14 cm), season EM, Rebloom, Dormant, Tetraploid, Very Fragrant,  Amethyst lavender blend with green throat. (Druid's Chant × Big Blue) Awards: HM 2002; JC 1997

Where Do Daylilies Come From? Not the Cabbage Patch, Silly!

4/5/2022

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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.
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'Rocky's Eye' (Herrington-H, 1992)
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'Oz's Cowardly Lion' (Herrington-K, 2009)
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'Red Icicles' (Herrington-K, 2006)
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'Malachite Prism' (Doorakian, 1999)
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'Faye Leggett' (McGough, 2016)
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'Vorlon Oddity' (Reeder, 2019)
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'Arms Reaching Out' (Eller-N, 2004)
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'Yuletide Magic' (Carpenter-J, 2009)
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'Blue Waves' (Shooter, 2008)

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'Rita Sue' (Smith-FR, 2006)
Stay tuned to the next blog installment where I'll tell you about 'Rita Sue' (Smith-FR, 2006) and 'Rita' (Russell, 1949). 
SPOILER ALERT: This is a story of two wonderfully interesting ladies, Rita Sue and Angie, that I met by phone. And an interesting series of coincidences. 
Rita (Russell, 1949) 
height 36 inches (91 cm), season M, Diploid,  ORM1: Orange red medium self.
NOTE: I cannot find a photo of 'H. Rita' so I have NO idea what she looks like.

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New Daylilies Available for Spring Delivery

1/7/2022

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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.
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Expanded the Gardens, again, in 2021

11/6/2021

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Everytime I think I can't find one more spot for daylilies, I 'rearrange' shrubs and voila! A new bed is available. 
  • 8 Barberry bushes - gone! New daylily garden around my mailbox.
  • 2 Lorapetalums (Lorapetali?) - gone! New daylily garden under my bedroom windows.
  • 1 fifteen year old weeping Juniper - sadly gone! New daylily garden around the corner of the garage.
  • 6 foot existing circular daylily garden - gone! Expanded it to a 18 foot oval. 
  • 18 foot existing circular companion plants garden - companion plants gone, daylilies only!
  • 40 foot existing row of in-ground and raised beds - untouched!
​
Why did I need that much more space? Because ... I ... went ... overboard at two clump sales in July and September! It's true ... I swore no more daylilies after June 2021 but these clump were irresistable. My regret is I didn't buy more.  

​What did I purchase? Will post that in the next blog, promise.

​Spoiler: they were too beautiful to pass up and they are neither mini/smalls nor heirlooms.  While those are my favs, that's not what the clump sales were about.
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Original circular daylily bed
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8 thorny barberry bushes - gone!
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1 weeping juniper - sadly gone!
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2 gorgeous lorapetalums - gone!
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Expansion - circular to oval
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Existing raised beds - a treasure!
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Existing in-ground beds
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Where's the Reblooms?

9/4/2021

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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.
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'Fruitful Endeavor'
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'Double Glamour'
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'Pandora's Box'
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.

By the way, the apiary we helped establish at Smith-Gilbert Gardens flourished this year and produced its first crop of honey which will be used for fund raising purposes. A problem I foresee is ... the apiary is on track to double its hives next year and where will we put them? We have all winter to think about that!


One last thing: the Cobb County Daylily Society now has an established daylily bed at Smith-Gilbert Gardens containing about 70 cultivars. Check it out at SGG DL Slideshow
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CCDS at work in 2018
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CCDS's Garden at SGG in 2020
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.
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Oh, My Gourd, the Weather's Warming!

4/25/2021

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​Fingers crossed but I think the last cold snap here in Kennesaw Georgia has come and gone. A front moved through last night and the wonderful drenching it brought has knocked the pollen from the air ... at least temporarily.  Azaleas and dogwoods are done ... sigh. But star jasmine smells beautiful, wild geranium is photogenic and the newest daylily additions wintered really well-the slide show shows what's been recently added to the Rita Bees website.  Others were added last fall so check it out, pls. 
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Star Jasmine blooming now!
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'H. Lava Flow' scape forming
Oh! I'd be remiss to not tell you that Rita's Bees are prolific this Spring especially the Binnie1 hive. The Heidi hive is doing OK but her progeny, the hive named Yodel, is going gangbusters! 3 other splits are queenright - that's the most I can ask of them. ('Queenright' for a split means a new mated queen is laying and the workers are producing wax and drawing comb. Oh, My Gourd! I shouldn't have started talking bee-talk. It's nearly impossible for me to stop! But I will.
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Have a Safe and Productive Spring!   2021 is here!
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I just submitted this essay, 'Coping with Covid' to a non-profit for whom I volunteer

3/2/2021

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I survived the 2020 Covid era by making new electronic aquaintances. Through NextDoor, Facebook, my phone and website, I advertised for sale the honey my bees made and the daylilies that proliferated over the past 10 -15 years in my yard. The honey sold locally (as it should) so I would text peeps that I was delivering their order and they would often greet me from their porch.
 
The daylilies sold nationwide as there is a network of daylily lovers all over the world. I met through email a lady in Alabama for whom I bartered bee supplies for ‘Entwined in the Vine’, a daylily that was the only one missing from her club’s Stout Medal winner garden. She also noticed I had a cultivar named ‘Rosabelle Van Valkenburgh’ on my website and told me that Rosabelle had been a mentor to her and many others and had just passed away in her 90's. She had my condolences and I thanked her - how would I ever have known that, otherwise?
I emailed a man out West on a Sunday night last summer to find out if he wanted me to wait a few weeks before shipping so we could find out which direction the wildfire was going since it was 30 miles from him. He said, “What wildfire?” It had just started that afternoon.
 
I snail mailed about 30 older Daylily Journals to Edna who told me she wouldn’t be buying any daylilies this year as her hubby had a stroke and couldn’t garden anymore. But he'd be delighted to look at the gorgeous photos!
 
Carol, a grower in Ohio, sent me two of her daylily introductions to grow and to judge how they’d do in the South. Scott in Tennessee is sending me a book of his photos.  Milton, a customer in Rhode Island, recommended me to his daughter in Tennessee. We synchronized shipping so her daylilies would arrive the day before he arrived so they could plant them together. I dropped a pound of honey in the box for Milton – he sent me a thank you note!
 
I could go on and on with 20 more stories but you get the picture. For an introvert like me, electronic media has been a wonderfully invigorating exercise in connecting with wonderful peeps who share my passions.
 
Rita Buehner, Class of 2013
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Thanks to Covid . ? .

11/22/2020

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 THANKS to Covid.?. (Admittedly, that's a stretch.) But sequestering and working outside more at home
  • gave me time to add more gardens and more plants. Take a look at the NEW ADDITIONS ready for sale NOW on the website for Spring 2021 shipping.  
  • gave me the idea to add a GIFT CARD option to the website - Christmas is coming! So are birthdays that happen all year long.
  • gave me gratitude for all the Daylily People I have 'met' this year through the internet.
On the left are slideshows of my collection of Siloam miniature and small blooms and a few of other daylilies for sale on www.ritabees.com .
 
Three RESOLUTIONs for 2021:
  • I will visit more gardens.
  • I will get recertified as a AHS/ADS Garden Judge.
  • I will meet more of you face-to-face.​
PEACE, JOY & GOOD HEALTH FOR THE REST OF 2020 AND ALL OF 2021
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    Rita Bee is simply in awe of what she sees when she stops long enough to smell the flowers and observe what lands on them.

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Rita Bees
1219 Kaylyn Court
Kennesaw GA 30152
678-327-5133
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