My mix of Daylilies from small to extra large blooms

Another beauty fr. P.E. County

I will always place the name under each image as long as I am sure of the actual name. Many of my lilies have come from friends who have no idea what the real names of the plant are. If anyone knows the true name, please share. Many lilies look like one variety but may not be that one at all. I check Daylily sites whenever possible to see if I am able to match the blooms to the plants. Although each flower only lasts one day there are many buds that open each day keeping the plant showing off each bloom. I try my best to deadhead the spent blooms daily and once the plant has finished it's final flower I simply cut the tall stems right down as far as possible.

"Luxury and Lace"

 Ruffled fr. P.E. County

(my name for this one) "Angela's Pink"

XL, tall, pale yellow Daylily

"Kwanso" Double with green/white striped leaves

Pale peach/yellow fr.
 Prince Edward County

A few of my buddies and I took a leisurely, weekend excursion over to Prince Edward County, (just south of where we live) a few years ago and found an amazing Daylily Farm just before Bloomfield, Ontario. Barry from Bonnie Brae Nursery was so knowledgeable and extremely interesting to chat with too. The spectacular view of 100's of Daylilies gently swaying in the wind made it extremely difficult to choose which plants we wanted. We all purchased a few different colours and varieties of his Daylilies, making it possible for us to share small root pieces called tubers. All of these healthy plants have managed to survive the splitting and transplanting we did in the early fall, as you can see by the numerous pictures I have posted here. Barry also grows amazing varieties of Hostas that are a feast for the eyes, grown under the magnificent, old maple trees surrounding his home. We also saw our very first, Giant Oriental lilies too. Some of these tall plants were close to 7 1/2 feet tall with beautiful and bright coloured blooms that were truly breathtaking. No matter where we looked there was something different to see and it wasn't easy to leave this amazing property. We hope to return to Bonnie Brae this spring to see what new plants he will have on display. Spring can't come soon enough for all of us.

                                                                   
                                                        

New Milford, Pa. started from seed.

"Pardon Me" 

"Hall's Pink"

"Summer Wine"

An unknown, new in 2010
red/orange

"Chicago Apache"

"Gay Cravat"

1. 
   

A Tiny Stella D'Oro

"Franz Hals"

"Barbary Corsair"

Unknown Deep Wine, ruffled,
white edges and yellow throat




I have never yet seen a single Daylily that I can honestly say I dislike. From the tiny, low growing, bright yellow Stella D'Oro to my 5 inch, 4 foot  XL yellow specimen. Some have ruffled edges, many are are multi-coloured and some are sweetly scented. Someone always has something different in size, colour or type of lily that they are willing to trade or share. It is so much fun to transform another spot in the garden with new plants or slips that have been purchased or shared with my many gardening friends. I am hoping to find some "spider" type Daylilies this spring as I am pretty sure that I remember seeing them at the Bonnie Brae Nursery on our trip to Prince Edward County on our trip to Prince Edward County in August of 2007.  

An odd shaped Black Eyed Susan.

     I have grown Black Eyed Susan plants for many years but one summer these amazing, misshapen flowers appeared. They were a constant topic of conversation with the many visitors who tour "My Friendship Garden. If anyone has any idea what caused this odd mutation I'd be very pleased to know. This only happened once in all the years I have been growing Black Eyed Susans.

    

How my gardens began.

I started my gardens in spring of 1988 and slowly formed it into an Old English style over the years. I have a real passion for lilies and irises as well as numerous other perennials. A few perennials, annuals and some veggies are started under lights in our basement in late March to early  April so they will have a head start in our Zone 4+ climate. We enjoy planting a mid-size veggie garden with many varieties of tomatoes, in shades of yellow, pink and red as well as small, yellow, pear-shaped and sweet, red, cherry style. Yellow and dark purple beans are always a staple as well as carrots, Swiss chard, cucumbers, squash, cantalope and watermelon. We also grow many of our own herbs such as basil, garlic chives, rosemary, tarragon, thyme and oregano. We enjoy being able to walk out to the garden and pick our fresh produce during the summer months. There is nothing like the first, ripe tomato.

I always had a vision of how I hoped my gardens would eventually look and slowly, with the help of my son's Jaye & Bryan and my hubby Paul, things started to come together. We hauled three pick-up truck loads of huge, limestone rocks from my in-laws farm and made a long, raised flowerbed along the length of our main driveway. We started with a Purple Sand Cherry shrub planted in the middle of the bed then slowly added Creeping Phlox, Cranesbill and Daylilies through-out. The mixed colours of Creeping Phlox (Phlox, stolonifera) are very beautiful in mid May through to mid June. Colours range from white to delicate pinks as well as mauve and magenta. Cranesbil, (Geranium sanguineum) continues to bloom right through to frost. If clipped back in late summer the dense, creeping mats will re-bloom a second time.

The Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are among the most adaptable perennials as they will grow in almost any climate and any soil type in Zones 3 to 10. They do prefer not to have soggy roots. These sun loving plants come in a wide range of colours, from a pale, lemon yellow to a deep, flaming red and deep, rich purple. They can start to bloom as early as late spring and some continue blooming right into the fall. Some have wonderful scents that gently waft through the air while others are simply breathtaking with their wide range of colour variations. These amazing plants come in a variety of shapes, sizes, some with ruffled edges and sometimes with double rows of petals. Their trumpet shaped flowers can easily grow 1 to 10 inches with heights reaching well over 4 feet. To keep them looking their best they should be dead-headed daily. Daylilies are easy to propagate and if the extra soil is washed off the roots it is easy to see where they should be split.They do their best if the clumps are divided every 3 to 5 years. 

We had been trying to come up with a suitable name for our gardens for a few years but nothing seemed to pop out at us. My dear friend Carole C. wrote a beautiful poem for my birthday and the name came easily after reading her words. Thanks Carole for your encouragement, inspiration and amazing thoughts. To have a friend such as you is to have one of the sweetest gifts that life can bring.