21 July 2010

Pollen on my nose and other true stories


Mid- to late-July until August finds me dealing with a peculiar condition. It manifests itself as yellow, orange or rust coloured stains on the end of my nose. The diagnosis is easy to make, and the condition not at all serious. It means it's daylily and lily blooming time again, and I'm sticking my nose into as many flowers as possible.

Remember when there were only a handful of daylily colours and forms available? Or so we thought. There are actually thousands of named cultivars, probably thousands more that are unnamed or mislabeled. I first saw a huge display of hemerocallis cultivars at Red Lane Gardens, in Prince Edward Island, about a decade ago. That was the beginning of my love affair with these durable, versatile plants.


When my friends Wayne Ward and Wayne Storrie decided to develop a daylily nursery, I couldn't have been more excited for them. Canning Daylily Gardens has been steadily growing for the past few years, and tonight little Wayne told me that they have 1200 cultivars on display in their gardens. They don't yet have that many for sale, but they have somewhere around 700, I believe. Certainly there is something for everyone.

While I know some of my plants by name, others have caused me some confusion over the years. Tonight I got smart and took a half dozen with me down to Little Wayne to get them identified. My plan is to map out where they all are so that I don't have to go through this every year. The beauty in the top photo is one of last year's purchases, 'Inherited Wealth.' The wine-coloured one above is 'Dark Star'. In my garden, it's almost as tall as I am, about 5 feet.

'South Seas' is one distinctive daylily, though this photo doesn't do it justice. Its colour is a vibrant coral/salmon, with hints of pink, and awesome fragrance. It sends me running across the grass to smell it when it begins to bloom.

'Mateus' is a prolific variety, and I have divided mine and planted it in several other spots. It too is fragrant, and I like the pale midribs and ruffled edges to this beauty.

When 'Ice Carnival' first came out, it was proclaimed as being one of the closest to truly white daylilies available. It may depend on what your soil is like, but to me it's more the colour of lemon pie filling with the meringue whipped into it. Softly yellow, very soothing.

It took a while to figure this spider out, but it's 'Wind Frills'. It didn't bloom last year; the Waynes gave it to me several years ago when I was still uncertain about whether I liked the spiders or not. I like this one, that's for certain.

This is 'Shango', which was one of last year's purchases. I love the varieties that are a mix of rose and gold, for some reason. And the very dark ones. And the ones with the dark eyezones. And...

Here's one with dark eyezone; 'Wineberry Candy', which is in my wine and chocolate garden.

When I take photos of daylilies, I invariably focus on the flowers because the only drawback to these fabulous plants is their ordinary foliage. Unfortunately, you can't see the size of the flowers to scale. This is 'Chicago Royal Robe', we think, but I've had it since the first year I planted daylilies here. Not a big flower, but it sure is floriferous.

Not the best photo, but in the foreground is 'Smuggler's Gold', while in the midground is one of my favourites, 'Swiss Mint', another nearly-white variety with exquisite fragrance.

Slugs have been a problem on some varieties, and had tried to get a good grip on the edge of 'Destined to See', another of my favourites. It doesn't have much scent, but with all those colours it's okay.

Somehow, the photography gods smiled on me today and I caught 'Roses in Snow' showing off its true red colour very nicely. There's only one problem: it's not displaying the white edging as much as it is supposed to. The Waynes aren't selling this one anymore, probably because it is such a diva, but I'm keeping mine because I love the rich red velvet even without the white accents.

This little fellow didn't have a name when I bought him for 5 bucks from a plant table five or six years ago. He's dependable, with a huge number of blossoms and a long bloom period, and I've taken to calling it 'Yellow Duckling' because it blooms near the spot where the ducks come up to eat their feed.

'Tani' is a real pretty little star--actually, she's not that little, boasting big flowers when they are fully opened. I was impatient and took her photo before the blossom had finished unfurling.

I love the quaint, funny, and sometimes truly bizarre names attached to some of the daylilies by their breeders. This, for example, is called 'Romeo is Bleeding.' I forget now where I bought it, and it doesn't come up as fancy as some photos show it, but its rich colour and whimsical name made it a star in my garden.

This is just a few of the daylilies that are responsible for my pollen-nose. There will be more to come in future posts; one of the cool things about these plants is how they just pop into bloom over night or in the early morning, so each morning presents me with new jewels to gaze at. And new blossoms to get my nose into.

30 comments:

  1. Awwww, I love your 'Yellow Duckling'!

    Lily dust on your nose reminds me of the time my little sister came in the house covered in lily dust and we knew she had been smooching in the garden with her new beau. :)

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  2. Daylilies are great! Ours have bloomed and gone already.

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  3. Oh you have so many pretty daylilies! I just started adding them this year, only a few have bloomed so I guess I'll have to be patient. I can see how people end up with so many different ones, there is such a great variety of colors and shapes.

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  4. You have a lovely collection of daylilies. I often have this pollen encrusted nose problem too. Ha.. I don't know how many blouses Ihave ruined with pollen too.

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  5. Well you've answered my question. I have the dark star day lilies. Beautiful! It's amazing how many varieties there are!

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  6. Dear Jodi, I have much enjoyed looking at and reading about your very extensive collection of Hemerocallis. They are, in my view, to be highly prized for in the main they are relatively unfussy, disease resistant and long lived. I was most interested to learn of the Waynes and their nursery - you are fortubate to have them close by.

    Most of my own day lilies came from Apple Court Nursery in Hampshire where, over a number of years, Diana Grenfell hybridised many new cultivars. In particular she introduced me to varieties suitable for cultivation in containers.

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  7. You have a fantastic variety of day lilies, all gorgeous. I kept thinking this one was the best, then the next one, then the next, until I saw Destined to See. OK. That's it. I can't smell them, so based on your photos, that's my favorite!

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  8. It is time for a visit to the Waynes...sigh; such a sight to see the lilies en mass in bloom in Canning!

    Daylilies are the July queens around here as well. The first time I knew about Canning Daylilies was when (a few years back now) you had written an article in the Halifax Herald about them. I don't buy daylilies anywhere else now because you can trust the Waynes, and they are thankfully there to identify the Lola's))) as you found out. Thanks Jodi; great photos.

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  9. Aren't daylilies glorious? My favorite of yours is Destined to See. Wow! Thanks for sharing with us!

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  10. Great post!! Although it kind of makes me want to sneeze lol. Your collection is AMAZING, I adore daylilies but have only gotten into them recently. Wineberry Candy is gorgeous!

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  11. Great to see these excellent pix of the daylilies, so hard to decide on which ones to buy. Good photos really help.

    I often get pollen on my nose too. :^)

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  12. With so many daylilies out there to choose from it's hard to keep track of all the names. Your daylilies really look good!

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  13. Hey Jodi,


    I just wanted you to know I added your blog to the soon to be launched North Carolina Nursery and Landscape Association blog roll for NC Blogs!

    http://www.tarheelgardening.com/wordpress/

    I also wanted to make sure you received my new link for Gardening With Confidence's blog

    www.gardeningwithconfidence.com/blog.

    Thanks!

    I hope you are doing well!

    Helen

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  14. Beautiful pictures of your daylilies. 'South Seas' is tempting me...and I hope to visit Canning Daylilies in the next day or so. I like to go out in the evening and pluck all the daylily flowers while still in bloom so I can enjoy each bloom....so much more pleasing than facing wilted dead ones in the morning!.
    Cheers, Dee (I'm also a Fan of your Facebook page)

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  15. How lovely, jodi. I too have a love affair with my daylilies. I'm so impressed you know all the name. Most of mine have been in my garden for almost 30 years and somewhere in time, in between raising the kids, lost the tags, which makes me very sad :(

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  16. Aw, you look cute with a little pollen on your nose, Jodi. :)

    I want 'South Seas' in my garden. Outstanding photo -- and then when I hear you're literally running across the grass to sniff it as soon as it blooms, well, I can't think of a higher recommendation!

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  17. Beautiful flowers, Jodi. It says a lot about the number of daylily varieties that given the number you have, the number I have, and our similar taste in daylily colors, we don't have a single daylily cultivar in common (although there are several in your collection that I'd definitely like to have :-)) -Jean

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  18. If you have pollen on your nose, do you get bothered by bees? I should imagine a bee up the nostril would put me off sniffing flowers for good!

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  19. Absolutely gorgeous blooms! Yes, pollen on the nose would be a given with blooms like these, wouldn't it? :)
    I must admit that I felt a touch of relief when I read about your love of the quaint names, at least I'm not alone! I've been known to hunt down (inexcusably)expensive hybrids just because their quirky name caught my fancy. Do you think they do it on purpose?

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  20. At the recent Buffa10 fling (we missed you) someone told me I had pollen on my nose. LOL! You are doing it right if you have been pollinated.

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  21. Ah, it's daylily season there. Jodi, I wish I could come up and visit your daylily gardens now as mine are all finished except for a straggler or two. They are such great plants (for the most part) with wonderful colors, shapes and hardiness. Enjoy your early summer blooms.~~Dee

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  22. I constantly have an orange nose in the summertime lol. That stuff stains like a biyatch :D

    beautiful photos!

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  23. And dinner my wife asks, "what is that yellow stuff all voer your jeans?" What? "I just washed these!" I reply. Pollen. I'm covered in pollen. Blotches everywhere. "That doesn't come out you know" she says. Grrrrrr. Or is it yippee?

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  24. How wonderful. Another lover of daylilies. I was amazed that you knew the name of many of yours.

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  25. I never met a daylily I didn't like, Jodi, and I've had "pollen nose" for over a month now:) You have such a beautiful variety of lilies. I'm trying to write down the names of all mine, too, including recording them in a post, so I'll remember them a year from now. I just purchased the same 'Romeo' this summer, not so much because of its color, but I had to have one Shakespearean lily in my garden:)

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  26. Here is how I was scrolling down: Ooh! ahh! so beautiful! I too have lost the names of some of my daylillies. I do love daylillies, they are so constant, even if just for a day

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  27. What beautiful daylillies! I have several varieties in my garden near Cape Cod as well. They seem to thrive here, although this years garden seemed to blossom and be done at warp speed due to the intense and all too long lasting heat wave we had for most of this month. I did take many photos of my garden the week prior to the heat, thank goodness!
    Pop over if you can to see the daylillies in my Summer Garden and my Sink Garden in my post titled: Gardening is Good Medicine!
    Great blog! I'll be back!
    Dandelion Wishes,
    Deb

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  28. What a collection, they are so beautiful - thank you for sharing

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  29. Jodi, What a wonderful daylily collection! I am impressed that you recorded all their names and wish I had done that. I am intrigued by your wine and chocolate garden. Now I must search through your older posts to find it. Pam

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  30. Jodi dear,

    LOVELY and intoxicating. I've found another condition. Pollen on your nose USUSALLY means pollen on your clothes.

    Sending love,

    Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island

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