What Today Brought

Today brought the first bloom of one of my very favorite daylilies, VELVET RIBBONS:


Also joining in were TERRY LYNINGER:


DANCE AMONG THE STARS (new here...opening its very first flower):


GLEAM OF TIME:


KATHRYN JUNE WOODS:


MOVING ALL OVER:


Another bloom of MOVING ALL OVER...trying to move...I tried to help it and damaged it...


Interestingly, WAITING IN THE WINGS (which has been blooming) is right beside MOVING ALL OVER (maybe not the best placement on my part). WITW is brighter in color, but MOA appears to have stronger scapes (in my opinion). Of course, it is worth watching them to see if these things change over time.


Two from ITSY BITSY SPIDER:


Group shot (or clump as we usually say) of BALLERINA ON ICE:


VELVET ONYX opened its first flowers for this year...three at once, although not showing its doubling:


From last night, I brought these blooms inside, so they were nearing the end of their "day" life.
A poly bloom from PATSY CARPENTER:


Same story for SPECTRAL ELEGANCE (the light inside is not good):


This is the big seedling from yesterday. You can see what a presence it had out in the seedling bed (okay, I see there aren't many blooms...yet...but, still, it was a big flower)


Here it is from the back. You can see all the buds plus it has a prolif. This is pretty nice for a new flower. I don't think I had any last year with a comparable number of buds.


Here I am trying to measure it...it was a whopping 12 inches!


To give you some idea, here it is beside NANCY BILLINGSLEA (who is around 8 inches):


I didn't show you the other seedling from yesterday (yet)...it has an odd color, but I think the eye is kinda interesting. It is also a large flower (six inches, three inch petals):


I'm measuring the white seedling in these next two pictures (no comments on the dirty nails!)...it a very nice sized daylily as well.




The three of them are lined up together last night. They're not at their best at the end of a long day, but it was fun to see them together:


Finally (yes, at last!), there were two seedlings who debuted today...neither really excited me, however:



I usually have help inspecting the garden. Today, Sam Cat was in the seedling bed, no doubt agreeing with me that we have many more blooms to look forward to!


That's all folks, as Bugs Bunny and the rest used to say....always more to come!

Seedlings!

Today is a very exciting day! The seedlings have started blooming! DH told me to look out the window at the daylilies blooming (imagine that) and I immediately saw this one:


It is quite large (I'll have to measure it)...probably a MAGIC OF OZ kid...has lots of buds (yes!)...even a nice looking prolif....plus, it'll be tested today with temps getting close to 100.

I also found this one:


This is a tremendously beautiful bloom (spoken like a proud mama!)....I can't find a thing wrong with it. It's open very early in the morning...it's good size (I'll have to measure, but probably between 5.5-6 ins)...and it's just lovely! This one is from LESLIE RENEE x SMILE AGAIN.

There's actually a third seedling open (note, last year's first one is not the first this year)...all very first flowers. I'll have to try to get down to where it is a bit later, when that area is getting a little more shade in order to get a better picture.

There's nothing like getting up to see brand new daylilies!

*****

Some of the regular daylilies are starting to bloom now...here's the first bloom for 2008 from DESTINED TO SEE:


BALLERINA ON ICE (one of my very favorite daylilies):


You can't appreciate this one from the picture, necessarily, but it is a teeny tiny bloom called ITSY BITSY SPIDER:


When it has more blooms open, I'll do a comparison so you can easily see how tiny it is. Very cute! Yesterday, it had its first bloom open and without the pinching of the petals, just looked rather ordinary...like a small yellow daylily....today, we see where it gets its name from.

AERIAL APPLIQUE continues to bloom...now in its new spot:


Making me especially happy, I see it is already putting up another scape:


******

Not that I actually wondered, but if there was any doubt about why the garlic is lying on the ground...


Leo, who enjoys the garlic....

(Can't wait for tomorrow!)

2008 AHS National Convention: Garden Two

We arrived at the garden of Boone & Maria Keeling and were greeted with what would become a familiar sight:


Cute, isn't it? Next, I saw this...which I knew would please DH (this picture is for you!):


As the flag picture above might begin to convey, this was a perfectly manicured garden! (All the gardens were magnificent, make no mistake). Look at this beautiful border:


We're here to see daylilies, of course:

BROOKWOOD CARLA'S JOY:


There are other fascinating plants here, too, though:


TOPGUNS JENNIFER HANKINS:


Eye catching Sedum Ogon (I'm trying this for the second time in my own garden...I can only hope that it would look this nice in mine!):


SEBASTIAN THE CRAB:


There's so much more than daylilies here:


FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN


Indeed:


IMPISH DELIGHT:


Bleeding Heart Vine (Clerodendron Thomsoniae...thanks to the handy label the Keelings provided)...we'll see more of this:


MORT'S MASTERPIECE


There was some interesting wildlife in this garden (and others, too):


NEVER SAY GOODBYE:


Yes.



SPACECOAST HOT TOPIC:



Isn't this just too pretty?


WONDER OF IT ALL:


Don't I wish my borders looked like this:


STORM OF SWORDS:


I told you we'd see more of this...isn't it something!


EXOTIC TREASURE:


Semper Fi:


TAKEN BY STORM:


Speaks for itself:


TRUE PINK BEAUTY:


Wildlife:


OLD TIME MEMORIES:


You might have thought I was kidding (what, me?)...look closely in this picture:




If you look closely, you might be able to make out the orange reflections of the fish:


Oh drat. It's time to get on the bus again for stop number three. We'll have to hurry along:


Such wonderful contrast:


(I'm coming! There just isn't enough time, is there? Well, these gardens are so delightful that we could easily spend all afternoon or all morning in just one...but, we gotta go...so, we're going to race though the last few pictures.)


(for my sister, above and well, below, too...do you see it??!)




One last view...ahhhhhh, isn't it beautiful?


This was so fun! We're off to garden number three and then....lunch! Come on, you can do it! Thank you to the Keelings for such a spectacular garden!