It’s All Over – Imagine Daylilies
Warning! Once you start collecting daylilies…it’s all over. And visiting daylily farms could be habit forming. I imagined it would be fun to visit Florediem Flower Farm. A few people had mentioned it to me, and peak bloom would soon be over. Maybe I would look for a late season variety. We had a window of time before the rain was due to arrive.
The View at Florediem Flower Farm
The view hit me instantly. Stunning. Overwhelming. Enough daylilies to brighten a gray overcast day. How would I even scratch the surface here? With so many flowers to see and rain threatening, I only managed to take a few pictures.
The owners told us the farm was even more beautiful the day before, which meant that there was an incredible amount of deadheading for them to do today. Can you imagine deadheading the day after peak at a farm with over 500 daylily varieties? I actually could imagine… I imagined myself deadheading for daylilies. You know, maybe I could walk among the daylilies snapping off yesterday’s flowers to earn plants. Yes, I could imagine that.
Tigger is in front
We eventually made our way closer to where the “best” daylilies were grown. It was certainly reassuring to know that some of the daylilies that caught my eye were ones I already own; Chicago Apache, Red Volunteer, Charles Johnston and Condilla. Yet there were several standouts that I knew I didn’t yet own.
South Seas
First on the list were South Seas, a perfect pink coral that seemed like salmon to me,
Apple Tart
and Apple Tart, a unique reddish color.
Tigger
Tigger, a short bright orange with red eyezone, was appropriately named. And of course the shorter daylilies are easier to plant.
Newberry Larry Bennett
I was also drawn to the very large reddish-orange flowers of Newberry Larry Bennett.
King's Business
King’s Business would be a good late bloomer in a deep red with bright green contrasting throat.
Flamenco Queen
Flamenco Queen made an impression with it’s rich blue red blooms on tall scapes.
Ruby Sentinel seemed like a winner with tall strong scapes, and this mid-late bloomer had lots of buds.
Ruby Sentinel - Ouch!
It must have snapped off on our way out. Looks like we’ll have to wait til next summer to see them.
I settled into a comfy chair and studied my list as the air changed and clouds thickened. Lord Jeffrey Amherst, a deep purple I had liked, was more expensive than the rest – so I crossed that off. I had it narrowed down to seven. Which ones could I eliminate? I tried to imagine them in my gardens. That was hard, since I wasn’t sure of their final location there. I had to take one more look before making my decision. Dashing back through the colorful, flower lined paths, back to see… only that I would choose the same exact daylilies. My husband assured me that we could make a new bed for them. Finally, I finished writing out my list and handed it to Bill.
As a steady rain became a reality, Leslie and Bill headed off to our selections armed with forks and buckets. Meanwhile, I overheard another customer saying she had it narrowed down to two… Would they really only choose one or two? Imagine that!