Dreaming of Blooms

The weather has been so warm lately that I have started to plan for this year's planting season. This weekend with its cold wind and low tempatures reminded me that it's too early to get excited yet. But I can't keep my thoughts from being more and more on what this year's bloom season will brirng.



Last fall we divided and moved a number of daylilies to a new bed. We left plenty of space in between the clumps of daylilies to add other plants. We like to give the daylilies about three feet of space so we mark off the beds to indicate where plants can go. There are still flags visible indicating open spaces for new plants.

Echinacea 'Daydream'

Photo courtesy of Terra Nova® Nurseries, Inc.

www.terranovanurseries.com

One of the new plants that I already have on order to arrive this spring is this echinacea. I have other echinacea in the pink and white shades but this will be my first of the dream series. This series is advertised to be superior in landscape settings so I am anxious to give them a try.

Seeing Double

H. 'Peggy Jeffcoat',  Joiner-J,  1995 

Daylily blooms can have many forms such as this double. From the AHS daylily dictionary:

"A double flower has more than one petal whorl (hose-in-hose), or a stamen whorl that contains petaloid (petal-like) stamens (peony type double)."

H.'Condilla', Grooms, 1977

There are about 35 daylilies in my collection that are classified as doubles.

H. 'Cardigan Bay', Trimmer, 1996

Some have so many of the extra petals or petaloid tissue that the stamens are not easily seen.

H. 'Lemonberry Truffle', Kirchhoff-D, 2000

There may times when a daylily that is classified as a double does not produce the extra petaloid tissue and it will bloom as a single. This cultivar lists in its registration data that it doubles 94% of the time.

Miniature Daylilies

H. Baby Jessie (Eller-N  2005)

We attended the annual Mid Winter Symposium in Nashville last week. One of the sessions that I really enjoyed focused on the miniature and small daylilies. I checked my database and found that I grow only 16 of the miniature daylilies. When I checked for pictures, I found only one. I will have to remedy that when this bloom season starts.

 According to the information in the AHS database this cultivar was registered at 18" high with a bloom size of 2.75" and that it doubles 80% of the time.

There were so many beautiful ones shown at the meeting that I will be looking for a few more of these to add to the garden especially some of the ones with eyes that are a shade of blue.

Beautiful Orchids

While visiting the Marie Selby Botanic Gardens we enjoyed the orchids in the conservatory.

There were several in bloom on the day we visited .

I wish that I had spent more time in the conservatory but there was so much too see in this garden.

Phalaenopsis -Moth Orchid

One of the orchids that my husband has brought home for me. I love how long they bloom. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get them to re bloom. One of them is setting buds now and I will share a picture of it when it  blooms.

Bonsai

Ficus benjamina

                                                                  

While on vacation in Florida we visited a botanical garden that featured several bonsai. I find this art form to be fascinating but certainly don't have the patience to attempt.

Ilex 'Shilling's Dwarf'

These two specimens caught my eye because I grow both of them here in central Kentucky. The ficus in the first picture grows indoors as a small tree and the ilex as an outdoor shrub.