A few flowers triumph over battering storms

12 years ago

Storms came through in the early morning hours and beat up most of my blooms beyond recognition. A few stood up to the wind and monsoon-like rain and worthy of photographs. I'm also posting some photos from yesterday afternoon.

PURPLE EYED DRAGONFLY is my newly-acquired Lambertson for this season. I'd wanted this one since I saw it in Rice's greenhouse three summers ago. This is the ffo.

{{gwi:658707}}

TYROLEAN TREASURE just laughed at the storm.

WILD HORSES made it through storm with flying colors. In fact it had yellow petals, which I've never seen on it. This cultivar normally has cream or near white petals in our heat.

That's all from today. The rest were a real mess. Here are some from yesterday.

LONG JOHN SILVER

SPARTICUS ADORNED - a wonderful, vigorous Hanson purple

INCA PRINCE group

DARK TERRITORY - This one is much darker than it photographs. This Benz is a slow grower here.

MISTER BUBBLES, looking the way it must look most of the time in Mimi Schwarz's Long Island Garden. Here, with our Southern heat and humidity, it's normally near white with lavender petal edges and lots of teeth and tendrils.

MAGNIFICENT RAINBOW

AMBER FINALE - A great late bloomer with excellent plant habits.

TUXIE on the rain barrell yesterday evening. Watch out Tux, you're in for a heck of shower when that storm comes. All the female cats like to sit on the barrell.

Debra

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Comments (28)

newyorkrita
12 years ago
Tuxie found herself a great spot to rest and wash up. I like your Amber Finale because I have it also and it is a great bloomer. I think all my Hibards will do really well this year as they have grown from the small few fans I started with into nice healthy clumps. The INCA PRINCE group shot takes it for me, fabulous picture of a beautiful daylily. I also really like DARK TERRITORY. It is beauitiful.
shive
Original Author
12 years ago
Rita - I'm interested to see what your Hibbards do this year. It took Amber Finale four years to really strut its stuff and show off. I got so excited when I saw six blooms on Inca Prince yesterday that I stepped into a hole and fell down. That one was so slow to multiply in the drought, and I've never seen more than three blooms on it at one time until yesterday. Dark Territory has a beautiful bloom, but it will be moving out of my garden. I bought it mainly for hybridizing, and it won't set pods in my heat. Also it multiplies very slowly, and I have an overabundance of purple in my garden.

Debra
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pamghatten
12 years ago
I love hot oranges ... that Inca Prince is amazing! Wonder how it does up here ...

Love the pic of Tuxie!
nat4b
12 years ago
Sparticus Adorned and Dark Territory are beautiful and the picture of Inca Prince is amazing, but my favorite are the first three, not only they are beautiful (especially Tyrolean Treasure) but they also look fantastic after the storm!
Is that a seed pod on Wild Horses? I guess if mine ever(!) flowers it will be yellow, but I like it 'in yellow' too!
Tuxie looks comfortable on a rain barrel :) I wonder why only female cats like to sit on it.
maximus7116
12 years ago
Look at that color on Inca Prince! I'm always drawn to the pinks and lavendars, but you have to have those eye-poppers in the garden. Mine has only bloomed singly so it's never had the "screaming" effect.
newyorkrita
12 years ago
Debra- I have lots of purple here too as I really do like those dark colors. Have found that it makes for more spraying for thrips though.

The Hibbards have really settled in. When I got these only afew fans (mostly ones and twos each and small). I was at her garden picking them up, she gave me what she had. All her fans were extra small. The garden really needed some compost. But I planted them in my compost enriched used to be veggie garden and they started growing like weeds.
organic_kitten
12 years ago
Beautiful pictures Debra. I'm sorry the rain ruined so many. Here we are getting a little light wind and thunder, but I haven't seen a drop of rain. We really need it again. Too much of anything is bad.

I love Purple Eyed Dragonfly and Wild Horses. Inca Prince is a beautiful Daylily. Mine has not had more than three blooms yet, so five is astounding. Anyone could fall in a hole over that.
Tuxedo looks very comfortable on the rain barrel. Love to see her pics, she is a pretty cat.
kay
mantis__oh
12 years ago
Sparticus Adorned--beautiful, yes; vigorous, yes; but it doesn't hold well in the heat and sun in my garden. What about Inca Prince in terms of holding? Fortunately, this year we've had so many overcast skies that lily substance is not much tested. Keep us posted on Purple-Eyed Dragonfly; it certainly looks impressive in its first flower.
crackingtheconcrete
12 years ago
Love the Purple-Eyed Dragonfly so much!And Tuxie's expression made me grin. So cute! :)
shive
Original Author
12 years ago
Nate - Yes, that is a seed pod on Wild Horses. It has set pods fairly easily for me over the years. I have several seedlings growing with it as a parent, but none have bloomed yet. This year I've been crossing it with applique eyed UFs. As for why only my female cats sit on the rain barrel, I only have one male cat, Zuzu. It just doesn't seem to be one of his favorite spots. He likes to be low to the ground or in a flower pot.

Rita - That's a good point about the purples drawing thrips.

Kay and Chris - The Inca Prince clump shot has been a long time coming, but that plant is truly spectacular in a clump. I can see why no one ever wants to part with a few fans.

Mantis - My Sparticus Adorned holds well in temperatures up to 93. But it does get a bit of shade in the early morning and some more in the late afternoon. Inca Prince has heavy substance and holds well. The photo I posted was taken at about 3:30 yesterday. In my garden, it starts out in the morning as a reddish orange. So it does fade a bit.

Debra
Julia WV (6b)
12 years ago
INCA PRINCE blooms like that here too. Just a wonderful, overall daylily. You definitely know when it is blooming.

These are all great shots.LONG JOHN SILVER is so pretty and soft looking. Hope the storms coming here this afternoon don't do too much damage.

Love the pic of Tuxie. So adorable.

Julia
anniegolden
12 years ago
Love TYROLEAN TREASURE and MAGNIFICENT RAINBOW. So beautiful. But I was especially intrigued by your rain barrell. I've been wanting to get one, we pay a lot for water here AND the sewer charges are based on your water usage, which of course is mostly for the gardens in the summer. (Can you hear the sound of my teeth gnashing?) Do you remember where you got it?

I think weather resistance (heat, sun and rain) would be a good topic for a separate thread, because I have a few that are only beautiful for a couple of hours in the morning. They aren't 'day'lilies, they are '2hour'lilies, and the landscape value is pitiful. So, I'm going to start a new thread.

As usual, thank you for all your beautiful pictures.

Christine
shive
Original Author
12 years ago
Julia - Be sure and post a photo of your Inca Prince when it blooms!

Christine - I got my rain barrell from Gardener's Supply Company based in Vermont. They have an online sales site as well as a print catalog. While they no longer carry the "English Style" rain barrell I have, they have a lot of other great models. One is very attractive and even has a planter for flowers on top. I'm thinking of getting another barrell myself. Mine only holds 50 gallons, and it overflows quite frequently. I need to get a second one, so I can chain them together.

Email me about Westbourne Good Old Days.

Debra
Edward_Kimball
12 years ago
Dark Territory looks much better than it did last year. I would offer you cash or trade if I didn't live in Canada.

Edward
shive
Original Author
12 years ago
Edward - Dark Territory has been looking very good this season - and especially this week since we've had cooler weather. I guess to send plants to Canada I would have to do the phyto certificate, and I don't know anything about that. Don't you have any friends who live right over the border, so I could mail it to them and you could drive to get it? LOL That's what a Canadian winner of my Lily Auction for Gossard's Megatron did.

Debra
mizellie
12 years ago
Love the new cultivar Debra. What a beauty. I haven;t seen that one and I sure like it. Other than that one ( it;s my pick) I like INCA PRINCE . Seems to be a showoff!!Ellie
anna_in_quebec
12 years ago
Inca Prince is awesome - one of my fav colors - hot orange! And Tuxie is a really sweetie on that rainbarrel. I have one too - a tuxie that is, not rain barrel ;)
shive
Original Author
12 years ago
Ellie - My photo of Purple Eyed Dragonfly looks a bit different than Lambertson's. You've seen it, but you just don't recognize it.

Anna - Tuxedo cats rule! They are so sweet.

Debra
Nancy
12 years ago
SPARTICUS ADORNED is my pick, with Inca Prince & Magnificent Rainbow running neck to neck. Tuxie is looking to get really clean, isn't she :) Beautiful kitty.
shive
Original Author
12 years ago
Ngraham - Well, Tuxie's way of grooming was just Part I. LOL
katlynn719
12 years ago
PURPLE EYED DRAGONFLY is my pick. I can see why you wanted it so much!
Kathy
jean_ar
12 years ago
WOW!!!!SPARTICUS ADORNED is gorgeous. BUT, my favorite os all isDARK TERRITORT.WOW, beautiful.

Jean
houstmag
12 years ago
Inca Prince is amazing I'm really starting to appreciate the hotter colors. Tuxie looks quite content with her rain barrel.
Linda
casey261
12 years ago
All 3 of those first ones look really good for having gone through a storm that tore up the rest of your blooms. WILD HORSES is already on my list, and I remember having seen and liked TYROLEAN TREASURE before. I think this is the first time I've seen PURPLE EYED DRAGONFLY, but it is lovely.

As for the rest of them, SPARTICUS ADORNED and MAGNIFICENT RAINBOW caught my eye, and your photo of the group of INCA PRINCE is really stunning.
Casey
Edward_Kimball
12 years ago
I could work out something for next spring but the summer heat is too much for playing around the world in 80 daylilies. I just got a very dried out package due to our postal lockout.
shive
Original Author
12 years ago
Linda - Inca Prince is really the star of my hot colors bed. I'm not partial to hot colors, but I've always loved Inca Prince.

Edward - I really need to move Dark Territory this fall, if I can find a buyer.

Debra
Edward_Kimball
12 years ago
I guess someone else will be happy.
Cindy zone 6a
12 years ago
Love the pic of Tuxie, looks like her wash up station!
I saw Purple Eyed Dragonfly when I was in Florida, and it was absolutely stunning. I love your pic of Inca Prince.
I just planted Sparticus Adorned last fall and it has tons of buds now, Yours looks great!! That's my pick from this batch.
cindy

A few flowers triumph over battering storms

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