Debra, are you close to me? I'm in Brentwood/Nashville. Those storms were something!

Your photos are gorgeous, as always :)

We've had thunderstorms here too. Finally cleared out this afternoon. Glad to have the rain.
Great photos.

Julia

Debra,
We got that same storm and our power went out forEVER. Glad to be back. Love your mistake flower, you got COSMIC ODYSSEY, I got TRUE NORTH! :O) Lucky us. I just got my hands on Precious Candy at our local club sale ($25.00)!!!!!!!! Heheheheheheehhe. I almost fell over faint when I saw it on the table.

How big is that REDEFINED DESIGN? It sure is up my alley - I've realized I kinda am drawn to the tweeners.

Woo hoo....pretty!! My fav is the first one CO, but I like them all. Thanks for the show.
Jan

Look at the blue in Cosmic Odyssey! Beautiful pictures, as always.

Connie - I live in Nashville near Opryland.

Julia - The rain is great, and it should promote lots of rebloom this time. The spring rains have caused double scaping on a few of my daylilies. So it's a good thing. I just wish it would stop raining long enough for me to finish planting and weeding.

Michelle - You really got a deal on Precious Candy!

Jan and GG - There is a true blue in Cosmic Odyssey, and it's a 5-inch flower with an edge. I spread its pollen all over the place. Sure hope I get some seed from it.

Debra

I'd be happy with any of them, but I really love the blue eye and edge on CO. Is that really a blue edge I'm seeing? Lovely.
Val

Val - Yes, CO has a triple edge of fuschia, blue and cream.

Debra

I think every one of them are just beautiful, but,I like the first one and fifth one the best.You really have some beauties.

Jean

Karelia reminds me of my blue eyed butterfly. One of them is reblooming now. :)

COSMIC ODYSSEY is one I could keep staring at. What a beauty! And that's a terrific photo of MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD, although it looks nothing like the hybridizer's photo. I like yours better.

Chris - I keep waiting for Magnificent Hummingbird to grow up, but it never does. After three years, the blooms are only half the size they should be, and the scapes are short. I thought will all the rain we've had this winter and spring, it would perform to specs this time. But no luck. I will be moving it to a new place this year to see if it will improve. At least it has a lot more buds than last year. When I saw MH in the Rice's greenhouse last year, it was truly maagnificent. Here it's barely noticed.

Debra

I love the title of this post. The rains just don't seem to let up for long this year. That's okay though. I'm tire of the dry years.

Lot's of pretty blues to choose from. If I have to pick, I would say Karelia is my favorite.

What a glorious morning it must have been! They are ALL beautiful!

Your pictures are always outstanding, thank you so much for posting them. Your blue eyes are really showing off. We got torrential rains also, we needed it though.

Dot

Wow....just love all those pretty blue eyes. The pic of CO is wonderful. I bought that one last year, but it didn't bloom. It has some scapes up right now and I'm hoping mine looks as nice when it finally blooms.

Linda

I love those BLUE EYES--Just super--colette

Beautiful pics, as always, Debra! LAUGHING SKIES is so perfect, it looks artificial...love it.
Kathy

Michelle - Redefined Design is a 6-inch flower on 34-inch scapes. It shows crispate characteristics here about 50 percent of the time. I had multiple blooms of it this morning.

REDEFINED DESIGN trio

Another one with a bluesy eye that was open this morning was ALL ABOUT YOU.

Debra

Debra -

We used to live near Opryland! Well, fairly close...we were in Donelson, between the airport and the Dam. :) We moved about a year and a half ago. We were in our house for 15 years. My aunt bought our house, so we are still around there a lot. Another uncle and aunt of mine live in the Pennington Bend area.

Debra, great thread with all the blue eyes. My small group of daylilies is sadly lacking blue eyes. You give me some great ideas on what I need to add, especially Cosmic Odyssey. Are some of these small blooms?

Ann

Ann - None of these are miniatures. The smallest one is Jitterbug Blues at 4.75 inches. Cosmic Odyssey, Karelia and Precious Candy are all 5 inches.

Debra

You do have many, many great looking blue eyed daylilies. After the droughts you guys have been having there for many years, I bet your enjoying all the rain.

Rita - The rain is welcome, but we need a few dry days every now and then to catch up on garden chores. The weeds/grass have really taken over in some of my beds. I haven't been able to spray them, because rain is in the forecast every day. It doesn't always rain, like yesterday, but you never know if you're going to get the afternoon thunderstorms or not when scattered storms are predicted.

I've been pulling weeds by hand whenever I get the chance. I thought I had one area comepletely weed free Friday night. But yesterday morning when I got ready to spread the mulch, all kinds of weeds had sprouted overnight. I guess I need to weed a little and mulch a little at a time.

Debra

I love Freedom's Triumph and Jitterbug Blues. I think I'd have to see Cosmic Odyssey, Karelia, and Precious Candy in person to add them to my wishlist for sure, though. I hope to see a lot of blue eyes and patterned eyes at our daylily club sale in July.

Sharons2 - You need to know that many blue-eyed daylilies don't look blue in the Great White North. The eyes appear purple, rather than blue lavender. I know this is true with PRECIOUS CANDY. When night temps are in the low 60s, it opens with a dark purple eye and edge. When nights are in the 70s or 80s, it looks very blue purple. The photo I posted is in between the two extremes. Karelia does not seem as temperature dependent. I don't know about Cosmic Odyssey since it opened after a low of 69 degrees.

Debra

These are all beautiful! Wish I could have one of each growing here. Thanks for sharing.
Michelle

Hmmmm. That's good to know. I'll have to keep that in mind - especially since most of the daylilies that I get to see in person also grow in an area a couple of zones warmer than mine.

Thanks,
Sharon

It's coming soon Sharon! The bluest cultivar to date that I am aware of is Piece of Sky which was hybridized in Ohio by the late Steve Moldovan. I'm sure you will be seeing blue in the next couple of years.

Piece of Sky is temperature dependent too. Only in certain temps does it look that marvelous true blue. The description on the Moldovan Gardens website used to say that - not sure if it still does.

Debra

Debra,
I love your photos. A lot of the ones you post wind up being gotta haves. The CO is a really fine one. I have Crimson Edges on my want list, but that CO is a beauty.
kay

Beautiful pictures Debra. I love CO. That one is getting added to my list for sure.

Dianne

I read the description of Piece of Sky, but maybe I misintrepted a statement. It does say that it is temp dependent but it's offspring is consistent. Consistent I was assuming to be true blue. Maybe consistent with it's parent? It will be interesting to see what comes of it. It is still promising they are seeing blue in cooler climates, at least seems more attainable than coming from FL.

Lala - I went back and read the website description on Piece of Sky. I would interpret the sentence about the offspring to mean the babies' blue eyes are consistent and do not vary with the weather. However, out of 27 blue-eyed cultivars that I have, the eyes all vary to some degree with the weather. Some much more than others.

I remember being really excited about PIECE OF SKY when I saw that photo with the true, blue eye. (It doesn't look real, and I wonder how true it is to real flower. A lot of these flowers photograph bluer than they appear to the naked eye.) When I saw the second photo on the website, I could not even consider popping $300 for one that would look like that photo most of the time. But then I've never seen the babies. They might make me want to take out a second mortgage to buy it. LOL

I hear ya! Guaranteed blue is right up my alley, & most likely would go for the 2nd mortgage! I would never spend that kind of money on a dl w/o seeing it in person. That could easily turn into a 1k dl w/ air fare & hotel expense as well as picking up a few others while you're there, LOL.

Cosmic Odyssey IS FANTABULOUS! I MUST have it! And so is Magnificent Hummingbird! WOW!

Sirmatthew - Cosmic Odyssey is an excellent choice. Here's another look at MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD and a couple of other blue eyed ones.

MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD

JENNY BUTTERFIELD

VIOLET TRANQUILITY
{{gwi:659613}}

Debra

Interesting comment about MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD. I also saw it at the Rice's and got a great pic of it in their greenhouse last summer. It has been here for three years and this year it hasn't had a bloom good enough for me to even bother to photograph. It blooms too low, too, just above the foliage. Don't care for that "tunneling" that seems to be a part of that plant's genetics. I've heard Luddy say that Mort Morss was his mentor and he started with a lot of Mort's plants. Think of PAPER BUTTERFLY and some others out of that. They all carry that "tunneling" trait. Interesting that our observations seem about the same with it. It must be a "Southern Belle."

For some reason, COSMIC ODYSSEY has about 6 fans, seems healthy but didn't bother to even bloom this year. Ugh! But your pictures are great, and the colors match exactly what I see here.

Thanks for sharing!

Julie - I kind of like the tunneling trait. I think Luddy started heavily using Mort's Isle of Dreams and Gerda Brooker. I saw the plant MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD without blooms in Nancy Ligon's garden this summer. Her scapes were even shorter than mine. She's fairly disgusted with MH. Maybe it's best grown in a greenhouse. I sold half the clump last fall, and vowed if it didn't improve, it would be gone. Luckily, I did get some very pretty blooms from it this season, and it set a lot of pods. So it's safe for the time being. I wouldn't recommend it for someone who just wants a nice garden plant.

I sure hope COSMIC ODYSSEY will bloom next year. When I got it, the scapes were cut off. So the blooms I got were rebloom. That kind of not blooming behavior sounds like Lambertson's BLUE EYES GLANCE. I've had that one for five years now, and it has only bloomed twice. It didn't put up any scapes this year, even though it has 8 fans, most of them large. But, it may not be getting enough sun. I will be dividing and replanting it next week. MORT MORSS is another one that just blooms every other year. What primadonnas!

Debra

Speaking of primadonnas, I have had CATNAP BLUES now for three years, ZERO blooms. :o( I thought it was placement in the garden, so last fall I moved it, along with a few other poorly placed daylilies to the best spot in the garden beds. All the others responded well, blooming and increasing in size. But still zilch from CB. Next year is its last chance - I figure two years in one spot should be long enough for it to grow and aclimate. Little Devil.

Another one that refuses to bloom for me is CLOUDS OF KISSES. I put it in March 08, but no blooms last year, no blooms this year. I think I may try to move it in fall, and give it another spring. Grrr... I WANT to see this bloom!

CRINTONIC SHADOWLANDS went in last March also, and didn't bloom last year or this year, but it was one in the batch of smallest daylilies I have ever gotten. I am pleasantly suprised that finally, one of that same group, SINGS THE BLUES has a scape. I'd say that is one late scape! But I am happy to see it. SILOAM TINY TIM was the third of the teenie weenie club, but it is a little mini anyway, but I got one scape and about 4 flowers from him this year.

FORSYTH FROSTBOUND has just really struggled here. I got a few blooms last year, but then it almost died. I replanted it in a prime spot and it came around this spring with a very healthy looking fan, but no flowers.

LIZZIE'S LEGACY gave me nothing this year.

MOKAN BUTTERFLY was MIA this season, and almost croaked again, for the third time. Now it is in a pot.

SEA OF CORTEZ gave me nothing this year.

Looks like I am going to have to blast "Your the One That I Want" from the patio stereo, and they better shape up!

Michelle - I've had trouble with Clouds of Kisses too. It bloomed fine the first two years, but the past two years - nada. Everything planted around it is blooming fine.

I've never had any problems with Mokan Butterfly and Forsyth Frostbound. Sorry to hear they are not scaping for you. Do you think they are too dormant for where you live?

Debra

I think Mokan Butterfly needs a new space with lots of sun. I have it in a pot, and hopefully it will recover. I think I still have the same two fans I originally was sent. :o(

Forsyth Frostbound was in my "bad soil" bed. I moved it last fall, and it has rebounded into a nice solid single fan. I think it took all this spring to fully recover, and I expect it to bloom next year.

We do get enough cold weather for my grass to go dormant, and all the D daylilies go fully dormant too. Usually a few weeks solid of freezing weather, sometimes with some snow. I have noticed that most of my dormants are not my *best* perfomers, but I wonder if that is because they are older. Some of the newer ones are doing well:

CHOCOLATE CHERRY DREAMS
BETTY BEARD (UNREGISTERED KENNEDY)
GREYWOODS (all of them)
HENRY BOYKIN
ITZA PINK TEDDY
SOFT SUMMER NIGHT
STELLA DE ORO
MIAMI HEAT
CRANBERRY BABY (OLDER)

But then I look at the ones that have died and a lot of them are dormant - but they died in the summer, not the winter. ??

CANTIQUE
CHANGING LATITUDES (got more, and it is doing ok)
MAGIC AMETHYST (managed to save one fan)
MUSICAL MEDLEY
RAINING VIOLETS (I think it just bit the dust)
TEXAS FEATHERED FANCY (managed to save one fan)

Did they really die, or just go summer dormant? A lot of my dormants and semievergreens go dormant in heat and drought. But they come back the following spring.

Debra