What a lovely view of your driveway. I'm not sure why a garage should make me think of something from a fairy tale, but it does. That clump of Giggle Creek is gorgeous. I like your individual pictures of GC, but in clump form it becomes so much more. Funny, my Gift from Heaven had a poly bloom this morning too.

That driveway is very old blacktop that sorely needs replacement. Its even got humps its uneven from buckling thru the years. I don't want to do blacktop which is the least costly and anything else is just not in the budget after last years complete redo of the front yard walkway and steps (done in too costly but stunning pavers). So It waits until I get to it. Besides who cares what the driveway looks like with all my pretty flowers to look at.

GIGGLE CREEK used to be in the terraces garden. It looked ok but nothing that would stop you in your tracks. But its a bloom (and rebloom) machine. So as I planned the garden by the little tree last year, which was the anchor for the daylilies there. I know I wanted GIGGLE CREEK for front and center. Then I repeated the color match with MONTANA MISS and NEWBERRY CHERRY EYE on either side of it. Now it blooms there (they are all blooming) and it does stop me in my tracks. So now it's the right daylily for the right spot. Amazing what the right placement can do.

Goggle Creek is really pretty, but the Gift From Heaven Poly steals the show for me in this post. Really nice!! Jan G.

Gift From Heaven was truly a sight to behold. That is a beauty. The clump of Guggle Creak is cool!

I know you will defeat the enemy. Just keep putting out the bait. I got chills just thinking about having to get close enough to bait them. ugh!

Vickie

Yes, that photo of Gift From Heaven is really pretty. Hope you get rid of your rats, very soon. Your Chili Spice also looks very nice. great group shot.
cindy

I get poly blooms on things sometimes here and there but don't remember any other polys this year except for one that is always poly, STAR POLY. But GIFT FROM HEAVEN looked the best of any poly blooms I have ever had.

I get rats in the garage once in the summer most years. That is because there are rats around here and always will be. They live year round amoung the rocks at the beach along the shore at the coastline accross the street. Its far enough away that only ones looking to venture out and find new homes end up here. But this is the worst it has ever been, must have been a whole batch of them looking for a new home. Usually alittle bait gets rid of the problem. Well, they are not going to establish a colony here! Its war until I get totally rid of them.

Your garden is just wonderful Rita. You've worked so hard. Now it is time to enjoy it.

Hope you resolve your 'critter' problem. Have you contacted an exterminator to see if they can help?

Julia

Gift from Heaven is gorgeous; but then your whole garden is so fantastic.

Yikes on the rats. If I had them here you would hear me screaming from my house in Massachusetts to yours.

Beautiful Rita, each one became my favorite as I scrolled down, Giggle Creek is impressive!!!!!!!!

Sharon

Love you driveway shot, the sky is so blue! Enjoyed all the daylilies, but especially the Giggle Creek clump. Yikes, rats are creepy. I think they are way creepier than snakes, even. Makes me shudder. I have a bad problem with bunnies in my yard, but at least they are adorable. The bunnies ate my lirope down to the ground, all the verbena buds and blooms, all the gazania flowers, leaves, stems and ROOTS(!) and an entire euonymous shrub which is now just a stick. Grrrrrr. My only retaliation so far is that I encourage my puppy to scare the living daylights out of them. When they ate the gazania, I thought I was losing my mind and only IMAGINED planting gazania, brecause it had just completely vanished.

Well, I'm sure you would trade your rat problem for a bunny problem any day of the week.

Christine

I was just about to say Rita, I would be sorely disappointed if you blacktopped that drive. Would rather see it stay the way it is :) Then I read closer & see that isn't the plan.
I'm glad I don't have rats. We do get mice some in the fall, right now I'm dealing with moles, voles, chipmunks, & a groundhog at the back. Our dog just caught a mole the size of a rat, I never had a clue they got that big.

Christine- Actually no I would not trade my rats for bunnies even if I could. Rabbits eat the plants and that is number one on the no-no list around here. The rats do tunnel some right by the garage but I just fill there tunnels in.

Julia- I have never had them this bad before. But I get them each year and each year I have not had problems geting rid of my myself. I just do it myself and keep up with the rat bait. I didn't see any new having been eaten on today, maybe I finially did them in.

No sence getting too upset by the rats as long as I am living here. I have seen them by the water at the rocks accross the street many times. Also in my neighbors yard.

Oh NO!!!Rats! nobody wants vermin to move in. What do you think? Did they make nests in the hay bales, and the newer ones came in? Have you seen any carcases? I hope you have gotten them.

All of the lilies are so pretty! I think Chile spice is my favorite, but I Love Jerry Hyatte, and the polypetals on Gift From Heaven are pretty as they can be. I love that clump shot of Guggle Creek. It is beautifully filled out. What an eye catcher it must be!
kay

I have not seen any dead or dying ones, which is unusual. I usually find some in these cases. They are not interested in the hay bales and those bales haven't been there that long anyway.

Love the clump of Giggle Creek and it sounds like it's a blooming machine.
Hope your rat problem is solved. I'm not a fan of any rodents. We had to call the exterminator this year for squirrels in the attic! The exterminator told us he'd have to euthanize any they caught. Fine with me--once they get into the house I have no sympathy for them.
Val

Last summer, My cats were bringing live rats into the house and letting them go. Not fun but we bought rat traps and baited with peanut butter and they worked really well. They are bigger than mouse traps otherwise the same. I made DH clean up the dead ones....

Your clumps are all gorgeous....

Sorry to hear about your rat trouble. I hope you have gotten rid of them now. The Silk Road lilies are SO pretty!

Debra

I didn't see any rat bait eaten when I looked this morning so I am hoping the second batch that moved in after tne first is history. We will see. I am leaving the leftover bait and I had bought more in case I need it.

If you look at those SILK ROAD lilies you can see how tall they are this second year. The shorter ones to the left are the ones planted this year. Last years were that height their first year also. They will all get taller, even the tall ones from this year should be taller next year.

WOW, I would do the same thing if it were me.Stop and just take in all the beauty of them flowers on each side of the driveway.I had not ever heard of SILK ROAD LILIES, but they certainly look very pretty.Hows the Fragrance, or do they have any scent..CHILLI SPICE sure looks huge,and its very pretty, too.So is JANETS MAGIC....i LIKE GIGGLE CREEK, TOO, But, My favorite of them all is JERRY HYATT.Now thats a beauty.
You know Rats and Mice after eating poison, Rat and MIce Bait, they go hunting for water.The Baits make them extreamly thirsty and they have to have water,, then they die.These pictures are beautiful, RITA,I always look forward to your pictures,They always so pretty.

Jean

Lilium Silk Road should be very fragrant. :) Love Oriental, Trumpet and Orienpet lilies. Wish I had better places to grow them. They do not fare well with tree root competition in my yard. I'm jealous of Rita's lilies and garden space.

I don't have that much space but what I do have is jam packed LOL! SILK ROAD is very fragrant. All of the trumpet lilies I have are scented, some very strongly. I planted lots and lots of them last year and some more even this year. So the garden now has not only the asiatic and oriental lilies I used to have but lots of trumpet lilies and trumpet hybred lilies too.

Well it is a gorgeous place and rats do not belong there. I hope you've seen the last of them.
kay

What beautiful shots of your garden, but I really expected to see some rat photos! I guess you'd have to be pretty quick with your camera. I wondered if your proximity to the ocean was the source of the rat problem.

I hope you have taken care of the problem in your garage. I'm glad that you didn't post pictures. lol I'm terrified of rats and snakes. I was moving a daylily yesterday and there were snake eggs underneath it. Yuck!! I didn't see the snake and it's a good thing. It would cause me to not go back outside for a long time. We are surrounded by woods and there are all kinds of critters around that I don't like.
My favorites are Jerry Hyatt and Gift From Heaven. Giggle Creek is putting on a pretty show also.
Michelle

Ha, the rats are too quick to get pictures. Not that I have tried to get rat pictures LOL!

Usually when I set out the bait when I have problems like this, I find some flopping around dying or sometimes a dead one. This year I haven't seen that. But it looks like the bait has not been touched for the past two days at least. So maybe they are gone again.

Things stay good for a long time usually (like months) and eventually they show up again. It is because I am so close to the ocean, they live down there at the rocks by the waters edge all year round.

Everything is beautiful, as usual. I wish I knew what to do about rats...I have them in the barn and sometimes they don't even bother to hide...LOL!! Good luck with the elimation...Ellie

Hi Rita, Your pictures are gorgeous!!!! We had an invasion of rats on our carport last winter and we had to clean out the whole carport and set traps out of the way of our dogs. We couldn't use poison except for the little hole they made in the sheetrock, dogs couldn't get to it. Anyway, I have to put all my birdseed and dogfood in plastic air tight containers now. Mine had babies which is what made it sooooo bad. No trouble since we got it all cleaned up but the smell was horrid when cleaning up. grrrrrr.......

At least my garage is detached. So any smell in there does not go over to the house LOL!!

Rita, the garden is looking fantastic! I really liked CHILI SPICE and the clump shot of GIGGLE CREEK is stunning!

Hope you win the rat war soon. Friends in my area are convinced that it is just a very bad vermin year... we always have mice, but this year we have been trapping at least four a night for over two months in the greenhouses. You would think that they would eventually come to an end.....

Julie

Unfortunately these past few days at near 100 actual temps and then over 100 for actual temps have really taken a toll on the daylilies. I have been watering too but its just not ennought in this heat. We need a good soaking rain and lower temps and the daylilies will perk up. But for now, they really look bad.

Ewww, rats - I'm sure you'll win the war, but YICK to have them in the first place.

I love the 'Silk Road' lilies. I really want to plant a bunch of oriental and asiatic lilies this fall. I had some gorgeous ember-red-orange asiatic ones called 'Avignon' at the old garden, but that variety is hard to come by now - I might have to try another similar one instead. I also had a lovely oriental called 'Bergamo,' that I think I can still find. And the "tiger" lily 'Sweet Surrender' is one of my favorites. The bulb catalogs are starting to roll in - I'll have my wish list made soon!

Laurel