Well, it's over for another year! We had our 11th annual Open Garden on July 21st. Everyone had a good time and we raised a nice chunk of change for the Rocky Mountain Alley Cat Alliance. One of our guests who was visiting the garden for the first time took lots of photos and created this little photo essay that I would like to share with you. It looks like I can't make the links live on garden web, so you'll have to copy and paste them into the address bar on your browser. I hope that won't keep you from looking at the photos. She really did a nice job.

Karen

----- Original Message -----

From: "toadeater"
To:
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 9:20 PM

Subject: [BG]: Schultz's Hemerocallis Society Display Garden/ Annual Open

Garden

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylily072107.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard1.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/pics16348.jpg

Maybe 49 (or thereabouts) links is going to be considered excessive. Well,

everything

is relative, or so I've heard. Having seen it myself at last, I would never

describe this

garden as being excessive in any way.

It seems so right. Just about right.

It's only about one-third of the total number of photos I took. I had to

draw the

line somewhere, and tried to be discriminating in my choices. Really.

This was our visit to Karen Schultz' hemerocallis display garden on

Saturday, July 21st.

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard19.jpg

The day was dang hot, but in the shady backyard oasis immediately behind the

house,

there were refreshments, fruit and cookies and little sammiches and water

and some

chairs for the fatigued to throw their bodies into.

There was a little jar for homeless cats for people to throw their dollars

into, which we did. :o)

Maybe a word about cats, to start. As they are inextricably linked to the

garden. After

all, Karen is The Cat Lady. (But a sane and healthy one, not like the one on

the Simpsons).

And it is the Cat Lady's Garden.

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard11.jpg

So- the cats are everywhere. Curled sleeping at the ends of beds, dancing,

giving salutations

and good wishes. And they are there in spirit, in all the little stone

memorials studding

the beds, all the names, the Georges and Louies and Sonatas and Dollys.. I

never tried

to count them all. And it's not grim, either, or morbid at all. And not

sloppily sentimental

or distracting, or I didn't think so. It feels like a garden filled with

tremendous LOVE.

No other word for it, just a simple thing. Just love.

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard6.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard7.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard5.jpg

There were also actual, living breathing cats in attendance, as well.

But, as I said- it was a *real* hot day.

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard37.jpg

It's really hard to get an idea of the scope of the entire garden on a peak

day in July

from only five foot two off the ground, and at high noon on a really sunny

day.

I should start hauling a ladder around in the back of the car.

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard3.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard27.jpg

The little canopy smack in the middle protected a sound system that provided

cheerful

Mexican and Reggae and all sorts of celebratory music for the people who

came to

wander the grass paths between the long beds.

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard29.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard40.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard13.jpg

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http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard22.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard23.jpg

And yet a homey garden, with well-placed shade trees. (Only round the

boundaries

of the property).

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard32.jpg

There are some other plants besides daylilies. There are, for instance,

trumpet lilies-

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard9.jpg

And blazing crocosmia in huge clumps, and hot magenta echinacea in odd newer

forms.

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/pics16417.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/pics16419.jpg

That yellow daylily is one of a handful that are almost as tall as I am,

they are

easily over four feet tall, very statuesque)

But mostly it's just daylilies. If "just" is a fair word..

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/pics16349.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/pics16390.jpg

The full scope of what is possible in breeding a daylily is displayed here.

From the eentsie-weensiest daylily I have *ever* seen (and almost the only

one I remember

the name of, it was called, I believe, 'Cowrie'..)

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard15.jpg

to the immense sprawl of the spider types (and I should have got someone's

hand in

there for scale, all I can say is mine would not be large enough to match

the span of

the blossoms, easily eight, nine, ten inches across)

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard31.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard25.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard10.jpg

and a spider to guard the spiders- (the one item I was wildly jealous over,

that and

the big blackish Gorey cat doing a weird dance near the front of the

garden.. where EVER

was such a thing found?)

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard12.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard8.jpg

I had a tremendously good time. I wore out an entire set of camera batteries

and had to

use backups. I forgot to drink any water, and sweat trickled down the small

of my back as I wandered in the sun, zigagging back and forth between

enticing scapes

and clumps, just enamored of the flowerflesh and light.

Daylilies 'n' cats, cats 'n' daylilies, that's pretty much what it's all

about.

cat

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard4.jpg

daylilies

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard16.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard20.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard24.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard26.jpg

cat

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard21.jpg

daylilies

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard28.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard30.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard33.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard34.jpg

cat

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard17.jpg

daylilies

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard35.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard36.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard38.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard39.jpg

http://www.bouldergarden.net/Images/Bob/daylilygard41.jpg

I checked several of these links at random, and I think they all work okay,

but it's taken

a long time to resize and arrange all these, so I didn't exhausively do

that. They all seemed

to upload okay, so we'll just see. Congratulations to anyone who's worked

their way through

the whole list of 'em.

I know Karen and Glenn and a host of their friends worked their fuzzy tails

off to provide

visitors with a wonderful experience, and I thank them all.

(Karen gives *wonderful* hugs, I thank her for that, too). :o)

~Cindy

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