Well, what a difference a week makes. Not the best of weeks though. Here in northeast Ohio we are in a bit of a dought. We did get some rain this morning, but it hardly put a dent in the dry, cracked ground. Today is June 17th, and typically the only thing in bloom in our area would be Stella d'oro's, but I have
most of my earlies in bloom out front with a good mixture of new arrivals. I have to say due to the early warm up it seems the height of scapes, branching and bud count is way off. It seems some daylilies are not their usual selves and this season may not be a memorable one.
So, let's get on to some more positive stuff like my trip down to South Carolina. Boy did I enjoy my visits to Browns Ferry Gardens and Marietta Gardens.
Let's start with Browns Ferry Gardens. Heidi Douglas was so nice showing me around the garden. Charles Douglas was at work, so Heidi made sure I got to see everything in their program and other named daylilies. Browns Ferry was one of the first daylily sources I used to buy daylilies from. I have their catalogs dating back to 1998. (have I ever mentioned I have a huge daylily catalog collection?) Anyway, I have featured at the top of the page an over all picture of the garden and right below it I put a photograph of Ribbons of color, a Heidi Douglas introduction. I look forward to going back in the future and I have to say that Browns Ferry Gardens is one you shouldn't miss. One of my favorites.
Not too far from Browns Ferry is Marietta gardens in North Carolina, owned by John and Faye Shooter. Faye has always been very kind and always responds to every one of my emails. John Shooter will make you laugh, and is very proud of his advancements in diploids. He should be. I'm pretty sure he is the first to hybridize diploids with edges. Some of the green throats on his diploids were just amazing. I look forward to purchasing more Shooter intros in the coming years. I should also mention I have Marietta Garden catalogs dating back to 2001. The Shooters helped me build my daylily collection up over the years as well. The garden photo at the top part of the bottom of the page is of Jamie Gossard's Heavenly United We Stand. The middle bottom photo is of John Shooter's introduction, Sunrise Shadows which is a giant 8" flower. Very beautiful pink diploid and one you should put on your must have list. So that brings this installment to a close. I hope you enjoyed this trip through some special gardens.
