Rainy Days and Mondays

Well, rainy days and Mondays do not get me down. I like rainy days, especially seeing how we really need this rain right now, and Mondays are a start to a brand new exciting week of new blooms. Sunday was sunny, living up to its name, and a few daylilies were showing their faces.

Out for early morning pictures of the daylilies that have opened. This daylily is Mendocino, an older daylily that blooms early and has a high bud count, so it’s a keeper. This daylily bed, if I can call it that, is in a field across the street from my house. I was able to cut out a section next to the farmer’s field for my overflow daylilies. I really needed that space. I have 110 different daylilies in this area along with a few other perennials. Oh, I also grow a few vegetables in this space. Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are growing here. I have the tomatoes and cucumbers in raised beds. There are also strawberries growing that are so good to have. Over time the daylilies have filled in this area, and I often will dig from this area for anyone that wants a few daylilies. It is a chore to weed it and I try to keep it mulched in with shredded leaves. I used straw one year and it just didn’t work as well as the leaves.

The early morning dew created an interesting effect with cooperation from a spider.

Back to the daylilies. I especially love this one, Radio Rider, a Lambertson daylily that is just beautiful. I visited the Lambertson’s garden in Florida in 2011. Check it out, it is in the Archives , January, 2011, Summer Daylily Tour, the sequel. They have such wonderful daylilies that they had created. It seemed that everything that I love about daylilies would be in one of their creations. I’m not sure if they are still open. Their website has not been updated in some time. I should also note here that if you want to see the Daylily National Convention from 2012 , you can find it in the archives, July 2012, titled Deluge of Daylilies.

Flower beds surround my house. I also have started to enjoy Hostas and they do well in those shaded areas where the daylilies may not bloom well. I also have potted daylilies on a cement patio. I am using every available space. There are just too many daylilies.

Every day a new daylily shows its face. This is Sinister Minister ( what a name!) My minister’s wife visited my garden one summer, and she thought the name was very comical.

Meet Joe Black and Eyes on the Prize. I am noticing a trend here. I do have colors and other traits that catch my eye. These three daylilies are so similar. I do love the dark eye and I love the lavender/purple color. Sometimes the purple trends more to the red side.

A new gateway to the garden. This arch took some doing to put together, but it kept me busy on one of those rainy days. The clematis that I already had there easily took to the arch giving me the effect that I was going for. The arch lights up at night with the solar string lights.

This daylily is Dancing Chevrons. I have it out in the field. It was in my garden at one point, but didn’t do well, so out to the field where it gets a full day of sun. I may have to bring it back to my house.

There are other flowers blooming. The Asiatic lilies are going strong. See, I do have other flowers.

The blackberries are coming on heavy. I planted these three years ago, and it looks like a bumper crop this year. I also find the flowers to be very pretty.

I planted these on the obelisk that the clematis were growing on before I put up the arch. The blackberries seem to like it. These are a thornless variety.

A few more daylilies to look at on this rainy Monday, This is Francois Verhaert.

Above is another form of daylily. This is a double daylily, Truffle Nirvana. So much to love about daylilies.

One more, Black Fathom Depths, it is so adorable. This is a smaller bloom that makes a big impact and is a reliable early bloomer.

Happy Rainy Monday gardening.