Don't worry, I won't be tickling anyone's under there at any point in this post, but I have been going round and round the garden a lot lately playing match-maker with my Daylilies ... In fact, I think I'm down to the last few days of this love connection before one of my flower beds turns into a full blown maternity ward. For my fellow flower pervs out there, I've been spending my time cross pollinating the deepest bordeaux red petal, and chartreuse throated Pardon Me, with Nashville Star (I believe?) which fluctuates between a gorgeous oxblood red to sparkling rusty orange with a vibrant golden throat. The latter I acquired from my dad several years ago ... I was down for a visit on a weekend he was loading up to head South for the Winter (it must've been the same weekend I got the chicken wire and bird bath stand that I turned into a mannequin, boy that really was a while ago!). Anyway, he was offloading a bunch of stuff and on his final mosey as he passed the corner of his shop he picked up this sad little plastic pot that housed what looked to be Cousin It's little sister ... "Think you can do anything with this?"
Our eyes studied the fried, beige mound of leaves sticking every which way from its container. Frankly, I didn't know if anyone could do anything with it, but I was willing to give it a shot, and I have to say he had a lot more confidence in my abilities at the time than I did. He knew. The man raised me in a garden, something I totally took for granted throughout my entire childhood. I didn't know how lucky I was, and I had no idea that a lot of other children lived lives completely removed from the notion, and process of where food comes from, and that's before we even touch the topic of food deserts, and food apartheid.
Flash forward a few years, it took several seasons to get the plant happy enough to even want to bloom, I've divided it a handful of times, Its lived dormant, and forgotten in my shed for a couple of years, I've nearly killed it a few times, I've moved it more than anything else on the place, and finally I designated my top dahlia bed to all of my random strays ... I've got at least 4 types of iris happening, and two daylily varieties, and a smattering of other misfits from spilled seed packets, or when the birds and squirrels help me with my planting, and they (finally) couldn't be happier! My bed absolutely exploded with them this Summer, and it was nice to have a part of him with me in the garden again. I haven't a single clue what kind of Franken-flower I'm going to get out of this little challenge, but I think he'd be pleased with our little project.
Next, on my to-do list tonight? Star gazing...
