Patty's Daylilies Close-up

I knew that this daylily, "Julia's Surprise" from Patty's Daylilies, had a lot of buds on it, but I didn't realize how many. It had 4 branches and a total of 19 buds. See all of the bud scars? Can't wait to see what it looks like in 2 years ......

Daylily Diversion

Here's a local farm that has nothing to do with food .... that is, unless you're into cooking with daylily flowers! Patty's Daylilies is just a few minutes off of US Rt 30 in Chester, WV at 1057 Pyramus Road. Now is a great time to go & check them out if you'd like to extend the daylily season in your garden. Selecting plants that are just now starting to bloom will give you flowers long after the familiar orange roadside daylilies (and most common garden varieties of daylilies) have finished their display.

I picked out Julia's Surprise, the very tall reddish flower with a orangish/yellow throat in the middle of the picture to the left. It will go in the same bed as Nona's Garnet Spider, a variety that I got at Patty's several years ago. Just take a look at all of the colors in the picture ..... something for everyone. This is just one of the many beds of daylilies that they dig & divide for you as you wait. I zipped through in about a half hour, but I recommend setting aside an hour or more to get a good look around & take notes. There was a yellow self variety that was just starting to push up scapes - now that's going to be a late season bloomer.

Another tip for buying daylilies is to go late in the day (or even after a rain) to see how the flowers hold up. Nothing worse than some of the newer varieties of daylilies that seem to melt in the rain. Yuck!