Daylilies of June

Would you be excited to know that two of my Irish great-grandparents were married in Worcester, Massachusetts in August of 1873? Not even if I used a photo of Rudbeckia 'Irish Eyes' as a come-on? That's what I thought.
Would you be eager to read about a great-grandmother from the other side of my family whose previously unknown sister Verona suddenly appeared in a record? Could comparing the endurance of immigrant farmers' wives in Michigan to the endurance of violas blooming in Austin heat turn genealogy into gardening?
I'll bet such tidbits of family history could interest other gardeners at some times of the year...

but not when it's June in Austin and the first tomatoes have turned red-orange! With threatened highs of 100°F this weekend, tomato season may end before it ever gets going...

Attention must be paid when 'Royal Wedding' sweet peas refuse to stop opening fragrant flowers in spite of weeks of heat, climbing high on the obelisk

I love how they've artistically twined and arranged themselves against a background of 'Little Gem' magnolias
The travails of the ancestors must wait while I bemoan the way insect-chomped leaves on 'Belinda's Dream' make the rose look more like 'Belinda's Nightmare'
And even though the leaves on 'Julia Child' have been julienned, this shrub rose keeps blooming
How can anyone resist the flower-laden, bustling growth of Mexican oregano/Poliomintha bustamanta - its lavender-tinted blooms positively glowing in sunOr resist the way heat can put the lips on 'Hot Lips' Salvia?
I can't keep from smiling at the sight of coneflower gentlemen on parade with zaftig daylily-ladies on their spindly arms
When it's daylily time in Austin the experienced gardener knows that Hemerocallis means beautiful for a day, and taking photos cannot be postponed. This week Lori's old-fashioned ditch lily/Hemerocallis fulva and the small yellow 'Happy Returns' were out of bloom. The ditch lily blooms just once a year, but the 'Happy Returns' should have another flush of flower scapes this summer, depending on the weather.

Some people (like onetime Austinite Jean) have moved into a house where daylilies already grew in the garden but mine got here because I brought them, bought them or a division was bestowed upon me by a friend.

Pam/Digging gave me a start of 'Best of Friends' a few years ago. I divided it last year and was surprised to see how different the petal color looks in each bed. I'm not sure if it's sun, soil, fertilizer or a combination of factors that is responsible, but the plant that blooms in afternoon sun looks like this:

while the plant that blooms in afternoon shade looks like this:

This small rebloomer was bought in Wisconsin long ago - I couldn't leave 'Pinocchio' behind in Illinois:

A hybrid bought last year called 'Devonshire' made it through last year's drought and has three bloom stalks this June Its large flowers have great substance but you'll have to ask someone like Rock Rose or MSS of Zanthan whether they really look like England's famous Devonshire Cream!
An old, old passalong daylily with scented flowers that open in late afternoon is Hemerocallis citrina - looking especially dramatic this year with sufficient moisture to pump up the burgundy-leaved cannas in the background. We had 1.1 inches of rain on Wednesday evening - very welcome!

'Prairie Blue Eyes' traveled with us from Illinois, too - the more fashionable daylilies seem to be the fancier cultivars but my heart belongs to the plainer, green-eyed flowers like this one.

And here is the the little rebloomer from Illinois that I cherish most - a descendant of 'Stella d'Oro' going by the name of Hemerocallis 'Vi's Apricot' - a memory of a wonderful friend.
Last year there were still daylily flowers for Garden Blogger Bloom Day on June 15th but this year? Maybe it's a good thing they had their photos taken today.

Bloom Day & Genealogy

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE??
Maybe you recognized that line as a riff on the recent family history series "Who Do You Think You Are?" It was fun to see Twitter-friend Megan Smolenyak on the show, helping celebrities find out answers to mysteries of their family's past. My time and brain cells have been devoted more to genealogy than to gardening lately - and until last night's blessed 2-inches of rain fell, the gardening mostly consisted of watering.
Somehow old records suddenly appeared, solving some puzzles while sprinkling new question marks all over the charts.

Some of the findings are fun: A previously unknown great-grand-aunt appeared out of thin air on the Zoelle branch! Researching this name has produced such variations as Zolle, Zolla, Zoller, Zello, Seller & Colley.

Some of the findings are disturbing: so many death certificates had forms of tuberculosis as the cause of death that I started reading about its effects on Chicago in the late 1800's-early 1900's. Now I'm feeling emotionally overwhelmed with sympathy for my poor immigrant ancestors, many of them born before TB was recognized as infectious rather than an inherited tendency. Logic and reason remind me this happened so long ago that they'd all be dead by now... even without consumption to carry them off...how is it possible to mourn for and with people you never knew?


Enough of Family Trees for now! It's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, begun by May Dreams Carol. Even in that relationship genealogy comes into play... I first found Carol in a web search- not through her garden blog, but at her Grandmother's Diary.



In other months my GBBD posts may feature plants that will only grow where winters are comparatively mild - Texas mountain laurel, Carolina jessamine, White ginger or bluebonnets.But sometimes a vignette like this one looks quite similar to some place 1200 miles away and a dozen years ago.


This little reblooming daylily, a recross of 'Stella d'Oro' called 'Vi's Apricot', used to flower in Illinois -
But it bloomed in July rather than May, and never at the feet of a 'Meyer's Improved' lemon tree!
Tomato blossoms are beautiful no matter where or when they bloom.

Calibrachoa and green beans are pretty universal, aren't they?

The so-called Ditch Lily (Hemerocallis fulva) really did grow in roadside drainage ditches in Illinois. It was so common that I didn't bother to bring a piece with me to Texas. It's been nearly 11 years since I saw one blooming but thanks to Good and Evil Lori this Wisconsin-born orange daylily opened flowers today.
And thanks to the inspiration of MSS of Zanthan Gardens, the daylilies opened with a cloud of 'Royal Wedding' sweet peas above them

In Illinois the yellow rose would have been 'Graham Thomas' instead of 'Julia Child', the pine was a dwarf Mugho Pine instead of an Italian Stone Pine and the pale purple bells of Mexican Oregano would never survive winter, but the vine in the background would be the same -a Clematis 'Ramona' eventually shows up in all my gardens, no matter where we live.

So does the light yellow daylily, Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns' - here with other old favorites blue larkspur, yarrow Achillea 'Moonshine', yellow snapdragons and Salvia farinacea. The main difference in this scene versus one in Illinois is that the rocks are free in Texas!

If I see a beloved plant from the past on the distressed/sale table there's a good chance I'll try to grow it here. This Oakleaf Hydrangea followed me home from Countryside Nursery last winter



But before anyone calls the Reality Police and tells them to stage an intervention, here is proof that I really do know where I am. This is Austin, Texas, where Salvia 'Black & Blue' grows like a weed

Where exotic fruits like Pineapple Guava are used as garden shrubs


And tender fruit trees like 'Wonderful' Pomegranate live through the winter and bloom

Where 'Celeste' figs grow uncovered and unprotected as landscape elements

Where a fragrant double yellow Oleander from Plant Delights
Combines with fragrant white Confederate jasmine

And a fragrant white 'Little Gem' magnolia to scent the air and make one feel like a superannuated Scarlet O'Hara

Austin is a place where odd lilies like Eucomis copy pineapples
A Justicia pretends to be a Shrimp

And Cuphea llaevea mimics a Bat's face

Where Pam's passalong Aloe can survive hail and cold in the shelter of a holly tree to bloom in the shade

Where wildflowers like Texas Paintbrush can be picked up at local nurseries to grow as container plants on the patio (last year's plants even seeded in the front lawn!)
And where the tender Rosa Mutabilis that I once sighed over in out-of-zone gardening books elbows out every other plant in the front border
Here's one more look at the 'Royal Wedding' Sweet peas, caught a few days ago as the sun came through their petals in early morning light. The seeds came from the Natural Gardener - a little gift when we bought our second rainbarrel last winter.


Happy Blooming Day! Celebrate by checking out the gardens linked to the GBBD post at May Dreams Gardens. Soon I'll get a list together of everything in bloom with botanical names at Annie's Addendum.

(The GBBD List is now up)

Thought Pops, Edition 6: Roofs, Roots, Retrospection and Lavender

THE NEW ROOF
The Hail-damaged roof is gone and the new one seems to suit our cottage very well! I had been dreading the process, fearful for the many, many plants both in the ground and in containers on all sides of the house. Then someone in our extended family recommended Mitchell Construction. In addition to the way the roof itself was done, I was pleased that the company treated my concerns seriously and the way all the hard-working people involved avoided damage to the garden. Attention to detail and care with picking up every bit of debris made it much more pleasant than a previous roofing experience. When the work was finished Alan Barber asked Philo to climb on the roof with him to survey the new shingles. From this angle you can see the stacks painted to blend with roof - a nice touch.


ROOTS
For the last week I've been on a genealogy bender, ever since my friend Ruth recommended that I give the Pilot Search feature at FamilySearch.org a look. I've used the site before, but hadn't tried that particular search engine. Just about every name on my lists was plugged in and many records appeared that I hadn't seen before. One part of the family tree used to stop with Kunigunda but not any more! It was amusing but not surprising that my great-great-great grandparents turned out to be 'Joseph' and 'Elizabeth'... those names appear over and over through the generations.

A WHOLE DECADE
Ten years ago today, I snapped the garden photo above, then my youngest son & I drove to O'Hare Airport in Chicago, flying to the old Mueller Airport during its last days of operation. We got off the plane, met Philo, and took our first look at our future hometown of Austin, Texas. Philo had been working here for a few months, commuting back and forth to Illinois so this was his chance to show us around the new territory. We drove through likely neighborhoods, walked around downtown and saw 6th Street, checked out the University area, drove along the scenic Capital of Texas highway over the Pennybacker Bridge, ate at The Old Pecan Street Cafe and became acquainted with Taco Cabana. We returned to Illinois, then a month later we flew into the brand-new Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and went househunting. These flowers opened today on a daylily called 'Vi's Apricot', a plant that was happy in our llinois garden. We brought it along with us, to bloom and grow in Texas. The original deal was we'd stay 3 years. We're all still here.

LAVENDER STICKS

This year a couple of Sweet Lavender plants lived over winter, then made enough long stems to make a sweet and simple Lavender Stick as described by Elizabeth Lawrence in Through The Garden Gate. You can find step-by-step instructions at my other blog, Annie's Addendum. A lot of stuff seems to end up over there lately! You might also enjoy old Illinois iris lists or the photo of a Cactus with daffodils.