Hornbaker Gardens, Princeton, IL

Have you ever been to Hornbaker Gardens? If not, you definitely should go. Yesterday I received their newsletter and I'm chomping at the bit to make the trip.

Hornbaker has a beautifully landscaped ravine that has new steps meandering down through hundreds of mature shade-loving plants like hosta, astilbe, bleeding heart, and more. There is a gazebo set on the side of the ravine about halfway down. It's wonderful to just sit in there and rest my feet after walking thought acres of gardens.

I'd like to go during peak bloom of all of the plants. Acres of iris will be in bloom during the last two weeks of May (weather cooperating, of course.) I haven't been there for the iris bloom, but I have been during the daylily peak time, which is around the first of July. There are hundreds of daylilies to choose from, and seeing them in bloom, rather than reading the description, puts me in hog heaven.

Hornbaker Gardens is also known for their vast assortment of hosta. If I remember correctly, there are 600 varieties offered. Since my property is shade for the most part, I really get carried away by their fabulous hosta. The 'SALE' table is depleted quite a bit by the time I'm done.

If you want to see some beautiful pictures, or would like to find out more about this incredible garden center, go to www.hornbakergardens.com or visit them in Princeton. You won't be sorry.

shel

Bambi Strikes Again!

I went out to the west side of our property today and was greeted by my five year old bald cypress. Instead of looking healthy and happy (and bald) as I expected, it was a mess! Apparently one of the many deer in the area decided to use my prized tree as a rubbing post. The bark was peeled from the tree all of the way around in a three foot strip. Doggone deer!

The tree will have to be removed, as the bark and vascular system were destroyed beyond repair. My only consolation is that I will be able to replace it with another tree. Hmmmm ...there are so many wonderful varieties to choose from!

On a side note, I received a catalog from Crintonic Gardens today. They specialize in hybridizing daylilies. There are many beautiful new daylilies offered, most in the $150.00 range. (Yes, you read that right...$150.00 for a daylily!) The plants are extraordinary. I won't be able to order any of the new introductions, but the older varieties are much more affordable. Oh, how I love daylilies and intensely dislike deer!

shel

daylily pictures

I am having luck with downloading tonight, so I'll put in a few pics of the daylilies that are blooming.

This first daylily is an unnamed variety that is up by my mailbox. It has lots of buds and the flowers are huge. They are a soft peachy orange with yellow toward the eye.

Let's try to insert another picture...oops, that's a picture of Gabriel!

LOL, that's ANOTHER pic of Gabe! I can't see which pictures I'm getting when I download. I look at the number, and remember which ones I needed.

I'm going to publish this and try another one. Really, my daylily shots are beautiful!

shel

Daylily List and Descriptions

I think that it was 18 years ago or so that my sister Shannon purchased a group of mail-order daylilies and planted them in front of her cottage-like house with the white picket fence. At the time I (foolishly) wasn't impressed with them, simply because I didn't have enough experience with the flowers.

Now I can't get enough daylilies.

A friend of a friend crossed daylilies and sold the undesirable (to her, anyway) offspring for a mere $5 a clump. Hornbaker Gardens in Princeton, IL had a $10 a clump sale a few weeks later. After visiting both of these places, I was officially hooked on daylilies.

Somehow the tags on my named lilies in the back yard are AWOL. I suspect that the two huskies, in one of their many Wild Dog moments, have kicked them up. Either the lawn mower has eaten them or the mysterious canna stealing critter walked off with them. Hard telling.

Here's a list of some of the daylilies that jump out at me:

I have a sunny yellow, rather tall lily with an extraordinary amount of buds that I thought was 'Karen Sue' but is not (according to the google image search that I just did.) This is one of the daylilies with the tags missing The show this daylily puts on lasts for at least two weeks. I have tried my hand at making my own daylily crosses (which is discouraged by the professionals...sorry, I can't help myself) and have found that this daylily is a good parent. I'll see if I can find the original sale tag to find out her true name.

'Fuzz Bunny' is a medium-sized double yellow daylily. There are only two to four buds per stem, but the unique bloom makes this variety a must-have. I haven't had any luck with crosses.

I believe the daylily on the other side of the deck is 'Little Grapette'. I LOVE the dusky purple-brown bloom with the darker eye. It is a small flower, and cute as can be. When I crossed (both ways) with what I thought was 'Karen Sue' I got muddy, disappointing blooms. I think 'Little Grapette' should be left as it is...just perfect.

'Ice Carnival' is a REAL work-horse. It is a tall, proud daylily that produces bloom after bloom after bloom. The flowers are large, pale yellow (almost white) beauties that are easily crossed. I have divided and shared this daylily many times, and it still gives me a full bushy plant each season. If you have a large area to fill in and want a mass of solid color, try 'Ice Carnival'.

'Winnie-The-Pooh' was purchased in honor of my niece Erin. She loved the fuzzy little bear. Too bad the lily isn't nearly as cute. It is a medium-sized plant with a orange-tan color. Personally, I don't think it's the same color as the Pooh bear, but maybe I'm just color blind. This plant hasn't multiplied much, and I've never tried to cross it.

'Strawberry Candy' packs a punch. The smaller plant has a medium-size flower that is a bright strawberry ice cream pink with a darker center. It has three to four buds per stem, so the show doesn't last long. It is a desirable plant simply because it's so darn cute.

'Exotic Love' is a WOW for sure. I have a great close-up picture of it that I will post if I can. (Darn it, the computer won't let me attach the pic. It says 'error' across the top in a big red band. Perhaps you can do a Google image search for it. I'll try to do another post with that picture, and pics of other daylilies as well.)

'South Seas' is a very tropical looking lily. It produces only a few buds and I haven't tried to cross it, but I do enjoy the flower when it is in bloom.

I have an unnamed cross from Hornbaker's that I like to unofficially call my 'Shelly Lily'. It is a bright pink with a bright yellow throat. I have shared this lily with many, many friends.

I haven't had the chance to write down the daylilies from the front or east yard. I will do so, and blog about them, at a later date.

Daylilies start blooming around the last week of June and put on a show for about a month in my yard. They are easily maintained, grow well in my clay soil, and demand little attention once established. If you haven't given daylilies a chance in your gardens, you should really do so.

shel

p.s. I still can't add an image. Curses!!! I did a Google image search and got pictures of all of the above-mentioned daylilies except 'Winnie-the-Pooh'. Notice how the 'Ice Carnival' blooms looks different in each picutre...sometimes a camera just isn't able to capture the true color. 'Little Grapette' is the same way.

If you get the chance, go to Hornbaker's in rural Princeton in the next week. The fields of daylilies will be in full bloom...it's a glorious sight! Get information by visiting www.hornbakergardens.com

A Stroll....2

Since I'm having trouble downloading pictures (I'm on dial-up) I thought I'd do just a picture at a time.

Remember when I said the garden was glowing? Here’s proof. The photos aren’t doctored up because I have absolutely no clue on how to do anything like that. I just happened to catch the sun hitting the brilliant yellow daylilies at the right time. Cool, huh?

A Stroll Through the Gardens

A Stroll Through the Gardens
Today was one of the most beautiful days of the 21st century. The sun was brightly shining in the robin’s egg blue sky, causing the flowers to absolutely glow in the gardens. I’d like to think it was their “welcome back, we missed you!” glow, but I probably had nothing to do with it. (Thank you, God, for this beautiful day.)
After spending an extremely enjoyable day with Erin and Jaden (Alana stopped by for about an hour as well) I came home and grabbed my camera, a Kodak EasyShare CX7330, 3.1 mega pixel memory maker for my feeble mind. I wandered around the yard, photographing everything that called out for my attention. I was able to capture 49 images before my batteries gave out. Luckily Max has a Kodak EasyShare C530 that offers 5.0 mega pixels, so I was able to take another 51 pictures before I had to rest (still recuperating from surgery.)
I’m going to attempt to attach some of my favorite snapshots to this blog. Unfortunately, my computer skills are rather limited (we can’t all be good at everything, right????) so please bear with me.
Since my mind is a rusty trap, I find it beneficial to list all plant names on metal tags. In order to avoid the tragedy of weather-related paint disappearance, the exact information is placed on the back as well as the front. If there’s room, I add the date planted and some of the characteristics of the plant. Latin names are very important to know, so I try to include them, as well.
Not all plants are labeled as a lot of the daylilies that I have are experiments. My deceased friend, Sandy Ellis was a true genius at hybridizing daylilies, and she taught me how to do so. It’s kind of like eating M&M’s…..once you start you just can’t stop.

Here’s one of the front gardens (the Weeping Cherry Garden.) See the hypertufa containers? I love to make them in my spare time. The small reddish daylily is ‘Burgundy Babe’. Man, does this daylily produce! There were many, many blooms prior to today, and the various bud sizes indicate that I will have many, many blooms to come. I’ll cross this daylily with a larger, darker one that doesn’t perform as well, hoping to get a large dark lily that will knock my socks off.