I have become a bit obsessed with daylilies.  You see, the front of my house bakes in the summer and I have had a miserable time finding any flowers that will grow, let alone thrive in those beds.  Lissie told me daylilies could survive anything and were insanely easy to grow so I took a chance. 

Well, I'm utterly smitten and am constantly trying to create new beds so I can have even more lilies.  Poor Brien. :oP

What follows are the daylilies that have bloomed or are currently blooming in my yard. 

I have no clue what that sweet little daylily up there is.  What I can tell you is it's a rebloomer that first blooms early. 
This one is Bitsy.  Bitsy has tall scapes (about 24") but teeny little blooms.  It is a prolific rebloomer and I typically have Bitsies blooming from March to October.

This was a new addition last fall.  This beauty is a Siloam Nugget.  She is a delicious golden color that did not photograph well at all.  She's short and squat but oh so lovely.

And, every once in a while, she'll throw a double. :o)

This is lovely lady is Little Strawberry Shortcake.  The scapes are short, but the blooms are nice sized.  It's a great daylily for edging or in the front of beds.  I just love it.

This is a Red Volunteer.  We have a TON of red daylilies since Lil helped select them and she's a bit of a fiend for red. ;o)

Oh how I love love LOVE this one.  This is Strawberry Candy.  I love the color, I love the ruffles, I love the blooms, I love the height, I love everything about it. :o)

This is Frankly Scarlet.  She's RED RED RED.

This is Pardon Me.  She's up front and is a nice rebloomer.  The blooms are a bit on the smallish side, but it is a lovely daylily.

This is my Miss Amelia.  She's out front as well, and has just started blooming.  She has tall scapes and can be a light yellow to almost white.  Mine is more yellow.  She is also a rebloomer (in fact, I purchased the "Rebloom Collection" from Oake's and planted them out front.  More bang for the buck, you know. ;oP).

This is Chorus Line. She's a rebloomer as well, and a lovely pink.  Most of the pinks I have (I purchased the "Pretty in Pink" collection) are rather coral-y, but this one is PINK.

This is such a pretty little daylily.  She's Lullaby Baby and she has the loveliest sparklies (diamond dust or some such I believe) and ruffles.

Rootin' Tootin' Red.  How could I pass up a flower with such a name?  Lily, of course, loves it.

This is Scarlet Romance.  Another lovely red.  I've had to be careful deadheading the reds as the spent blooms will stain anything they touch.  Lil has used them to "paint" the fence.

Strawberry Candy again.  I did mention I loved it, right?  Look at the color on that ruffle!

This is Mae Graham and is the first year she's bloomed for me.  She is a coralish pink and so pretty.  It turns out I'm a sucker for a ruffled edge. Who knew?

And here's Corryton Pink.  This is the first year she's bloomed as well.  In fact, I'm anxiously awaiting all my pinks to see how they do.  She's a more peachy pink.

Oh goodness, I can't remember this one.  Drat! Something red, though. ;o) 

Oh my stars am I in looooooove with this lovely lady.  This is Autumn Wood and she is a stunner.  Her scapes are short, but this is a big bloom.

And, look at the multi-color on those petals.  This is my first year with this beauty and I'm so happy I splurged.  I had a couple Groupon deals and free shipping otherwise it NEVER would have happened.  I'm el cheapo when it comes to ordering daylilies. ;o)

This was my freebie from the Oake's Daylily Festival last year.  She too is rather peachy/coralish but wow, what an eyezone!

She was put in Lil's garden of Frankly Scarlets and seems to be holding her own. ;o)


Lily's garden.  Those Frankly Scarlets are so very red.  They look almost velvety and are so stunning. 

I'm still awaiting a number of pinks and will post after they bloom. 

Lissie, the girls and I are all heading to the Daylily Festival again this year.  I'm dying to place an order before we go so I can pick them up there--they give you the BIGGEST plants!--but I have no clue where I'd put them.  It's official, I'm obsessed. :o)

--Rach

I finally decided on what fabric to use for drapes in our family room.   A circular arrived promoting a Calico Corners sale and on it were drapes made in a fabric that I immediately loved.   The colors will work perfectly in our home and I love the bright, bold print!

Three new favorites, all planted this year:

Feast or famine, that is the deal with this blog.  I get so busy I forget to post (for months!) and then in guilt I throw up several things right in a row.

Things are growing!

I am so incredibly happy with these window boxes that I can hardly stand it.  There is chartreuse sweet potato vine, euphorbia, coral verbena, some kind of coleus, purple rimmed with lime green petunias and ivy in these boxes.  I am already thinking ahead to fall and winter box combos to keep things lively and pretty up front!

This pic of the Westerland roses was taken about a month ago.  That first spring flush was gorgeous and I am really happy with how healthy and beautiful they look being that this is only their second spring.  The clematis in there also was gorgeous and vigorous.

What's gardening without mistakes?  I make them all the time and usually learn from them.  Most are genuine mistakes as I am a trial and error gardener who has no formal horticulture or landscaping training and I seem to learn the best by having something go awry.  Years ago when Bob and I bought our first house I made the mistake of letting some mint spill out from a pot and it rooted itself in no time in the garden bed.  It took so much work to get rid of that mint and I pulled it and pulled it out and still found runners here and there right up until we moved.  It was the plant I could not eradicate.

I promised myself I would never plant something that invasive ever again outside of a container and if I did put it in a container I would make sure it wasn't in a spot that would allow it to escape into the beds.   Well, last fall I decided that I loved my neighbor's pink evening primrose so much that I would go ahead and plant it *in my front beds* and just stay on top of it and not let it get away from me.  Yeah right.  Within the six months it wintered over the root systems went crazy and I began finding it popping up everywhere, yards and yards away of where it was originally planted.  So this was a very stupid mistake because I knew better and went ahead and did it anyway.

I've pulled and hacked and pulled some more and yet I am still finding it everywhere.  Lesson learned again.  Do not plant something that is an invasive spreader unless you are seriously committed to it and have no plans to grow anything else in the area that will need to compete.  As for me I'll continue to pull out runners as they pop up - probably until we move from this house.

This is not a gardening post.

This is a post about the fact that I've gained 10 lbs. since November (cue sobbing) since I've weaned little G and I'm not pregnant again (thus, no extra caloric intake needed) and I've got to do something to stem the tide.  I was always on the low end of my recommended weight and having just had a physical in which my doctor was astounded that I was irate and upset at my weight gain I have decided that I AM at a healthy weight, but geeze - it isn't a weight I've ever seen before (when not pregnant and nursing)  so I am more than a little annoyed.  I apparently am not planning on eating less (or I would have done it already) so the only option is to move... more.  I've not been much in the way of moving... more... since I stopped running cross country in high school.  That was a long time ago.  Gulp, maybe even pushing 15 years... a long time ago.

So.

I needed to make a change.  I bought the fancy gym package with childcare included and didn't end up going very often.  This has mystified my husband and he is able to go as often as he pleases when he is in town and not traveling for work.  He, and other fathers I know, seem to have this unique ability to just announce where they are planning to go and then leave.  The mom (especially if she is a stay at home mom) always has to figure out childcare and pre-arrange and manage her schedule according to her children's schedule.  But I digress.  Packing up three kids, driving 15 minutes to the gym, getting them into the childcare and settled and then off to workout... well I am tired before I even manage to get my butt going on the CrossRamp.  Not to mention that we use a local college facility which seems to be largely populated by the athletic student body of the university.  Not that I am feeling lacking or old, or anything like that when I show up in my loose tee shirt and New Balance sneakers.  Ahem. 

Anyway.

I found Turbo Fire, a work out at home via DVD system produced by Chalene Johnson (perhaps the perkiest and in shape blonde woman you could ever dream up - she is practically a video game alt she is so larger than life.)  I watched the clips online, tracked down as many review and personal bios online as I could find and then took the plunge.

Turbo Fire arrived.

It is surprisingly fun for something that makes me feel like I am going to die.   I have never worked so hard or sweated so much in my entire life.  I assume this is good as I would like to have hamstrings and abs that are visible to the naked eye without any sort of straining.  I am not sure I care to lose weight at this point.  I have almost come to term with those 10 lbs. and almost feel like a healthy BMI of 21 is better than a scrawny 18/19 with ribs showing in my chest and hip bones jutting out.  I think what has been the most aggravating thing for me about this is that I actually feel like I have to THINK about not gaining weight when I never have before.

I am 33 years old and will turn 34 in July.  This is the time to care about my heart, my cholesterol, my bone density, my blood pressure and my blood sugar.  I need to care about how I feel, how healthy I am and what is at stake long term, not just how I look (though I have to admit I certainly care about how I look - much to my dismay) and Turbo Fire is kicking my ass and making me work and helping me keep all those things in check.


When Chalene Johnson is telling me in a perky, upbeat voice at minute 35 into a hard workout that I am not tired, let me tell you that I am shouting back at the TV that *F U* YES - I am tired.  But I keep going because it is fun and I love it.  It is totally worth the $200 bucks that I spent.  I have never awakened in the morning looking forward to working out until NOW.

Lots of weird weather this spring. We had a day in March that reached 90 degrees and we've had some very cool days that didn't hit 50 in April. We finally got some much needed rain! We've been planting and making some updates/changes to existing beds.

 In the front we hung 3 window boxes and added a trellis with pyracantha. That poor pyracantha experienced the most severe transplant shock of anything I've planted in a long time. BioPlex, very expensive, but worth it, saved that shrub from totally giving in and dying. It took three treatments over three weeks and it is showing signs of life with some baby leaves popping out. I also cut it back a bit to help stimulate growth.

 We planted three new David Austin roses under the new crape myrtle on the side of the house. They shipped them very, very late (I was unhappy!) but they are finally leafing out. The westerland roses (orange on the trellis) are looking amazing this year. There are so many buds I think by this weekend that trellis is going to be covered in beautiful flowers. It is by far my favorite rose that I've planted. I really like that bright peachy color. The Christopher Marlowe roses in the front bed are also brimming with buds that are starting to open. They have such a pretty sharp pink with peach centers. As the flowers continue to open the pink fades to a softer color so it is sort of like getting 2 different flowers from one plant. Very fun!

 We added some small river rock around our raised garden beds in the back just to keep things neater and to make it easier to plant and walk in between the beds. We also added larger river rock between the new island and the older side bed. Our utility lines run right through there and nothing can be planted and I think they add a little something to the bed as well as allowing a clear path for utility workers for the future so they won't be tramping through the flower beds.