My Recent Daylily Travels
Bobby Baxter
I just recently completed a wonderful trip up north to visit friends and
daylily gardens. Below is letter I sent to the Daylily Email Robin about my
trip and all the gardens I visited. Perhaps some in the Triangle Newsgroup
are interested in daylilies and may find my notes an enjoyable read.
===============
I never knew how bad my addiction to the daylily really was until returning
home after visiting 24 spectacular daylily gardens and one Exhibition show
on a single trip up North.
My journey started when I landed on Long Island at 1:00 PM on Saturday the
8th. Pat Sayers greeted Joann Stewart and myself at the airport and then
transported me to Melanie Vassallo's house and garden. Melanie was
preparing for a grand garden/dinner party that evening for all the Long
Island Daylily Society (LIDS) show committee and visiting judges & friends.
Since I have limited capabilities in the kitchen, I left Melanie to her
culinary delights and I went into the garden to become one with the
butterflies.
Lauren and Emily are Don & Melanie's children and they accompanied me
throughout the garden. Emily was by my side often and Lauren provided
garden music on her flute. I definitely felt I was in the enchanted garden.
The daylilies were spectacular as you would imagine and I was very pleased
to see Melanie's seedlings especially her large fluffy tetraploid doubles.
Lauren's CINNAMON BUN was also in bloom. A great spider collection can also
be seen in the Vassallo's garden. My only regret was that I did not take
advantage of taking a plunge in the pool.
Lauren, Emily, and I then walked down the street to visit the neighbor's
ten-acre garden at Fox Hollow Farm. I was spoiled rotten as Emily and
Lauren gathered fresh blueberries and red raspberries for me to feast on
while I traversed the daylilies, hosta, and other perennials. Fox Hollow
Farm also houses a field of seedlings for Melanie Vassallo and George
Rasmussen.
By the time we returned to Emily and Lauren's house, the party guests were
beginning to arrive. I generally never mention names in my letters but will
break my rules and pray that I do not miss too many people as I enjoyed
everyone that I met and celebrated the occasional with. Mainlanders from
around the country were in town to judge the show the next day. I finally
met Gary Colby from Southern California who is indeed a wonderful gentleman
in person just as he is in his e-mail robin postings. David Kirchhoff
(Florida), Kay Day (Texas), Joann Stewart (Georgia, and whom I sat next to
on the plane on the way North), John Algood (South Carolina), John & Emily
Ware (Virginia), Jim Brennan (Massachusetts) were also in attendance to
judge the show the next day. The LIDS group was also in attendance. Sorry
no names but just imagine that most of the club's members were there, too,
since so many of the members were involved in organizing and working the
show. Special kudos to Don Vassallo who made the occasion most special with
his exemplary hosting and friendship.
After the garden party Paul Limmer hosted David Kirchhoff, Gary Colby, and
me in his house where we could be found staying up past 1:00 AM for the next
two nights talking about alligators and daylilies. The early morning
arrived and Paul was found in the garden selecting his scapes for the show.
Once he had gathered all his scapes and loaded his truck he returned to the
garden fill an empty space in one of his scape transporters. As an
afterthought he cut a scape of Stamile's CUSTARD CANDY which had 18 way
branching and gazillion buds, and would win Best In Show later that day.
Since LIDS is also a cutting edge daylily club there were also local
categories for polytepals and unusual forms. Very Cool!!
As Paul drove off to the show, Pat Sayers came by and caught me while
videoing Paul's garden. She took David, Gary, and I over to her house for a
very elegant bagel garden breakfast where Pat's husband and Joann Stewart
joined us. After breakfast I visited Mike & Pat Shomer's garden while the
others went to the show.
The Shomer's garden is maintained to the highest standard and is easily in
National Convention form everyday. What a joy it was to discover this
beauty on Long Island. The yard is not enormous in size and is probably the
size of the majority of most AHS members and is the perfect standard to use
to compare your garden to near perfection.
From the Shomer's house I drove in the truck that Paul Limmer made available
to me for gallivanting the island to The Planting Fields where the
Exhibition was underway. Melanie Vassallo's mother prepared lunch for the
show officials and guests and the meal was again exquisitely perfect. I
feasted on giant shrimps and drank several of what I would call coffee
milkshakes. I know there is a fancy name for those concoctions like an iced
café latté.
After viewing all the exhibitions and mingling with new friends, I went to
Dr. Lyle Peters' garden. Dr. Peters has been hybridizing daylilies for many
years and has quite a few registered cultivars. It was fun to discover a
hybridizer I was not familiar with. The Peters' garden is fairly large with
a front garden, back garden, garden around the pool and fishpond, and then
more display gardens and seedling beds above the tennis court. If AHS had
an award for the Best Use Of Motorcycle Tailpipes In The Garden, then Dr.
Peters would win it hands down. In fact, the original garden art and
sculptures are quite breathtaking and worth a trip to the garden even if
there were not so many daylilies to view.
I left Dr. Peters garden and had no idea where I was or how to get back to
Paul Limmer's for the night. Fortunately, Pat Sayers just happened to pass
me in her truck with the "Daylily" license plate. I did a bat turn and
followed her back to her house. Pat had planned that evening a barbeque so
it was unnecessary for me to go to Paul's place and then return to Pat's.
Pat called on my culinary talents to help prepare dinner so I filled the pot
with water for the corn that Joann Stewart was shucking. The corn turned
out to be perfect. Having exhausted my kitchen skills I retired to the
garden to look at the flowers.
Pat and her husband are wonderful hosts, great cooks, and have the perfect
atmosphere for dinner in the garden. I had the pleasure of teaching Pat how
to make Southern Sweet Tea by dumping a bag of sugar in a pitcher of hot
water before adding the tea bags. After dinner it was back to Paul's house
for more late night discussion as we solved all the world's conflicts.
Monday morning I found my way back to Pat's house to video the garden and
get the personal tour. Pat's seedlings are very nice and it was great to
see the beauties she is getting from her PASSION'S PROMISE as well as all
her other wonderful seedlings. Many of her current registrations were in
bloom and were also spectacular.
From Pat's house I was off to visit with Roswitha Waterman, the
International Secretary for AHS. John Algood was also in the garden.
Roswitha's passion for the daylily is evident in the way she grows and
displays her flowers. Here is where I discovered George Rasmussen's
ADORABLE TIGER which is now on top of my wish list. Gretchen and I tried to
win ADORABLE TIGER in the auction at the National Convention in Philadelphia
but we were unable to be the top bidders. Displayed in Roswitha's garden
are some test flowers from several European hybridizers. The Roswitha
Waterman Award is now considered the equivalent of the Stout Medal for
Hemerocallis Europa (the European Daylily Society).
My journey continued to the garden of math professor extraordinaire Dr. Bob
Stanton who is also one of the list owners for the AHS E-mail Robin. I was
surprised to be joined in the garden by Melanie and Emily Vassallo. Dr Bob'
s small garden houses a collection of some very popular and high quality
daylilies as well some of Bill Potter's seedlings. Dr. Stanton also
hybridizes daylilies and is on his way to creating his first registrations.
I was then escorted by Dr. Stanton to the garden of George & Joan Rasmussen.
The Rasmussen's were hosting the Woman's Garden Club that day so the garden
was full of many lovely women as well many tasty treats. I cannot imagine
the 2006 National Convention taking place on Long Island without the
Rasmussen's garden being on tour. The history, knowledge, and
accomplishments of George Rasmussen, along with the plants and wonderful
landscaping are a must see on Long Island.
Yes, I videoed the daylilies while in the Rasmussen's garden as I did all
the gardens but most importantly I listened to every word George said. This
man is full of knowledge and willing to share his experiences with others
that have this passion. If one were to create a list of hybridizers that
have learned from George, the list would be long and contain many of the
most famous hybridizers. Seeing the third generation spider seedlings of
George Rasmussen's KING GEORGE was incredible and I am now going to
incorporate KING GEORGE in my tet spider program. George and Joan also made
sure that when I left their garden that I had a full plate of garden
delights for my lunch.
I scarfed down my lunch as I drove around the corner to hybridizer Isabel
Hibbard's garden. Mrs. Hibbard is an accomplished hybridizer in her own
right as she has been registering and introducing daylilies for many years.
Isabel's Garden specializes in hybridizing late blooming cultivars for
extending the bloom season. Many of Mrs. Hibbard's creations had yet to
begin their bloom cycle. The Hibbard's garden also contains a nice blend of
perennials to accompany the daylilies.
It is still Monday and I left the Hibbards and started on my way toward
Larry & Carolyn Young's home and garden. It was bound to happen and it
did - I finally got lost. Well, really not lost because I knew exactly
where I was, almost. I literally drove past the Young's driveway ten times
and was not able to find it. After searching for 40 minutes for the
mysterious garden entrance without luck, I continued my journey to Bob &
Mimi Schwarz' Rainbow Daylily Garden in East Hampton.
I arrived at Bob and Mimi's in time to see them complete the deadheading of
their display garden. Bob then took me to the hybridizing garden where I
discovered one of the most unique gardens on this planet. Here is a garden
that is so distinct that you could never get it confused with any other
garden in existence.
Bob's part of the garden contains more tetraploid spiders, variants, and
unusual forms per square inch, foot, yard, or acre in the galaxy. The
quality of these large beauties is overpowering. I think if any one of
those seedlings were to bloom in my garden I would register it immediately,
and here, Bob has thousands of these beasts to select from. To cool off
from this tetraploid extravaganza, Bob and I jumped in the pool before
enjoying a gourmet dinner. Bob and Mimi are gracious hosts and I caught up
a bit on my sleep deprivation after enjoying the homemade berry desert after
dinner.
We were up early and I was able to observe Bob and Mimi as they made their
planned crosses. Seeing the Schwarz' seedlings first thing in the morning
was quite an experience. The display garden was now in full bloom and every
flower was grown and displayed to perfection.
Bob then guided me to the home of my friend Buck Bucklin who lives just a
couple of miles from Bob and Mimi. Buck is now hybridizing and has a
special interest in polytepals. From Buck's place Bob and I were off to Sag
Harbor to visit Mrs. Pat Neuman.
In Pat's garden I was greeted by THE DAYLILY THAT ATE SAG HARBOR. This is
an incredible tetraploid double that Pat rescued from Bob Schwartz' compost
heap. Undoubtedly this will be a future introduction. Pat's garden
overlooks the incredible Sag Harbor and has a breathtaking view. Pat's
daylilies all thrive above the cliff. Pat Neuman is a wonderful host and
would not let me leave until we had lunch while watching the boaters in the
bay.
Determined not to miss a planned garden I made a fresh attempt to locate
Larry and Carolyn Young's garden as I passed that way while returning to the
Huntington area. Armed with knowledge of the garden entrance I found it on
the first attempt this time around. The Young's garden is quite expansive
and covers two acres. This is a large garden with over a thousand
cultivars. Larry and Carolyn are working steadily on developing the garden
and grow many proven and favorite daylilies.
Seven miles down the road is Tom and Carol Ramsden garden called Eclectic
Gardens. Wow!!! What a delight to find this treasure as my last stop while
touring gardens on Long Island. Tom and Carol have been developing this
treasure for 26 years and it is a showcase garden on Long Island, or
anywhere else for that matter. The newest modern daylilies and a collection
of the best of the best over the years are featured in manicured mixed
perennial beds throughout the property. The daylilies and perennials are
grown to perfection in display clumps of incredible magnitude.
The Ramsden's incorporate open areas and garden rooms with the perfect mix
and transition to make viewing the garden easy and pleasant. I enjoyed the
waterfall and all the other garden features incorporated into the landscape.
Tom and Carol's garden is another of those gardens that a tour bus could
drive up to any day of the week and enjoy daylilies in the perfect setting.
As if the garden is not already perfect you will also find a Stout Medal
bed, a bed of George Rasmussen's registered daylilies including ADORABLE
TIGER, and Tom and Carol's daylily seedlings which are also quite
remarkable.
Before leaving the Ramsden's I called Melanie Vassallo to let her know that
I was enroute to stay with Don and Melanie for the evening. I told Melanie
that I was very sad. She asked why and I told her that I was out of daylily
gardens to visit. The next morning I was off to Philadelphia for the
National Convention and rode down there with Dan Mahoney who has a daylily
named after him by former Long Islander Dan Trimmer.
We arrived at the Adams Mark hotel on Wednesday in time for me to check in
and get to the Publications Committee meeting. Gretchen then arrived that
afternoon from Raleigh. We attended a dinner party at the home and garden
at Betty and Stu Morton. The Delaware Valley Daylily Society did a
wonderful job with the garden dinner and the Morton's garden was absolutely
spectacular. Gretchen discovered a monstrous clump of BANANA PEPPER SPIDER
by Heather Herrington and stood by it for 30 minutes admiring it. It would
turn out later that this clump of BANANA PEPPER SPIDER would receive quite a
few votes for the President's Cup at the Convention. Walter Jablonski's
MINI PEARL was just a few feet away and this clump would win the Florida
Sunshine Cup at the Convention.
On Thursday Lauren Vassallo and I were unable to get on the bus for Longwood
Gardens since the two busses were already filled. Since her mom and my wife
were in the Directors Meeting all day, Lauren and I ventured into Liberty
Square to enjoy the trolley. We touched the Liberty Bell, took pictures,
visited the Betsy Ross House, the Ben Franklin Museum and Post Office, and
best of all toured the U.S. Mint. My son Christopher is an avid collector
of U.S. coinage and so I shopped for him in the Mint Store. Lauren and I
then pulled up a piece of sidewalk as I ate Philly Cheese Steak and she ate
a hot dog cooked by two people who did not speak English. The food was
great and we people-watched as we enjoyed our lunch. We then trollied back
to the hotel with other Conventioneers that were enjoying the City of
Independence.
That night we enjoyed the slide show of great daylilies hybridized by
daylily aficionados from around the Country. The slide show was followed by
the plant auction and this is where Gretchen and I did not win ADORABLE
TIGER.
Friday brought us the first day of bus tours. Stop number one was the
garden of Betty and William Grayboyes in Broomall, Pennsylvania. The
Grayboyes garden is a small garden and was the perfect primer for the rest
of the gardens to follow. As in all the gardens, the blooms were wonderful.
We then proceeded to Betty and Stu Morton's garden in Media, Pennsylvania,
where we visited two nights earlier. The humongous clumps were out of this
world. Curt Hanson's SPIRITUAL CORRIDOR must have had at least 100 open
blooms. Seeing all the plants growing in this manner was so inspirational
that now I want to grow my plants in the same manner. I believe that would
mean not digging a plant for at least three to four years!
Stu Morton showed me how his irrigation system worked and the garden was
evidence of a well-managed cultivation program. I think every attendee was
envious of these superbly grown clumps of spectacular cultivars.
The third garden we visited was the ten-acre planting at Woodside Nursery
and the home of Darrel Apps in Bridgeton, New Jersey. I do not think there
is a person growing daylilies that is not familiar with Darrel Apps in some
manner. With ten acres in cultivation I did not attempt to see it all in
the one hour allotted. I concentrated on the selected seedlings from Darrel
's hybridizing and then enjoyed viewing all of Darrel's registered
cultivars.
Woodside Nursery is where the President Cup runner-up clump of BUMBLEBEE'S
BOUQUET was spotted. All of Darrel's plants were displayed in clump
strength and I mean clumps of multiple tens of fans not just the assumed
three fans necessary for award consideration. The pattern of growing
daylilies in huge clumps must be in the blood of these Northern gardeners.
We did encounter a bit of rain at Woodside Nursery but not enough to detract
from the splendor of the garden tours or the Convention.
I enjoyed wonderful company that night at the dinner and business meeting.
Chris Arsenault was at our table seated next to Lauren Vassallo who was also
accompanied by her mother, Melanie. Youth member Kalen Begnaud was also
seated next to me. Somehow in conversation A MOOSE FISHING ON A POND ON
MONDAY came up and then we were off having a contest to name the next
daylily in the Moose series. Witty Kevin Walek contributed a name that was
fine tuned by all at our table and now I will be registering A MOOSE ON A
LOOSE CABOOSE ON TUESDAY which is a 100% polytepal that throws more 5 x 5's
and 6 x 6's than 4 x 4's. You should have heard the names we were making up
for the other days of the week. The future looks bright for this series of
daylilies.
The second day of the National Convention found us visiting our fourth
garden called Deer Run Daylily Gardens which is the garden of Lynne and
Aaron Heckler in Salford, Pennsylvania. Deer Run Daylilies has a
spectacular view overlooking a valley. A major storm that passed through
the area in the early morning hours but had virtually no ill effect on the
flowers. The Heckler garden houses a collection of all of Margo Reed's
daylilies except for one. Practically all of Margo's daylilies were in
bloom and this was a wonderful experience to see a single hybridizer
featured so prominently in a National Convention garden. The Heckler's also
maintain a wonderful collection of spiders, variants, and unusual forms.
Visiting Beth and Bill Creveling as our fifth garden on the tour was a visit
to paradise. The large perennial beds with the daylily featured as the
centerpiece were totally awesome. The Creveling garden may have been the
turning point for me personally as I now want to expand my gardening beyond
daylilies and grow my hems in mixed perennial beds. The flowerbeds that
Beth prepared are etched in my memory for all time and I eagerly await the
new journey that lays ahead for my gardening. My goal is to incorporate the
color and blend of the perennials in Beth Creveling beds with the humongous
daylily clumps grown in the Morton's garden.
I never paid attention to the artistic qualities of a garden until entering
and seeing each garden bed up close at the Creveling's home in Perkasie,
Pennsylvania. I wonder how many other Convention visitors experienced a
similar gardening realization while attending this Delaware Valley Daylily
Society extravaganza. Perhaps this was the culmination of already visiting
twenty gardens in a single week leading up to walking into the Creveling
garden because as I reflect on the gardens I visited on Long Island I can
visualize all the best features of each garden.
The ride to our sixth and final garden on the Convention tour took us to
Arthur Kroll's Stover Mill Gardens. This was another super-duper 10-acre
garden. The first point of contact for the garden visitors was the front
yard of the Kroll residence. How Arthur coordinated for his garden to be at
peak bloom for the two Convention days will remain a wonder. Once again
ADORABLE TIGER was showing its face for all revel in. LAVENDER BLUE BABY by
Jack Carpenter captured my attention for its distinction and sheer beauty.
I believe the majority of the visitors remained in the front yard but I did
make the journey to the back forty and was rewarded with stunning landscaped
alleys of evergreen trees. These expanses lead to other daylily gardens as
well as a relaxing man-made lake with fountain. The back gardens of the
Kroll garden are very serene and relaxing compared to dramatic intensity of
the front bloom field. I also discovered the exact greenhouse that I hope
to one day have when we move to Mooseland. Arthur's glass greenhouse was
absolutely incredible.
The AHS youths invited Ed Jordon and I to join them at their table for the
grand banquet. I have always been impressed with the AHS youth members and
again I was left with a good feeling that the Society will be in good hands
when their day comes to carry on the traditions set before them and to
create new traditions and methods for others to follow.
Before the convention came to an end I attended a clinic by Lynn Purse on
how to transform a collection into a garden. Lynn's knowledge and colorful
presentation was the food I needed as I endeavor to do just what her
presentation encouraged. Little did I know that on the Sunday after the
Convention, Ned and Betty Roberts would introduce me to Gordon Riggle with
whom Ned, Betty, and I would travel to two more gardens that day. Gordon is
a landscape designer of the highest caliber with an emphasis on the
hardscaping of the landscape. I was a sponge as I listened to every word
spoken by Gordon. Now to take the advice of Gordon Riggle and Lynn Purse
and apply it to my garden and experiment. Life is good!
Sunday morning we arrived at the garden of Betty Harwood. Here I saw a good
collection of Betty's creations in full bloom and was able to enjoy the
scope of her hybridizing. Betty gave me a personal tour of the garden and
pointed out and described each of her flowers in detail. We then moved to
the seedling and hybridizing bed to see her newest beauties. Here is where
I saw KAREN BURGOYNE for the first time. I also met Karen's mother in the
garden. This was also the occasion for my first meeting with an old friend
named Rich Haynes and he is a wonderful person with a charming wife.
Ned and Betty Roberts, Gordon Riggle, and I then traveled to the dream
garden of Luther Travis. Luther's garden would be worth the trip alone by
plane to New Jersey just to spend one hour in the garden. Carved along the
side of a river and where an old mill once stood is one of the most
beautiful fully landscaped, perennially enhanced, daylily gardens on this
planet. The music of the river cascading while viewing the most modern
daylilies available in the most perfect of gardens was enough for me to end
my garden tours for the year just so I could savor the taste and reality of
this single garden for the rest of the year.
Here is where I met and talked with Jeff and Elizabeth Salter, saw many old
friends, and was reacquainted with some delightful women from Texas. Luther
Travis had prepared a first class lunch for his garden visitors and I left
the great North with a happy tummy and garden experiences that will last a
lifetime.