Friday, September 8, 2023

GO FLY A KITE

 Go Fly a Kite

 


Go fly a kite!  You may have been told this at least once in your life.  Well, taking that seriously, a week ago a number of people did just that. There was a kite flying “Soar on the Shore” just north of the Gardens at Waters East.  Lots of people and lots of kites.

 

 

 


Lake Michigan

Gardens at Waters East


Bumble Bee in flight







But not only at the beach but even here at the gardens kites could be seen soaring high in the air.  The plants and blooms enjoyed the viewing too!  Now you can enjoy some of the garden on the same days.

 

Kite above Lake Michigan at

Gardens at Waters East

 

a closer look

 









Can you find the "Ghost Spider"
in the Joe Pie Weed?



 







A final view of the lake from the gardens.

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Looking Back - - - Looking Forward

 Looking Back --- Looking Forward!

 

It all started back in 2007 when I went on a city-wide tour of gardens in Green Bay, Wisconsin. So many beautiful private gardens!  However, I want to zero in on just one of them that has made a BIG difference in my gardening hobby.

 

#8.1 2007


#8.2 2007
 

 

This is one of the first daylilies I hybridized. That was in the summer of 2007.

I am fascinated by the complex of colors in this bloom.

You should see it in the early morning dew – it becomes iridescent!

Really the colors sparkle and shine.

 

 

I was slowly walking around one of the gardens and stopped to look at some daylilies.  There was an elderly woman standing there and I mentioned how beautiful the lilies were. I said to her, “that must be difficult to get such beautiful lilies” and she said “no it is rather easy”.  She then went on to tell me that this is her garden and she hybridized all the lilies that I see there. Then she said, “it is rather easy”.  I said, “really!”.  She then went onto explain how she did the hybridizing.  In that moment I caught the “bug” and decided I had to try hybridizing daylilies.

 

A 2010


#12 2007


#X6 2009


E 2010


#7.3 2007


 

I have shown here in this Blog Posting only a few of the many daylilies I have hybridized over the years.  Each plant is given a code number or letter and year hybridized so that I can keep tract of the ancestry going back these many years, as I have often (combined) hybridized some new plants with older plants hybridized years ago.

 

#10 2007


#X9 2009


C 2010


One of the many lily fields
 

From that short encounter over seventeen years ago, I went on to hybridize so many daylilies.  To date, I have now hybridized “created” over 550 different individual plants all with different blooms. As I combined different colors and bloom structures, I kept a list of all the parents and even grand-parents of each daylily that I created down through the generations. I now have this extensive log of my work over the years. It is interesting to me that even though I thought I knew what the end result of each combination of plants I hybridized would be, in many cases the final results in colors, combinations and characteristics were different than what I was expecting – must be some recessive genes coming to the foreground.


#X1 2009


#X1.3 2009


#17 2007


#11 2007
 

 

Once I have harvested the new seed, I plant it the following Spring and it then take a minimum of three to four years before the first new hybridized bloom appears.  It is a rather long time waiting to see if what I created meets my expectations.

 

 Here are a couple of the most recent hybridized plants created in 2017

blooming for the first time this year.

 

J1 2020


EF1 2020


EF2 2020

J3 2020


J3.2 2020


J4 2020


This little hobby has now become an obsession.  Even though I have given away well over one- hundred and fifty of these plants as I have tried to find more garden room, I have finally run out of garden space. Time to find a new hobby!!!

 

 

 

Sunday, August 13, 2023

BLOG SHOTS. #157

Each month Gardens at Waters East (GAWE) will post a few never before seen photos of “garden life” called - - BLOG SHOTS.  Here are the photos for this posting.

 

moments in the garden - - enjoy



Another early morning at Gardens at Waters East 

 

Spiderwort


Geranium - Splash Splash


Poinsettia


Succulents


Tiger Lily


Tiger Lily


Trumpet Vine


Tulip


Archway with vines 

 

 

Reference Note:  For a complete list of the ten (10) Principles of Design plus the special “Golden Principle of Design” used throughout Gardens at Waters East, check out the archive postings for November 14 – 24, 2010 and May 2, 2011.

 

 

NOTE:   All photos use in this posting were taken on the property of Gardens at Waters East

unless otherwise marked.

NOTE:   Since this Blog is meant to be an accurate journal of the gardens;

no photos are “staged”, “arranged”, or ”photo-shopped” in anyway.

What is posted – is what it here.  It is what it is.