My Secret Love: Daylilies

My daughter came to me today with my wedding album in hand (something she does quite often). As usual, she pleaded, "Tell me a story about this..." Despite having my hands in dishsoap at the time I said OK. We sat down together and were soon paging through the album. As I reminsced and she listened intently my eyes were drawn to my bouquet.

I remember as hubby and I planned our wedding he wanted a June wedding but I gently nudged him into an August wedding. I had a secret desire for my wedding day. Only one person knew of my secret desire: My Mom. I remember the day Mom and I visited the florist (the only florist for 35 miles). How excited we were to purchase flowers for such a happy event. We spent the usual amount of time pouring through her pictures before deciding on a very simple round bouquet. Then began the discussion I'd been waiting for: FLOWERS! I smiled at the florist and said, "I want the orange daylilies found along the roadside to be the main star of my bouquet." Immediately, I could sense that she was less than pleased with my announcement. "Dear," she said condescendingly, "I'm not sure that's possible. After all, those are daylilies." The young me still didn't understand the problem so my mother said, "If it's an issue of you trying to find them we can deliver them to you that day." The florist said, "Mam, I'm sure YOU understand that daylilies just don't make good bouquet flowers. They wilt so quickly. Besides, those ORANGE flowers will leave dust all over her dress. It will be positively ruined." I began to get emotional because those flowers had special meaning to me. As flowers often do. When I would visit my soon-to-be hubby I would travel down a road that was lined with these spectacular flowers. Just seeing their orange beauty reminded me of him, of us. Seeing how upset I was quickly becoming she said, "No. I just will not make a bridal bouquet with those roadside weeds!" Knowing I had no other affordable options I chose carnations & roses to fill my bouquet.

My flowers are my only wedding day regret. Had I been a bit older and a bit more confident in myself I would've argued with her. After all, the customer is always right. But I was young and unsure. Still, if that's my only regret...It doesn't seem that bad, does it? Besides I did end up getting my way because now my garden is filled with my secret desire. I've got big clumps of "those roadside weeds" strategically placed throughout my front garden beds. I've also begun collecting some of their "uptown" cousins. I love the beauty of these simple flowers but I also the love the idea that I have to treasure them today because tomorrow will be too late. It's a good motto for a garden and for a marriage.

Digital Gardener

Right now, I have no visible garden. I can imagine where my lovely new beds are but unless I dig through feet of snow I won't see them for a long time. So instead I spend hours online looking for gardening ideas or pouring over idea books or checking my mailbox for seed catalogs. So much desire and yet so little dirt! Today, I intend to sit at my kitchen table with my garden journal and my graph paper. Why not spend these cold wintery days planning and plotting until I can do the digging and the mulching. With three easy steps I can get a jumpstart on my spring chores.



Step 1: Using my digital garden photos I can find weak spots easily. It's easier to spot where there is color lacking, where the height isn't quite right, or where a plant isn't thriving like it should be. Also black and white copies of your garden photos will point out where the garden needs more texture or an architectural element.



Step 2: Tape tracing paper to the top edge of the photos to create an overlay. Write plant names and any additions onto tracing paper.



Step 3: Use graph paper to plot out your gardens in relation to your house. Use a second sheet to begin adding your 2008 projects to your landscape.