Horticulturist and nurseryman Fairman Furness has been on a sort of busman’s holiday since 1943, when he started breeding daylilies as a pastime. He has kept an account of every cross he has made, and since he’s recorded minute details concerning each plant he has developed, the ancestry of every one of his seedlings can … Read more
Wherever iris are found there, the iris borer prospers. An annoying pest considered repulsive by iris fanciers, the adult moth is a drab violet brown with black markings, while the borer at first is slender and pale pink. As it progresses down the leaf blade and into the rhizome, it becomes fat and darker. How … Read more
They’ll bring to your garden the enchantment of exotic storybook lands of the Far East. As the iris season nears its peak, our 11-iris garden, Shangri-La, near Kent, Washington, in the foothills of the mighty Cascade range, is in its full glory. On clear days Mt. Rainier looks close enough to reach out and touch. … Read more
No true gardener will let a dry climate and concrete-like soil stymie him. Take the case of the P. H. Sanfords who moved, some years ago, to Tucson, Arizona, where the soil is as near like concrete as any substance I know. It is called caliche, and practically nothing but cactus will grow in it. … Read more
Not so long ago, every note on the cultivation of tall bearded irises insisted that three things were necessary to grow them successfully, and one thing should be avoided. The three “essentials” of growing irises were a sunny position, sharp drainage, and lime. Are these golden rules true today? Only partially. It is quite true … Read more
In the last decade or so, gardeners have made the tall bearded iris one of the most spectacular plants in the garden. Out of stocky kinds with small, dull blooms, they’ve evolved large, sumptuous, long-stemmed hybrids, well-branched, floriferous, and glorious in the landscape. They’ve also prolonged the tall bearded season. Iris time can last from … Read more
There is no universal rule to apply in growing tall bearded irises. One must take into consideration the type of garden, the soil, the climate, and the incidence of disease in the area. Planting Irises Iris grows well if planted alone in rows or in a designed bed. When growing in a mixed bed, do … Read more
Under normal conditions, day-blooming daylilies open their flowers in the morning. To orient their opening with a time of day, season, and latitude, several varieties were checked on May 1, 1954, in Gainesville, Florida. And it was established that they opened at 7 A.M. or shortly before or after that hour. To digress a bit, … Read more
Now you can have daylilies in miniature, too! Almost everyone thinks of the modern daylily hybrid as a robust and vigorous perennial that requires a lot of space, but a new race of small-flowered dwarfs has appeared. Daylily ‘Diminutives’ Species These daylily “diminutives” have been developed from two species, Hemerocallis minor and Hemerocallis multiflora. With … Read more
The former owner of my house left a bed of rather straggly rose bushes and a decidedly Swedish-looking plant that emerged through the Bermuda-covered bed that spring. After several attempts to destroy the weed, I let the plant grow to maturity to discover exactly what the persistent thing might be. Beautiful Madonna Lilies Imagine my … Read more