"Finally!"...

...a trivia test on daylilies! (Just kidding.)

But, I would like you to take a look at the following daylily pictures (without reading first), and see if you can guess what they have in common? (Besides being beautiful!)

If you guessed that these are all pictures of the same daylily at different times of the day, you would be correct! Clarence Blocher developed "Finally" (yes, that is the name of the daylily), near the end of his hybridizing days. In fact, I believe that "Finally" was his very last and his crowning glory to a wonderful contribution to those who loved to look at, study, and participate in hybridizing daylilies alongside this wonderful horticulturist and mentor.

I met Clarence through the company I worked for - he was our chief chemist and Vice President. We had a love for gardening in common, which was already a significant part of my life thanks to sweet memories of my beloved grandmother (for which this blog is named). We hit it off. We shared knowledge and flowers. He taught me the fundamentals of hybridizing (creating new varieties), and we visited each others' gardens often. His was always better...

He created numerous varieties. I couldn't possibly list them all. But, his favorite was a flower he loved so much that he named it for his wife - "Ann Blocher". But he confided that "Ann Blocher" had a flaw - it was sensitive. I didn't see that as a flaw at all since the person Ann (whom I knew), was sensitive indeed (and wonderful in so many other ways). Unfortunately, Ann passed away from breast cancer after a long and brave fight. (Clarence eventually remarried a lovely lady and old college friend of Ann's, Betty. We liked Betty too.)

Toward the end of Clarence's ability to do any more work in his garden, he had a group of young plants he was waiting to see open for the first time. They were an "Ann Blocher" cross. At that time, he only had three "clumps". As Clarence told it, the first morning he was able to see the flower open, he drew in a breath, placed his hands on his cheeks, and exclaimed "FINALLY!" And so, it became known as "Finally"- this beautiful little daylily so much like "Ann Blocher", but with so much more resilience.

Much to my surprise, Clarence gave me one of his three initial clumps and I have some to this day. What makes "Finally" so special? It changes color every hour of the day! It begins in the morning with its bright pink petals, deep ruffled edge, and a beautiful bright green throat.

While the edges remain pink, the inside of the petals soon begin to turn soft yellow from the heat of the day sun. As the day wears on, the pink edges begin to "bleed" into the yellow, much like a color would bleed into another in a beautiful pastel watercolor painting. Eventually, and toward the end of the day, the bleeding, now looking more like paint strokes, become more prominent (as seen in the final photo), and the soft yellow turns to a shade I would call butter - very soft on the eye indeed. 

Between my grandmother Paulina and my friend Clarence, I had the most wonderful teachers and mentors in the garden.

My grandmother once told me "always share your flowers with others - they will come back four-fold". Grandma always seems to have been right...