"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...

What IS Hybridizing?...

It's what creates daylilies like these:

This giant red is a deep blood color when not in bright sun. Somewhat "beefy" (a little taller, larger than most), but still beautiful.

These daylilies actually glow with a neon yellow and orange that creates such a brightness, one would be attempted to look away the first time their eye looks at them in bright sunshine.

The curl-back in this shot of the flower petal is something I enjoy in a good daylily hybrid.

Just look at that ruffled edge! A "breeder" from my breeding stock for ruffled edges, this is a very good daylily to have when trying to hybridize. It has shortness of flower stem, multiple buds and blooms, nice broad flower petals - all good things.

This is an established daylily called "Hope Diamond" and was gifted to me by one of the great hybridizers of the past, Clarence Blocher. I also use this daylily when breeding my own.

Next time, more on how I got started in gardening and hybridizing, and, my two favorite mentors...

As Promised...

...more pictures of my project with the designer fabric "Dolce" (for my daughter):

Here, you can see all three coordinates you saw in an earlier post put together in one project (but I can't tell you what it is yet!)...

This is the same item from a different angle and includes something very desirable in such an item. And, is something that I do for all items of this type...padding! 

Ah - a little "inside" peek...












These final photos represent a different item with some bordering embroidery, as well as how I used one fabric for the outside, while lining the item with another coordinate - not in the order you would think - but hey, that's just me...

Soon, you'll be able to see the finished items in their entirety!








Next time, the daylilies are beginning to bloom!

How Can Something So Wild...

...look so beautiful?

Believe it or not, this is the flower of the milkweed plant. I took this picture in our woods up north. We have some growing in our evergreens at home as well and I've warned my hubby not to pull them out! That is because they are the plant that is chosen by the Monarch butterfly to lay her eggs on. Once the eggs hatch and turn into caterpillars, they eat the leaves of the milkweed to grow. Eventually, they form a cocoon and later, turn into another beautiful Monarch butterfly.

So you see, just because something is wild, does not necessarily mean that it is not beautiful, or capable of creating something beautiful in its place!

I hope you had a great Fourth of July!

Next time, you'll see more pictures of the project I'm working on in "Dolce" for my daughter's birthday. Until then...

Logos. logos, logos...

I thought I'd give you an update on the progress of my Etsy shop Poladora...

You've probably already seen this in a post below but I am so proud of it, I wanted to show it to you again! Due to the wonderful contributions of both a dear friend and the extreme talent of the head designer (and owner), Kim Arden at Graphic Alchemy, we were able to achieve the look and feel of what I envisioned for Poladora. Partial to swirls and dots, the flourish was a big hit with me!

Within the Poladora Boutique lives three little shops. One is "SISSY", which I've explained a little about already in a previous post. Here' is the logo for SISSY:

A little more "fun", SISSY stands for Sensory and Immune System Stimulating Yarns. Mostly soft and cuddly things for newborns through childhood, SISSY takes care of the cuddle needs of adults too! Every SISSY comes with the notion that "I'm a SISSY so you don't have to be!" And remember, no two SISSYs are alike...

The Glass Ceiling is all about the torch! Lampworks, that it. Anything that originates from the torch (jewelry, marbles, beads, paper weights, terrarium toys and animals, pens, wine stoppers, letter openers, etc., etc.), will probably end up in the Glass Ceiling shop.

A little more classy, the Boutique will hold just about everything else. You never know what I might come up with! "Expect the Unexpected..."

A Little Sneak Peek...

Here's just a little peek at a couple of coordinates that I am using for my daughter's project. They are also from the Dolce line. Stay tuned as I get farther into this project! (So far, so good - I haven't heard from the daughter who will benefit from this - means she's not been to my site lately...ha!)

There's Nothing More Satisfying...

...than working on a project for someone you love!

Don't get me wrong - I love to create things for other people to enjoy. It's just that, when you know you're working on something for someone you love (such as one of my daughters in this case), there's a different kind of satisfaction in knowing you'll be able to see your item used by someone you know or see on a regular basis. Of course, this is assuming that they like it enough to wear and/or use the item after you give it to them! (What I like is not always what my daughters like...)

What I'm showing you here is just a piece of the work so I don't completely ruin the surprise for my daughter (in case she's lurking around my blog). But I will show you more after her birthday!

This is a lovely print from the designer collection known as "Dolce". I have chosen this and a couple of coordinate fabrics for the project.

Stay tuned and you'll get to see the job when it's done...

I hope you're having a wonderful summer!