Daylily Drama

This time of year makes me glad that I grow daylilies for a number of reasons. There are literally thousands of different ones to choose from and just when I think I've got enough, another one catches my eye. This year, it was Proven Winners' 'Primal Scream' that jumped into my cart as I was doing some shopping earlier at Garden Crossings.

Hemerocallis 'Primal Scream'

This garden center in Zeeland, Michigan, held an open house party the night before the Proven Winners Outdoor Living Extravaganza in April and P. Allen Smith made an appearance there.

Allen and me at Garden Crossings

Garden Crossings is an outstanding example of what a great independent garden center should be. With a wide variety of perennials and annuals to choose from, as well as a fair number of shrubs, vegetables and tropicals, the store is about the most immaculate one I've ever been in and the displays are just gorgeous. They're well-labeled with plant information and owners Heidi and Rod Grasman are ever so helpful with their knowledge of what they grow and sell. They do a booming online business, but their physical store is such a joy to shop in, I wish they were closer to me!

I purchased several plants that evening, but 'Primal Scream' is the one that is commanding attention in the garden now. It was one of the first daylilies of the season to bloom in my garden and though I didn't plan it this way, I'm happy that I sited it by the butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), because the two of them have bloomed in unison and the echo of color enhances each of them.

Hemerocallis 'Primal Scream' with Asclepias tuberosa

Other daylilies have been blooming like crazy all over the gardens, too and while I know some people don't like them, it's hard for me to understand this. Even though each individual bloom only lasts a day, they have so  many blooms that they flower over a very long period of time. Not only that, they're scoffing at the intense prolonged heat and the drought we're experiencing.

Here's some of what I'm enjoying in the way of daylily blooms at Our Little Acre right now:

'El Desperado'

'Indian Giver'

'Alabama Jubilee'

'When I Dream'

'Leprechaun Eyes'

'Swirling Water'

This is a very large hybrid by a local grower that I call 'Lovely Lana',
named for its hybridizer, Lana Wolfe.

'Wild One'

'Sarah Christine', which is HUGE!

'Siloam Double Classic', which doesn't always bloom double. Its first few
blooms this year were double, but subsequent ones have not been.

I received several daylilies from American Daylily & Perennials to trial in my gardens this summer, but they're not yet large enough to bloom. I'm looking forward to seeing them flower, especially 'Dream Souffle', a double and a rebloomer.

Do you have an exceptional daylily that you love? Do you have any that you wouldn't be without in your gardens? Tell me what they are, please. I might need them, too.

Celebrating the 4th with a $50 Lowe's Gift Card Giveaway!

I've enjoyed working with Lowe's this summer as part of their Lowe's Creative Ideas Garden Team for several reasons. Romie and I are long-time customers there, when it comes to home improvement needs and I've purchased a fair amount of gardening items there too. To partner with them in this way feels right for me and I appreciate the opportunity to use my creativity with their help.

Now it's YOUR turn to benefit! Lowe's Creative Ideas has provided me with a $50 gift card to give away to one lucky Our Little Acre reader. Tomorrow is the 4th and I think that's a good time to show how your garden is celebrating!

With the gift card that Lowe's sent to me, I created a simple centerpiece for a patio table that wears the red, white and blue proudly. I found everything I needed for this planter at my local Lowe's:

• Red glazed pottery 
• Potting soil 
• Wave petunias, Dianthus, and variegated Liriope plants

It was easy to pot up the plants, and then I added to the festive ambience with a plaque and flag that I already had.

How do you win the $50 Lowe's gift card? 

Comment on this blog post, telling me how your garden is sporting the red, white, and blue, or otherwise celebrating the birth of our country. If you're on Facebook, I'd love it if you'd post a photo on the Our Little Acre Facebook page and share your creativity! Since Facebook prohibits running contests through their website (without special permission), sharing a photo there cannot be your sole method of entry, but I'll give you an extra entry if you do.

I'm using Rafflecopter for this giveaway, so YOU MUST ENTER YOUR INFORMATION ON THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW. I'll be using Rafflecopter to randomly pick a winner on Tuesday, July 10, 2012.  Deadline for entry is midnight EDT on Monday, July 9, 2012.



a Rafflecopter giveaway
Visit the Lowe's Creative Ideas page.

WINNER!

Rafflecopter has chosen a winner via Random.org. Congratulations to "suburban prep!" I have sent an email, requesting your name and mailing address so I can notify Lowe's and you can receive your $50 Lowe's gift card. Please check your inbox and reply within three days to claim your prize!

Thanks to all who entered by telling how your garden celebrated the 4th and especially to those who posted photos on my Our Little Acre Facebook page. Another great giveaway is coming soon! And I mean a GREAT one! ;-)

Lowe's Creative Ideas - Furniture Rehab Project - Part One

The powers that be have conspired to make it harder for me to execute my Lowe's Creative Ideas June project. It's July now and the project has been done in fits and starts because I had a cholecystectomy (that's gall bladder removal) that was moved up by two weeks with only one day's notice, and then an amazing storm, called a derecho, left us without power in 95° heat and I'm home-hopping back and forth to our daughters' homes in an effort to keep cool and try to get some online work done. Hubby is holding down the fort, checking on the sump hole and the animals and joining me when he can.

We're so spoiled by electricity it isn't even funny. We have no cell phone service, no power, no internet, and no one has land line service either. Being cut off from the outside world feels eery. They're saying it might be July 7th before we have our electrical service restored. Of course, they're working on getting the most populated areas up and running first, but that isn't where we live. We'll get back to normal eventually.

Garden kitty Max waits to supervise the project.

Anyway...back to my Lowe's Creative Ideas project! We have a storage table that we keep on our deck by the pool and it has seen better days. It needed a fresh coat of paint, but I had this idea to make it more attractive and more functional. So I went to Lowe's, using the gift card that they provided for me, and I bought the materials I needed for this project:

• Two planters 
• Sealant 
• Can of paint 
• A colorful plant

This project was so easy it isn't even funny. I don't know why I didn't think of doing this before now. It was probably because I needed Lowe's to motivate me to put my thinking cap on and come up with some creative way to rehab a piece of furniture. Thank you, Lowe's.

"Measure twice, cut once."

The first step was to cut a square hole in the lid of the table, so that one of the planters could fit down in it. Now it's not that I can't use power tools, because I have been known to do that on occasion. I have photographic proof of it somewhere. But my husband loves to play with power tools, so I let him do the honors of cutting the hole.

The planters dropped down nicely into the freshly cut hole. Why two, you ask? The answer to that question will come later. (This is called "building suspense.")

One of the next steps was painting the table, of course, but that was when the storm hit and it didn't get done when it was supposed to. Certain things like packing up the contents of our freezer and taking it to our daughter's house so she could store it for us seemed to be a little more important at the time. We still don't have power, but we got it painted a few days later.

After painting, can you guess what came next? 


a) Cleaning the paint brush
b) Taking the cats for a walk
c) Eating supper
d) Planting the planter with a colorful plant
e) Whistling "Dixie"


When two of the above were completed, you might think the project was done. You would be wrong. (This is more "suspense building.") 

Stay tuned to see how this Lowe's Creative Ideas project ended up!

UPDATE: You can find Part Two here!