Daylily Delight

On May 7 of this year I posted a sad picture of the early daylily fans . At least two thirds of them were afflicted with "Spring Sickness," no known cause, no known cure. I held fast to hope throughout early summer that what I read was true - the affliction is not fatal to the plant. It was hard to imagine anything remotely pretty springing forth from the damaged vegetation in that picture. But my faith was rewarded. The plants did eventually shrug off the cruel twist to their vanity and put forth a nice display. Without a doubt, the daylily bed is the object of my greatest obsession. I remember a picture in my high school Biology textbook. It was of Gregor Mendel standing by his trellises of peas, notebook in the crook of his arm, looking so absorbed that the earth could have swallowed him up and he wouldn't have blinked (I know the look), documenting data on his charts and probably losing sleep over the mysteries of genetics. In July I feel such a one-ness with Gregor!!

And here is what is in the crook of my arm. At the top is the three year old map on graph paper, so worn and crumpled it is like old linen. On the left is a detailed description of each of 29 varieties. On the right are pictures to match each description. I stuff them all on my clipboard on daily basis in July and head out the door to record data, compare, change descriptive words, shuffle pictures, edit the map. Any of my kids who visit in July and witness this can't resist mocking me. ("Oh no, she's doing it again. Could someone bring her in?"). But I find the process so oddly soothing. If I could bottle the feeling I would have Gardener's Valium. If I could apply it to my basement, I would be able to walk through that area unobstructed. When we had our initial landscaping installed, "Jason the Nursery Man" may have grown weary of my barrage of questions when he finally said not unkindly," Don't forget to just sit and enjoy the garden." Good advice. And as I sit at the computer and turn my head over my left shoulder, I can see my daylilies and I am enjoying them. But the wheels start turning and I think, "I really need a backdrop.... I wonder about a white picket fence........