Summer is Definitely Here - The Sale Continues

The hot weather and high humidity slowed me down last week, although the plants seem pretty happy. I like to water in the evening when it is cooler and the water will have more time to do its job. We have put our shade cloth on the biggest greenhouse, so that makes things bearable inside.


All baskets are now $10 each, perennials in quart pots are $2.50 and six-packs are $2.



I have planted containers for a wedding Aug 6. The requested colors are yellow and white, an informal country look, sand I think these will be fine.



The daylily sale (buy five at $6.50 each, get the sixth free, your choice) is moving right along and quite a few happy campers have left with full cars.

Siloam Ury Winniford is one of my favorites. I like all the 'siloams,' but this one is particularly floriferous and perky.

SILOAM URI WINNIFORD

I love the blended colors on Smokey Mountain Autumn.

SMOKEY MOUNTAIN AUTUMN

I sell quite a few white daylilies, and Gentle Shepherd is probably the whitest, but it also has thin pedals and doesn't hold up all that well.

GENTLE SHEPHERD

Because of the nasty "lily beetle" I no longer sell Asiatic or Oriental lilies. Neem oil is recommended when you first see them and I did manage to control the bugs on my one planting of lilium superbum with one timely spray. However, they have returned with a vengeance.

Researching these insects I learned that they squeek when held. The first beetle was officially sighted in Cambridge, MA in 1992. Females lay up to 450 eggs and it is the larvae that are quite repulsive. They look a bit like slugs with swollen bodies and black heads. The reason they start to look particularly gross is because they secrete and carry their excrement on their back. I wonder what THAT is all about.

LILLIUM SUPERBUM (DBA 'Turk's Cap')

I do love these lilies and with the exception of the lily beetle, they are easy to grow. I guess I will offer them next year, although tall plants are hard to handle when grown in pots.

Our three other greenhouses are filled with ... mums. The seasons march on.