| One year after we moved into our new | | | | row upon row of cultivated day lilies in every |
| ranch-style home, the Merion Bluegrass lawn was | | | | imaginable shape and color, I drooled over owning |
| growing well and the basic flower beds were | | | | just a few of them for our garden. I parted with |
| mapped out. A new home doesn't need repairs, | | | | all the money I had, fifteen dollars, and went |
| but a myriad of needs kept cropping up to soak | | | | home with three starter clumps. Before leaving, I |
| up any available money. A trip to the local plant | | | | took a few pictures of his fields and some |
| nursery put us in shock when we added up the | | | | individual blossoms he had self propagated. I later |
| cost of perennials, mulching and proper bricks for | | | | made a set for him to keep. One low growing |
| the borders. I would search the want ads for | | | | beauty sported forty blooms on each stalk |
| bargain lots of building materials, garden tools, | | | | (opening one per day) in tones of deep ruby red. |
| mowers and fertilizer with much success. When | | | | Another met the dawn in diamond dusted |
| people move, they don't want to weigh down the | | | | five-inch-wide flowers in ivory and shell pink, |
| moving van with old tools and bags of fertilizer. | | | | showing an apple green center. A third boasted |
| They practically give them away.The one thing | | | | four inch blooms in a true lemon yellow.The |
| people would never part with are their perennials. | | | | following summer, I received a call from the |
| Plants and trees are quite visible to the new | | | | farmer. He informed me that he had sold his farm |
| owners and they usually expect that they go with | | | | land to a developer and had already bought ten |
| the house. My whole winter was spent browsing | | | | acres twenty miles further west. He had |
| the catalogs for hosta, iris, roses, and especially | | | | removed all he needed to seed the new day lily |
| day lilies. Available in mouth-watering shades, | | | | farm but was forced to leave hundreds of |
| these new hybrid day lilies come in different | | | | mature plants. The bulldozers were slated to start |
| heights and plant habit. Some are good for along a | | | | preparing the land for the new development the |
| fence, other make good border plants, each | | | | following week and if I would like, I could help |
| clump doubling in size every year. Unlike the road | | | | myself to any number of plants for my garden. I |
| side day lilies that grow to four feet tall, bloom | | | | almost dropped the phone in excitement. Here |
| only briefly, and send out root runners to take | | | | was presented to me the most desirable |
| over the rest of the garden, the hybrids are | | | | flowering perennials I could dream of for our |
| garden friendly. Unfortunately, a grouping of three | | | | garden! Free!! I thanked him and spent the next |
| roots cost about eight dollars, sending the cost of | | | | three days digging, boxing, and transporting the |
| the needed plants into the hundreds of dollars.One | | | | day lilies. The next July Fourth we had a barbecue |
| day, in a conversation with a local nursery owner, | | | | party in the back yard. Ringing the gentle curves |
| he revealed the source of some of his day lilies. | | | | of the brick borders bloomed forty varieties of |
| The farmer lived in a nearby town and grew day | | | | hybrid day lilies, glorifying our new garden and |
| lilies for a living. Some intense research turned up | | | | warming our hearts.Retired portrait photographer |
| his address and I paid him a visit. Presented with | | | | now lives in a townhouse. |