This week we travel to Sycamore, Georgia with the hybridizing program of Tim Bell.

Tim Bell was born in Tifton, Georgia, and has lived in Sycamore, Georgia all his life. He was raised on his family’s farm where they grew peanuts and raised cattle. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a degree in horticulture, Tim began hybridizing daylilies as a hobby in the early 1980’s. In 1986 he purchased land and started Bell’s Daylily Garden. Here he designed a large formal garden which includes a variety of trees, shrubs, perennials and daylilies covering approximately 3 ½ acres with views to a 6 ½ acre pond. His wife Linda and three children, Jessica, Rachel and Jared, share his passion for gardening and daylilies.

From the beginning Tim focused on hybridizing daylilies not only known for being exceptional in the garden, but also proved themselves in exhibitions. Tim’s first introductions registered in 1995 were Lottie Moon and Tribute to Praise. Mercy Drops registered in 1996 was awarded an AHS Achievement Medal, the first of many to be awarded to a Bell seedling in daylily exhibitions. The second Achievement Medal won in 1999 was for a seedling Tim named in memory of his father, Samuel Bell. In 2001 Tim received the Georgia Hybridizer of the Year Award for Samuel Bell (1999).



Since 1999 AHS Achievement Medals have been awarded to at least one of Tim’s seedlings each year for a total of 24 medals from 1999 to 2011. In 2012 seven Bell seedlings were each awarded the Achievement Medal, a record making achievement. These seven have been registered as Ice Carving (2012), Morning Snowfall (2012), O Glorious Day (2012), Debbie Nichole Cox (2012), Water of Life (2012), Prince of Persia (2012) and Never Ending Grace (2012). Tim received the Ophelia Taylor Horticulture Award in 2005 for displaying an entry of five different registered cultivars with each scoring the required 95 points or above from three Senior Exhibition Judges.

Awards from garden judges have been equally favorable for his cultivars acknowledging their beauty and performance in the garden. Samuel Bell (1999), with a 2002 Honorable Mention, was the first of Tim’s introductions to be awarded for garden performance by judges. Known for its beautiful blooms and performance in many regions, Symphony of Praise (2003) was awarded an HM in 2006 and went on to a 2010 Award of Merit. In 2012 Indian Feathers (2008), Loafin in Lahina (2008) and Rain Frog (2008) each received an Honorable Mention Award bringing the total to 33 HM’s for cultivars hybridized by Tim Bell.

To find out more about the daylilies hybridized by Tim Bell visit his website
http://www.bellsdaylilygarden....

A few images from the ATP database.....

Depths of My Heart (Bell 2008)



Healing Rain (Bell 2008)



Pharaoh’s Daughter (Bell 2008)

Tim was our bus captain for the garden tour at the most recent Region 5 spring meeting -- he's a funny, funny guy. I bought Loafin' in Lahina as a bargain plant at our Winter regional meeting, and he was giving away DFs of Linda Bell as prizes on the tour bus, so I that one now, too. I have a hunch I have a few more Bells in my garden, but those are the 2 I know off the top of my head.

Checked my Flowers programs to see how many Bells are in the garden. There are seven Crown of Life, Donna's Prayer, Eyes of a Child, Kings Favor, Mountains Bow Down, Sister of Praise and Symphony of Praise.

Here is a photo of Donna's Prayer


And another favorite Kings Favor no pictures of the others yet.


When I placed a order with them I think it was two years ago Tim called to inform me they were out of one that I wanted and let me pick another. Listening to his pure southern drawl was very nice not to mention great customer service since my order was not large.


Eyes of a Child bloomed recently


Mountains Bow Down bloomed recently a real beauty

I don't grow a huge number of Tim's but like those that grow here.
BESIDE STILL WATERS and ZIPPORAH:

VALDOSTA AGAIN and SAMUEL BELL

However, I've seen and admired many of his, particularly at the Valdosta convention.
Here are Daddy's Little Man and God Alone:

Daddy's Little Man is named after his son, Jared. I had the pleasure to meet all of the Bell children back at the Valdosta convention. When I was Awards Chair of AHS, Jessica and Jared served as runners when we presented the Awards. I got so tickled when I walked over to their table before the banquet and I overheard Tim reading Jared the riot act about his behavior while he would be taking awards to the tables. Their children are so well behaved,and the parents encourage the children with their gardening. Jared has won some show awards, and Jessica has won some AHS Scholarships and 4H Awards for some displays about daylilies. I commented to Jessica how much I appreciated her good manners in always saying, "Yes Ma'am" and mentioned that as a teacher, I didn't get that very often. Her response was, "Oh, we have no choice!" At any rate, Jared must have been about nine ( he must have been a bit of a live wire!) and he did perfectly fine until the banquet servers rolled a huge cart with desserts right into his line of vision as he had to take some awards out to people. He made a long ( and slow) detour around the dessert cart!! So funny. At any rate, the Bells garden IMHO, is one of the world class Display Gardens that any daylily lover should visit. Can't resist throwing in a few images from his garden. I took dozens, these are just a few. If you ever have the chance to visit this garden ( and haven't seen it) please do it!



HAZEL BELL and HENRIETTA MCINTYRE.

LOVE IS DEEP and KAANAPALI COAST:

And one of my favorites, SYCAMORE FRUIT PUNCH along with a seedling of his that I admired:


And here's Tim:


Weirdly, the pictures show up correctly on my laptop, but the picture of Zipporah shows up incorrectly on my I-Pad. Very strange!!

Lovely garden photos, Julie.

I have one, Lady Bear Bryant

What beautiful tranquil gardens ! I only have one of Tim's flowers, Symphony of Praise, but it is a beautiful voluptuous pink with a great scape . I remember Tim speaking at the winter symposium in Cleveland OH probably in '07 or '08 and seeing him out in the parking lot that evening, snowballs abounded as it was the first time he had seen snow !

I didn't recognize the name, but look at his web site often. Purchased 'A Few Good Men' this spring. Can't wait for it to bloom. Love the clarity of colour and details of Tim Bell's Daylilies.

Love this series.

I only have Sweet Dixie, but I love it

Sycamore Fruit Punch is awesome looking!

Beautiful pictures of the Bell's Gardens. It looks so inviting

I also have Justin Paul, which I didn't realize was one of Tim's until just today. Last year, one of our club members brought a whole bunch of Justin Paul DFs to our meeting and gave them away. I posted that on our facebook page back then, and this morning/last night a lady posted that Tim had named that one in memory of her late son.

Here are some of my Bells:

NIGHT OF MIRACLES


ONCE UPON A DREAM


ZIPPORAH


Debra in Nashville

Oh my, that Once Upon a Dream is gorgeous!!!!

Love that NIGHT OF MIRACLES! Love watermarks, bicolors and narrowish forms so no surprise there.... Our club had Tim as a speaker last winter. He was great fun. He does an auction to cover his costs so doesn't cost the 'club' anything. I ended up getting 5 of his daylilies at great prices! Hopefully they will do well for me. The one's I got at the auction are LITTLE GIGGLES (bloomed for me and I love it so far!), VALDOSTA AGAIN, SYCAMORE FRILLS, COW BIRD and BUTTERFLY MOON. I'm looking forward to seeing them bloom! Other plants of his that I grow are

BUTTERFLIES AND RAINBOWS


HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM


ANGEL OF PEACE--New last summer so I don't have a photo yet.

Ann - Both of those are really nice ones!

I only have 2. Annie Armstrong and Wendy Mosley

I don't have any of Tim's daylilies here and have been admiring all the images of the ones everyone else has. His purples, Beside Still Waters and Henrietta Mcintyre, such rich color. The eyes and patterns....Once upon a Dream has so much going on with it's color, I bet it is stunning in a clump. I was hoping someone would have images of his garden to post, absolutly gorgeous, Thank you Julie!

This has been a crazy busy week, trying to get things done in the garden before scapes come up. I have not only enjoyed the images you've all posted, but also the comments. Thank you for posting them and helping us all get to know these wonderful hybridizers a bit better.

I checked and, sure enough, one of my favorite daylilies, Kingdom Border (2003) is one of his:



another view:



I purchased it in late 2011 and was a little disappointed when it failed to send up a scape in 2012 (it did triple in fan count, though). However, it has more than made up for it this year as it has proven itself to be a blooming machine!! The flowers are larger here than registered and the fans are increasing at a 2.5 times rate. Well worth the wait!!

Kingdom Border looks awesome! That fan increase rate is very good:)

I do not have any of these Bell daylilies but I sure to want some now. They are so pretty, great pictures.

I do have Tim's 'Justin Paul' in my garden, and love it. Will post a picture when it blooms in the next week.