As today is Veteran's Day, and as a veteran myself, I guess it is a good day to begin plans for my theme bed - Military. I am going to set up the bed this fall, and try lasagna gardening in it. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. I have lots of leaves to put in it, problem is, I need the 'green' stuff to layer it, but my best friends own a dairy, I think hay will substitute for that. I am not sure how it will all go, or if it will be ready to plant next year, but that's OK. I am also not sure how soon I will get this off the ground, it may be a work in progress for several years.

Looking on the AHS database, there are a lot of ways I can go with this. But there are also a lot of daylilies that may be military related, but are not identified as such (named after someone, or a battle I am not familiar with, etc) I am not limiting myself to any particular war.

I already own Sergeant Major - this theme bed has been percolating in the back of my head for a while. I also see that there are several of Mick Morry's WWI themed ones on the auction - I am thinking hard about bidding on the Somme. Any other suggestions & thoughts? remember, I am in south central Wisconsin, labeled as zone 5, but at times I am not so sure of that!

I have no problem taking the time to search these out, as I said I expect this to be a long time work in progress. Thank you all for taking the time to help me with this,. and giving me ideas of what cultivars to seek out. ~Jan ("On the 11 hour, on the 11th hour, of the 11th month")

Jan, it may be year after next before it increases enough to pull off a fan, but I would like to send a Joshua Cullins to you for the Military bed. Given the theme, your veteran's status, and your family's contributions, I think Josh's family would like that. Just like the military, he'd be covering the country. At his home in California; here in the Dallas area and down south of me by Austin; over in Alabama, and up in Wisconsin. Pretty fair distribution, eh? And you can eventually tell me how it does in that zone. (Hybridizer is in Danville, IL.) What do you think?

I would LOVE a fan of it. It means a lot to me. My eyes are seeping just appreciating the chance to have one named after a hero.

By the way, I am trying to choose between bidding on Passchendael, Givenchy or The Somme. All are purples, if anyone has any of these, how do you like them? ~Jan

Still trying to wade through a ton of photos - I know I have photos of these but could not easily find them.
Two that come to mind are
Stealth Bomber, Enola Gay - Curt Hanson
Delta Force - Jamie Gossard
Jerry Hyatt - named for my brother who died in VietNam (and all veterans who have served our country)
Pearl Harbor - Bob Carr

A few years back, I helped a friend who is a veteran gather names for a military bed - these are from the list I got from asking AHS Robin members for suggestions....
Anzac, which is an older daylily, is an acronym for Australian New Zealand Army Corps
Firestorm
Eyes Right Jones ( Nan Wilkerson-it has a war story to go along with it: http://beebayoudaybloomers.com... - not sure if this link is still valid)
Patriotic Flavor
Heartbreak Ridge (Heartbreak Ridge was a famous spot in Korea for a battle that took place there. Note from Margo -"Margo Reed here. I have plenty of HEARTBREAK RIDGE, If you
would like some. I named it after a little road near here in a "holler" (hollow) that some of our school families live in. But if you want it to be related to the Korean War, go for it. " -- I imagine the road was named for the battle ridge.)
Admiral's Braid
Admiral
Colonel Joe
Sidewinder Oh Seven (not sure if I have spelling right on this)
War Declared
General Colin Powell - named by Bob Carr but may not have been introduced.
Inchon - named for the Korean War battle

This list is great, thanks! And I have Firestorm, hadn't thought of it in the military context. And yes, ones like Jerry Hyatt are some of the ones I am looking forward, named after hero's, but ones I wouldn't actually be able to find in an AHS search. it's those back stories that are important. ~Jan

Jan, if I had any extra Jerry, I would send you some! I split my clump up last spring to give the extra to Curt as he was very low on it. So I only have a couple fans.

I found a few photos.

Delta Force - I grew this one for a while, but sent it to my friend for her military bed.


Stealth Bomber -- one of my favorites! I love the pinching it shows.


this one is really old - it has been a long time since I grew Pearl Harbor, and the digital cameras back then were not nearly what they are today. It did well here, though!

Jan, I do have some extra Jerry Hyatt, and I'll send you some in the spring. Please remind me! I also have Delta Force, but I haven't had it as long, so I need to go out and see how many fans are there. I'll send that, too, if it's big enough.

Lisa

Lisa, did you get Delta Force from me? When I posted that I sent it to my friend, I was thinking - hmm... I thought I kept a piece after sending to Dusty... but looked at my list and it was not on there. I could not think who else I would have given it to. Doesn't matter - you know I like sharing plants with you... it just drove me nuts for a bit trying to think where it went. As soon as you posted, I thought **bingo**

For those that don't know, Lisa and I live about an hour apart. She has a LOVELY garden - fantastic peony collection also!

Yes I did get it from you, Juli. It is in the daylily jungle way too close to our north fence. I was probably backed up against the fence when I took this picture:

Good! I was not using it and had grown it a few years. I know you have a lot of Gossards.

One of the people to whom I have allocated a daylily is relinquishing her place in line. Said to give it to you because she'd only pot it up to keep it from the deer. She initiated the whole thing with her DG prayer request last year, so I will get one to her later--promise. Means I should have a fan ready to ship late next Spring iffen yew'd be ready. Will check back with you then to make sure.

Oh my gosh, thanks! That is so generous of you! I am just developing my DL, but perhaps in the spring I can send you a list of what I have, and you can let me know if you want anything in return.

Meanwhile, today I went and dropped off some things at the vet clinic the next town north. And decided to go to Subway & grab lunch & dinner while I was in that town (my little town has no fast food, and those $5 footlongs make for2 great meals) Driving into town, I saw their just opened Veteran's Memorial across the river. I quickly made a right turn and went and visited it. It is not quite done, but they had the dedication yesterday. Gorgeous! I was talking to the guys there, because it is not landscaped either. Told them what I was doing with my military bed. Hopefully it put some "bugs" in their ears what to plant around the memorial when it is finished. If nothing else, I made them think! I will try to post a photo or two of it later this evening.~Jan

To all of you doing this.I think it is absolutely wonderful. I have a request and if it does not fit you can turn me down and I will not be hurt. My dad's nickname was Bud and I bought Hey Bud in Memory of him. He spent 5 years in the Army and 3 of those in the jungle of New Guinea. He was very quite about his time there until he was close to Heaven. Come to find out he had an Appendicitis attack and had to walk about 23 miles out of the jungle and there were no anesthetics so had it removed with nothing. A lot of horrible things happened in WW2 that he saw. A lot I still don't know. He was an extremely proud, competent, intelligent and loving man. He loved his family fiercely and his country and never wanted to leave it again to travel abroad. If I sent it along with a Placard with a short explanation can you use it. Please do not feel you have to as if it does not fit in I don't want to mess things up.

Stephanie, I checked with the folks at Amargia Garden in Alabama. It is a community garden for people with various impairments, and the TAB--Temporarily Able Bodied. They have wheelchair accessible gardens, fragrance gardens for the visually impaired, and a whole bunch of other stuff going on. Jim is a retired 20 year service vet, too. He is putting in an "Old Soldier's Garden" along with the other beds and gardens. I'm sending him a fan of Joshua Cullins. He'd be proud to find a place for Hey Bud if you wanted to send a fan to them. I can tree mail their address. DG user IDs are kudzu1 (Kay) and seacanepain (Jim)

I would absolutely LOVE Hey Bud. I love the story too. This is the type of daylily I am looking for - not the obvious military one, but those with the story behind them. ~Jan

PS- I am tracking Eyes Right Jones it is on the LA right now

I will dig it up in the Spring and send you some Jan. Will see how much there is and Will contact one of the ones you mentioned Debra. I will contact them thru DG. I am glad to share it with those that appreciate what it's meaning is to someone else.

The basic idea of Green Amber Gardens is to do something garden-related to remember those who served in any capacity. That concept is one of the reasons I love this idea of Jan's to put in a military themed bed at her home.

As soon as I first posted on this thread, I wrote Lisa about it (1lisac on DG who posted the original prayer thread for Josh) and something started percolating in the back of my brain. THENNNNNN, I read Jan's post about stopping at the Veteran's Memorial. THENNNNN, I had another light bulb moment. Never intended to grow the Joshua Cullins daylily for commercial sale. But what if it does well, increases a lot, and I contact military and law enforcement themed gardens and memorials to share it with THEM? Then Josh's family will have even more places to think of him in a forward way. And I am sideways spreading the Green Amber idea! It is endlessly fascinating to me to see how one person's action can spark an entire armada of new ideas.

Thank you Jan and Stephanie

What a wonderful idea.

I bid on Eyes Right Jones by the way.

Well, I won Passchendaele from Possum Hollow, but now there are 2 additional bids on Eyes Right Jones.... Don't they know they are not supposed to out bid me?