Quick intro- my son has joined the NGA community... He has taken to flowers like a duck to water this summer. I'm delighted to have his company and enthusiasm in our gardens...

We don't allow Facebook or other social media sites, so this is his first online community. I hope he will be as responsible for his actions here as he has been in the gardens this year.

FYI: He has an autism spectrum disorder- and he's a pretty amazing teen.

And yeah, he has the early stages of daylily-itis...

You have inspired, a new generation, and gained a partner in daylilies.
I have a feeling, your son will do great, and make lots of friends.

Have a Blessed Evening!
Karen

Karen, thanks for the blessing : )
He has become a really neat young man. I look forward to watching him continue to develop as a person and a daylily addict

Your so Welcome! Thank You for spreading the addiction, to the younger generation.

Does your son have a favorite form of daylily yet? Or is he like me, and likes all of them? It's fun, seeing what others enjoy in daylilies.

I tried to get my son into daylilies. He ran around pollinating like crazy for 2 years, and loved it, then along came video games. Now, I can hardly get him out of the house, because he can't see the IPad in the sun. I have hopes, he'll return to the garden someday. Learn from my mistake, Don't let this happen to your partner in daylilies.

I look forward to seeing your son post pictures of his hard work, and beautiful blooms. He obviously has good taste, he likes daylilies. You might have the upcoming top daylily breeder living with you, you never know. Enjoy every minute, and take pictures of the 2 of you, not just the pretty blooms, your building great memories together.

Have a Blessed Day
Karen
Big Bird

Wow Diane! You are so BLESSED! I would love to have a son, nephew, daughter, or niece to love daylilies and hybridizing as much as I do. It would be so nice to share the interest and hobby (and addiction) with a young person. It is so wonderful to see their drive and energy as well as feel that with them. Hope he can help you out with some of the garden chores as well.

Karen, he's currently outside trying to pollinate petunias He has a small collection of 5 daylilies so far, with no pattern I can see. He has King of Hearts, Tropical Passion, Aztec Gold, and I can't recall the other two. None of them are blooming yet, but I know he has plans. : )

We built a raised bed together yesterday- thank you for the reminder to take pictures- famly photography has fallen off since we don't print them anymore...

My kids don't get much screen time, only my high schoolers and older have cell phones and we pretty much force them outside for a minimum of an hour a day. You'd think it was a daily jail sentence... We're trying to keep them engaged in real life and the outside world. So far, so good.

May your weekend be blessed (and at least 3 days!)


Alabama Jubilee with Heavenly Angel Ice cross, Sun Bear and others...

Karen (Kousa) he has grown up so much in the last year- we're seeing more young man and it is so much fun to witness his personal growth. The boy we lived through was difficult so often- I just look at him now and say, to borrow a line, WOW!

He has made three of his own garden beds this year and yesterday we built a raised limestone bed. Took us 4+ hours and it was fun to work with him.
I posted a picture of it in the "what are you doing in your daylily garden" thread... Not able to swap tabs to get the link or this page will reset and I'll never get this posted...

Only have five others to try to infect with daylilies!

Your son sounds so wonderful, Diana! I am so glad to hear that he has changed for the better esp. with ASD. I have a 10 year old son with ASD so I know what it is like. These kids have so many sensitivity issues. Hope that my kid will turn out like yours and develop an addiction and/or passion for gardening and/or daylilies.

Well, you just never know! He may breed a new special strain of petunias!

That's wonderful, your son is breeding Petunias, he won't have to wait years to see a his creations.

My son will get out of the house to go on hikes, or fly his drone. It's work, he's allergic to. He has to earn his screen time, by reading a book, or doing a page of math worksheets, before he can earn screen time. I' told, I'm a mean mom.

Your son has a great start to his collection. Can I trade you kids for a week? I need some beds built. Just kidding, I'd miss my little man. I think it's awesome, your son is helping build new beds. It shows he's not allergic to work. Your son will do great, gardening might be the outlet your son has needed to express himself.

Have a Blessed Day!
Karen

Karen (Kousa) my son went thru the sensitivity issues, the freak outs if his schedule changed, not being able to eat or drink things because of the texture, all of it. I feel you....I hope your son also finds a way to adjust to his over stimulating world.

I think any passion your young one develops is a good thing! Bonus for you if it happens to be gardening! For a long time, vacuum cleaners were my kid's big thing...

I think he's only breeding petunias b/c his DL's aren't flowering yet
If he does breed something, I'm sure he and I will both post his creations!

Karen (Taylordaylily) he is already talking about starting his crosses in the basement next winter... And I'm a mean mom too!homework in the summer, chores, consequences that included gross or dirty work.

If I hadn't forced him and his sisters to go outside (and stay outside!), I'm sure he'd be a lot different.

I will say that he's always liked to clean the house, except his room of course... And he'd be glad to come work for you. He has grasped the concept of hard work= big rewards. And he's enjoying his new found outlet. He cleaned out another problem area today while his sisters and I went swimming. What a kid!

Diana so excited for you and your son. you'll have to let us know what he goes by
And it sounds like you're a great mom

Ginny, he is SonofShakespeare thanks for the kudos. I try to be a good mom- like everything else, some days I get an A, some days I'm barely passing!

My grown daughter and I share a passion for gardening. It is nice to have something that we both love and that we can share.

It sounds like we have some great Moms on this forum. My daughter grew up before the advent of computers, cell phones, etc. I can't imagine trying to navigate all that with a teenager. My grand daughter is just turning 13, so I will see it all play out with her, but I am not on the front lines of that.

I'm now trying to incorporate as many grandchildren as possible to be interested in gardening and plants. So far I have 4 out of 14 interested at different levels My one grandson that just graduated from HS, after helping me and my DD over the years says his yard will be cement

Sometimes I threaten to do that here!

Diana. It sounds like, your passing with flying colors. We're always our own harshest critics, it's part of being a mom, I guess.

Valerie, You give us all hope, of inflicting daylily addiction in our families.

Ginny, Sounds like you'll be buying large containers for your grandson, for his cement yard.

That would require watering taylordaylily so he'll need stone statues of flowers

Perfect, He'd have blooms all year, and no insect damage.

And no worrying about when to divide, fertilize...