You have some lovely gardens Brian!!!

Beautiful photos and welcome Jean & Brian!

We don't just encourage here, we ENABLE. ~Jan

Ok a little about me. I've been gardening all my life. At first when I was in elementary school it was just helping my Pappy in his huge veggie garden. (I swear it was 2 city lots, that neighbors let him plant on. ) He fed most of the neighborhood. Then When I got into 4-H I had gardens of my own. I had a 100 square foot veggie garden that was mine to take care of and flower gardens too. I must have been around 10 or 11 then. My little sister had her own veggie and flower gardens to take care of as well. I live with my parents 30+ years later and the veggie garden has dropped down to just tomatoes, peppers, leaf lettuce, zucchini and a cucumber plant for Mom. The flower beds have grown to well over 5,000 square feet of mixed perennial/ shrub beds Though the daylilies are rapidly taking over. I think I'm up to over 350 named cultivars and have 50 or so seedlings. I have daffs, crocus and bulb alliums throughout. I keep a few true lilies that I just love, but only a few since I am deathly allergic to their pollen or scent. Not sure which it is since I can't get close to them when they bloom or my windpipe closes up. So I just admire them from afar. I refuse to remove them all together, they are so pretty. I love to have more Iris but since the Iris borer is rampant here I only keep a few old heirloom ones. My sister took most of my Iris to her place up in the mountains and they do great for her. I'm jealous, since most of hers were mine. I have many butterfly bush, weigelia, spirea, Japanese Maples and a beautiful Japanese Snowbell(Styrax Japonica for those interested in the Latin name.) There are a few shrub roses here and several large serbian spruce too. I have a few hosta in the shade of those. We also keep herbs in pots near our grill on the patio. I love to cook and I gotta have my Thyme, chives, parsley and Basil.

Oh yea and I'm a crazy cat lady! I have 17 spoiled rotten kitties that I adore. They really have it good here. They have numerous cat trees and just about every toy from petsmart and petco.
Some shots from last byears garden.


and a few of my kitties From left to right: Kibbles, DC, & Tomiko

Your gardens are beautiful and your cats are adorable!!!

Kim, love your garden pics.

17 cats? Holy moly! They must cost you an arm and a leg to feed! But, oh, so much company! Inside cats?

Brian, lovely, lovely house and gardens.

Thank you, everyone, for the histories and for the photos.

Hi Kim! Hard to say which are prettier, your gardens or your kitties. Both are wonderful.

Beautiful gardens and love your kitties

Bobbi, I spend more on my kitties and my daylilies than anything else. I live in old t-shirts and jeans, I never go to the movies (except of course to see Puss in Boots ) and I don't go shopping. Unless you count petsmart or Daylily gardens! Yes they are indoor cats. They rule the roost and they know it. Feeding them really isn't the big expense, the Vets is. They are all fixed and get their shots and yearly checkups, minimun. I have a great vet who does give me some discounts and help where she can. I forgot to mention I also read sci-fi and vampire stuff, and i occassionally paint when my studio is not the cluttered mess it is right now Thanks all for the nice comments.

Welcome everyone. Beautiful plants, beds and photos. We have lots of fun and manage to learn something in the process.

Blessings to all, Mona

Brian, your garden is beautiful, I can see that you have put many hours of labor and love into it.

Kim, we are cat people too. People ask us how many cats we have, and I usually say, "I don't know." Cats take up here. If they are tame, I take them to the vet for spaying/neutering and shots. If wild, they can stay and eat all their meals as long as they don't beat up on the other cats. We have three that stay inside all the time and two that are in and out. The rest are outside. I am trying to go through the outside cats and think there are about 10 that we claim. They do not become our cats until we spend money on them at the vet. So, I guess that makes us about 15 cats at this time. I did not count Toby who took up here several years ago. We thought he had died until months later he showed up one day and left again. He must have taken up residency at a neighbor's house and comes to visit and eat every once in awhile now.

Doris

lilylady said:"Brian, a weed? No sirree! Great foliage for long months. Just move a chunk someplace else.
So are you east, west, or north of Toronto? Do you know Maureen Strong? Great place to buy daylilies, east by an hour. I have visited with her. Good wine vineyards there too! Oh, I think David Engle is north. Nice gentle man, don't think he sells though but he has a couple of mine.

I've moved quite a few already and given away some as well. I've been getting a few others reproducing as well and last year found a few variegated seedlings from my variegated "Winter Queen" hellebore.


My garden is west of Toronto near Lake Huron. I don't know either Maureen Strong or David Engle. I've been looking at your website and would love to have some of your daylilies growing in my garden too!

Thank You Michele, Jean, Cindy, Jan and Margaret, I don't get to spend near enough time there.

Hi, I am Paul and just joined today. Sue Brown had asked me last month if she could use some of my photos on this site, and I agreed. It just took me "a round tuit" to join.

Photography has been a long-time hobby of mine, and when we started with daylilies crazily in the early 90s, I would take a lot of pictures of them. I am now more interested in photographing Birds and other wildlife, as well as scenics. But when our daylilies start blooming I will be out snapping in the early morning. I enjoy hybridizing but professional committments (that are now over) kept me from planting many of my seeds over the last several years. In fact, last year, I made only 200 seeds from 30 different crosses, using less pollen parents than that. In the late 90s, I used to grow about 5000 seedlings.

Anyway, I hope to find time to play in this forum, and look forward to hearing from you.

Hey, Paul! Bobbie here. WELCOME! You probably know Juli (mod) too.

I just got active here this past month. A friendly small group, kinda like the old mother forum when it first started.

Please share your garden pics, as well as daylily pics.

(yes, he is quite the photographer!)

Thanks so much for joining us, Paul -- and I will totally look forward to your pictures! People also share their seedling pictures with us, so we hope you will do that too! I have a small batch of seedlings myself (less than 200) that I just planted in December, and they're still small although large enough to put in 4" pots now. But I'm afraid I won't have any seedling pictures to share until next year. I'm interested in the toothy daylilies, the smalls/minis, and complex eye patterns -- and any resulting combination(s)!

I know I've seen your name on Bill Maryott's website -- I believe he sells the daylily bearing your name, and maybe it was one of Linda Agin's? Anyway, please don't be a stranger. We have a great little group here!

Paul, I'm glad you joined ATP and I'm sure you will love it here.

I am sure you will love it here. ATP is such a wonderful friendlly place.

Paul! I am not 100% sure we have met in person, but I know your nme from the AHS Robin.

Well, I just lost my reply when I tried to add a second image.

thanks to all for the welcomes!!!

I was on the AHS robin for a number of years since its early days. Now I just find time to scan the digest a few times a week.

There are pictures of some of my then promising seedlings from 2003-2007 on my website. Also, galleries to bird pictures, and even one from a trip to the Amazon that my son and I went on his last year in college.

http://www.shantihgardens.com/

Here is a seedling that I liked the last year. It is a sibling to my JENNINGS, if you want to look up the cross.

My profile picture is of the daylily that Linda Again named for me. It is taken in the shade and shows the colors more richly than the Introduction picture of it.