I had alot of great mentors when it came to gardening but I would have to say my father was the most influential. My father grew up on a farm in northern Michigan. At 18 he married my mother moved south to Flint and hired into General Motors. He never was far from his rural upbringing. We always had a large vegetable garden. He planted several apple trees along the border of the back yard. We had several flowering shrubs in the front yard and along the driveway was a long row of pink petunias.After he retired he moved back to northern Michigan and he always had a huge garden , a big patch of strawberries, and assorted perennials in the yard.My mother and him would go to Florida in the winter as several northern retirees do.There in Florida he always had tropical looking flowering shrubs ( I dont know what they were) and daylilies. I had never seen anything other than the old "Ditch Lilies". Thats how I became interested in daylilies. After returning from a visit to Florida to visit I started to search for daylilies and it didn't take long for it to become an addiction. I think he would be very proud of me today as I now have a small growers license and am doing some hybridizing. Hopefully some day I will have one worthy of giving it his name.
