Marietta Gardens - My First Mail-Order Daylilies!

July 2007

When the daylily bug bites, it bites HARD! I became a daylily addict due to all of my buddies over on the Garden Web Daylily Forum. They are such BAD enablers! Even though it was the middle of July - in TEXAS, somehow I decided I just HAD to have daylilies - and NOW!!! So, I did a ton of research on where to buy my daylilies, since no where around where I live actually grows them (unless you count a 4 hour drive as close). I decided to go with Marietta Gardens, since I had read such glowing reviews of their service and their plants. I emailed Faye Shooter, and she was so great about responding quickly concerning the availability of the daylilies that I requested. I wanted to get the following: Baby Blue Eyes Cousin Jewel Caribbean Twilight Time Changing Latitudes Itty Bitty Blue

Mokan Butterfly

Palace Garden Beauty Pancho Villa Royal Harmony Riders of the Storm Unvanquished Stargate Explosion

So, I placed my order and a few days later, a huge box came with all my lovelies!

Here they all are unpacked and in a tub of water to rehydrate: When the order came, there was a beautiful bonus plant of Catnap Blue inside!! Boy was I excited, because when I listed possiblilites of bonus plants, that one was on the top of the list!

I immediately planted all my new babies, and put them under shade cloth to protect them from the blazing Texas summer sun.

Although I took utmost care NOT to overwater, and to keep them in the shade, some of the new babies did not fare so well... I think shipping/planting in the middle of summer is a mistake! By the begining of October, I had lost Changing Latitudes, Mokan Butterfly, Palace Garden Beauty, Riders of the Storm and Royal Harmony. :o( Very sad days for me. I contacted Faye @ Marietta Gardens and she was very kind about offering to replace the cultivars that I had lost. She said that when I placed another order next year, she would ship replacements for those that I had lost, or that I could pay for the shipping for the replacements. Since I knew I was going to make another order, I chose to wait until next spring, when planting was better!

Even today, some of those babies that I planted during the summer are still not doing quite as well as newer additions to the garden. I have yet to see blooms on Catnap Blue and Itty Bitty Blue. From experience, now I find that in my zone fall planting works out best.

Thankfully, with my spring order 08, some of my casualties got replaced.

Palace Garden Beauty got replaced, but as an accident by Maryott's - they sent it to me as a lovely bonus!!

Mokan Butterfly, the second time around is doing a little better. Still a very poor grower for me. I only got two buds this spring, but it was a brand new plant. I am hoping that this fall and winter she will take hold and put out a magnificent show next year. Cousin Jewel bloomed in 2008, but then promtly died. It was never a strong grower for me, which is too bad, because it was just lovely. I am thinking on replacing this one.

Changing Latitudes got replaced with my spring order from Marietta Gardens. Seems to be holding its own now, so I am crossing my fingers for the best.

I finally got a scape on Stargate Explosion this spring, which only had three buds on it. But once it bloomed, it was breathtaking! I have since moved this plant out to a different bed, as it seemed to be struggling along where it was. Hopefully next spring, we will see many more blooms!

Caribbean Twilight Time - such a beautiful flower! But the plant is growing very slowly, and has very small fans. Baby Blue Eyes - A cute little darling, and it bloomed its heart out this spring. I can't wait to see it next year!

Pancho Villa - A very tall and hard plant. This is the one that has been doing the best since it got here. I just love the unique eyezone on this one. Unvanquished - this plant really struggled along, and I almost lost it. But now it has come back from a single fan and made a new baby, so I am hopeful that is has established a good root system and will continue to multiply and bloom! It has a fantastic white shark tooth edge! That is Circle of Secrets in the background looking so cute!!

Marietta's sent me a replacement for Royal Harmony, but it definately was not the right plant... so I am still in quest to try and obtain her. Hopefully I will get it with another one of my Marietta orders!!

Here is what came marked as Royal Harmony:

When I asked Faye what she thought this was, she said they had mislabeled a whole row of this cultivar, and that she thought it was an introduction that came from Mort Morss. I was thinking it could be Tropical Seashell or Stranger Than Paradise???