selling daylilys at planting fields

Spider Man

Blair and I spent both days of the weekend (not the one just ending now, but the last one) at Planting Fields Arboretum. The Arboretum was having its annual Arbor Day festival, and we were volunteering with LIDS to sell daylilies. I remember bringing the kids there for the festivities years ago.

Anyway, each day saw about a dozen LIDS members at our table, selling daylilies that came from LIDS' garden at Planting Fields or from members' gardens.

Point of View

One thing that was amazing was watching Blair selling daylilies. While I can answer (some) questions and conduct a sale, I'm not good at reaching out and getting potential customers interested. Blair, on the other hand, was quite capable. Whenever someone walked by and glanced at our booth, she went into action.

"Do you have a garden?"

If they answered yes and slowed down enough for her to engage them, she suggested that they need daylilies. "They're very hearty perennials, they love sun and water, but otherwise, it's set it and forget it."

It didn't always work, but it certainly helped increase interest and sales. And I suspect that there were some secondary effects. When she got people to come over and look, that probably attracted other people to come over and look.

Alaskan Midnight

For serious questions, Blair called over some of the more-expert members.

In the end, I wasn't really needed -- there were more than enough LIDS members to cover things. But I did buy a bunch of stuff and ended up bringing home a variety of daylilies to plant:

Spiderman (Durio, 1982)
When I saw that we were selling Spider Man, it was all I could do to avoid buying them all up right away. Spider Man is my favorite cultivar. Also, we have one specific clump of Spider Man in our backyard, marking the grave of Asher's first cat, who was named Spiderman. It seemed like a good idea to get some more of the cultivar, to fill things out. But I didn't really feel it was right to buy it up before the sale started. So I waited, and at the end of the day bought all that were left.

Point of View (Roberts-S., 1992)

Majestic Morning

I was attracted to Points of View because looks a lot like Spider Man, but it's taller (the scape height
is listed as 35 inches as compared to Spider Man's 24 inches). And it must have come by its looks honestly; according to the AHS database, Point of View was the result of a cross between Spider Man and Newberry Amaryllis. When there were three left I bought them -- three is enough to start a reasonable clump.
Of course, at the end of the day, when we were packing up and some people came by to see if they could still buy anything (ain't that always the way?), one lady saw the picture of Point of View and wanted it. Blair sold them two of the ones we had bought. So now we only have one. I hope the clump out on the fast side...

Alaskan Midnight (Porter-E., 1991)

Carolina Cranberry

Alaskan Midnight struck me -- based on the photo we had -- as a particularly attractive flower. I'm a sucker for the reds and purples, and this was
somewhere in between. I hope it takes.

Majestic Morning (Salter, 1990)
Majestic Morning isn't really one of my favorites, since I'm not really big on the pastels. Its color

Smith Brothers

description is "salmon pink blend with cream yellow halo above green throat." But there were a bunch of them that went unpurchased at the end of the weekend, and a good clump in one place in the front yard could look good. My one concern about this cultivar is that it's listed as a semi-evergreen. I'm not sure, but I seem to recall hearing somewhere that the semi-evergreens aren't as good with cold weather as the dormants. Of course, these were all taken from local gardens, so I figure they have to be hardy. Don't they?

Carolina Cranberry (Kennedy, 1980)
Another red. I'm not sure how we ended up buying this -- I don't remember buying it. But three of them are now in my yard.

Smith Brothers (Carr, 1982)
Not my favorite -- at least if the picture is an accurate representation. But...

Techny Peach Lace (Reckamp-Klehm, 1988)

Techny Peach Lace

Another one that's not one of my favorites, for the same reason as Majestic Morning. But we bought these, rather than let them go homeless. There is the added bonus that the AHS database lists these as fragrant. So few daylilies are fragrant, so it may be nice to have one that is. Also, with the light color, these might be tasty.