Gentle Ed

This post title is not some declaration of the true character my inner self but is the varietal name of a plant.  The flower is somewhat understated.  Its petals are short and rounded with barely visible ruffled edges.  A yellow eye spot sharply contrasts with maroon petals but is controlled.  White midribs strongly anchor the petals.  When searching the catalogs for new plants, I must admit that this name was a strong factor in my choice.

Elegant Candy was never selected for purchase here.  A visit to a local one man breeding operation placed me in contact with a huge pot of an expensive and much desired plant.  Its price was more than reasonable but when we returned home the pot's contents of three plants became obvious.  One was the named plant while the other two were these.  Strong ruffles and a vigorous growth habit contribute to my feelings of having purchased a bargain but a sense of having been slickered lingers.

Blueberry Candy was clearly chosen.  Pale peach ruffled petals sharply contrast with the purple eyespot.  This plant is well proportioned with the smaller flowers matching a mid-sized plant.  Dreams of a large Daylily bed persist but deer relish their flower buds.  A fenced large bed would look horrible and the deer would simply jump the fence to get to the buds.  Urine sprinkled on the ground keeps the deer away but the desired garden would be close to the public road.

Indian Giver is the horrible name of this beautiful flower.  It is offered for sale at $50.00 or more and may be well worth that price but I am slow to part with that much money.  This was the third plant purchased with Elegant Candy.  It has grown large enough to divide but I remain reluctant to hack apart a plant this beautiful.  Here we have more white ruffled edges on purple petals.

Ivory Edges is a rather obvious name for this stunning flower.  An exploding eyespot close to clearly defined ruffled edges makes a statement that can be easily seen from some distance away.  More than three dozen Daylilies grow here and I sometimes wonder what will become of them when I am elsewhere.  These plants hold their own against the weeds and would likely expand over a decade of no care.

Yellow Chiffon looks a little beat by mid afternoon on a cloudless hot July day.  Many mail order businesses offer a free plant with orders.  Usually these plants were unique enough to obtain varietal names but failed to gain wide acceptance.  This plant is modest in size and the flowers fade early in the day.  It arrived here hiding a horrible secret in its root mass.  A never before seen  sedge soon grew from the daylily root mass.  We have been diligently weeding it out for years but it remains an ever present wandering pest.  The triangular stem of that pest reminds us of the free plant with a secret that just keeps on giving.