Volunteers

First, before I go into volunteers, those wonderful surprises blown from errant seeds into carefully-planned beds, bringing blips of startling color to monochrome swaths, here is the plan: the top half of the daylily bed lining the driveway is orange and yellow Frans Hals, named for the cheerful dutch painter; and the bottom half is yellow hyperion-like Dover.  A simple balance of spectacular color that grows denser, more intense, each July.   

And then, as you scroll down the picture below, you'll see the errant bit of purple loose-strife, then the nodding black-eyed susan, and then the crowning glory: two "Raspberry-parfait" (a daylily expert tells me) lilies at the bottom.  Don't know where they came from, but what a delight!  I used to pull volunteers out to maintain the integrity of my beds, but now I feel the opposite: they're the glory of the garden.  Why?  Maybe I'd just rather not work as hard, just take more weeding time to stare and marvel.  Feels better. 

Comments

[Tabor]

You are blessed. Some of us just let things go and we get weeds!!!

[Lori]

Oh, that's so lovely. Whenever I see orange daylilies, I think of summer vacation when I was a kid in Wisconsin. :)

[joared]

What a delightful spread of color. Like your attitude toward your volunteers. What will next year bring?

[Cowtown Pattie]

Gorgeous flowers, ML! I don't know what they're called, but we have some lillies that are maroonish purple with a gold throat. Really pretty, but we only have a couple in the midst of the usual yellow ones.

[Terri]

Popping by to see what you're up to. It's been awhile!
Oh my goodness.......now THAT is a garden! You put my daylillies to shame. What a gorgeous, spectacular bed you have. All of your flower beds deserve to be in Better Homes & Gardens!
Hope all is going well with your book signings and promoting. Best to you.......

[Garden Lily]

What a beautiful stretch of daylilies, and I agree that the odd flowers mixed in give it character. I often see plant arrangements in nature which look so natural and so well-placed, that I think that God is a far better gardener than we are. But I still like to try to do my part in arranging, too.