2019 Tour Gardens
patsayers.plantfans.com (More pictures can be seen at: Whispering Hills Garden is located high in the hills of Huntington, on Long Island. Because of the higher elevation, I’m in the LI snow belt, and temperatures here are about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the Island. We’re usually zone 6 but last year’s low temperature was 9 below zero. Springs are difficult with freeze thaw cycles from March 1 thru May 22, with daytime temperatures up to 90 and nights below freezing. Because of this, my garden is a little later than the rest of the Island. I carved this garden, 17 years ago, from just over an acre of dense woods, using the existing understory of deutzia, euonymus and native viburnum and additional varieties, to create garden rooms of dappled shade. As the years have progressed, hurricanes and super storms have added sunny areas.
My style of gardening is lush, and overblown, much like a formal garden, gone just a little bit wild. I love the moving, swaying, swirling look that seems to happen when I use tall plants. But, the constant thru all of my garden is, that no matter what plant I grow, all of my colors are clean clear and bright. As I mentioned, my garden is a series of rooms, each different from the other. Some have formal geometric walkways accented with boxwood, as in the Daylily Walk. Others meander and wander thru perennial beds. The Rose Garden is circular, with a brick walkway winding thru it. It has a circle of daylilies in the center, where I can sit and enjoy the rest of my garden. There’s a Fernery overflowing with giant ostrich ferns, and behind it, the hush of the Fairy Circle, edged with stone benches, where it’s shady and quiet. My Friendship Garden is home to all the lovely gifts from my special friends.The Daylily Bedroom, a breeding room, is my special place to play, as I’ve been pollen dabbing since the mid 80’s. Here grow many plants, selected from over 50,000 seedlings planted over the years. They were originally lined out in trenches when I first moved here, and every year I choose a few and move them out, to be studied for introduction. A new bed has recently been added off the porch to display some of these, and my most recent as well as some future introductions are there. So, I hope you’ll all come and sit a spell on my porch, chat a bit, have some tea and scones or something cold, and wander thru my gardens. See you this summer. More pictures can be sen at patsayers.plantfans.com. |
Welcome to Imagine, the garden of Joan and Charlie Lundin. We are the original owners of our home and have lived here since 1971. Our half-acre landscape has changed numerous times over the past 48 years, emerging from a mostly treed area in the back to a thriving daylily garden encompassing the entire yard. Rocks abound at 25 Campus Drive – the glacier certainly slowed its journey here – very indicative of Long Island’s northern shore. Our terrain is quite sloped and consists of three levels in the rear yard.
Daylilies began to play a huge role in our garden in 1997 when my sister, Chris, gifted me with several ditch lilies, AKA Kwanzo. She was making room at her home for “fancy” daylilies that she was purchasing from someone on eastern Long Island. As I was reading the local newspaper, I discovered the Long Island Daylily Society Plant Sale at Old Westbury Gardens. Chris and I decided to give it a try. We were in for the shock of our lives! There were so many daylily lovers at the sale we had to wait for a parking space. Chris knew she wanted “lates”, whatever they were I had no idea, and of course, there were none to be found. It seemed that everyone wanted “lates”. We started looking at all the thousands of green plants in plastic bags with little descriptive tags on them. Neither of us had much money, so we decided to purchase a few and share them when they grew. Chris had used an old fashioned, wheel turning labeler to label her plants. I did not have the patience for that gizmo. She assured me we needed to have them labeled so we would remember what we had purchased. My son had just returned home from the Marines and gave me a marker that was supposed to last through any kind of weather. Not at 25 Campus Drive! You guessed it, the following spring none of the tags were legible and I had to tell Chris that I had no idea what was what. That error started a whole new gardening experience for me. Labeling became a priority. I bought a circular wheel label maker – very antiquated and laborious compared to what I use in 2018.
After four years of purchasing daylilies at the Long Island Daylily Society sales, chatting with the extremely knowledgeable and helpful members, and being asked very invitingly, every year, by Phyllis, the Membership Chairperson, to join LIDS, I finally decided to join. I had promised Phyllis that I would join when I retired because I would have more time. I do not believe in joining a group just for the sake of joining. I need to be an active member of whatever group I join. After four years of asking, Phyllis’ persistence paid off. She asked me if I had retired. I had, but I had no money left to join because I had spent it all on daylilies! Phyllis was not about to lose a new member. She said some of the many plants I had purchased were gifts, because I had bought so many, and used their cost to pay for my membership to LIDS and AHS. I was an official member of LIDS and AHS and was on my way to many new adventures with many new friends.
My huge organic vegetable garden was being overrun with organically grown daylilies and I loved them! The more daylilies I acquired the more I learned and the more I just had to have. I became tired of the green Pachysandra covered embankment near the pool and decided it could become a new garden filled with daylilies, hydrangeas, hostas and hardy Hibiscus. I now have fifteen mini gardens around the property, including a historic one, each with its own name and site map that I keep in a notebook. I also keep an Excel file of every daylily growing in my garden as well as its bloom date for the past ten years. In addition, I maintain an organic, successive garden as much as feasibly possible. Much to my displeasure, battling deer and voles can lead to the use of non-organic means. As for vegetables, I grow tomatoes in pots!
Each season is a new adventure. In late February, the Witch-hazel sends out its spidery blooms. Near the end of the cold, dreary days of winter, the sight of Iris Reticulata and Snowdrops popping their heads through the snow is a magical time indicating that spring, the most cherished season, is returning anew. The colorful explosion begins as a wide variety of Daffodils strut their showy splendor as do the Crocus, Alliums and Tulips. The 400+ daylilies, that share beds with perennials, bulbs, Hostas, and a variety of deciduous trees and shrubs, begin to emerge in late March/early April, depending on the weather. H. Esperanza is always the first to steadfastly bloom May 20-25th, quickly followed by H. Before, in early June. Daylilies abound during the summer with peak bloom time in mid-July. During that time a wide variety of single, double, spider and unusual form daylilies, from over 100 hybridizers, give the garden its name – Imagine. Some are minis, small, large and extra-large and come in a variety of colors from pastels to oranges to bold reds and deep purples. Some are diamond dusted, while others have eyes, halos, ruffled edges, toothed edges and sculpting. Some are stippled and some are plain but they are all unique and beautiful and none are the same. As the owls hoot during the evening hours and the leaves on the trees change color in the fall, the daylilies begin to settle down and the garden gets ready for its long winter hiatus. In the winter we have “Daylilies in Snow” – as the tops of the daylily tags poke through snow and remind us of the sleeping plants below.
And then there are the seedlings that truly reflect the garden’s name – Imagine! Imagine what could happen if you crossed….. with …… There are two seedling beds and I wish there was space for more. I started hybridizing a while ago and George Rasmussen warned me about some “ugly kids.” I have given away many promising seedlings to new homes because I could not toss them to the compost. The ugly ones were tossed. I have yet to register anything. I have some beautiful seedlings but I am looking at them through the eyes of a Garden Judge and an Exhibition Judge and am extra critical of my own crosses. One of these days, perhaps this year, I will finally register some of my favorites.
Imagine is on-going and ever-changing, much as life is on-going and ever-changing.
Daylilies began to play a huge role in our garden in 1997 when my sister, Chris, gifted me with several ditch lilies, AKA Kwanzo. She was making room at her home for “fancy” daylilies that she was purchasing from someone on eastern Long Island. As I was reading the local newspaper, I discovered the Long Island Daylily Society Plant Sale at Old Westbury Gardens. Chris and I decided to give it a try. We were in for the shock of our lives! There were so many daylily lovers at the sale we had to wait for a parking space. Chris knew she wanted “lates”, whatever they were I had no idea, and of course, there were none to be found. It seemed that everyone wanted “lates”. We started looking at all the thousands of green plants in plastic bags with little descriptive tags on them. Neither of us had much money, so we decided to purchase a few and share them when they grew. Chris had used an old fashioned, wheel turning labeler to label her plants. I did not have the patience for that gizmo. She assured me we needed to have them labeled so we would remember what we had purchased. My son had just returned home from the Marines and gave me a marker that was supposed to last through any kind of weather. Not at 25 Campus Drive! You guessed it, the following spring none of the tags were legible and I had to tell Chris that I had no idea what was what. That error started a whole new gardening experience for me. Labeling became a priority. I bought a circular wheel label maker – very antiquated and laborious compared to what I use in 2018.
After four years of purchasing daylilies at the Long Island Daylily Society sales, chatting with the extremely knowledgeable and helpful members, and being asked very invitingly, every year, by Phyllis, the Membership Chairperson, to join LIDS, I finally decided to join. I had promised Phyllis that I would join when I retired because I would have more time. I do not believe in joining a group just for the sake of joining. I need to be an active member of whatever group I join. After four years of asking, Phyllis’ persistence paid off. She asked me if I had retired. I had, but I had no money left to join because I had spent it all on daylilies! Phyllis was not about to lose a new member. She said some of the many plants I had purchased were gifts, because I had bought so many, and used their cost to pay for my membership to LIDS and AHS. I was an official member of LIDS and AHS and was on my way to many new adventures with many new friends.
My huge organic vegetable garden was being overrun with organically grown daylilies and I loved them! The more daylilies I acquired the more I learned and the more I just had to have. I became tired of the green Pachysandra covered embankment near the pool and decided it could become a new garden filled with daylilies, hydrangeas, hostas and hardy Hibiscus. I now have fifteen mini gardens around the property, including a historic one, each with its own name and site map that I keep in a notebook. I also keep an Excel file of every daylily growing in my garden as well as its bloom date for the past ten years. In addition, I maintain an organic, successive garden as much as feasibly possible. Much to my displeasure, battling deer and voles can lead to the use of non-organic means. As for vegetables, I grow tomatoes in pots!
Each season is a new adventure. In late February, the Witch-hazel sends out its spidery blooms. Near the end of the cold, dreary days of winter, the sight of Iris Reticulata and Snowdrops popping their heads through the snow is a magical time indicating that spring, the most cherished season, is returning anew. The colorful explosion begins as a wide variety of Daffodils strut their showy splendor as do the Crocus, Alliums and Tulips. The 400+ daylilies, that share beds with perennials, bulbs, Hostas, and a variety of deciduous trees and shrubs, begin to emerge in late March/early April, depending on the weather. H. Esperanza is always the first to steadfastly bloom May 20-25th, quickly followed by H. Before, in early June. Daylilies abound during the summer with peak bloom time in mid-July. During that time a wide variety of single, double, spider and unusual form daylilies, from over 100 hybridizers, give the garden its name – Imagine. Some are minis, small, large and extra-large and come in a variety of colors from pastels to oranges to bold reds and deep purples. Some are diamond dusted, while others have eyes, halos, ruffled edges, toothed edges and sculpting. Some are stippled and some are plain but they are all unique and beautiful and none are the same. As the owls hoot during the evening hours and the leaves on the trees change color in the fall, the daylilies begin to settle down and the garden gets ready for its long winter hiatus. In the winter we have “Daylilies in Snow” – as the tops of the daylily tags poke through snow and remind us of the sleeping plants below.
And then there are the seedlings that truly reflect the garden’s name – Imagine! Imagine what could happen if you crossed….. with …… There are two seedling beds and I wish there was space for more. I started hybridizing a while ago and George Rasmussen warned me about some “ugly kids.” I have given away many promising seedlings to new homes because I could not toss them to the compost. The ugly ones were tossed. I have yet to register anything. I have some beautiful seedlings but I am looking at them through the eyes of a Garden Judge and an Exhibition Judge and am extra critical of my own crosses. One of these days, perhaps this year, I will finally register some of my favorites.
Imagine is on-going and ever-changing, much as life is on-going and ever-changing.
y husband, Steve, and I are lucky to live in the Village of Asharoken, New York (pop. ~651), which is located on picturesque Northport Harbor. While my husband single-handedly built our home, I started planting our first gardens. That was 35 years ago! Eventually, we bought my parent’s house next door, giving my husband office space and me more room to garden! The beachfront is 200’ wide, yet the property is over 1500’ in depth (a portion of the property is actually under the bay). Along the driveway, native plants such as prickly pear cactus, beach plum, bayberry, black pine, Eastern red cedar and oaks grow in the sand.
Closer to the house, the cultivated gardens begin. The soil is sandy and needs amending with dehydrated manure (cow and chicken), compost, alpha pellets and mulch. I have to admit that I don’t add organic matter often enough. Pesticides are avoided, but I use herbicides sporadically to eliminate tenacious weeds! I leave brush piles, provide fresh water, plant host and nectar foods for insects, hang bird feeders and birdhouses, and grow plants with seeds, nuts and berries in order to encourage wildlife.
I’ve been growing daylilies since the 1970’s when I would spend hours reading and highlighting the Wild’s catalogs. Those descriptions were tantalizing, but I would end up buying the less expensive collections. In 2001, I went to my first daylily sale. I joined the club immediately, but I was overwhelmed by so many offerings. So, I sought the help of a LIDS’ member. I had a budget in mind and asked my helper to choose for me. I still have some of those original daylilies! Curious to learn more, I attended Lilyhemmer where Paul Limmer pulled me aside and volunteered me to be recording secretary! Those board meetings got a lot longer as I insisted that everything be explained to me so that I could accurately keep the minutes!
Now, more than 650 varieties of daylilies share beds with a menagerie of perennials, grasses, bulbs, trees, and shrubs. These plants, including collections of way too many named hosta and lilium, are for the most part marked with plant labels. The markers, my camera and my computer are invaluable when my brain fails me!
Many beds have themes such as the “Hot Red Bed” or “The Birdhouse Garden”. One of my favorite gardens is a long hedgerow featuring hydrangeas, acubas, hosta, astilbe, skimmia, epimedium, primroses and ligularias. Elsewhere, there’s a small koi pond, a white garden, and a raised Spider/UF bed. Scattered around the garden are containers where I experiment with unusual annuals, tropical plants, tomatoes and herbs.
In the past few years, deer have found the garden. Growing daylilies in a heterogeneous setting and frequent spraying has allowed me to have a daylily season. My husband built me a 40’ x 40’ fenced “daylily pen” .It is adjacent to a mature oak tree and an old apple tree. I'm sure that the fallen apples and acorns are drawing the deer to this area. I can't blame them for visiting my garden when I'm offering deer candy! The hosta are also deer fodder so they get sprayed as well. I'm afraid to jinx myself, but they haven't touched the hydrangeas- yet!
Periodic salt water flooding has also wreaked havoc on the plantings, but after my initial dismay, I am resigned to doing more shopping!
Our garden, which is named “Hidden Harbor”, is an AHS Display Garden. I garden, but nature provides the crowning jewel of the landscape with its expansive view of the harbor, blue skies, sailboats, visiting waterfowl, jingle shells, and hopefully a glorious sea breeze! . More photos of “Hidden Harbor” can be seen at: www.chrispnpt.weebly.com. I’m looking forward to welcoming you!
Closer to the house, the cultivated gardens begin. The soil is sandy and needs amending with dehydrated manure (cow and chicken), compost, alpha pellets and mulch. I have to admit that I don’t add organic matter often enough. Pesticides are avoided, but I use herbicides sporadically to eliminate tenacious weeds! I leave brush piles, provide fresh water, plant host and nectar foods for insects, hang bird feeders and birdhouses, and grow plants with seeds, nuts and berries in order to encourage wildlife.
I’ve been growing daylilies since the 1970’s when I would spend hours reading and highlighting the Wild’s catalogs. Those descriptions were tantalizing, but I would end up buying the less expensive collections. In 2001, I went to my first daylily sale. I joined the club immediately, but I was overwhelmed by so many offerings. So, I sought the help of a LIDS’ member. I had a budget in mind and asked my helper to choose for me. I still have some of those original daylilies! Curious to learn more, I attended Lilyhemmer where Paul Limmer pulled me aside and volunteered me to be recording secretary! Those board meetings got a lot longer as I insisted that everything be explained to me so that I could accurately keep the minutes!
Now, more than 650 varieties of daylilies share beds with a menagerie of perennials, grasses, bulbs, trees, and shrubs. These plants, including collections of way too many named hosta and lilium, are for the most part marked with plant labels. The markers, my camera and my computer are invaluable when my brain fails me!
Many beds have themes such as the “Hot Red Bed” or “The Birdhouse Garden”. One of my favorite gardens is a long hedgerow featuring hydrangeas, acubas, hosta, astilbe, skimmia, epimedium, primroses and ligularias. Elsewhere, there’s a small koi pond, a white garden, and a raised Spider/UF bed. Scattered around the garden are containers where I experiment with unusual annuals, tropical plants, tomatoes and herbs.
In the past few years, deer have found the garden. Growing daylilies in a heterogeneous setting and frequent spraying has allowed me to have a daylily season. My husband built me a 40’ x 40’ fenced “daylily pen” .It is adjacent to a mature oak tree and an old apple tree. I'm sure that the fallen apples and acorns are drawing the deer to this area. I can't blame them for visiting my garden when I'm offering deer candy! The hosta are also deer fodder so they get sprayed as well. I'm afraid to jinx myself, but they haven't touched the hydrangeas- yet!
Periodic salt water flooding has also wreaked havoc on the plantings, but after my initial dismay, I am resigned to doing more shopping!
Our garden, which is named “Hidden Harbor”, is an AHS Display Garden. I garden, but nature provides the crowning jewel of the landscape with its expansive view of the harbor, blue skies, sailboats, visiting waterfowl, jingle shells, and hopefully a glorious sea breeze! . More photos of “Hidden Harbor” can be seen at: www.chrispnpt.weebly.com. I’m looking forward to welcoming you!
Gardens are ever evolving and the LIDS’ garden is no exception. LIDS originally had two display gardens. The initial garden was the Peter Fass Memorial Garden named for Peter Fass who was a charter member of the American Hemerocallis Society and a nationally known and respected hybridizer. The garden, created in 1973 held a wide range of daylilies, many by Fass and other Long Island hybridizers.
With the new millennium and limited space to add newer plants, including local and AHS/ADS award winning hybrids, a new AHS Display Garden was created at Planting Fields. Located behind the tropical greenhouse, and large dahlia display garden, the garden showcases plants of LIDS’ hybridizers, many Stout winners and newer cultivars. It includes daylilies by LIDS’ members George Rasmussen, Bob Schwarz, John Stahl, Paul Limmer, Pat Sayers and Bob Stanton, to name a few. Of course, many other hybridizers are represented as well. A little known fact is that the garden started on the old compost heap!
The garden is ever changing, but plants are selected that will grow well on Long Island. All types of hardy daylilies are featured from large, mini, small, doubles, spiders and UF's. Cultivars from all over the country are showcased as long as they are easy to grow, affordable and rapid increasers for us to pass on to the public and our club members.
With a new assistant director on board at Planting Fields we are starting to reshape the garden to gain a little more room to grow plants. We sincerely hope that you join us this year to check our progress. We also would love to see more plants from our Region 4 friends! Feel free to contact us if you’d like to contribute!
With the new millennium and limited space to add newer plants, including local and AHS/ADS award winning hybrids, a new AHS Display Garden was created at Planting Fields. Located behind the tropical greenhouse, and large dahlia display garden, the garden showcases plants of LIDS’ hybridizers, many Stout winners and newer cultivars. It includes daylilies by LIDS’ members George Rasmussen, Bob Schwarz, John Stahl, Paul Limmer, Pat Sayers and Bob Stanton, to name a few. Of course, many other hybridizers are represented as well. A little known fact is that the garden started on the old compost heap!
The garden is ever changing, but plants are selected that will grow well on Long Island. All types of hardy daylilies are featured from large, mini, small, doubles, spiders and UF's. Cultivars from all over the country are showcased as long as they are easy to grow, affordable and rapid increasers for us to pass on to the public and our club members.
With a new assistant director on board at Planting Fields we are starting to reshape the garden to gain a little more room to grow plants. We sincerely hope that you join us this year to check our progress. We also would love to see more plants from our Region 4 friends! Feel free to contact us if you’d like to contribute!