"Mrs. Peacock" comes from the daylily collection at Naturesnook. When I first came to know the Smiths at rabbit shows, I learned they also share my love for the "perfect perennial". They have an extensive collection and they do a little hybridizing of their own. And they love to share! If you join us at the Southeastern Dwarf Fanciers Rendevous on June 9, bring some pots and get some of your own. This form with the long narrow petals is called a spider . I haven't measured her but I'm sure she's around 8" across.
Here she is in context with the blue spiderworts and the small yellow homegrown daylily. I dabbled in hybridizing myself many years ago and "Lemontime" was one of the successes. It's "Stella D'Oro" x "Ice Carnival". Ice Carnival is the oldest of my "whites" and crossed to gold Stella gave me a dwarf in the light lemon yellow I like so much. It reblooms like Stella although not as reliably. All 3 came with me from Michigan. I brought a lot of daylilies with me!
Mrs. Peacock isn't the biggest one in my garden. I think that title is still held undefeated by "Big Bird" which will bloom later. This was its first year, fully 9" wide! It would be even wider if the petals were straight. It's also quite tall so it commands the garden during its time.
Oh BTW. I figured out that it was the resolution that needed adjusting on the little camera. It was set too low. Can't get as much on the memory card with bigger shots, but at least they aren't terrible. I'm pretty good about keeping the card cleaned out so it's always available. So all is well there. For now. I'm starting to itch for an upgrade.
I'm revamping some gardens (always!) and now is the time to move daylilies. You wouldn't think so during their bloom season but they take it like no other plant. I said it was the perfect perennial! Now is the time to make plans to divide or move because you'll know what color they are. I have so many, I forget.
Garden Tip: Save the little plastic clips that come on bread bags. These are perfect for tagging the varieties. Just write it with a sharpie and slip it on the flower stalk. It will last until you are ready to move it. Put the clip on upside down so rain and sun won't wear off the ink too soon. Even permanent sharpie ink wears off eventually out in the elements. They're also real handy for identifying cords on electronics.
I decided to wait until a soaking rain to do any more transplanting. Got that since last night...a good slow inch so far. After a day of soaking it up, the plants will be primed for moving, not to mention being easier to dig up.
In the rabbitry: Have the first litter from the new himi buck, Smith's HD. Kachina (tort) gave 3 fat healthy blacks yesterday. Not that I wanted black but I expected it. Now I know HD doesn't carry any goodies. Apparently Kachina doesn't either which surprises me since her sire is Sugardaddy who threw Sable Pts. She also just gave Tort when bred to Sable Pt but there was only 2 in that litter so I didn't consider it a good sampling. I probably can now. I'll keep the best of these for the himi, sable pt/tort, and broken programs.
Kachina is such a pet! Right up until kindling she was begging for head rubs. She was a wild child, extremely spastic and hard to handle as a jr. She settled into her current personality after her first litter. She grumbled a little when I went to check the new litter, but after giving her attention first, she calmed down. I'm not planning on breeding her again after this litter, but not so sure I want to sell her. Not very common to come across a doe with such a fantastic pet personality.
More about HD. As anyone who has Smith's rabbits knows, their ear # system involves 2 or 3 letters that usually spells something. HD came to me without a name or number and I wanted to stay with their system. His sire is HY and his dam DO and so HD for his ear #. It also stands for HyDef. He has really good color definition.
In the chicken pen: The youngest birds are integrating nicely, and the older ones aren't persecuting them as much. They still have the transition cage, but aren't using it as much now. I'll take it away pretty soon. Probably when I run out of chick starter feed as that's the main reason it's still there. The older birds can't get to it in the cage. There's 2 distinct flocks in there based on age. The 2 adults (buff hen, mottled roo) are the overseers. It's always interesting to see how the chickens work out their hierarchy.
tnt
