Corpse Flowers and Life's Disappointments

Do you know anyone who gets excited about things that seem strange to you? There are normal things that cause normal excitements; nice weather is pleasant and, I guess you could call it exciting. Gardeners tend to get excited when their own plants look good, yes. Most people are happy to see flowers blooming, though perhaps "excited" is too strong a word. What about a giant, three-foot tall flower? That's awesome, right? Yeah! And it smells like a decomposing corpse! 

This is one was in bloom at the Unversity of Copenhagen in 2012

Woo? What? I guess that's where the strange kind of exciting comes in. 

Duke Gardens recently announced that they had a Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum), also known as a Corpse Flower, on display. It was on loan from the Duke University biology department. Like an insect drawn to the light, I had to find a way to go and see it. Who wouldn't want to?

Unfortunately, I was too late...

Image courtesy of the Duke Gardens Facebook page

Turns out the recent warm spell was too much for the flower to handle, and it started to decay faster than expected in near 90-degree heat. There's a good reason these are usually only seen in conservatories.

I've never been so disappointed to miss out on something that's supposed to be so gross. The trip wasn't a total loss, though. It's hard to feel like any time spent at Duke Gardens is a waste. Today was the first time I'd ever been to the gardens to the North of the visitor's center. The Titan Arum would have been residing in the new Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden. The relatively new garden "demonstrates and teaches about plants that provide people, animals, birds and insects with food and shelter."

Everything about the garden has a warm and welcoming feel

The winding path up to the barn is lined with fruit trees and vegetable plants

Near the barn there were dozens of planters fulled with interesting and odd plants

I'll admit these display gardens made me wish my personal vegetable gardens were a bit nicer...

Raised beds held related vegetable plants, with flowers as an incentive for pollinators

Mixed succulents planted in a wash basin? Classy!

The dry riverbed was placed for drainage and planted with ornamental grasses that like it wet, but can also tolerate dry spells

Even though Mandy and I weren't able to be grossed out by a three-foot tall flower that smells like death, we had a nice time anyway. Coming back to the Charlotte Brody garden, as well as the whole of Duke Gardens, is already on my list of things to do this summer.

Even though the disappointment of the absent Corpse Lily, there is one plant that captured our attention. It will be the subject of a mini-blog post in the coming days:

Any guesses as to what it might be? 

The Daylily

For this one, I blame my mom. Her favorite flower for as long as I can remember has been the daylily. Since she was the one that got me started in the world of horticulture, it's only natural that her favorite plant would prove to be one of mine as well.

Now, I'm not going to go into all the gory, technical, scientific descriptions about what a daylily is because, quite frankly, other people have already done that much better than I could hope to do here. What I'll leave you with is the basics.

Plant information:

Botanical Name: Hemerocallis (no specific species, there are too many hybrids to list)
Common Name: Daylily, the "Perfect Perennial"
Perennial Plant: Individual clumps will overwinter year after year
Cold Hardiness: Will grow in zones 3 - 9
Culture: Does best in full sun, can do well in as little as a half-day of sun. Will tolerate most soils as long as they're not constantly waterlogged

If, for some reason, after reading all that it turns out you do actually want to know a lot of the gory details and (admittedly interesting) science-y information about Hemerocallis, take some time to check out the excellent American Hemerocallis Society website, particularly their FAQ.

Depending on what time of year it is you first spot a daylily, you may not think too much of it. For a good part of the year, it's just an unassuming mound of straplike foliage. What's so special about that?

Image courtesy of the Country Gardener blog

What's special, my friend, are the flowers. Lots and lots of flowers:

A personal favorite of mine, 'Happy Returns'

The flowers range in size from a scant two inches across on stems that are a foot and a half tall, to ten-inch monsters that approach six feet tall. Some daylilies bloom for a just few weeks, some bloom for a few weeks both in spring and in fall, and still others will put out new flowers from late spring all the way to near frost. It all depends what colors and sizes you're looking for.

This one is, supposedly, called 'Purple D'Oro

If you really like the purple flower shown above, you can get one from Direct Gardening. Should you choose to order one, however, do so at your own risk. Direct Gardening is a front company for Owen Nursery, a former employer of mine. I'll save the horror stories for another day and instead redirect you to check out their customer service record for yourself. (Hint: It's not so great)

Here's a clump-wide view of 'Purple D'Oro'

This one I got from eBay for my mom, though I couldn't tell you the cultivar name now:

Notice the lighter purple towards the center of the flower, that's known as a "watermark"

Pretty, isn't it? 

When in bloom, daylilies aren't such nondescript piles of foliage:

And here are a few more from my own garden. Sorry about the names; I don't have them:

This one is a salmon-pink, but you already knew that

This one is so yellow, by camera overcompensated by adjusting the blue levels waaaaaay up. The true color is very reminiscent of buttered popcorn from a movie theater.

Online Vendors:

Oakes Daylilies - I can personally vouch for the quality of plants purchased from Oakes. Wide selection, decent prices, and huge plants. You can't go wrong ordering from them! They're a GardenWatchdog Top 5 Company
Other companies that have good marks are:
Blue Ridge Daylilies
Shaw's Sunshine Gardens
Maryott's Gardens

My Goal:

I still want to try a native... And a night blooming daylily just sounds pretty awesome!

This one can be found at Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.

Confessions of a Plant Geek's Wife - #1: I Don't Get It

Hello plant lovers!  The plant geekette here for a little surprise guest posting. :-)  Every now and then I'm going to poke my big nose into the DBH world and give you a little taste of what your friends and family may be thinking as you pursue your planty desires.

I want to start off with this little phrase that I'm sure has crossed your acquaintances' minds, even if they were courteous enough not to voice it:

"I don't get it."

Now this can encompass several different thoughts in reference to the plant world.  To start off with, for me, it was like... plants?  What's the big deal?  What's so lovable about a plant?  I mean it just sits there.  Well, okay, and it grows.  And sometimes they have flowers or they produce fruits or vegetables, but okay great... what's the big deal?  Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a plant.  I have like 4 "official" favorite flowers, and I'm ready for our veggie garden to take off so we don't have to buy so much produce at the grocery store.  And yeah, I even considered growing up to be a landscape architect, so maybe there was a little more plant geek in me than I thought.

But what is it that attracts us to plants?  Is it superficial, in that we just want them to make our house look nice?  Is it practical, in that we want to grow our own food or shade our homes so our energy bill is lower?  Or is it deeper...  Is it the awe of seeing a tiny little thing like a seed become a ginormous monster of botany?

Okay, so that didn't get quite ginormous, but you get the idea.  From a little acorn to an oak seedling in just 8 months... and you know what it will be eventually.

(Source)

Okay, so maybe I don't do get it a little bit.