Life's A Stitch Jumped out at me. Color, petal texture, pattern I like very much. A recent Korth introduction with so so stats......Natural High is a pretty color. Another recent intro......Are these morning shots David? Any idea what the temperature was?..........Maryl

LOVE ALL SERVE ALL to the end of the post were taken between 10:40 and Noon. The ones at the beginning of the post were taken from Noon to 2:00 pm. The temp that day was 81 degrees with lower humidity. I still managed to work up a little sweat just walking around. I could not have planned it any better to visit Brent's garden.

David

I see that Julius Charba is a Carpenter evergreen. It is interesting that Brent said that he had peaked about 10 days earlier. Is Cottage a warmer zone than yours? I am trying to think of any Carpenter evergreen that thrives here. Of course, lots of snow cover there. From Sea to Shining Sea obviously grows well, but an afternoon pic shows typical sun effects on a purple. It is tall--people often complain that Em plants are short. Thanks for taking the time to record your visit and share pics! It's always disappointing to hear about a visit and see nothing from it.

Cottage Gardens is a zone warmer, even though it is north or me (He's Zone 6 and I'm Zone 5). He is close to Lake Ontario, so he is a little warmer. Actually, there is another older garden about 45 minutes north of me and they are also a Zone 6, because they are along one of the Finger Lakes in the middle of grape/wine country.

I thought about purchasing Dr. Julius Charba, but was a little hesitant due to it being an evergreen. If I do get it, I will have to place it in a protected spot. I found it to be an unusual looking bloom. The plant habit wasn't terribly bad.

During my discussion with Brent, he did ask if I had made any purchases directly from Jamie Gossard. I told him I have never purchased directly from him. He said it is hit or miss with him. Sometimes he gets great plants and at other times he gets pencils. We spoke about Pierce intros and he said that they always send great looking plants. He said that some do well for him and others languish and slowly disappear and are gone in 3 to 4 years. As I roamed around his garden and saw numerous Emmerich intros, I noticed that many of them looked relatively the same. There were minor variations, but as the day wore on, the differences seemed to fade due to the sun. Just an observation. He is a big fan of Mike Georges from Canada. It was interesting to hear that he had been trying to find a way to acquire more Bud Bennett daylilies into his collection and I show up with my daylily list and I have 40 Bennett intros in my collection. Win win all around. I shared with Brent that my strategy is to let the bigger gardens purchase southern plants and let you guys kill them, so I know what not to buy. He laughed.

I did ask him about his fertilizing and watering methods. He puts down milorganite in the early spring and then a 15-15-15 granular three weeks later. Then he puts down an extended release fertilizer like an osmocote type fertilizer right before bloom season starts. He waters by using overhead sprinklers strategically placed throughout the gardens. He has tried underground irrigation, but kept cutting the lines when digging plants (been there and done that as well.).

David

Yes, with those underground lines, I have to plant with a trowel. People get so excited about evergreens the first few years, but by nature, the tender ones gradually decline or simply languish. As for Gossard plants, I have heard the same from others. Sometimes, an Emmerich cultivar will look similar to its parent; but I can't say that all together there is overlapping. Of course, she is mainly into purples now. Ron Valente wouldn't grow for me.

So many beautiful and interesting daylilies. Makes me want to order some new ones but I can't.. I especially like Like No Other (nice name too!) And Ruby Rose. Both probably won't thrive here :) Dragon Heart Stone is beautiful and Life's a Stitch is so interesting. Royal Throne looked so familiar I looked it up and now know why. I didn't quite understand about telephone pole, too tall? The picture of Dr. Julius reminded me of one daylily I grow, didn't remember whose and it is too a Carpenter. Mine doesn't have a triangular watermark but the colors and form is what looked familiar (Super Mama) I sometimes think of letting it go but that purple eye looks so blue in the morning, it's pretty.

It was very interesting to read about your discussion with Brent too.

My telephone pole comment has to do with the lack of branching and being top branched.

Beautiful photos. I especially like Dragon Heart Stone, God of War, and Like No Other. Your photo of Love All Serve All does not match the photo in the database. Here is my Love All Serve All.

Thanks for sharing your photos.

Nancy