 I inherited my love of gardening from my mother and grandmother, both amazing gardeners. My grandmother was a "collector", and collected many different plant types over the years. I remember Iris, Mums and daylilies, of course. My mother is more of a traditional cottage garden gardener, with large plantings jammed packed with color and textures. She is a Master Gardener and very active with her MG group.
I lived in a small suburb of Buffalo in 1990's and filled my teeny backyard with gardens … when I moved in there it had only been grass. When I left there were shrubs, vines on trellises', and gardens all around the perimeter and down the side of the driveway. I went back to school in 1993 for my MBA to supplement my career as a mortgage banker. When I finished my MBA in 1997, I decided I needed a new project and started looking for a farm. I was tired of the confines on my city/suburban garden.
What I thought would be a year to two year search turned out to be only a couple of months search. A friend pointed me to a "gentleman's horse farm" for sale near her farm. It was in need of lots of work, but it had the basics I had been looking for; flat cleared land (5acres), 3/4 acre pond very near the back of the house, 20 total acres, a house that was livable (but needed lots of work), and only 35 minutes from my office.
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This, not really a "gentleman's" farm, had been on the market for many months since no one wanted to put the work into it … but I could see what it would eventually be. My brother-in-law and I looked at it in January when the snow was up past our knees. I looked out the sliding door in the kitchen at the pond covered with snow, and fell in love. The seller was there and had to tell me that the other 3 seasons were really much nicer! He didn’t understand how much I really do like our winters.
By April, I had sold my current home and moved to the farm …that was over 14 years ago and I can never imagine living anywhere else. I bought the property for a bargain, doubled the size of the house, fixed the barn and started gardening. Made tons of mistakes, bought lots of equipment I really didn’t need … but I learned over time.
The first thing I learned was the front horse pasture, where I planned to have most of my sale beds, was prone to flooding. I lost many of my first years seedling tags because I didn't plan for them to survive the flooding. All beds in the front are raised beds, though the force of the water has moved those beds too. And I now use Eon markers for my seedlings so I can make sure I know the parentage of my seedlings.
The gardens behind the house, by the pond, have all kinds of perennials in them. I love to try new plants and see what works. My favorite daylilies are Unusual Forms and Spiders … I love flowers that have movement. Though I specialize in UF's and Spiders, my gardens have all varieties of daylilies … something for everyone. I grow, hybridize and sell northern hardy daylilies. If I find a daylily is tender, I get rid of it unless I want it for my hybridizing program. I won't sell a tender daylily to local gardener, I'll steer them to something more hardy.
I have learned my limits! I currently have just over 400 named cultivars and maybe 200+ seedlings I am evaluating. I am slowly reducing the number of named cultivars I have to make more room for seedlings. Working full time at a local bank and then having my nursery, is a lot of work. I have one part time garden helper, who is an amazing weeder. So even though I have lots of open space for gardens, I no longer have the energy to keep adding more garden beds! LOL!
My gardens are watched over by 3 friendly miniature donkeys; Sambina, Cosmo and their son Merlin. My 2 dogs, from different rescues, Lily and Rocky, do their best to chase the deer away. I'm writing this on a glorious fall day, the trees are turning and it time to put the gardens to bed for the winter. I'm one that enjoys the break from gardening over the fall and winter months, I have many other hobbies and interests that keep me occupied in front of the fireplace as the snow flies outside.
More photos of Mystic Meadows Daylily Farm can be seen on my webpage: mysticmeadowsdaylily.com. Emails are welcome. My address is: pamhoff@roadrunner.com
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