Ridge View Garden was begun in 1992 and became an AHS Display Garden in 2000. Over the past twenty odd years, what a privilege it's been welcoming visitors, both local and from far away to my garden. All gardeners seem to appreciate the never ending work that goes into creating our own special garden retreats.

During the early years of AHS Display status (when I was younger and much more energetic!) garden size quickly grew to nearly 1100 registered cultivars. By 2012, when the garden was on Region 3 tour, I'd realized that a small one third acre lot looked way too crowded with 1100 daylilies, and had reduced numbers to about 700 registered cultivars.

It was time for a reality check in early 2014, when my husband passed. I was forced to realize that sadly, most private gardens are finite and that gardening isn't for sissies as I've grown older. Consequently, each year the garden has gotten smaller. As of fall, 2023, only 292 registered daylilies grow here, and over the next two years, I'll continue to further reduce the garden. Realistically, although I've loved gardening for all of my adult life, I anticipate closing the garden, selling this house, and moving to a smaller retirement community within the next two years. However, I intend to enjoy my garden fully over the next time period.

With a smaller garden, it has been most enjoyable to allow more generous spacing of daylilies as well as to use beautiful companion plants. It's also been easier to maintain, of course, as I've aged.

Favorite daylily companions include a wide variety of perennial salvias, echinacea, Agastache, liliums, verbena, kalimeris, and a collection of clematis vines growing on obelisks and trellises throughout the garden. What an amazing transition has taken place over these past years, as my tastes have evolved with our favorite flower. Back in 2000, the garden consisted of mostly large flowered "bagels." Around that time, my friend Margo Reed moved to a new garden only two hours away, and I discovered a love for unusual forms and spiders that were amazing garden plants in this climate. During the first daylily years, a lot of "trial and error" ordering took place, I've always loved the color blue in the garden and during a blizzard one winter, thought it would be fun to order as many daylilies with the name "blue" in them as possible ( It seemed like a good idea at the time). What I didn't realize then was that many of those daylilies happened to be small and miniature daylilies by Grace Stamile and Elizabeth Salter. Although some proved temperamental in this climate, those early orders led to my discovery of and love for miniature and small flowers. Nowadays, even though I'm cutting back, there are always a few new "little ones" and the small and miniature section has grown proportionally over the years. Visitors come to see the large collection of small and miniature daylilies, as well as many tall and large unusual forms, spiders and multi form daylilies grown here.

What a wonderful journey it's been with daylilies and amazing daylily people over these past 25 years, since first joining AHS in 1997. It's been a pleasure and honor serving as a Garden Judge, Garden Judge Instructor, and Exhibition Judge, I was lucky to have also had the opportunity to volunteer and serve in several AHS and Region 3 positions over the years. If you're in the area over the next couple of growing seasons, please come and visit Ridge View Garden while it still exists!

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