My gardening life has been a succession of obsessions. Early on, I collected tropical plants on a covered outdoor porch in New Orleans. Later came African violets, which it was my Sunday ritual to groom and fuss over. For a while in south Texas, I kept a collection of miniature roses and amaryllis, which are quite hardy there. South Texas is where my husband and I met and married. I didn't realize it at the time, but I had teamed up with the greatest enabler ever! Our division of labor has evolved over the years to the point that I am now the gardener, and he is the chef…at least during Spring and Summer. We are both gifted at what we do!

The grandmother of all obsessions has been daylilies. I remember clearly when the hook was set. It was in 2005, two years after moving to Missouri. I was in manic garden mode, breezing past the blooms of ATLANTA FULL HOUSE, a clear yellow. I stopped in my tracks, and just stared for a few moments, mesmerized. Soon, we had joined the Greater St. Louis Daylily Society, the West County Daylily Club, and the American Daylily Society.

Although we put in huge, raised beds in our first Missouri location, we were soon searching for a home with more land. In 2010, we found a lovely home with three acres on a small lake. In the 13 years since, we completely gutted and remodeled the house while developing about two acres of new gardens. My husband had a surprising knack for garden design and laid out one bed after another. I would be right behind him with the plants. What a workout our tiller got for a few years!

With more space came the opportunity to grow more species. We have collections of Japanese maples, hellebores, hostas, ferns, lungworts, epimediums…and that's just in the shade garden. My absolute favorite thing to do is to have folks visit and just talk plants and horticulture. I hope to hear from many more daylily friends because of this Garden of the Week feature!

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