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Garden Delights

A selection of thoughts and ramblings about life in the garden.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern...are dead!

Ah! The delightful daylily! A very beautiful flower in the garden. And so many varieties. This is because it is so terribly easy to perform genetic experiments on.
That translates to: anyone can cross breed them in their own backyard to create new varieties.
I fell into that trap.
(Which is why I have been missing of late.)
I decided, in a moment of weakness, to see what I could come up with by breeding the daylilies in my garden.
I seem to have momentarily forgotten that my yard, while large, isn't that large. For as acorns become mighty oaks, so daylily seeds become massive clumps of daylilies.
My experiment has been progressing well. I have had one hundred and fourty six genetic experiments bloom for me so far this season. Just think. One hundred and fourty six totally new daylily plants. And more yet to bloom. That's a lot of daylilies.
To be sure, none of mine are as frilly and fluffy as some of the modern hybrids, but most are worthy of an "Oh. That's lovely!" They will truly be hard to part with.
So...I have been out every day taking photos and measurements and giving them all names. I could just give them all numbers, but numbers would be impossible to remember if I loose their tags. So I name them.
Well, the other day I had to leave to go to a wedding. I hurriedly took photos in the morning, hoping I would be able to figure out which was which a day later when I returned.
Boy, was that a mistake.
When I returned, I merrily viewed the photos, gave them all names, then tried to go label them all.
This did not go well.
One, which I decided to name Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, was nowhere to be found. I looked high and low, but I could not find them...it. For daylily flowers last just a day. Hence the name day lily. While they have many flowers, each lasts only a day, and there could be days in between blooms.
They simply could not be found.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

If you are very truly bored to tears and would like to waste countless hours of your time, check out my mass of genetic experiments go to http://davesgarden.com/journal/j/vbc/naturepatch/10445/ More will be added as they bloom.

2 Comments:

At 11:49 PM, Blogger Sue said...

Is this some wierd twist of fate, you naming a daylily Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and then can't find them? Because aren't Rosencrantz and Guildenstern really dead? :)

 
At 1:14 AM, Blogger Lulu said...

Boy, you are quick! I was wondering how long it would take someone to get my little joke.

 

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