Post by chrisc on Jun 16, 2013 12:06:30 GMT
and combine my photography with the writing for a number of small publications in NW Florida. These are magazines you find in the waiting rooms of doctors, attorneys, etc.
Most of my stories are cover stories and probably more for the photography I provide than the overly stellar writing. I write mostly articles in the 750 word to 1500 word range.
In no particular order past the cover image, the images I've submitted for the article. This one has already been accepted for the August issue of Panama City Life.
Cover Image
Whether a Zuni Thunderbird ($15), George Washington ($35), a little Monkey Business ($50), or Quasimodo ($10), in Your Wildest Dreams ($5), you would probably never associate these names with the beauty of a Daylily.
Dragon’s Mead Daylily’s located in Southport, FL is home to these names and a host of others; “about 1,500,” quotes Randy Fleming, co-owner with his wife Cindy. 1,500 Candy Cane Truffles ($35), Flash Gordon’s ($75), Riders of the Storm ($10) and a little Monkey Business ($50) tossed in for good luck.
When I look across the expanse of Daylily's, Hydrangea, Roses, and pretty much anything else which boasts a beautiful flower, I get a Sense of Wonder ($30) as to how this much became so much from so little just twelve years previously when all this was two and a half acres of sand, a house, garage and small workshop.
“We had a place down in Highland Park with two hundred or so varieties but we wanted to expand, so we began searching for a better location,” Cindy said, smiling over to Randy who quickly remarked it was Cindy’s insatiable thirst for more varieties that forced the move. Either or, the move has proven to be a successful venture.
“Our biggest problem in the beginning up here was converting sandy soil to growing soil but with time, a lot of experimentation, lots of mushroom compost and ground pine bark mulch, we developed a soil in which these beauties thrive.”
Thrive they do, scapes three and four root clusters thick, towering stems and multiple bulbs sporting multiple flowers in one blooming, these are among the best lily's money can buy. “And, Randy was quick to point out, “we sell the entire plant. If there are three stem sets, or even more, the whole grouping goes, whereas many producers will only sell a single rooting.”
Riding the farm’s golf cart, a group of ladies from the Panama City Garden Club were perusing the list of plants, making selections and placing orders. “It’s a regular event. We get a lot of local visitors as well as visitors from throughout the southeast seeking that one,” Cindy smiled briefly as she looked up from a recent order sheet, “or more lily. A lot of people, and I would venture this toward the Garden Clubbers, tend to buy by color groupings. One customer only buys garnet and gold because she is an avid Seminole fan, while others only buy starbursts. I have one person who only purchases diploids though most of the newer flowers are of the tetraploid family.”
Answering my quizzical look, Randy explained the diploids are the original branch of the family whereas the tetraploids are the siblings. It is from the tetraploids we get the multiple ruffles of the Alien Contact ($15) or a Count Quackula ($10). A plant like the Emerald Splendor ($10)is a good example of a diploid.
No More Tears ($15) for Patsy Cline ($100) are two varieties which show the success of cross pollination, a process by which one variety is cross bred with another. “It’s done for one or more reasons, but predominate reasons are to improve the scape, or “the fan” of the plant, the number of stems and bulbs or simply to enhance a color.”
I watched as Randy pulled the stamen from one flower and gently tapped its pollen laden end to a different flower’s pollinated pestle. Think of it as artificial insemination. After a bit of time, the two pollens mix and drop to the base of the flower where a seed pod is formed. “Near the end of the season, the pod will turn brown and open and I am able to harvest the seed, plant it and in six to eight months know if my efforts are successful.”
Hovering over his own Panama Sunset ($50) I can see where Randy was able to improve upon all three criteria. “It’s fun to have a variety named for you. There are some growers who have hundreds, but I think I only boast of 24, but then in this business, we are considered the new kids on the block, and we’re really a small operation compared to some of the farms down in the Ocala area with many acres of daylily's.”
The Daylily farm is Randy’s hobby and while Cindy is a driving force in the business, by day she is a plus 30 year veteran English teacher at Jinks Middle School. A long time hobby developed into a business pretty much consumes any “spare time” either might have. “I’d like to think we get some vacation time, but the non flowering months are filled with cleaning the beds, culling out all the debris which accumulates when the plants are blooming. We go out most every morning and pull the deadheads off, weed, a never ending chore which will either make you strong or make you invest in the companies that make liniment. It’s my hobby and I love every minute I’m out here, but it is backbreaking, hard work where machines are mostly a nuisance rather than a help. I do use a rotor tiller to make new beds or turn some old ones, but the majority of my work is done on my knees with a hand spade and a bucket.”
Each year, they order two semi loads of mushroom compost and pine bark mulch. It is a daunting pile of soil which has to be mixed to their specific formula, wheel-barrowed to the new beds, either mixed with the old earth, or if a new bed, built from the ground up. “it’s not so bad in the cool months, but the blooming season, as luck would have it, shows May through July, and these are the hot months, the humid months when the heat stifles the life out of a body.”
Though at retirement age, when asked why he continued to work in these conditions, Randy looked over to Cindy, who knowingly smiled back and said it was because he loved seeing the new blooms, watching the hybrids make a singularly new variety, and just enjoying the fruits of their labors.
So, I asked, “I see what you’ve accomplished here, but if I want to do this in my own garden, what’s the formula for the perfect Daylily?”
“Good morning sun is essential as is good afternoon shade. Water, lots and lots of water is essential; it’s hard to overwater a lily. After all, it is a member of the grass family. You could grow a lily on the beach if you watered it enough. However, unless you want a huge water bill, a good soil mix of finely ground pine bark combined with a blend of mushroom compost and your natural soil will yield sturdy plants that will bloom year after year.”
As a general rule Randy and Cindy don’t use harmful insecticides. “Mostly they don’t really work and there are a number of natural soaps that will discourage harmful critters. Again, as a grass it is not nearly as attractive as say, a nice flowering tree.”
Thinking someday they will start to scale down the operation, Randy is often “surprised” with a box on his doorstep acquired from Cindy’s late night foraging on the internet. Cindy loves those varieties which lean toward the exotic side, or are just unusual. The Flemings often travel to flower shows for the primary purpose of obtaining more varieties of daylily's but of late, Cindy has developed a taste for miniature roses and wants to develop an entire bed just for this cultivation. Orchids, succulents, and huge Staghorn ferns are found throughout the grounds or in the greenhouse as a testament to both eclectic and developed tastes.
A full pictorial/pricingcatalogue can be found online at www.dragonsmead.com under the menu bar, “General Listing.” They are located at the corner of Holland Road and Edwards Rd. Please call for an appointment @ 850-271-9431 or 814-3922. Visitors are always welcome and even if you’re not buying, you can spend hours gazing at Clark Gable ($75), Princess Diana ($50), Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ($25), Hank Williams ($25) or even Flash Gordan ($75). For those with a sweet tooth, how about an Apricot Cream Truffle ($35), a Dreamsicle Surprise ($50), a Licorice Twist ($15) or some Electric Marmalade Magic ($10).
Every sweet taste, all things imaginable and a host of stars await you at Dragon’s Mead Day Lily Farm. Make this your weekend’s next place to visit. Then you too can say, “These Eyes ($10) have seen an Unending Melody ($5) of lily's” and know Violet Becomes You ($35). Yabba-Dabba-Doo ($5). Prices range from $5 to $250.
Most of my stories are cover stories and probably more for the photography I provide than the overly stellar writing. I write mostly articles in the 750 word to 1500 word range.
In no particular order past the cover image, the images I've submitted for the article. This one has already been accepted for the August issue of Panama City Life.
Cover Image
Whether a Zuni Thunderbird ($15), George Washington ($35), a little Monkey Business ($50), or Quasimodo ($10), in Your Wildest Dreams ($5), you would probably never associate these names with the beauty of a Daylily.
Dragon’s Mead Daylily’s located in Southport, FL is home to these names and a host of others; “about 1,500,” quotes Randy Fleming, co-owner with his wife Cindy. 1,500 Candy Cane Truffles ($35), Flash Gordon’s ($75), Riders of the Storm ($10) and a little Monkey Business ($50) tossed in for good luck.
When I look across the expanse of Daylily's, Hydrangea, Roses, and pretty much anything else which boasts a beautiful flower, I get a Sense of Wonder ($30) as to how this much became so much from so little just twelve years previously when all this was two and a half acres of sand, a house, garage and small workshop.
“We had a place down in Highland Park with two hundred or so varieties but we wanted to expand, so we began searching for a better location,” Cindy said, smiling over to Randy who quickly remarked it was Cindy’s insatiable thirst for more varieties that forced the move. Either or, the move has proven to be a successful venture.
“Our biggest problem in the beginning up here was converting sandy soil to growing soil but with time, a lot of experimentation, lots of mushroom compost and ground pine bark mulch, we developed a soil in which these beauties thrive.”
Thrive they do, scapes three and four root clusters thick, towering stems and multiple bulbs sporting multiple flowers in one blooming, these are among the best lily's money can buy. “And, Randy was quick to point out, “we sell the entire plant. If there are three stem sets, or even more, the whole grouping goes, whereas many producers will only sell a single rooting.”
Riding the farm’s golf cart, a group of ladies from the Panama City Garden Club were perusing the list of plants, making selections and placing orders. “It’s a regular event. We get a lot of local visitors as well as visitors from throughout the southeast seeking that one,” Cindy smiled briefly as she looked up from a recent order sheet, “or more lily. A lot of people, and I would venture this toward the Garden Clubbers, tend to buy by color groupings. One customer only buys garnet and gold because she is an avid Seminole fan, while others only buy starbursts. I have one person who only purchases diploids though most of the newer flowers are of the tetraploid family.”
Answering my quizzical look, Randy explained the diploids are the original branch of the family whereas the tetraploids are the siblings. It is from the tetraploids we get the multiple ruffles of the Alien Contact ($15) or a Count Quackula ($10). A plant like the Emerald Splendor ($10)is a good example of a diploid.
No More Tears ($15) for Patsy Cline ($100) are two varieties which show the success of cross pollination, a process by which one variety is cross bred with another. “It’s done for one or more reasons, but predominate reasons are to improve the scape, or “the fan” of the plant, the number of stems and bulbs or simply to enhance a color.”
I watched as Randy pulled the stamen from one flower and gently tapped its pollen laden end to a different flower’s pollinated pestle. Think of it as artificial insemination. After a bit of time, the two pollens mix and drop to the base of the flower where a seed pod is formed. “Near the end of the season, the pod will turn brown and open and I am able to harvest the seed, plant it and in six to eight months know if my efforts are successful.”
Hovering over his own Panama Sunset ($50) I can see where Randy was able to improve upon all three criteria. “It’s fun to have a variety named for you. There are some growers who have hundreds, but I think I only boast of 24, but then in this business, we are considered the new kids on the block, and we’re really a small operation compared to some of the farms down in the Ocala area with many acres of daylily's.”
The Daylily farm is Randy’s hobby and while Cindy is a driving force in the business, by day she is a plus 30 year veteran English teacher at Jinks Middle School. A long time hobby developed into a business pretty much consumes any “spare time” either might have. “I’d like to think we get some vacation time, but the non flowering months are filled with cleaning the beds, culling out all the debris which accumulates when the plants are blooming. We go out most every morning and pull the deadheads off, weed, a never ending chore which will either make you strong or make you invest in the companies that make liniment. It’s my hobby and I love every minute I’m out here, but it is backbreaking, hard work where machines are mostly a nuisance rather than a help. I do use a rotor tiller to make new beds or turn some old ones, but the majority of my work is done on my knees with a hand spade and a bucket.”
Each year, they order two semi loads of mushroom compost and pine bark mulch. It is a daunting pile of soil which has to be mixed to their specific formula, wheel-barrowed to the new beds, either mixed with the old earth, or if a new bed, built from the ground up. “it’s not so bad in the cool months, but the blooming season, as luck would have it, shows May through July, and these are the hot months, the humid months when the heat stifles the life out of a body.”
Though at retirement age, when asked why he continued to work in these conditions, Randy looked over to Cindy, who knowingly smiled back and said it was because he loved seeing the new blooms, watching the hybrids make a singularly new variety, and just enjoying the fruits of their labors.
So, I asked, “I see what you’ve accomplished here, but if I want to do this in my own garden, what’s the formula for the perfect Daylily?”
“Good morning sun is essential as is good afternoon shade. Water, lots and lots of water is essential; it’s hard to overwater a lily. After all, it is a member of the grass family. You could grow a lily on the beach if you watered it enough. However, unless you want a huge water bill, a good soil mix of finely ground pine bark combined with a blend of mushroom compost and your natural soil will yield sturdy plants that will bloom year after year.”
As a general rule Randy and Cindy don’t use harmful insecticides. “Mostly they don’t really work and there are a number of natural soaps that will discourage harmful critters. Again, as a grass it is not nearly as attractive as say, a nice flowering tree.”
Thinking someday they will start to scale down the operation, Randy is often “surprised” with a box on his doorstep acquired from Cindy’s late night foraging on the internet. Cindy loves those varieties which lean toward the exotic side, or are just unusual. The Flemings often travel to flower shows for the primary purpose of obtaining more varieties of daylily's but of late, Cindy has developed a taste for miniature roses and wants to develop an entire bed just for this cultivation. Orchids, succulents, and huge Staghorn ferns are found throughout the grounds or in the greenhouse as a testament to both eclectic and developed tastes.
A full pictorial/pricingcatalogue can be found online at www.dragonsmead.com under the menu bar, “General Listing.” They are located at the corner of Holland Road and Edwards Rd. Please call for an appointment @ 850-271-9431 or 814-3922. Visitors are always welcome and even if you’re not buying, you can spend hours gazing at Clark Gable ($75), Princess Diana ($50), Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ($25), Hank Williams ($25) or even Flash Gordan ($75). For those with a sweet tooth, how about an Apricot Cream Truffle ($35), a Dreamsicle Surprise ($50), a Licorice Twist ($15) or some Electric Marmalade Magic ($10).
Every sweet taste, all things imaginable and a host of stars await you at Dragon’s Mead Day Lily Farm. Make this your weekend’s next place to visit. Then you too can say, “These Eyes ($10) have seen an Unending Melody ($5) of lily's” and know Violet Becomes You ($35). Yabba-Dabba-Doo ($5). Prices range from $5 to $250.
