Click here to download our 2009 Special Offer Click here to download the 2009 Catalogue Click here to download our order form Dear Daylily Enthusiast February 2009 On a very personal note 2008 was a really awful year for us both with many gaps now at our table. We are looking forward to this year with hope of a better year for us and a good year for you all and this list and our future endeavours are dedicated to my Mum who I lost just before Christmas. SoÖwelcome to 2009 and my seventh daylily plant list. The list is in its usual format with an ever expanding limited list and a few new plants. Again, however, I am reminding you that the varieties listed represent just a small sample of the daylilies that can be seen growing here. If there is a plant not listed that you particularly want please do not hesitate to ask. Many visitors who call in the Summer leave a wish list with me and I am always delighted to try and fulfil wishes as the plants become available. I love to see the response I get from a happy customer. We are now well over 1400 cultivars of which over 450 are part of my National Collection of spider and unusual form daylilies. Some of these are very new to this country and we continue to trial them for weather hardiness and performance in this country. What a pleasure it is! We have cut down on our importing a little as we are fast running out of space but I hope that you will still find the show quite stunning I know that we did last year. We have been really impressed as the new purchases are growing to flowering size. I think WOW is a very overused word but I believe I used it more last year than ever before as did our visitors. We have finally almost finished our bed building and are now looking forward to seeing the newer ones come to maturity. One bed in particular which houses most of our newer acquisitions including quite a few of our seedlings was stunning last year. I am looking at the new plants with hope that this awful Winter has not done too much damage. We always make a point of the fact that all plants sold here have been trialled first but they have had a true trialling this year. We are now hybridising on a modest scale with about 200 + new seedlings a year. A couple of the ones we liked enough to name are featured on the inside cover of the catalogue with a few also featured at the bottom of this letter. We are still producing quite a few lovely red spideries thanks to gifted seed from Duncan Skene, (Abraxas). However, with the wonderful cultivars that we have here now we are looking at hopefully producing a good range of mainly spideries from hardy stock and varied hues. Terry's main goal at present is to breed a magenta cascade unusual. It is his dream so we will just have to keep on trying. We will be opening as usual this year for the local hospice and have increased our opening times so that I can do what I like most, showing the daylilies off to our visitors. The times are posted in the catalogue and we hope that you will find time to come and visit us this year and although we cannot promise better weather we hope that giving you more choice of times may encourage you to call. The hospice pots were so heavy at the end of last season that we could hardly carry them and are now awaiting a figure from them of the total raised for 2008. Now to the catalogue and again apologies as I am repeating myself by saying that we are not a very large concern and on the whole the daylilies refuse to be hurried so in some cases I do not have many plants available of the ones listed. This means that they will be sent out/sold on a first come, first served basis. I send out my orders bare rooted from mid March to June subject to weather conditions and again during September. Most of the daylilies I am offering are growing on in 2 litre pots at present. However, because I am still rather small I regret that just a few plants may be single fans only. To hopefully compensate for this for orders over £50 I will be offering bonus plants to the value of 15% of the order or alternatively a 10% cash discount. Please state your preference and pick bonuses where appropriate. I am afraid, however, that because of the very small numbers on the limited list I would please ask you not to pick anything off here as your bonus. You will see that the prices of the plants vary a great deal. In some cases these are cultivars that I think are being offered for the very first time and the prices do reflect their rarity and availability in this country. As far as the limited list is concerned if you do not order early it would probably be advisable to contact me first by telephone or e-mail to check that these are still available. Because of this really awful weather I would be grateful if you would indicate whether substitute plants would be acceptable. They are such hardy critters but I think this Winter may have been a real test for the plants as well as ourselves. As usual I am again making a special offer of some of my older varieties of which I have larger numbers. Although lots of you have probably already got these, they might form a good basis for a new collection or perhaps just fill in a few gaps in your garden. As far as my mail order efforts go it is very reassuring and encouraging to receive all your lovely e-mails, cards and letters to tell me how happy you are with your plants and how well they are growing. It is really kind of you to bother. We are, as ever, really looking forward to the coming season, lots to look at and enjoy. Seeing the posters at Chelsea last year was wonderful and letís hope that public awareness of these beautiful plants continues. We had lots of lovely visitors last year including many keen collectors and the website seems to be creating quite a lot of interest too. As usual working on the website and the catalogue has given me a great deal of pleasure and I hope that you enjoy it too. I think looking at pictures at this time of year especially during such a hard Winter is great fun and if this has made any of you as happy as it has me in producing it I will be delighted. With very best wishes Pollie