Flower of the Week!
The Daylily
Driving home from the cottage last week my fella pointed out a group of flowers by the side of the road and asked what they were called. My boyfriend has a tendency to call all flowers Lupins, so this question was kind of a breakthrough for him. (I can’t really complain about his lack of flower knowledge, since I call all sports uniforms “outfits”.) I’m not sure why that’s relevant since he doesn’t watch sports. Anyhow …
What he was looking at was a roadside patch of Daylilies. He then asked why they were called Daylilies. He was full of questions this particular day. Strangely, one question he didn’t ask was whether I’d like a foot rub. Or the house vacuumed. Or a pet monkey named Supertinkle.
Back on topic – I explained that each flower on the plant only blooms for a day and then it dies. It’s replaced the next day by a plethora of new blooms. Hence the term … Daylily.
I then told him that’s why a lot of people don’t use Daylilies as cut flowers, because they only last a day and to do so, ….. (zzzzzzz). It was at exactly this point that my boyfriend pretended to continue listening to me, but actually wasn’t. I can tell. You can tell. We can always tell.
So, I’ve chosen to stop speaking to him entirely (about this particular topic anyway) and will relay the interesting information of the Daylily to you! Like I was saying, because they only live for a day most people don’t cut Daylilies and bring them in the house.
Also, the actual flowers have incredibly short stems. Non existent as a matter of fact. Just a little stump. Which makes creating a dramatic arrangement kind of difficult, doesn’t it?
NO IT DOESN’T!
You don’t need a stem or a flower that lasts longer than a day to make a great arrangement!
Nope, here at The Art of Doing Stuff you can learn how to make something beautiful out of a stumpy, near dead flower. All you need is a tea cup and maybe a cake plate.
Because my kitchen is a bit old fashioned I can get away with things like mismatched antique teacups. If you don’t like this sort of thing, just use matching contemporary cups. I don’t know why I feel the need to tell you ridiculously obvious things, but sometimes I do. I swear I don’t think you’re stupid. Well, some of you are, but the majority of you aren’t.
My mother happens to think you’re all in wheelchairs. That is how she described my website to me the other day. The conversation went like this:
Betty: Who has the time to read your blog?
Me: Well … lots of people actually.
Betty: Who would do that? Read your blog?
Me: Well hundreds of thousands a month actually.
Betty: They must be in wheelchairs.
Me: Huh?
Betty: You know, they can’t leave the house or something.
(at this point you’re getting a good feeling for what I had to deal with growing up)
Me: But you read the newspaper from cover to cover every morning.
Betty: Well, that’s different.
Since the time I was 10, Betty has always told me I should be a writer. Now I’m a writer and she’s questioning why people are reading me. I think when she said “writer” she meant more on paper. Newspapers, books, magazines … romance novels featuring swarthy men called Storm.
To make the ridiculously cute arrangement out of the nearly dead flower all you have to do is stick a single bloom into each tea cup and place them on a cake plate or two. If you don’t have cake plates, just line the tea cups up in a row. You can put them on a table or windowsill. (again with the ridiculously obvious information … just in case you were thinking of putting the flower filled teacups inside your refrigerator or on your head)
Every morning I just step out the front door and pop off a few new Daylilies to stick in the cups. Don’t forget to remove the old, dead daylilies from the teacups before putting in the new ones. And add water. Make sure they flowers have water. And don’t squish the flowers in the palm of your hand, throw them on the floor and jump up and down on them. Don’t do that.
I would like to take this opportunity to point out the fact that my mother reads my blog every single day. Oddly, she is not housebound. If you happen to be in a wheelchair maybe you could roll on over to my mother’s house this weekend and let her know you do leave the house every once in a while. Possibly to go pick a Daylily, the flower formerly known as the Lupin.
If you liked my post, don’t forget to Stumble, Twitter or Facebook it! Thanks. ~ karen
Pati Gulat
OMG ! That’s hilarious !!! WHEELCHAIRS !!! I can see all of us roling over to your mom’s house to ASSURE her we actually DO have lives outside your blog ! Well….maybe to try and convince her that’s true…even if it’s not…LMBO !
Chrissy Floyd
You crack me up! I look forward to your posts – you have such good pieces of information and you are hilarious. (and by the way, I’m not in a wheelchair).
Claudine
That was thoroughly enjoyable, and I am ambulatory so can go do other things, but choose to read your blog. Please let Betty know this.
This post made me laugh, and also wonder why on earth you would want a monkey, especially one named Supertinkle, as I’m concerned about the condition of your beautiful home should he live up to his name. The foot rub and vacuuming I get.
In case any of your very few stupid readers decide to emulate your daylily decor, I want to remind them that any flower in the lily family (not lupins) is highly, extremely highly toxic to cats.
Thanks for the laughter. Enjoy your beautiful daylily decor. I’ll enjoy yours as well. Hello to Betty. Hello to Boyfriend. (Is his lupin thing related to Monty Python?)
Claudine
Micol
Hi Betty! I’m happily not on wheels. I read this blog on My iPhone during my commute or any time in the day. I live in Rome, i have a higher education, a work and a family.
Karen, i’m a not stupid that enjoy reading you!
Welkome back from your vacation!
Love your photoshop!
Josie
Oh I am so glad you posted this. I actually just cut a SINGLE Casablanca Lilly from our front porch. Not the same, I know but this ONE lily (about the size of my head) is so fragrant and beautiful and driving my allergies crazy but I don’t care cause it’s pretty!!
Fi Clark
Just posted you on my facebook wall to spread the joy. I am not wheelchair bound. I do like monkeys and I have a Steve who stops listening quite often. I love your blog.
Karen
Thanks Fi! ~ karen
AnnW
I am lying on my bed reading your blog, before transferring to my wheelchair to go to the bathroom and then to bed. I guess you are never a hero in your own family. Tell your mom that I am not housebound yet. I will be 65 this year, but I intend to compete in the Teva Winter Games next February in Vail. I live half the year outside of Vail and half the year in the suburbs around New York City. I have several degrees and used to work on Wall Street. Tell your mom that I read your blog along with all the international, political and financial news every day. Mostly on the internet for convenience and also so I won’t have to recycle newspapers. I am probably going to Antartica and New Zealand next year. Unless you are a cuckoo or a changeling, she must have had some influence in your upbringing. So tell her that I think you are fascinating, talented, and vastly entertaining. If she grumps at you any more, go tell her to make a true pie. Ann
Karen
Ann – I think she’s thinks I’m funny. She always told me to be a writer from the time I was little. She is just stunned people would find and then read my little blog on a daily basis. Good luck at the games! ~ karen
Erica
I love yellow flowers! Thanks for making me smile! You are hilarious!
http://www.homeownerinsurancequoter.com/homeowner-insurance-policy.html
Jen
Hilarious. Ah….Mom’s…..so much fun. :) I actually didn’t realize why they were called Daylilies. Another informative post!
Laura
Well, the chair that I sit on at the computer has wheels, so technically I am in a wheelchair.
Beth
I just laughed out loud about calling sports uniforms “outfits” as I, too, am guilty of the same thing!
mimi
I read your blog, have no wheelchair, but no daylilies growing either. Must plant some! fantastic arrangement.
Alliey
Thank you so much for this pertinent advice about flower arranging. Turns out the mistake I’ve been making is in throwing the flowers on the floor and jumping up and down on them. Who knew??
Karen
Alliey – I’m so sorry I didn’t post about this sooner. Also, don’t shove them up your nose. ~ karen
Allison
unless they’re poppies. that might just work….
Lisa J
We eat our daylilies around here. The buds are our favorite but if some flowers do manage to bloom before being deep fried or otherwise made delicious, I use their spent petals to dye fabric.
Funny that I overlooked their potential to be decorative. Maybe I do need to leave the house more…
Katie @ Wildwood Creek
Too funny! Beautiful flower display. Note to your mom: reading blogs is kinda taking the place of newspapers and magazines.
Talia
Another really funny post! If it makes you feel any better, I refer to my husbands dress shirts as blouses. He corrects me and I am like whatever…
Please assure Betty that I am not wheelchair bound and choose to read your hysterical posts. I mean, who doesn’t like to start the day with informative information presented in a humorous manner?
BTW…my husbands eyes glaze over at times too! Usually when I am describing my fascinating day. Hmmmm….must be a male trait. :)
Lynn
Karen ~ Although your post is *technically* about Daylillies, I am interested in the eclectic mix of your dishes. I have always wanted a mismatched setting at the table – out of design insecurities I have all white with a few cool accent pieces though. It must take a “theme” of sorts to make it work. Yes? I would love to see your table set with such a mix. Table setting 101 for the less than stylish, wish it wasn’t all white types. Like me. The bi-pedal, non monkey owning, Daylilly (and Lupine) loving, Karen fan. Like Betty. :)
magali
I had a similar conversation with my sister. She didn’t understand why people read blogs and didn’t understand people who wrote the blogs. She thought you had to be a bit pretentious to think that people wanted to read about your life. AND THEN, a week later, she started her own blog!!! So I’m just waiting for “The Life and Tales of Betty”, a blog by Betty.
Holly
Karen you really should write a novel! I would buy and make all my friends buy it too and we would all love it and skip along with day lillies pinned in our hair.
That Betty! I love hearing the re-enactments of your interactions. You two are a HOOT!
Mindy
The stars were aligned and it stopped raining long enough for me to work in my yard yesterday. I came ‘this’ close to whacking my daylilies to to the ground and digging them out. You’d be hard pressed to find another human who likes plants and gardening more than I, but those damn daylilies are ridiculous plants. Really not an attractive habit at all – unless you’re wheelchair bound to the garden and spend your entire day pulling the dead blooms off to make the plant presentable.
Alas, I could not commit plant murder and the ridiculous lilies are still in my garden. Now, drenched to the core and soggy with rain.
They’re very pretty in your kitchen though. :o)
Pam'a
You can come sit by me, Mindy. I detest them, and have always called them “ditch lilies.” They actually DO grow in ditches around here. I think they were tossed there after people dug them out of their yards. Mostly, though, I hate them because they’re a sickly orange color.
If daylilies around here were yellow like Karen’s I might like them. If they were super-hard to grow I’d probably love them and HAVE to have some. Because that’s how gardening works.
FlagirlinTN
I like to read your blog while I’m “working” at an Institute of Higher Learning. Heck, I’m learning!
Susan
Your sense of humor is the greatest!! It always brightens my day. You write like how I talk inside my head. I’m thrilled to have found your Blog. I think it was through Centsational Girl. xoxo
Karen
Thanks Susan! I sense we’d get along just fine. Or I’d hate each other because we’re too similar. Let’s go with getting along. ~ karen
Lydia
Oooh, I like the blog by Betty idea!
Nope, not in a wheelchair. Work 28 hrs a week and have two kids, 5 & 2, and a husband who needs as much attention as a child – but I will ALWAYS make time for your blog!
My Mom calls mine my “blobber” :-/
Karen
Blobber! LOL. My mom’s getting the lingo now. She still can’t send an email though. ~ karen
Liz S.
Betty – Be nice to Karen. She’s taught us how to do all sorts of neat things.
kathryn
ahhh Karen. i love to read your blog and do so dailily. lots xxx
jules
Karen – can you confirm this daylily rumor from my mother?
I also live in southern Ontario and there are loads of orange daylilies everywhere along the side of roads but also, they are fairly common in the gardens of older (like century) homes.
My mom said that this used to be an Protestant thing – the old way of flying your orange colours.
That is why orange is the predominant colour that we see – when there are clearly loads of other colours of daylilies in the universe.
However, my mom is also on the slippery slope towards batty-old-lady status.
Diana
You owe me a new laptop. The one I’m currently using has coffee spewed all over it and it will short out any minute now. Thanks.
Karen
Diane – I apologize. My mother apologizes. We both apologize. We’re kindda like Abbot and Costello. How’s that for a current reference? ~ karen
Monique
Love your posts…so funny. Please assure your mom that there are lots of folks who love reading your blog and we’re not confined by a wheelchair. Your mom reminds me of mine…gotta love ‘em. :-)
Karen
Monique – In my mother’s defence she thinks I’m a good writer. And she loves reading. She just doesn’t “get” that people read blogs. Any blogs. Not just *my* blog. ~ karen
christine hilton
Hey Jules,your mom is right.Think of the “Orangemen”.That is grade seven history so I cant remember their significance,just that they were protestant.I have this batty old lady theory that we can only remember so many facts.As we get older and battier we remember the dumb ones.Not the important ones like putting on a good bra before we go out in public,etc.
beth
My 84 year old Mom has all those great ‘dust catchers’ as I call them. Went out to visit today and floated some dayliles and zinnias in beautiful cups. Can’t wait to see what I can do with their jello molds. Thanks for sharing and fyi – have you found lilly pollen can cause major laundry stains on your favorite t-shirt?
Karen
Beth – YES. Lily pollen stains are the worst. ~ karen
Rachael
Karen,
all i have to say is that i’ve never wanted a pet monkey named Supertinkle SO BAD in my entire life.
and as a 24 year old lady, i aspire to be as Karenesque as possible.
yes, i just made that word up if you couldn’t tell.
Karen
Rachael – That’s quite a compliment. To grow up to be like me you’ll have to take whatever little bit of OCD you have, multiply it by 100 and then finesse it to the point that it’s an asset not a disadvantage in life. You’ll also need to like green olives, ~ karen
Kira
Omg, I am dying laughing right now because MY boyfriend calls all flowers lupins! We actually had an argument over whether or not a lupin was even a flower (he won, who knew?). But I DO know about daylilies, so HA to him.
Bernadette
http://www.hayfield.ca/
If you go to this website, you will see a selection of daylilies like you have never seen before. They cross them and come up with beautiful colours and frilly ones etc…. Enjoy. I love your idea for displaying them.
Tina
I like to eat my daylilies. One variety I have tastes so good…like a sweet lettuce.
Warning: not all daylily flowers taste good.
Tracy
Daylilies must exude something that attracts men. My husband, who could care less for most flowers, was fascinated by daylilies, too. Except he misheard me and calls them ‘day-lees’. I haven’t had the heart to correct him.
Karen
Hah! ~ karen
Kharina
Hah, wheelchairs! That is mums for ya. My mum had a go at me for being a vegetarian years ago (it can’t be healthy not eating meat). Now when I have joined Slimming World and am losing weight she tells me I should go back to vegetarianism. You as a daughter will never win. It’s a fact.
Lisa
I’m 29, no kids, not married, hold down two jobs and I read your site every day.
Oh! and I’m not in a wheelchair…not that someone *in* a wheelchair couldn’t be all of those things I just described…
maybe I just associate someone in a wheelchair with being old…
maybe that’s just me…maybe because I’m 29…
toni
Tell Mom….you are a Literary Genius/Hoot! Back in the day….Erma Bombeck was my heroine! I think we all have the same husband/boyfriend, (the ones who start recanting the latest football fantasy scores in their head when we have something to share with them) they just have a different face to tell them apart…I read your blog religiously….”rarely” comment….but everyone needs to give the “raspberries” to mom every once in a while..,..Toni
Erika
Karen – Just came across your blog and am enjoying reading through your old posts on this particularly slow day at work. I have no idea if you get notified about comments to old posts. Just wanted to mention that your lilies are beautiful but be SUPER careful having them around your kitty cats! My well-intentioned fiance brought me a flower arrangement with a lily in it, and my cat chewed on the petal one night. I called my vet to check it out and they said to bring her to the ER vet immediately. They had to give her activated charchol and she was on an IV for 3 days. Even the pollen is extremely toxic. There are very few things sadder than a kitty on an IV drip looking at you with those big sad eyes! Luckily she’s A-ok now but I’m on a bit of a lily awareness kick right now :)