Dayliles that look so much alike

With 96 varieties of daylilies sometimes they are not much easier to id than butterflies and moths (previous post about moths). I decided to bring some blooms inside and photograph them together. In the yard they are not next to each other. In both of these photos the right one is Canadian Border Patrol, had since 2006. Second from the right is Custard Candy, a new one last year. The one in the back (in the photo below) is Designer Gown, had since 2003. It appears the two on the left are both Sweet Summer Valentine, from 2008. I also thought I was picking Emperor's Dragon, new in 2009, but as you can see those 2 on the left are the same. Emperor's Dragon is only slightly different for Sweet Summer Valentine, but the difference is NOT in either one of those blooms.

Next we get to I THINK, Ruffled Apricot and Lady Georgia. I bought these 2 and Decatur Apricot, all in 2003. These 2, plus Decatur Apricot are the most confusing to tell apart of any of my daylilies, except the red ones. All the red ones look JUST alike to me.

Next is Always Afternoon and Addie Branch Smith. These two blooms do not even look similiar in color in the catalog. But you can see from the photos they are same color.

I bought both of these in 2005. They look much the same other than bloom size. Addie Branch is a 4" bloom, and Always Afternoon is a 5 1/2" bloom. They are planted at least 150 ft from each other, so I have to get the blooms next to each other to compare them. I go through this every year when they first bloom, after I get it straight in my head I know Addie Branch is in my largest daylily flowerbed and Always Afternoon is planted at my front door.

We built the house in 2006. Beginning in June 2006 I can tell which daylily by where it is planted. Yes, I write as Jimmy plants. I have little diagrams attached to the cutout pictures from the catalogs. But any daylily bought before 2006 (42 of my 96 varieties) have been moved 3 times, while not in bloom and I have to go with my best guess. That is why the reds are so hard. One day I will do a post like this with all my reds.

All of these dayliles were purchased at Oakes Daylilies, and most of them were during the annual Oakes Dayliy Festival. The festival is going on this weekend, but I am not going this year. I don't need anymore daylilies (you think???), and my friend that goes with me every year is pregnant and currrenly 5 days past her due date. If you are in East Tennessee and looking for something to do Saturday check it out. It is gorgeous and they give everybody a free daylily.

UPDATE to previous post for those with inquiring minds.....the 2nd one wasn't even a moth, Hap says it is a Female Dobsonfly. Dar got the 3rd one right, a Pandorus Sphinx Moth, and Rita got the 1st one (Dar nor I got that one). This is what Rita told me in an email about why she knew what the moth was...."My Dad brought a cocoon home when I was in about the 4th grade and showed it to me. He put it up on a window ledge and forgot about it. Lo and behold, a while later a giant butterfly was flying around in the house.It was very fun as you can imagine. I took it to school and my teacher helped identify it as the cecropia moth."

Just had to share that wonderful story, because it is a great reminder that everything we teach a child has the potential to stay with them their whole life.

Moths

First, all of these moths are dead.
Jimmy found them close to the brick plant and brought them to me.

The first one looks like a Columbia Silkmoth to me.

The other two I don't have a clue.
Notice the camouflage appearance of the last one.

If interested, watch for Hap's comment,
because I think he will come and id them for us.

Underside of all 3.
Look how much larger the first one is.

Update: The first one is a Cecropia Moth, the second one is a female Dobsonfly, and the third one is a Pandorus Sphinx Moth. Thanks for all the comments.

The view from my back deck

The field behind has always been a hay field. In 2008 they turned the ground over at least 4 times, then planted something different. It was harvested like hay, but had to be planted each time. Did the same thing last year.This year they have not touched it.
And now it looks like snow from my deck. For the next two photos I was on that slope to the left. I was trying to show you how full it is.

There has also been Common Milkweed in the past, and I have caught it a time or two just loaded with all different types of butterflies, including Monarch.

This field did have some of the orange variety, which my book says is Butterfly Weed. Don't tell anybody, but Jimmy dug me enough for us to place it in 3 different locations in our yard.

But this is what the field is full of.

I had thought it was the bigger daisies until I walked out there to photograph the whole field.

These daisies are in the all the un-maintained fields this year.
And the white clover is in all the yards.
I have never seen as much white clover as we have in East Tennessee this year.
The yards looks like snow too, and it doesn't take but a couple of hours after mowing to look like it is in full bloom again.

My daylilies are in full bloom too, but I thought I would share this first.

Happy Father's Day

A father's love. This is my son-in-law with my grandson, Noah.
Taken one week ago at my front door.

Happy Father's Day to all Dads today!!!

Florida Hawk at resort

Supper time at the condo, but I think I got too close before he captured his supper.

We went to the park to see the Hawk and Osprey.

Didn't see either one, when we got back to our time share this Hawk was there.

I think it is a Florida Red Shoulder (which apparently look different than other Red Shoulder Hawks), but it could be the Broad Shoulder. A lady there told me it was a "Golden". Think she was thinking of eagles, which I do know it isn't an eagle.

This last photo was the second before it took flight.
Don't really care which type Hawk, he was just pretty to look at.

Oh, and if anybody is interested in the upper left corner is my Etsy site, you can see what I have been spending my time doing. As I list new purses they change there and you can keep an eye on my lastest listings. Right now I am knitting on a Red, White and Blue purse. Hopefully it will be listed in the next week.

Heron at Lake Seminole Park

I am not exactly sure which bird this is.
I did eliminate the Bittern, because he is not brown.

From a distance I told Jimmy it was a Green Heron.

But when I saw that LONG neck I decided it was not,
but the body is so small compared to the neck.
Sorry that the photos are not better.
The light was bad, and there was a chain link
fence between us, although the bird is not captive.

I have now decided again that it is a juvenile Green Heron.

My reference book is the Sibley Guide to Birds, page 64,
best I can tell Ninth Printing (pages could vary).

But what happens to that neck as it matures?

What does everybody out there think it is?

Snowy Egret -- St Pete Beach

All of these photographs of the Snowy Egret were taken
at sunset along St Pete Beach, Florida.
This Egret has one injured leg, but he did fine with it.
We saw him several different days along the edge of the water.

St Pete at sunset

Back from a week in the sun. Our time share was totally shut down for about 4 months to update it. It really looks good now, and we had a wonderful time in the sun, just relaxing.

It seems all my sunset photographs were stars this year.

The last one is my favorite.

The rest was great, now I see why we needed the rest....to prepare for the yard work waiting for Jimmy and me.