These are from our trip to the Houser residence in Auburn. They have created a wonderful pond and lot of unusual shrubs and trees on the acreage. Many daylily beds line the property and a huge trellised entryway invites you in.
Tom & Kathryn have been raising daylilies for nearly ten years now and have over 1500 varieties. They have complimented their garden of Daylilies with Hosta, Clematis vines, Columbine, and Iris.
Each summer they hold open gardens for browsers and buyers and the number of vistors grows each year. Their garden started out with an area south of their house and grew to include in front of the barn and the front yard. This year they plan to add more beds for more daylilies and hope to put another pond in the front yard. “Some of my favorite daylilies are the spiders”, Says Kathryn.
They have a pond near the barn and Kathryn says “it adds so much to the garden. It is a wonderfully place to just sit and relax and watch the frogs and fish. The grandkids love it.”
In addition to the garden full of daylilies, Tom & Kathryn raise llamas. Kathryn has always been an animal lover. “While my kids were growing up we raised dairy goats for 4-h projects and I have raised many different breeds of dogs,” Kathryn says. “The llamas help keep the weeds are bay and they clear the land to make way for more garden. Most people have the image of llamas as mean and spitting all the time, but they are really very friendly and curious creatures. Amber, our first llama is the most friendly. When she sees me standing by the fence she comes running in the hopes I have something for her to eat.
They do spit but it is rarely at people. They usually just spit at one another in an effort to establish their power in the herd. Their wool can be used and sold, plus I would like to try my hand at spinning and weaving. Be sure to check out our garden on the web at www.hobbycroftgardens.com“.
This was the clubs trip to John Norris’ home in Auburn, Ill. John grows daylies as well as companion plantings and has a wonderful arboretum started .
We have done some housekeeping and updated the site in a more managable form. Please stay tuned for more updates.
Powered by WordPress