Christmas Tree Craft for the Kids by Debbie Beckett

Bundle up and go outside to find some pine cones, then You will need:

*Green paint and white paint - paint brush or tips

*a box to spray into if using spray paint

*glue

*baking sprinkles and granulated sugar and/or

*glitter, small buttons, what else can you find at home to decorate your tree?

Paint your pine cone. I used spray paint, you can spray into a box to prevent a mess.

If you don't have spray paint, any paint will do. You will just need a brush to apply it.

After the paint is dry, it is time to decorate!

Using a paint brush or q-tip, paint white snow globs onto the green branches.

Then sprinkle the sugar and baking sprinkles and/or glitter, buttons and other fun things directly onto the paint. Press down a little to make it stick. You may need to add some glue for bigger items to stick well.

I had fun making my Christmas tree, hope you do too!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!

Hemerocallis: The Common Daylily by Cherie Luke

While at a garden club meeting I was telling a fellow member that I had brought over 100 daylily cultivars with me when I moved here from northern NY.  She asked me "you mean those orange flowers?"

Nowadays daylily's come in a wide range of colors, sizes, and bloom times.  The first daylily's grown by American gardeners were native to Asia, but it was the European settlers who brought orange and yellow daylily's with them.  Sometime in the 1930's a red daylily was found in Asia and brought to the New York Botanical Gardens.  Dr. Arlo B. Stout , the "grandfather" of daylily hybridizing,  used it to create daylily's in pink, peach, and wine colors.  Now the American Hemerocallis Society's cultivar search website lists approximately 80,000 registered cultivars. 

Daylily's belong to the genius Hemerocallis.  In Greek Hemera means day and Kallos means beauty.

Each bloom lasts for one day but because most plants provide a high bud count you will see a stream of continuing blooms that will compliment other perennials in your garden.

Each year daylily's develop more fans, therefore they should be divided every 4-5 years.  By dividing them you will keep their size in check and it also gives you plants to share with your friends.  Daylily's grow in zones 3-9 and will do best in an area not browsed by critters.