In full bloom

NEW GLASGOW - Last year at this time, Lillian Bryan's garden was in full bloom. This year, her daylilies are showing off their colours, but they haven't reached their peak season due to the rainy summer and lack of sunshine.
That's just fine with the New Glasgow resident, though. By the time the Gardens by Evening Light tour pays a stop in her garden next week, her daylilies should be in their glory.
Bryan's collection of daylilies - one of the finest in the province, which has received special recognition from the Nova Scotia Daylily Association - is one of six stops on the Communities in Blooms tour.
Her garden features 300 varieties of daylilies, all of them labeled for easy identification. Just 15 years ago, however, the daylily garden on Carmichael Street didn't exist.
"I was visiting a garden on PEI and the woman had just started growing and selling daylilies," Bryan recalled. "She had 15 varieties to sell and I bought 12 of them."
Back then, Bryan didn't have the Internet, so she'd pour over gardening magazines, filled with brightly coloured pictures of daylilies.
"I wanted one of everything," she said with a chuckle.
Daylilies come in every colour except pure white, black and blue; some are ruffled and have "eyes" of colours inside the petals.
It's an easy plant to grow, she added, and typically is in bloom from the end of June until the end of July.
"They're very care free," Bryan said.
"They don't have pests, they don't spread aggressively. You just need some good earth when you put them in. The more water and sunshine they have, the more they bloom, but I don't do additional watering in my garden."
The Gardens by Evening Light Tour, hosted by the New Glasgow Communities in Bloom committee, will be held July 29 - a rain date is planned for July 30 - and will start at Carmichael Stewart House Museum.
Following registration at 6:15 p.m., participants will be given a map with five other garden stops and will have the opportunity to speak with hosts about their stories and inspirations behind their gardens.
A tea and social will follow in council chambers.
All funds raised on the tour will go towards supporting plantings at the Carmichael Park Veteran's Cenotaph and the Frank Calder Memorial Garden at Carmichael Stewart House.