Consider the lillies of the Lemonade Queen

Isn't this an excellent day lily? Look at the triple layers of petals. The layers are even lovely when the lily is closing up for the night (in the second photo). I'm also excited because they appear to be thriving despite my limited plant care abilities. Perhaps it is all the wonderful tending they had before me.



About May my energetic neighbor, Mrs. Holmes, divided up her day lilies & put them out in handy carrying bags. The Holmes are rock solid neighborhood people. They live in the 1600 square foot brick home they raised their boys in.



Mr. Holmes used to run a toy store & sell his famous hand squeezed lemonade there {The Sundry is now LocoPops on Hillsboro Rd}. Mr. Holmes also sold lemonade from his garage for the first 10 years we lived in the neighborhood. I loved putting in orders for a gallon at a time. Yes, Mr. Holmes actually has business cards that say:

Bill Holmes
Lemonade King

His lemonade was the elixir of life while we were breaking up a 6 inch concrete pad in the back yard of 2116. When I sold it at the intermissions of OHS plays, Mr. Holmes had tips about the best sort of cup to use & how to set up the situation. Of course we had the lemonade for many of the kids' birthday parties. Our neighborhood committee always bought gallons of it for the 4th of July celebrations.



I enjoyed visiting Mr. Holmes' lemonade workshop in his garage. There was the squeezing station...a metal squeezer with an overhead handle bolted to a table and a bucket to catch the juice. A small stove for cooking the sugar & water into simple syrup. Then across the garage the three freezers for storing the lemonade. Over the squeezer station hung several types of mashers for breaking up the icy lemonade into an icy slush. As Mr. Holmes said, the slush is the secret to the lemonade's power....that way ice cubes don't dilute the taste. Now imagine drinking it on a North Carolina sultry summer day. Oh yes!



Mrs. Holmes used to work as a church receptionist, Mom & Grandma. She also keeps an amazing garden. Ever since both their sons died unexpectedly she has made her yard bloom. On one side (near the former lemonade factory) there are tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, and roses. Then there are daylilies, bird feeders and all sorts of amazing blooming plants. Mrs. Holmes just gets a notion to plant something new and creates beauty. She has been trying all kinds of plants. About 5 years ago the roses were her new adventure. Today they are amazing.



You have to get up early if you are going to keep up with Mrs. Holmes. Sometimes I catch her on her morning walk (around 8am). One time I was so happy to see her that I fell in step & walked several blocks in my PJs & bathrobe just because she's so much fun...and it was the only way I'd get a chance to chat with her.



She is a gardener who tends her plants in the early morning with watering, dividing, digging and all those necessary chores. On her 90th birthday this year friends & family surprised her with a huge planting of pink flamingos! In seeing Mrs. Holmes' garden I can feel her love for the world...how she has taken profound sorrow and created beauty.