This picture on top is of a Hymenocallis ‘Tropical Giant.’ I am going to write more on it tomorrow, but it was in perfect form yesterday evening and this morning. Just so you have some basics before I write about Hymenocallis, there are many different varieties, one of which is native to Texas and seen by the early French explorers (H. liriosme). This variety is more cold hardy than most and blooms in late June, early July. It has attractive rosettes of foliage that stay a nice glossy green.

Last year we didn’t receive these summer thunderstorms. In fact, we had about two years of consecutive drought. All of the sweet potato farmers talked for two years straight about selling out completely. Most reduced their acreage, maybe one sold off his equipment, but for the most part they all replanted. If everybody except one person decided not to plant, than that one person could receive higher prices. Perhaps that thought, or some other remaining glimmer of hope of gain, persists enough to keep things going as they usually do. They are all going to do much better this year.

We are working in between the rains to keep the harvest going. Early morning hours with an occasional nap in the afternoon for me (Brad has the curse of the inability of nap taking), then back out for work in the shade sorting throughout the afternoon. Evening takes us back into the open field, and it is staying light almost to 9PM now. After dark we catch up on e-mails and computer work. Not a moment to be lost. I always say about East Texas, that it is a battle of man verses nature. If you were to take a nap on the forest floor, I think you would compost in about 2 hours. With the quality of water and soil, life here simply grows fast.

Thus the age old struggle continues, working with the abundant resources that fall into our responsibility and lately we have had some help. Yesterday there was no nap involved (for a good reason), as my brother and his wife came out to help on the farm. We finished almost two 500 ft rows and were fortunate enough to have afternoon cloud cover. Erin, my brother’s wife, cleaned my office! What a delight it was to walk into a vacuumed floor and pledged desk. Then she came out for field work in the evening. As the day grew old, the pastor of the local Golden Baptist church, Pastor Hardy, came by for a visit. I was on the tractor at the other end of the field when I spotted him on his hands and knees digging bulbs with the crew.

Rain has forced me back into the office for the day. We are almost done with the new website and will soon open up the initial offerings of Byzantine gladioli. The outdoor clothing from Ex-officio will be back up, and with the mosquitoes the way they are this year, I suggest everyone take a look at the Buz-Off clothing line. The site will also include some exciting international imports that we have worked to bring over—the products are from hard working European families and we are proud to partner with them. So much more to come, but in the mean time we will continue the efforts to have your bulbs out of the ground and packaged for you in time for fall.

On the pictures, I know there are a lot of people in them, but right now more than ever it is people that are helping make this business run. Thus, more people are in the photographs. From top to bottom: Hymenocallis ‘Tropical Giant’, a picture of my brother with Fischer and an old fashioned Crinum ‘Milk and Wine’ (the light played had a nice effect this morning), everyone in the field harvesting—including Fisch and Brad in the background, brother and wife Erin who helped clean and harvest, harvested bulbs, slow moving Brad in the morning, Pastor Hardy, and a blooming Habranthus robustus with the seed pod of an earlier flower a few weeks ago. To Dallas this weekend to help Brad move into his new home! Congratulations Brad and Katie.