This flower is named in honor of the volunteers of the Weatherly (PA) Area Community Library. After my wife was driven out of her librarian's job at her former high school, there was a period when she despaired of ever finding a new job at a normal school. At the time (April 1995) the Weatherly Area Community Library, staffed entirely by volunteers in space donated by a local bank, was being put together, and she travelled there as a volunteer "consultant" to help them get organized. They went out of their way to make her feel welcome, and helped to lift her hopes and increase her sense of self-worth at a time this was badly needed.

Another picture of Weatherly, taken on a sunny day. Photo by: Nick Chase.

For some indiscernible reason, Weatherly is a difficult flower to photograph. This 1998 cluster photo shows it "true" about as well as any picture I've taken; the hooks and knobs of the gold petal edges are clearly visible here.

I've had many people ask when this plant will be introduced (that is, available for sale). Ron Valente has agreed to grow and introduce it, and in early May 1998 I provided him three fans for him to test at Valente Gardens in southern Maine. Ron says it grows well for him, and (most importantly) the blooms open well for him after those cool Maine summer evenings. He says he hybridized with it some, and that he wishes he'd used it more. He expects there will be enough to introduce it in 2000; certainly no later than 2001. (With his still-mostly-rural location, I also expect Ron will survive any Y2K problems.) No, I am not sending any to a Southern garden for testing. I feel the Southerners can pretty well take care of themselves; as it is, we have too many Southern-bred daylilies that sulk in our Northern climes. I'm more concerned about hybridizing daylilies that grow robustly in New England and in even more northern locations.