I first met Katie Sykes at a club meeting where she sat like a queen with her hat and handbag beside her. With the impertinence of my (relative) youth, I inquired whether she grew any daylilies herself? She looked at me coolly and replied, "Only about 200."
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Catherine Hargrave Sykes |
Later I learned that she was a very busy lady! In addition to maintaining her immaculate garden of choice cultivars, she enjoyed
travel, tennis,
skiing and golf--even golfing the day before her stroke. She was a lifelong member of
the Chatterbox Club, the Country Club of Rochester, Junior League of Rochester,
Rochester General Hospital Surgical Twig, and a founding member of the Hunt
Hollow Ski Club.
Finger Lakes Katie Sykes is as sunny and energetic as her namesake. The flower is a vivid cadmium yellow, very creped and gently ruffled, with a lighter midrib and olive heart. Petals roll back, sepals recurve. While the budcount is not exceptional, Katie produces lots of flowers: she blooms and blooms and then reblooms.
Katie left us in 2012, but will long be remembered in the Finger Lakes Daylily Club. I am indebted to her husband, Mr. Robert F. Sykes, for permission to dedicate this flower in her honor.
08-W-2 (Exact parentage unknown, but evidently from crosses made with Flash of Javelins, Ikarian Honey,
and Victorian Lace.)
Height 30”
Budcount 13-15
Flower 5 ½ "
Dormant
Early Midseason
Reblooms
Introduced at $75 double fan