You know the stand-by sitcom joke that when dating someone new, you should let the crazy out only a little bit at a time? Well, I've been writing this blog a while, so here's a little piece of my crazy made just for you!Sometimes I get something stuck in my head like a bad craving and MUST have it. You know what I mean, yes? Ever want chocolate really Really REALLY badly? So much so that it felt like a biological need? Yeah, like that, but for colors, color palettes, plants, and so forth.Today, my mail brought me a daylily I've been coveting for years and could never obtain (darn you, Martha Stewart Magazine!). But, thankfully I now have Hemerocallis 'Milk Chocolate'. I've planted it in the garden and hope to grow it up big and fat. I bought it from the generous folks at North Country Daylilies in Buskirk, NY (now apparently gone). Hemerocallis 'Milk Chocolate' is the little guy all the way on the left in the photo above.See, the growers here in California who grow daylilies don't seem to grow this particular cultivar (or at least not list it online). Some growers list it but didn't actually have any or wouldn't return my calls and emails - after looking for this thing for years, I was thrilled when North Country said they had one. ONE. Not only that, they were willing to ship it to California - another stumbling block I've run into before. BUT, they sent me a 3 fan plant, more than most mail order companies would send.I bought 'Milk Chocolate', 'Third Witch' and 'Vatican City' to make the most of the shipping. I stole the images below from the American Hemerocallis Society (AHS) webpage:Milk Chocolate:Third Witch:Vatican City:North Country sent me the biggest danged plants, I am completely delighted. In NY where they are, the snow has just melted away and the dormant daylilies are beginning to stick their heads up. Out here in Northern California, it is warm and spring is old news.One of the ways I hone my professional knowledge is to order plants from mail order companies and see what happens - I look at accuracy, plant quality, packaging, and customer service (bonus: an excuse to buy plants). I've had some wonderful surprises as in this daylily order. I've also had some really unfortunate and problematic orders (I won't be ordering from Wayside or Easy to Grow Bulbs again) that surprised me the wrong way.I've found that generally the growers who love their plants and specialize in certain kinds of plants have the best stock. The big business companies send the smallest, least healthy plants, the most poorly packaged, and have the most errors in order accuracy. I once got a box of dead plants from Wayside and they never did return my inquiries. So, when something goes right like this, I like to crow about it.Do you see these roots on H. 'Vatican City' and the extra fans on 'Third Witch'?! Mail order plant droolworthiness:I have a few other daylilies that I will tell you about another time - that will be fun - there's more crazy to share there.Thanks for reading!