A Yard Goes From Dirt Patch to Perennial Paradise

Other people collect art, play poker, or spend all day on Facebook. For Joyce, who grew up gardening in Franconia, New Hampshire, and still remembers her gateway plant—and the 10-pound zucchini it yielded for first-grade show-and-tell—few things are as satisfying as watching a patch of earth burst forth. These days she's more into flower than food production and puts in lots of reliable bloomers; last summer she counted 875 daylilies all flowering at once.

Shown: A grass path carves its way through 'Becky' Shasta daisies, 'Have Time' daylilies, and 'Goldsturm' black-eyed Susans.