A theme garden is a great way to combine your other hobbies and interests with gardening. One DG member has created a Star Trek garden to showcase her love of both daylilies and science fiction.

(Editor's Note: This article was originally published on August 4, 2008. Your comments are welcome, but please be aware that authors of previously published articles may not be able to respond to your questions.)

DG member Lindalee Stuckey is a science fiction fan, the chair of this year's DuPage County science fiction convention. She is also a gardener, with a particular interest in daylilies. She is the current Corresponding Secretary of the Chicagoland Daylily Society. Recently she has combined these interests by creating a Star Trek garden featuring daylilies from hybridizer Curt Hanson, whose new offerings are often given names derived from the Star Trek television series.

Lindalee already had a 'Captain Kirk' hosta and a few other hostas and daylilies with names inspired by science fiction. But two years ago, when she had just joined the Chicagoland Daylily Society, she heard someone mention a daylily called 'Spock's Ears'. Someone on Yahoo Answers directed her to Hanson's Critonic Gardens website, where new hybrids can cost as much as $200.

She obtained her first Star Trek daylily from an American Hemerocallis Society auction where 'Cardassian Border' and 'First Officer's Log' were being offered. She won 'Cardassian Borders' but lost the other. Her daughter gave her 'Photon Torpedo' and 'Romulan Defector' as a Christmas present. But then she got a new catalog from Critonic Gardens. "I decided I could afford seven of them if they were my Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day and anniversary presents."

She also decided to create a special garden to feature them. Her husband was not originally enthusiastic about her plans to sacrifice even more of the yard to a new collection of daylilies, but because he, too, is a science fiction fan, he soon signed on to the idea. It was he who designed the new bed with its Starfleet emblem laid out in stone, now the focal point of the entire yard.

Star Trek Daylilies

Borg Technology
Cloaking Device
First Officer's Log
Life on Bajor Neutral Zone Spock's Ears
Vulcan Logic
Photon Torpedo
Romulan Deflector

Other Science Fiction Named Daylilies and Hostas

Lindalee with Captain Kirk hosta
Captain Kirk
Enterprise
Starship
Rocket Booster

Lost in Space

In addition to these varieties, Lindalee also has specimens of daylilies 'Purple Pyrotechnics', 'All Fired Up', 'Rocket City', 'Venusian Heat', 'Notify Ground Crew', 'Klatuu Barata Nictu' and 'Galaxy Quest', that were not blooming on the day I visited her garden. She recently acquired 'Solar Eclipse' and 'Ashwood Rings of Saturn' in an auction at the Region 2 convention of the American Hemerocallis Society in Madison, WI.

She is still looking for new varieties to add to her collection, in particular Celosia 'Star Trek Rose Pink Adobe' as an annual to add color to her garden when the daylilies are not blooming.

In July, Lindalee hosted the DuPage Science Fiction and Fantasy club's monthly gathering to show off her Star Trek garden. Her theme was, When Hobbies Collide. As this meeting of daylilies and science fiction demonstrates, such collisions can create fascinating new universes in your garden, as well.