Floyd County Scenes

Wildwood Farms - 1200 varieties of daylilies

Drive a few miles south of Floyd, VA on Route 221 and you will come to Wildwood Farms, a treasure trove of daylilies. Mid-June to mid-July is their peak blooming season, but they are open through September with late-blooming varieties available.

Judy Bowman and her family operate this tastefully landscaped garden in a way that provides a memorable customer experience. You are greeted when you arrive and you get a price list that helps you wander through the garden beds and identify the plants you want to buy.

Judy has made daylily buying a pleasant family excursion even for spouses who are not up to browsing 30 beds of daylilies. These spectator spouses can relax  in the comfort of a padded swing seat while sipping ice-cold bottled water provided by Wildwood Farms management. Life doesn't get much better!

When the lily buyers finish their selection, the staff digs up the selected plants and bags then for your trip home. They will even ship your plants, if you are just visiting Floyd from a distant location.

There are over 50,000 named, registered daylily varieties available worldwide and the team at Wildwood Farms is adding to that list every year. While I was there I spoke with Judy's niece, Caitlin, who was working on new hybrids for the next season.

The daylilies at Wildwood show many variations in color, form and texture. They also come in a variety of sizes. If you browse through the two Wildwood Farms photo albums on the right side bar, you will see a hundred different plants that caught my eye while my wife was selecting ten varieties to plant in our garden.

One thing I learned from Judy was that daylilies are not prone to disease and insects. I saw Japanese beetles swarming on the blossoms, but they were not eating them. For those of us who have had entire trees denuded by these hungry pests, daylilies offer a welcome rest from battling beetles.

Make Wildwood Farms a stop on your trip through Floyd, VA, even if you aren't yet in the market for daylilies. You will come away inspired and will have beautiful memories of possibilities that you never anticipated.

Wildwood Farms
2380 Floyd Highway South
Floyd, VA 24091
email:rjbow91@aol.com
phone: 540-745-5155

Antique Ford Truck - eye candy for a Spring day

I saw this immaculate supercharged pickup truck today in the parking lot at the Harvest Moon foodstore in Floyd, VA. I hesitate to call it a restoration because I'm not sure how much of the original metal, if any, still remains.

It seems to have been a very early Ford pickup and has found a new life as a toy for an older, and well-heeled, sports enthusiast.

The body shell and the doors may be original, but everything else seems to have been fabricated of new material to very high standards. The seats are cream-colored leather and the interior is spotless.

This truck is a real showpiece, but it is used for runs to downtown Floyd and is attracting lots of attention. At least four people came up while I was shooting these pictures, including one fellow who said, "It's a shame they didn't leave the flathead engine in it!"

I wanted to bring you some history of this vehicle, but I traipsed through the Harvest Moon foodstore and the coffee shop Over The Moon asking for the owner of the Yellow Ford Truck in the parking lot with no results.

I talked with several well-groomed sportsmen who looked very much like show car owners, but no one was willing to admit to owning this treasure.

If anyone knows the provenance of this beauty, please send me an email.

It has a Lucky Lady insignia in the rear window and Moon insignia on both sides of the cab. It also has a radiator ornament that seems vaguely familiar.

You can click on these images to get a full-sized image.

Here is a view from the front.

UPDATE:

It's a big help having knowledgeable friends!

Iowahawk says, "...that appears to be a '33 or '34 Ford, chopped about 3" and channeled about 7", frame has likely been Z'd . That's a stock '33-'34 grill, but he's running an old Model T radiator cap on it. 

Engine is a small block Ford, probably 302 or 351, looks like a B&M supercharger setup. The pickup bed looks like a shortened Model A. Wheels are either Cragar or Centerline."

There are more cars like this to be seen in Floyd. Here is an article titled, More Eye-Candy from Floyd.

Signs of Spring on Highway 221

This flowering tree was a burst of Spring energy on an otherwise dark grade on Highway 221 north of Willis, VA. It was almost 5 o'clock and the light was going fast, so I grabbed a few shots while I could.

Fortunately, there was a nearby pullout so I didn't have to risk life and limb dodging late afternoon traffic.

It seemed to be some sort of weeping cherry, but I left the identification to my usual panel of local experts.

They subsequently informed me that it was, indeed, a weeping cherry.

What's in a name...

I am sure there is a logical reason this picturesque old country store was left to decay, but Poor Farm Rd would not be my address of choice for a commercial venture.

The customers are long gone and the building is beyond renovation, but it provides a constant source of inspiration to those who muse about the ebb and flow of country businesses.

Cows graze contentedly on the lush grass, pausing occasionally to look at the daily cavalcade of vans carrying realtors and buyers in search of the perfect spot to erect a country mansion.

This country store may be history, but hordes of new settlers arrive every month, completely undaunted by the prospect of living near Poor Farm Road.

In a way, this street name typifies the spirit of Floyd. In some communities where growth is occurring, this road would have been renamed Windy Hill Way, or Vista Rd to give the neighborhood a better image for real estate ads.

I hope this building stands for a few more years. Like the old barns that dot the local countryside. it is a reminder of our rapidly receding past. Graceful, even in ruins, it is part of our local legacy.