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Bradford Journal & Miner Thursday, May 19, 2011 Page 19
The All-American Award-Winning Daylily: Lovely And Low Maintenance (NAPSI)—Several gardening trends are expected to flourish this summer. Experts predict that small- space gardening, container vertical gardening and gardens with low-maintenance flowers will thrive. One low-maintenance but AllAmerican award-winning star suited to any size garden is the lovely daylily. There are so many to choose from. More than 60,000 daylilies are registered and bred in at least 25 states by hundreds of individual hybridizers. Many of the best daylilies compete for the title of All-American Daylily awarded by the All-American Daylily Selection Council (AADSC). AADSC began its test program in 1985 and awarded its first All-American title in 1994 to Black Eyed Stella, known for its landscape performance as a nearly continuous bloomer. The title is not just an award granted to the prettiest cultivar, but rather given only to those daylily varieties that have demonstrated superior performance in dozens of criteria across at least five USDA hardiness zones. Daylilies are tested for at least two years with finalists grown for another three to five years in open field conditions before being selected as a winner. There are now 19 award-winning AllAmerican Daylily varieties that have been selected for their scientifically proven, superior performance nationwide. Here are just a few of the winners: • This year, a new daylily has earned the
distinction of being named an All-American Daylily. The recent winner, Lady Elizabeth (Hemerocallis Lady Elizabeth), features sparkling diamond-dusted white blooms. For decades, near-white to white daylilies have been considered weak novelties best grown by collectors, but this new flower has defied these stereotypes by delivering dependable performance and a hearty display of blooms throughout the growing season. A winner in exhibition category, rustresistant Lady Elizabeth blooms 30 to 110 days per year in USDA zones 4 through 10 and adds a stunning highlight to any landscape. The flower’s sun-resistant 5- to 51?2inch diameter blooms appear in early to mid-season on 18- to 24-inch scapes and continue blooming for five to six weeks, repeating again late in the season. Dense, bright green foliage provides a graceful pedestal below the flower display. • In 2009, Dream Souffle was the first double bloom to win the award. The fluffy double-petaled blooms are a pastel rosypink blended with cream and flushed with yellow in the center. • In 2006, the award winner was Buttered Popcorn, a large buttery-gold bloom on sturdy 28- to 33-inch scapes. The golden beauty boasts nearly continuous blooming. • In 2004, Lady Lucille was honored for
its large showy bloom that starts off just as most other daylilies are winding down, with clusters of flashy 5- to 6-inch blooms that go from summer to fall. • In 2002, Bitsy, one of the longest-blooming varieties, won for its petite personality and powerful performance. • In 1998, Lullaby Baby and Starstruck were honored for their exquisite beauty and balance in the exhibition category. For more information, visit: www.AllAmericanDaylilies.com or find them on Facebook at All-American Daylilies.
Three Tips For Getting The Best Sound Quality From Your Digital Music Files (NAPSI)—If you’re like most people, you love downloading music in a digital format so you can take your favorite tunes with you wherever you go, but you hate the poor sound quality you get from digital music. It’s not just your imagination that digital music doesn’t sound as good as a CD. This is because music files must be compressed for easier storage and playback on mobile devices. CDs, with a file size of 1,411.2 kbps (or 1,411,200 bits of information per second), typically deliver over 10 times more fidelity than the same song in one of the most popular digital formats, like MP3, AAC and WMA, at 128 kbps. The act of compressing the audio file, in effect, strips some of the high and low frequencies that actually provide great detail and fidelity to a song, so what you hear sounds washed out and flat. But there are ways to make your digital music sound better. Here are a few tips: 1. Bitrate Size: When choosing an MP3, AAC or WMA format, look for files that deliver music at 192 kbps. That’s a nice compromise between file size and audio quality. Online music retailers, including iTunes, have begun carrying titles at a
higher bitrate already. 2. CD Ripping: The audio experience of a CD ripped at home versus a professional system is substantially different. To optimize the quality when ripping CDs on a home computer, choose either 2x or 4x speed to burn your disc. Burning at the maximum speed can cause instability in the recording, which leads to pops, clicks and gaps in your ripped music. Also, make
sure the CD-ROM drivers are up to date, and use a computer with a powerful CPU, as ripping is a processor-intensive activity. 3. Audio Enhancement Adaptor: Both of the above tips will help; however, you will still experience some audio degradation from the compression process. If you use an iOS device such as an iPad or iPhone, another way to optimize your listening experience is with a simple and sleek add-on device that connects to the bottom of your iPad, iPhone or iPod and restores the audio cues that were buried during the compression process, delivering an incredibly immersive and rich surround sound experience. A great one is the SRS iWOW 3D audio enhancement adaptor and it works with headphones, external speakers and even in the car. The difference is amazing...it’s like going from a B&W television to color. It’s a surefire way to get the most out of your digital music files. For more information, visit: www.srslabs.com/store
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