A hobby in bloom

Brian J. Lowney

A summer visit to TomCat Daylilies Farm in Mattapoisett offers guests a multi-sensory experience that they will long remember, leaving them wanting to return to the picturesque gardens time and time again.

Owners Tom Grondski and Catherine Jackie graciously share their 12 acre property along the Mattapoisett River at the historic Old Stone Bridge, where they cultivate up to three acres of the titular daylilies every year. The couple, both retired educators, began growing their gardens 45 years ago and have planted a large organic garden that includes several types of berries and fruit trees to feed family and friends. Jackie, who taught art, has long enjoyed an obsession with flowers, which has resulted in many perennial beds.

“I used to grow everything,” she begins.

“I was a seed saver. I found some daylily seed pods and grew them. For the past 30 or more years, my focus has been on the collection of daylilies. I am a daylilies hybridizer and I’ve cultivated many original cultivars.”

Noting that she has an active garden from early spring until the first frost, Jackie says that she has grown tens of thousands of unique plants during her gardening career.

“I make new seeds every year,” she shares, adding that she and her husband grow the seedlings starting in September in two greenhouses and put the young plants in the ground in the spring.

“I select the best of the best and propagate them,” Jackie continues. “It takes between eight and 10 years by the time you have a sellable plant.”

The horticulturist adds that daylilies are easy to grow and propagate.

“Hybridization is a relatively quick turnaround,” she adds, noting that roses and other plants often take much longer.

As a hobby hybridizer, Jackie never knows exactly what she will get when she combines two daylilies varieties or which new plants will thrive. Practice and research have given her better and faster results over the years.

“The patterns and colors that daylilies form are just endless,” she said.

“We are open July and August,”Jackie continues. “Daylilies have three seasons, Early (end of June), midseason (last three weeks of July), and late season (August). Peak bloom is in the middle of July, but we have many good plants available each season. If people buy from all three seasons, then it looks like their flowers last two months.

“Some of the blooms are fragrant,” Jackie adds, but they are all unique, colorful, and beautiful. She shares that daylilies last only for a short time, hence the name “daylilies,” and emphasizes that the flowering plants can bloom for several weeks.

Adding that she taught art to middle schoolers in Wareham before retiring, Jackie frequently draws flowers using pen and ink highlighted with watercolor.

“I do it strictly for myself and family,” the artist continues, sharing that she is always thinking about future projects that she hopes to start once winter sets in.

Meanwhile, Grondski keeps busy at the farm with a myriad of projects and sells daylilies at farmers markets in Plymouth, Osterville, Hingham, Attleboro, and annually at Harbor Days in Mattapoisett.

“It is a labor of love,” he says, smiling. “It’s a hobby gone crazy.”

Jackie says that guests from throughout the region and beyond visit the farm regularly to purchase plants, learn about different varieties, and to seek expert advice.

“People have come from as far away as Florida to buy plants,” she notes. “I have also shipped plants to other parts of the country.”

TomCat Farm Daylilies Farm is located on 25 River Road in Mattapoisett. For more information call 508-758-6219 or visit tomcatfarm.com.