By Jenny Callison
Enquirer contributor

Joanne Means, of Top O' Hill Daylily Farm, shows two of her 1,600 varieties. The Bayou Bride (left) and Mountain Violet are among her national award-winning varieties. The Enquirer/MEGGAN BOOKER

OXFORD - The nagging question at the root of Joanne Means' business lately has been "plant or prune?"

The fate of Top O' Hill Daylily Farm has been in Means' hands for more than a year, when she became sole owner following the deaths in 2002 of her husband, Larry, and her father, Jim Pelley.

Her father started planting day lilies in the 1960s and eventually nurtured his hobby into a business. He was actively involved until just a few years ago.

When Means opened Top O' Hill for the season in May 2003, she planned to begin reducing the beds so that she could gradually close the farm.

But several factors conspired against that plan. One was nature itself. Day lilies, as gardeners know, don't give up without a fight. They thrive on neglect, they weather drought, flood and pests, and - most importantly - they multiply.

Then there is Means' own nature. She learned tenacity and a fierce work ethic from her parents and has risen to meet every challenge that has confronted her in the last two years.

"The strength she has shown: I admire it and wish I could have it," said customer and friend Louise Pyle of Hamilton. "She is very courageous and quite adventurous."

And, like the day lilies, Top O' Hill's sales have continued to grow. Means estimates that 2003 sales were up 20 percent over the previous year.

The majority of the farm's business is Internet-based. Orders begin to come in during February and plants are shipped out starting in late April. Once the plants break into bloom, said Means, "we're just overwhelmed with people."

So by the time she opened for the season this May, Means had decided to accept the fact that Top O' Hill was destined to grow.

That meant filling the considerable void left by her father and by her husband, who had expanded the farm's sales through tireless marketing efforts. She has cultivated the talents of a small group of high school and college students who work alongside her in the field and in the office.

"I count on them," she said. "It's a comforting feeling, knowing that the customers are well taken care of."

Two of those students, Erica Hunt and Leah Fitch, said Means knows how to motivate her employees and make hard work fun. She challenges them to weeding contests, rewards them with pizza, and - according to Pyle, "never asks them to do anything she wouldn't do herself, and more."

Running Top O' Hill by herself has thrust Means into the role of primary decision-maker. Although that is new for her, in some ways it has been liberating.

"We used to argue about the width of the rows. My father used to insist on a certain way of preparing the holes for new plants," she recalled with a laugh. "This year, I just said, 'Here we go.'

"Now I make all the decisions: how much help to hire, what weed control measures to use and what to plant. I designed our new mailer and developed a new Rainbow Collection of day lilies."

Last season, in her "pruning" mode, Means offered a "dig your own clump" program as a way to pare down inventory. Rather than ordering daylilies from the catalog and waiting a week or more for those orders to be filled, customers could bring a shovel into selected areas of the farm and help themselves. Each clump was priced at $10.

The concept was a hit, spurring sales and bringing more people than ever to the farm.

Although Top O' Hill sold 1,729 clumps of lilies last year, those sales didn't make a significant dent in the numbers of plants.

Means has decided to face reality.

"There is no way to get out of the day lily business," she admitted. "They multiply. Whether I run the farm or I sell it, so much time, energy, organization and planning has been invested here that it really makes sense to make the most of it.

"My kids want me to give up the farm because they say I work too hard. But I think this day lily business is great. I've been given a gift that my parents left to me.

Location: 420 Oxford Trenton Road (Ohio 73), just east of Oxford

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, May 15-Aug. 15

Information: 523-6172 or www.daylilies-topohill.com

E-mail jcallison@zoomtown.com