Hello Daylily Friends,
When I went to the last Mid-Winter Convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in February of 2007, one of the daylilies that I purchased at the auction was SHERRY CANDY. It was made available by Pat Stamile. SHERRY CANDY was not actually at the auction but I wanted to use it that spring in my hybridizing work. So, in March I drove to Enterprise, Florida, and went to Floyd Cove Nursery to see Pat and Grace. They were so kind and I bought several daylilies and "picked-up" SHERRY CANDY. I took it back to my greenhouse, and it bloomed in early May, 2007.
When SHERRY CANDY bloomed I pollenated it with pollen from TET. OUT OF THE BLUE. I was fortunate to be able to convert TET. OUT OF THE BLUE and I was hoping to use it to gain a nice, new daylily.
Let me now back up several years to a Mid-Winter Symposium that took place in Chattanooga in the year of 2003 or 2004. Elizabeth Salter was a speaker and she showed a new "blue-eyed diploid," that she said was "as blue as the blue in your blue jeans." After Elizabeth spoke I tried to convince her to let me convert her new blue-eyed beauty, but the answer was short: "NO!" I thought, well ok. Then, the summer came and I went on a bus trip to Florida with the Greater Atlanta Daylily Society. We stopped at the Salter home and I asked about the blue-eyed beauty but apparently it was not blooming. So I didn't get to see it. Elizabeth nevertheless said that I could look at her seedling bed.
I did look at the seedling bed but I was disappointed that I did not see the new blue-eyed diploid. So, after looking at all of the seedlings I went back toward the Salter home, but on the way back I saw OUT OF THE BLUE growing very nicely in a 3-gallon container. Wow! What a plant! I thought it was just gorgeous. I thought it had a stronger blue-eye than the picture Elizabeth showed in Chattanooga. I asked Elizabeth about it; she said it was $60.00. I gave Elizabeth the cash and took OUT OF THE BLUE home to my garden.It took me several years to make the conversion, but it was a joy when it bloomed and I could see the tetraploid pollen in my microscope. I knew I had a good thing.
My friend Larry also converted BLUE OASIS, and both Larry and Jamie Gossard converted CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION. However, no one else that I know about has used TET. OUT OF THE BLUE. It is my understanding that the self in OUT OF THE BLUE was not as attractive as the self in either BLUE OASIS or CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION. I would note that Larry also converted OUT OF THE BLUE but as I say, it is my understanding that it was not really used as a pollen parent.
Well, one of the things that I noticed about my conversion of TET. OUT OF THE BLUE was that it practically always bloomed as a double. I have never seen the diploid OUT OF THE BLUE show any tendency to double, so, to me, the doubling of the conversion was unusual.
Well later in the greenhouse, around the first week of May, 2008, I was in for a big, big surprise. One morning, I walked into the greenhouse, and saw this gorgeous silver-blue eyed double seedling blooming. I was just so excited. Well, I have seen seedlings bloom as doubles and then retreat to being normal daylilies. I thought this would perhaps happen again with my new seedling. So , over the next several weeks, I watched the seedling. I had two sets of blooms that were polytepals, and then the last bloom looked almost exactly like the first bloom. The new seedling always bloomed as a double. Needless to say, I kept growing the seedling and now I have five seedlings growing in 3-gallon containers. I gave this new seedling the number 8-160.
I am anxiously waiting for this spring to come so that I can see if my seedling continues to bloom with that yellow self and the stunning silver-blue eye. I have no idea where the yellow self came from because I see no yellow in either SHERRY CANDY or TET. OUT OF THE BLUE. I suppose it does not matter. The yellow self is there and it accents the Silver-blue eye.
Bill
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