Monday, April 13, 2009

The New Season is Now!

Hello Daylily Friends,

This past Saturday morning, April 11, 2009, my friend David Arthur and I went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to hear David Kirchhoff and Mort Morss speak about their Kentucky gardens. We enjoyed their show and we certainly also enjoyed seeing Lee and Jean Pickles and the many members of the Chattanooga Club. David and I sat across the table from Mike and Gloria Capps. Mike purchased three fans of a daylily that I wanted to purchase from David and Mort, but I was "overbid" by Mike. Fortunately, Mike later sold me one of his three fans. I have the fan potted and I hope it grows ok.

Below I will show five daylilies. Be sure to click on each picture to see the enlargement.

This morning in the greenhouse, the first flower that I saw blooming was my Seedling 7-236. It is a cross between Carpenter's GLORY IN RED and Karol Emmerick's FEAR NOT. Seedling 7-236 first bloomed outside, and is now enjoying the greenhouse so that I can increase the number of fans that I have. I hope to get it measured and to register it this coming fall. I expect that it will be a spring, 2010 introduction. Another daylily that bloomed is one that I was surprised about. I must have made a mistake in my numbering because the daylily that bloomed is not the daylily that I thought I had planted. Nevertheless, I like the new daylily. I will have to give it a number. I'm showing pictures of Seedling 7-236 and of my "Surprise Seedling."

I also had a smaller pink seedling to bloom. It is Seedling 8-143. It's blooms are only about 4 1/2" but it is just adorable. Last spring when it first bloomed its height was 29" with 3-4 way branching. It had about 20 buds. I had it growing outside for the winter, but it was just so clumped up that I split it in late December and brought it back into the greenhouse. It was doing well with the cold outside weather, but now it is also doing well in the greenhouse. I now have 14 fans.

Another daylily that bloomed this morning was Seedling 7-239. The cross that made Seedling 7-239 is as follows: [(Cherry Valentine x Crazy Ivan) x Cane Creek Falls]. Seedling 7-239 bloomed outside after two summers and one cold winter. When it bloomed it had a tall scape, much branching and many buds. Unfortunately, I did not get it measured when it initially bloomed because I was not in the habit of making such measurements at the time. So, I am waiting for it to again bloom outside this summer. I may also register 7-239 during the fall of 2009. Again, it would be a spring, 2010 introduction.

The best news for today from the greenhouse is that I have now bloomed my best green-edged seedling to date. This new daylily is now Seedling 9-26. The cross is as follows: [(Leslie Renee x Angels Gather Around) x (Leslie Renee x Angels Gather Around)] x Best Edge. Here is a picture of Seedling 9-26: Most of the green-edged seedllings that I have seen are "short." Very short. Seedling 9-26, however, is 30" tall. Even after growing only 8 months, it has 3-way branching, 15 buds, and a 6"+ flower. As you can see from looking at 9-26, several of its anthers were displaced. This is not uncommon for a new seedling, but the green edges are just unmistakeable. I might also note that Seedling 9-26 has a very large green eye. I immediately began using the pollen from Seedling 9-26 because I want to move this green edge to other daylilies.

I might also add that Seedling 9-26 is growing in only a one-gallon container. If you were me would you leave 9-26 where it is, or would you move it to a 3-gallon container? Seedling 9-26 is so beautiful, with its green eye and green edges, that I am leaning toward movement to a larger container.
Bill

8 comments:

  1. Hello Bill,
    Seedling 7-239 is the best looking one to me.All are very good, but 7-239 is one that i would like to buy.
    David

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  2. Mr. Bill,
    WOW!!! What beautiful seedlings. I wonder what the outcome would be if you crossed 8-143 to 9-26. I would buy any of these. Keep up the good work.
    Greg

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  3. David and Greg,
    You both encourage me! I love to create new daylilies and I can't wait to get to the next step as soon as I can. My conversions should help. I am still waiting to see if I converted ORANGE VELVET. I like seeing new daylilies that are hardy.

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  4. love 7-239! I would try do the same with a darker edge. Thank you for keeping my plant! 5x bigger with my first scape... wooo hoooo! Tried to disturb the roots as little as possible when planted it yesterdy. Thanks again. I will post more photos on my blog soon. Now just: muddcreekgardens.com
    Thanks
    Luke Van de Vate

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  5. You're welcome Luke. Now we're looking forward to seeing you grow to maturity.

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  6. Bill,

    Make sure that you reserve 7-236 for me as well. It is one that I would love to grow.

    William

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  7. Bill,
    Love your blog! Just found it this morning...a friend from MTDS sent me the link. I remember meeting you at Mid-Winter Symposium (Nash) 2008. You had that gigantic pot of Kennesaw Mtn. Hayride with you! I currently only have 2 of your intros; Diana's Pink Gown and Pastor Laurie Ann Moeller...know I'm going to want more! Love that seedling from Fear Not...great color.
    Linda Hassler www.considerthelilies-liliesofthefield.blogspot.com

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  8. Bill I am not surprised you got that green edge with seedling 9-26. We have two clumps of Leslie Renee in our northern garden (zone 4b/5) and it is vigorously hardy and when it blooms it is far prettier here than in Florida where it was hybridized, perhaps because it is a dormant and likes temperature variation. Our Leslie Renee edges up here are consistently quite green tinged and for that reason I have used it often in my own hybridizing program. The sibling Shores of Time is a bigger bloom but the edge is much more yellow than green.

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