Lanny Comes and Visits.

Hello Daylily Friends,

I am usually up early because I like to have the Greenhouse clean before I begin my work in hybridizing. When I clean the Greenhouse I have to use my scissors to cut the pollenated blooms in half, and this is usually many, many blooms. Cutting the blooms in half saves the part of the flower where the seeds are being made, and also eliminates the ugly day-old bloom. So, "clean-up" is a little more difficult that "dead-heading." With dead-heading you only have to snap away the flower at its base; there is no need to use any scissors. Well I finished my hybridizing work on Tuesday morning, and then around 9:15 a.m. my friend Lanny Morry from Canada came to visit and stay with us for the evening. Lanny was a joy to listen to and she has so much knowledge about daylilies. Lanny's son, Mick, is a tremendous hybridizer himself, and he grows many more flowers than I currently grow. Mick is also a tremendusly talented artist as can be seen on his website, avaloniadaylilies.com. I am showing a picture of Lanny and myself in the Greenhouse just resting after all of the pollenating work was completed. Lanny helped me with the pollenating.

I have an unusual cross which is as follows: [(Heartbeat of Heaven x Jennifer Trimmer) x Tet. Star Child]. There were seven buds on the scape and I looked at each of the first six buds, but never marked the seedling as one that should be kept. Then, when the seventh bud bloomed, I decided that the seedling must be kept. I did not record the height, branching, or flower size because the plant is obviously not at any level of maturity. I decided to keep the seedling because although it looks odd, it is still very neat and orderly. I am showing a picture of the seedling which is now Seedling 9-90. I went ahead and pollenated the last bloom with pollen from Tet. Star Child. I also proceeded to use Tet. Star Child much more vigorously.

When Lanny was here on Tuesday I used my microscope, and looked at pollen gathered from PINK RUFFLED LOVE. I thought I had a conversion, but, alas, no conversion. Then, today, Wednesday, May 13, 2009, several hours after Lanny headed to Florida, I took another bloom from the same scape of PINK RUFFLED LOVE and this bloom appeared to be a tetraploid. I then looked at each of the six "anthers" from the stamen, and it was clear that one anther was basically all tetraploid pollen. Each of the other anthers had an assortment of diploid and tetraploid pollen. I'm showing a picture of the pollen that I saw using my microscope. The pollen is obviously very large, and is obviously tetraploid. It measures between a 15 and a 17 using a hundred power lens.

It was difficult to decide how to use the pollen from TET. PINK RUFFLED LOVE. I finally decided to take the pollen to Seedling 8-143, and its parentage is as follows: [{7-144} (Leslie Renee x Angels Gather Around) x {6-146} (Leslie Renee x Angels Gather Around)]. Here is a picture of Seedling 8-143. As you can see, Seedling 8-143 has a strong pink color and a very unusual edge. I grew the Seedling in an effort to have green edges; I did not get the green edge but I did get a beautiful, little, 4 1/2" flower. I had six buds and I pollenated them all with TET. PINK RUFFLED LOVE. I then took the anther that I used and stored it in a match box in the refrigerator to use tomorrow. These two pinks should make an interesting, pink combination.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 14, 2009, I will write about another conversion. This additional conversion was witnessed and affirmed by my friend Lanny. Tomorrow I will tell you about the daylily, I will show you a picture of the daylily, and I will show you its pollen size.

Look forward to writing to you tomorrow.

Bill