Winter Ideas

Hello Daylily Friends,

Today I was preparing to change my website, and so I was looking at some of my many pictures that I have stored on PICASA. One of the pictures that I noticed was of a daylily that I selected in 2008, and that I now call Seedling 8-243. My pictures of Seedling 8-243 were taken outside because the plant bloomed outside. The outside measurements were impressive: 32" tall with 3-way branching, 7 1/2" flower, and 19 buds. In fact, the numbers were so impressive that I took the daylily from the outside garden, and in the 2009 season, I grew it in the Greenhouse. In the Greenhouse Seedling 8-243 was significantly different in its measurements. Specifically, it had 7-way branching and 52 buds. Something similar to what you might expect to see in Stamile's garden. From what I have personally seen, it appears to me that the cold weather makes a big difference in the performance of a daylily. The same daylily can be grown in a cold climate, but it will not do as well as it would in a warmer climate. I realize that there are extremes, such as taking a dormant plant to Miami, and expecting it to perform as it would in North Georgia. Still, in my humble opinion, the climate makes a big difference in what a plant will do in terms of branching and bud count. I'm showing three pictures. The first picture shows 8-243 in all of its glory, and the second picture shows a ruler laid over 8-243 verifying the flower size of 7 1/2".

The third picture, shown here, is Seedling 8-243 growing in my outside garden. I thought that everyone might find this picture to be interesting. In my opinion, Seedling 8-243 is a semi-evergreen, leaning toward evergreen status. It has not been harmed by the winter, and it looks very healthy. Many growers and hybridizers have varied opinions as to what constitutes a dormant, a semi-evergreen, or an evergreen. I think a reasonable decision has to do with experience, and personally seeing how a plant performs over several years. A daylily like Seedling 8-243 will be hard to beat when it is ultimately introduced. It is one that I really like.

Bill