Sunday, April 10, 2011

Loving Daylilies!





Hello Daylily Friends,








I have had such a wonderful week. First let me tell you about one of my purchases. It is a daylily that I purchased from Elizabeth Salter last spring. It is called MIXED BERRY JAM. I bought it from Elizabeth because it is so unusual in its color. Of course it is a small diploid, and I am doing all that I can to convert it to a tetraploid. Without showing the history of my conversion work, I am simply showing a bloom that I had early this past week. I will say that I tried to convert six plants, and I have lost only one. The other five are doing well, and I'm showing the one that looks and feels the best. Notably, It has a small scape growing. I find it amazing that a scape can survive the carving in the conversion process.






This past Thursday was a particularly good day in our garden because we had such good friends to come to visit. I'm showing a picture of all of us together in the Greenhouse in front of my new seedling, MARIETTA HEARTBEAT. The first person on the left is myself, wearing my hat. To my immediate left is my good friend, Claude Carpenter. Claude has served several times as the President of the Greater Atlanta Daylily Society, he created the "Fall Fling" for Region 5, and Claude currently serves as President of Region 5. To Claude's left is my good friend Lee Pickles. Lee has served many times as the President of the Tennessee Valley Daylily Society, he is the person who created the Mid-Winter Symposium for Region 10, and Lee holds the very prestigeous "Helen Field Fisher Award" for outstanding service to AHS. To Lee's left is my good friend Harold Verner who is a member of the Greater Atlanta Daylily Society, and who is retired from General Motors. I am always glad to see Harold because he always remarks about how hard I work. To Harold's left is my beautiful wife, Diana Rae.




This past week I have also had several new blooms. The first new bloom I had is a delicious, round, gorgeous red that is a cross between RED TOP MOUNTAIN and MOUNTAIN WILDFLOWER. The round form could have come from either of the parents, but I'm sure that the large, astonishing red eye came from RED TOP MOUNTAIN. I have been so focused on so many different tasks that I did not give this new seedling a number. The second new seedling is also very, very important. I had a cross that I made several years ago, and the parents were: (TET. LAVENDER BLUE BABY x TET. CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION). The seedling had a beautiful blue eye, but very little branching. So, my good friend Larry Grace gave me Pat Stamile's BLUE BEAT. I crossed my seedling with BLUE BEAT, and I couldn't believe what I saw this morning when I entered the Greenhouse. I think Pat would be pleased if he could see this new seedling. I also haven't yet given it a number, but I will get all of this done tomorrow.


This afternoon our local club, the Cobb County Daylily Society, had its meeting for April , 2011. We were very privileged to have the well know and highly popular Dan Backman to come and speak to us and show us his "daylily program." Dan's garden is "Valley of the Daylilies," and Dan lives in Lebanon, Ohio. Diana and I got to know Dan very well at our last AHS National Convention. Dan and his wife, , rode with Diana and myself on our bus. Diana and I were "Bus Captains," and we told many stories during the journeys between the gardens. Then, over the week-end of July 4, 2010, Diana and I went to visit many Ohio gardens, and the place we visited first was Dan's garden. Just a tremendous adventure and journey. Today Dan showed us so much about his work with spiders and unusual forms. Thanks Dan for coming to visit with us!


Well, that sums up some of what happened this past week.


Bill




9 comments:

  1. Bill,


    Love the seedling out of Blue Beat. With all those great blue eye genetics you have a blue parent that can't be beat. (no pun intended) I'd be smearing that pollen all over the garden. Congrats on that seedling. I just got Blue beat last year and sometimes new daylilies don't bloom the first year. Anxious to use it's pollen this year. Your lucky to have Larry Grace so close to you. I visited Larry last June and only wished I had more time to visit his place and talk daylilies with him. Keep putting more pics of new seedlings up. It helps us up north who are probably another two months away from seeing our first blooms. Thanks.

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  2. Very Nice bill, both flowers are beautiful but what i find amazing is the wide blunt sepals on the red edged seedling, though it is a tet it looks like one of my dips. Keep up the great work. Jim Elliott

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  3. Hi Paul,
    The interesting thing about what I now call Seedling 11-51, is that there are four immediate partners to the creation of the flower. The first partner is Jack Carpenter, who created and converted LAVENDER BLUE BABY. Then, there is Larry Grace, who converted CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION. Then, myself, when I crossed these two parents. The next person in line is PAT STAMILE who created BLUE BEAT. Then, myself again, when I put them all together.
    Incidentally, the plant is 23" tall, 3-way branching, 4" flower, 13 buds. Not bad for a seedling planted in late August of 2010.
    Thanks for your note.
    Bill

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  4. Thanks Jim,
    I now call the red daylily, Seedling 11-50. It is 26" tall, only 2-way branching, and also has 13 buds. The flower is 5" in diameter. Since it also has been growing from seed for only 8 months, I'm sure that its branching and bud count will improve.
    Thanks for your note.
    Bill

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  5. Bill,
    I must concur with Paul - that blue eyed baby of your is a stunner!
    Dan

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  6. Thanks Dan,
    I will post more photos of it as it continues to bloom. Much of the credit has to go to Jack Carpenter and to Elizabeth.
    Bill

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  7. Hi Bill,
    Just wanted to let you know that the hand on the hip and the leg thrown forward only works for Miss Georgia.

    Really enjoyed my visit.

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  8. Hi Lee!
    Oh well. We are working toward a "worthwhile" goal. Had some gorgeous daylilies in the Greenhouse this morning. May post some pictures later.
    Bill

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  9. Hi Bill,
    What ever came about from that beautiful blue seedling? Did you name it...i would love to get a fan of it if it becomes available sir.
    Love your Blogs.
    Rich E.

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