Lily Rae and her Telephone.

Good Morning Daylily Friends,

I have watched a seedling that I selected and planted several years ago, and I did this simply because I thought that it was lovely.  I couldn't tell what the cross was, but I could tell from the bottom part of the identification tag that the pod parent was MISSISSIPPI MEMORIES.  I knew that I only used MISSISSIPPI MEMORIES one time several years ago, so I went to my log book for 2008, and found that, indeed, I had selected three seedlings.  The cross was as follows:  (Angels Gather Around x Mississippi Memories).  Henceforth I will call this daylily Seedling 8-63.  It is 32" tall with 4-way branching, 15 buds, and a 5 1/2" flower.  It may grow even better with less heat and more water.

I also must tell you about Little Lily Rae.  Diana bought Lily Rae a phone which says "Hello" when it is opened, and when it is closed is says "Goodbye."  While the phone is open the numbers can be pressed, and then there are sounds like tones on real phones.  Also there is a song on the phone which is "Knick Knack Paddywak Give Your Dog a Bone." Quite a neat little telephone.  Little Lily Rae was playing with her phone, and I just had to take her picture.  She is so beautiful!  Diana and I just adore and love Little Lily Rae.

I have to also tell you about another flower that I have that I also really like.  It is what some have called a "big yellow."  Yes, it is a big yellow, but then, in daylilies, there is big, and then there is really big.  I will call this a 7 inch flower.  It has such wonderful height and branching.  I can't wait until another year passes, and I can sell it so that friends in other daylily gardens can also see it grow.  Lots of credit has to be given to Whatley's RAM which was introduced in 1994.

Two years ago I was privileged to have Sandy Holmes' WALT LOWRY.  If you do not have this lovely "large daylily," then you should order it immediately from Sandy.  I tried to cross it last year with one of my unusual forms, but I made no progress.  Then I found that WALT LOWRY and Stamile's WILD AND FREE were compatible.  I set pods on WILD AND FREE, and then I planted the seeds on June 21, 2012.  Then, on June 30, 2012, the first new sprout emerged.  What a joy.  In my humble but accurate opinion, WALT LOWRY is at the top of the world of large daylilies, and WILD AND FREE is at the top of the world of unusual forms.  I planted about 120 seeds from my cross, and I'm probably going to grow them all in the Greenhouse.

I should note that spiders can be registered as large flowers.  I learned this at our last daylily show.  My friend Claude Carpenter entered what I would have thought was a spider, but indeed, the hybridizer had registered the flower as a large flower.  That is, a flower larger than 7 inches.  WALT LOWRY is between 10 and 11 inches, and the scape is over 40 inches tall.  At our show next year I may enter WALT LOWRY as a large flower.

I must also tell you about Diana's Cucumbers.  At first she had trouble growing them, and then when they did start growing, the deer nibbled on them and really slowed them down.  Soon, however, the plants recovered, and we've had plenty of Cucumbers.  Then yesterday Diana called me to come and look at her plant.  There was a snake curled around the vine, and looking like he owed the plant.  I took his picture, but I didn't bother him: he wasn't a poisonious snake.

We're going to the AHS National Convention in Ohio this coming week.  It will be good to see many friends again.

Bill