Planting seedlings to the field . . .

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I just can't keep all of the nice seedlings that show up. I have listed several on the Lily Auction under the heading, "Future Introductions and Bloomed Seedlings" and listed as "Pickles Seedling . . . " These seedlings are elegible for registration and introduction. Here are the images:

 (Doc Branch X Wonder Of It All)

 (Carved Pumpkin Pie X Engraved Invitation)

(J. T. Davis X Spectral Elegance)

(How Beautiful Heaven Must Be X Wonder Of It All)

(Mandalay Bay Music X Larry Allen Miller)

I grew about 600 trade gallon pots of seedlings in the greenhouse over winter hoping to get some early bloom. I made a lot of mistakes, the important one was the potting medium I used, so I did not get much bloom. What I did get, however, were some large, husky seedlings to plant outside. The picture below shows about 150 of the seedlings planted in 25' rows about 1' apart. The rows are spaced about 10" apart. Some may still bloom this spring, but I will bet I get many of them to bloom this fall. Look how husky the plants are!

The ground is tilled with my new Woods tiller, a top dressing of 10-10-10 fertilizer, Milorganite, and lime is added and tilled in. Seedlings are planted and given a top dressing of Nutricote and Milorganite, then mulched with Nature's Helper (ground up pine bark). On top of this, Snapshot, a pre-emergent for weeds is broadcast. In the future, when the seedlings are selected or discarded, the mulch is tilled in to enhance the ground.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee

Sunday Visitors . . .

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We always enjoy having visitors at Chattanooga Daylilies. Sunday morning, Ron and Cathy Turner from Colunbia, MO arrived for their visit. They had heard me talk at the CenLA meeting (I think that stands for Central Louisana). Cathy told me that she had been wanting H. 'Jean Pickles' ever since I showed the picture at that meeting. So we dug JP for her. At the same time, we dug H. 'Joy Nolan' for her which was also on her list. Wanting to get back on the road home, and not much blooming here, the visit was short but enjoyable. Here are Ron and Cathy taken in front of Jean's raised perennial bed. 

I checked in the greenhouse on Monday morning and there were many pods that needed to be collected so I began picking them. I must have gotten somewhere around 150 pods with many more to go. Afternoon temperatures were hovering around 90° so that made it an easy choice to shell the pods rather than going back outside to work. I spent about two hours shelling the pods and visualizing what may come from the various crosses. They go directly into zip lock bags and into the refrigerator crisper. Three weeks to planting!!!!

Tuesday morning will be back outside lining out seedlings until the heat gets to be too much.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee

Visit with Bill and Diana Waldrop . . .

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Saturday morning, Jean and I took a 2 hour road trip to Kennesaw Mountain Daylilies, the home of Bill and Diana Waldrop. It is always such a pleasure to view their park like landscaped property. Many of the shrubs, hydrangea's and perennials were in full bloom. But, that was not the reason that we were there . . . we were there to view the incredible daylily bloom in Bill's greenhouse. There were hundreds of blossoms of all colors strutting their glorious self. There were reds, purples, yellows, lavenders, eyes, watermarks, etc., etc. What an incredible sight!

One that really caught my eye is an already selected 2011 introduction of Bill's, H. 'Westover Blue', a cross of [(Heartbeat Of Heaven X Johnny Cash) X Cerise Masterpiece]. I am showing an image that I took. Bill did not particularly like the blossom, but what I saw were the colors. Here is H. 'Westover Blue'.

Bill was kind enough to allow me to bring a fan home a year early. WOW!

Another seedling that was showing it's stuff was Seedling 8-76 X 283-8. Sorry, I did not get the parents, but I imagine Bill will furnish them. What an awesome seedling! Here is 8-76 X 283-8.

I turned the table on Bill. I took a picture of Bill taking a picture.

A Larry Grace seedling that Bill was growing caught my fancy. Bill had it identified as (Cimmaron Rose X Ted's ZZ) What an incredible red and edge. Don't you agree with me?

There were many more notable seedlings blooming in Bill's greenhouse and I believe he plans to show you some on his next blog. A short but amazing trip.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee