Delaware

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Jean and I made a trip to Wilmington, DE this past weekend to visit our son and family. It is always amazing to see how much Ben (15) and Max (11) have grown. Friday night I had a ping pong tournament with them and they named it "The Friday night massacre" so I guess you really don't need to know the score. I told them that my reflexes were 20 seconds slow so they would have to play 20 seconds slower . . . they didn't buy it.


Saturday we visited the Nemours Mansion, the home of Phillip I Dupont. What an incredible home and what incredible innovations the man designed himself. I guess the one that stood out to me was this elaborate method for making ice for his homemade ice cream. The mansion was full of innovations.


Another highpoint was seeing the array of vehicles this man had. The one that stood out was a 1960 Rolls Royce. We were told that there were 10 made of this model, Queen Elizabeth had the 1st, Phillip Dupont's 3rd wife the 2nd, plus Wayne Newton and Sir Elton John have one each. When asked about the value, he said in the neighborhood of 1 million. Here is a picture of our son Jaimie and me beside this classic.

My first thought was to tell you that this was our rental car and chauffeur, but if that were the case, the chauffeur would probably be in a tux.


I mentioned my seedling No. 9080 (Fringe Benefit X Horny Devil) on the robin and how fertile it was. All I had to do was stand across the greenhouse and point the pollen at it and it set a pod. Here is No. 9080.

Otheres that I mentioned that were very pod fertile for me this year were: WONDER OF IT ALL, BLUEGRASS MEMORIES, ROCK SOLID, RAZORWIRE, and ROBERT W. CARR.


Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good. Remember, when the bloom is gone, you still have your friends!

Lee

End of field bloom . . .

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I made another round of the fields this morning. One of the blooms I spotted was in the newly planted seedlings from the greenhouse. I gave this a 1001 number since that is their normal bloom year . . . this is unusual for me to have one bloom from September 2009 seeds. Below is Seedling No. 1001 (Tickle Me Elmo X Kaskell's Best Edge seedling). Notice the teeth.

In the named varieties field, there were two on rebloom which surprised me because of all the heat and lack of rain that we have had. I do not water this field.

H. 'Bodega Bay' (Pickles, 2008) Height 28", bloom 6", season M, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid, Fragrant,  Pink pearl polychrome. (Edge of Heaven × Horny Devil). This is a bright clean color in the garden standing nearly 36" on rebloom.

H. 'Smooth Groove' (Pickles, 2009) Height 36", bloom 6", season MLa, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid,  Pastel cameo pink self. (American Gothic × sdlg). This picture was taken on a rebloom scape. Notice the fine teeth on the petal edges.

Each time I post, I think this will be the last from the field and then more keep cropping up. So I will not say "no more", but I doubt that there will be. Those of you in the north that envied me when my daylilies started blooming, it is now my time to envy you.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good. Remember, when the bloom is gone, you still have your friends!

Lee

Field bloom 9 . . .

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I occasionally get asked if I don't get tired traveling around the country speaking to clubs and organizations. My answer is "No, I enjoy every minute of it." I hear from people all the time saying that they learned something from my presentation. I received the following a couple days ago and I have asked permission from Teresa Dillion of Michigan to share her email to me with you. With her permission:

"Lee,

Just a note to let you know how much I appreciate your posts on the robin and your blog. Your seedling pictures were a great encouragement to me this spring, long before we had bloom here in MI,

We are almost at peak bloom now. I am enjoying the appearance of new seedlings each day.

I want you to know that I credit you a great deal for my understanding and desire to hybridize. You gave a presentation to Southern MI. Daylily Society and showed the detailed parts of a daylily and explained the entire process of hybridizing. You also encourage us to try and all kinds of hybridizing, unlike other speakers that said to make a selection of a certain type of daylily and work with only that one. I was unable to choose so I felt confused. The following summer after hearing you speak, I tried hybridizing. I was able to set pods and went a little overboard. I donated seeds to the seed bank because I had way too many to plant. Now I am seeing the results of my efforts.

When you came to Central MI. to speak, I was once again encouraged to continue my quest. My husband can not understand why I would want to create more work to do. Only another gardener would understand.

Thank you for making it all make sense to me. You planted a seed!

Teresa Dillon

Durand, MI.

P.S. I still have not decided what my focus is, but I am narrowing it down."

Kay Day Pricolla states, "We come to daylilies for the flower, and stay for the people." Well, Teresa is one of those people that make daylilies special. Her note really made my day, and no, I do not get tired of sharing my little bit of knowledge with others! Thank you Teresa for making my day.

A couple days ago, I commented that I was done walking the seedling fields because I was not seeing anything new. As I was traveling around on my John Deere, I went past the seedling field and spotted the seedling below clear across the field. It is Seedling No. 0045 (Roses And Gold X Some Sweet Day) Please enjoy!

After seeing the seedling, I went to the previously introduced bed and spotted two others to share with you.

 H. 'Victorian Crinoline' (Pickles, 2001) Height 30", bloom 5", season EM, Rebloom, Dormant, Tetraploid,  Creamy ivory tinged mulberry blend with deep mulberry eye above green throat. (Royal Braid X tetra Janice Brown).

H. 'What Dreams May Come' (Pickles, 2002) Height 28", bloom 5", season EM, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid,  Peachy mango blend with fuchsia eye above green throat. (Carlee Longman X Daring Dilemma). This one was on rebloom.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee

Field Work . . .

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This is the time of year for daylilies that I would just as soon as skip. Basically, the 2010 bloom has ended and with the heat and drought, it doesn't appear we will have much in the way of rebloom. I put water on one bed for four hours yesterday and had to dig a plant in that area today and there was no moisture present. Just to show you how hot and dry it is, I saw two oak trees today fighting over a male dog! Now, that is hot and dry.

Last winter, I moved some of the 2009 selected seedlings to the greenhouse to use in hybridizing. I potted them in trade 3 gallon pots. This past week I have been moving them outside, taking them out of the pots and planting them into one of my display beds. So far, I have 78 planted filling one bed and will now have to find somewhere for about 30 more. Then I have to move out the potted named varieties and decide which ones I will take back in next winter, then I guess I will put the others on the Lily Auction even though it doesn't look like things are selling well on there.Maybe it is the time of year.

To the left of the greenhouse above, I have three display beds where I plant my selected seedlings. The beds are 8' wide by 40' long. I plant 4 rows of seedlings, 24" apart which gives me 78 plants per bed. The back two beds have just had the selected seedlings from the last three years that didn't make the cut, dug and discarded. I will consolidate those remaining into one bed and then I can prepare the third bed for next year. The pots in front of the bed are named varieties from inside the greenhouse that I have used in hybridizing. Those shown above are some of the ones that will go back into the greenhouse this winter.


Spikey is a rescued mixed breed (Jean will not let me call him a mutt, saying, "God doesn't make mutts.") He is a little over 9 years old, about the same age as Sara Lee our yellow lab. When Spikey wants to eat, if I don't pay attention to him, he will jump up in my lap and stare me in the eyes. Do you think he is hungry? Here is Spikey and dad.

Many of you will remember Shiloh, our Seal Point Snow Shoe Siamese cat. When Siamese are born, they are almost white and their color changes as they get older. Here was Shiloh when he was about 8 weeks old.

Shiloh is now 1½ years old and has gotten most of his color. Here is Shiloh, taken today in the office. He helps me figure out what is wrong with the computer when I have trouble.

Isn't that a remarkable color change? He likes rubber bands to play with. He will bat them around and pick them up and carry them around in his teeth.

Another image of Jean's perennial garden. Her beds have been absolutely beautiful this year.

The bloom may be done here, but in other parts of this great country, it is just starting. If you are just beginning, enjoy it because it doesn't last long.  Remember, when the bloom is gone, the people are still here. As Kay Day Pricolla states, "We come to daylilies for the flower, but stay for the people". I am happy to say that I have a lot of daylily friends. Won't you be my friend?


Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee