Blooms March 29

Blooms in the greenhouse, March 29, 2012

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Blooms are really beginning to pop in the greenhouse. Each day there are a few new ones. Some from named cultivars that I am using for hybridizing and others from seedlings. Of course, the seedlings are the most exciting. When I bloom 9-minth seedlings in the greenhouse, I always select by bloom face, form and color. In my experience, plants grown in my greenhouse never have the branching and bud count than when grown out in the garden. And, yes, some of the faces change when grown outside. That is why I always grow my greenhouse selected seedling outside for at least 2 years before deciding whether to introduce or not. They do change.

Seedling No. 8065 (Mandalay Bay Music X Larry Allen Miller) Garden name, Jo Kellum. This flower was selected in the field by Jo Kellum, garden author living on Signal Mountain, TN. We agreed to watch it for 3 years before deciding what to do. This is it's 2nd year. The bloom looks exactly like it did in the garden. Branching and bud count were much better in the garden. We shall see!

Also blooming this morning was Bob Carr's H. 'Wonder Of It All' (Carr 2006). In my humble opinion, everyone should try to grow this cultivar in their garden. This is a great garden flower. It is yellow, thus commands attention from a distance. But, in my opinion, I would consider it an ever bloomer. Right now, scapes are blooming and if you look down in the foliage, another set of scapes is beginning to grow. When one scape finishes blooming, another begins, etc., etc. Yes, I know it occasionally hangs up, but most cultivars have a fault. Most of the time when it does open correctly, it is breathtaking. If any flower deserves the Stout Silver Medal, in my opinion, I believe this one does.

 This is H. 'Juanita Manley' one of our 2011 introductions, named for our sister-in-law. The bloom is a very saturated cherry red with an ivory watermark and ruffles. One from our H. 'Jean Pickles' line of reds.


Life is very, very good.

Lee

March 24, 2012

Flowers in the greenhouse, March 24, 2012

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There is nothing much more exciting (remember, I am 76) than going into the greenhouse each morning to see what new is blooming. This morning there were 4 blooming, 3 were new.

 The first flower I noticed this morning was a green edged guest seedling from Jeff Salter. The edge is much more green than it shows. I have noticed that this trait is hard to photograph for some reason.

A seedling which bloomed for the first time last year is Seedling No. 1102 (Singular Sensation X Priscilla's Smile). When I saw this bloom in the garden, I knew that I would need to take it into the greenhouse to use in hybridizing. This flower also exhibits light green in it's edge.

One of our 2011 introductions, H. 'Groovin' ' was blooming this morning.
30" M SEv Re 6¼". Three-way branching, 17 buds. One of our long line of sculpted seedlings and probably the heaviest sculpting  of all. The grooves appear to be carved out with a chisel. If you look at most sculpting in this color range, you will think the raised area of the sculpting is a different color. However, upon close scrutiny, it is the same color as the flower but the sculpting creates this optical illusion. The flower is a polychrome of maize and pink overlaying ivory. The flower can be funky-like in the image, or it can be a round, full form. The petal edges are heavily ruffled. The substance is like cardboard and holds up well in the sun. Pod and pollen fertile. Petals are 3", sepals 1¾". Seedling No. 0624 (Doc Branch X Bas Relief).

Life is very, very good.

Lee

March 21, 2012

First flower in the greenhouse, March 21, 2012

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I was gone for several days in early March and have not watched the greenhouse like I normally do. While I was enjoying California and Iowa, the scapes really came on and today, the first flower opened. It was a 2011 seedling that I had taken in the greenhouse to hybridize with. The seedling is No. 0119 is a cross of (Crazy Ivan X Tempest Keep) H. 'Crazy Ivan' gives the dark edge and eye that I like. The seedlings normally have plenty of height and good branching.

Seedling No. 0112
(Crazy Ivan X Tempest Keep)






Scapes are beginning to show on the new seedlings. These seeds were made in the greenhouse last year at this time, placed in ziplock bags and put in the refrigerator. The were planted on July 23, 2011 and transplanted to 1 gallon pots on September 14, so they are around 8 months old.




 

Each year in March, I attend the Pollen dabbers meeting in Marshalltown, IA, sponsored by the Central Iowa Daylily Society and staged by Don Lovell, Phil Fass and Nan Ripley. The majority of the CIDS members hybridize daylilies and most show images of their program on Friday night. Those of us from out-of-town show our images on Saturday morning along with usually two guest presenters.

Another reason that I like to attend this meeting is my addiction to Maid-Rite sandwiches (They are an Iowa thing) which simply are ground beef cooked over a steam cooker and it ends up like loose hamburger meat similar to what you might get in a taco except with no spices. The meat is served on a hamburger bun and you can get most anything you want on them except real Maid-Rite shops discourage using catsup. In this image, taken by Nan Ripley, you can see me, Don Lovell and Selwyn Rash enjoying Maid-Rites at lunch on Saturday. Selwyn looks like he is really enjoying his. Thanks, Nan, for this wonderful memory.

This is an exciting time of the year.

Life is very, very good.

Lee