Blooms, April 5, 2012

Blooms in the greenhouse, April 5, 2012

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WOW!

Today's WOW blossom when I walked into the greenhouse was David Kirchhoff's H. 'Barbara Mandrell'. This flower is one of the cleanest saturated reds that I have seen. The form is full and round, the petal edges are edged in gold and nicely ruffled. The white watermark accentuates the lime green throat.  So far, my favorite flower in the greenhouse. I am showing the flower in the largest size allowed by blogger. If you want to see it larger, left click on the image.

Another of the named varieties blooming was H. 'Chattaboogie', one of my 2010 introductions.  The scape is around 30" tall and I have seen the blossom up around 6". It is a polychrome of pale yellow with a pink tinge and a crimson eye and petal edge. Out in the garden, the teeth are more prominent than in the greenhouse.

Another red that I am quite fond of is my friend, Stan Holley's H. 'Doug's Caress', (2009). A deep saturated red with ruffled petal edges trimmed in gold. A white watermark leads to a green heart. Very striking and pod and pollen fertile.

The new seedling blooming today is Seedling No. 1106 (Singular Sensation X Wonder Of It All). Yes, another WOIA kid. This seedling is probably not an introduction, but I am using it a lot as a pod parent. It is a nice smooth flower or a clear color with a big green throat and green edge. I am hoping it will give me some nice green edged seedlings.

Well, that is it for today. As always, I look forward to the bloom tomorrow.

Life is very, very good

Lee

Blooms, April 3, 2012

Blooms in the greenhouse, April 3, 2012

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Today I would like to share something different with you. Many times blossoms are the same whether the images are taken in the greenhouse or outside in the field. Then there are those that you wonder if it is the same cultivar. Below is the same cultivar, the top image taken in the greenhouse today, April 1, 2012, and the second image is the same cultivar taken outside in the field in 2011. There is a marked difference.

This is Seedling No. 0742 (Mandalay Bay Music X Wonders Never Cease) image taken in the greenhouse. Notice the sculpting, the big yellow throat leading to a green heart and the nicely ruffled petal edges.

This is Seedling No. 0742 (Mandalay Bay Music X Wonders Never Cease) image taken out in the field. The color is still there, only lighter. The sculpting is more prominent. The big yellow throat to green heart is still there. The petal edges are more pronounced and tighter, and they have added some fringes, making a striking difference in the seedling.


I took one picture today of a named cultivar, Jeff Salter's H. 'Cimarron Rose' (2005). I really like the color, size and form of this daylily. I am using it in my red breeding program.

Life is very, very good.

Lee

Blooms, April 2, 2012

Blooms in the greenhouse, April 1, 2012

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WOW!

When I walked into the greenhouse this morning, this is the first bloom I saw:

Seedling No. 1115 (Open My Eyes X Crazy Ivan) At just over 6", this is one of the most imposing blooms I have seen. The edge is at least ¾". The eye is huge. I will be using the pollen from this seedling heavily.

Seedling No. 9036 (tetra Lavender Blue Baby X Wonder Of It All) A WOIA kid that has taken the color of the pod parent while maintaining that impeccable form of WOIA.

Those WOIA kids just keep coming. Seedling No. 1103 (Wonder Of It All X Diana's Evening Gown). Wow, clear color showing lots of green.




Now some named varieties from this morning.

From our sculpted line, H. 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home'. (Pickles 2012) 28” EM SEv Re EMO Ext 5½”. 4-way branching, 18 buds. Petals 3½”, sepals 2”.
    This flower has the “relief” form of sculpting and is a pale peach with a rosy eye. A lemon-lime throat and a heavily ruffled rosy edge with a gold line provides the finishing touches. Opens like this every morning. Very heavy substance which holds well in the sun or rain. Second set of scapes emerge before first set is done blooming. Fertile. No. 9034 (Elisa Dallas X Wonder Of It All)

And from my friend, Jeff Corbett in California, H. 'Aslan' (2009) A cream peach with deep pink to red eye and edge with light gold to white picotee above bright green throat.



That's it for today's edition of Daylily Potpourri.

Life is very, very good.

Lee 

April Fool's Day, 2012

Blooms in the greenhouse, April 1, 2012

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Each day, there are more blooms in the greenhouse. What a lift it gives when I open the door and walk in to see what new is blooming. It is great to see the named cultivars I am using for hybridizing in bloom, but it is like Christmas to see the new seedlings bloom. When making a cross, I have visions in my head on what I would like to get. Sometimes I get close, most of the time, it is a slap in the face!

This morning Seedling No. 1037 was blooming. It is a cross of [Rock Solid X (Lone Wolf X Robert W. Carr)] I really like the cleanliness of the color and the round, full form. The flower was 6" on a 32" scape.

I know it is unbelievable to see something like this in MY greenhouse, but I like this flower (I really didn't say that). This is H. 'Free Wheelin' ' (Stamile 2004). I have used the pollen and have gotten a couple nice kids. The website says the FW is both pod and pollen fertile. I have never been able to set a pod on it in my greenhouse. If I can't set it here, it is likely that it won't set pods. I don't care for many of the spiders and UF's, but I do like the cascading form.

I will again show an image of Bob Carr's H. 'Wonder Of It All' as it bloomed this morning. I really like WOIA as a parent, but you have to be careful what you use it with.  This image this morning was right at 6". Taking a close look at the flower, it appears to me that it would be good used with some of the green edged things. WOIA has that wonderful green throat which, with the right green edged parent, may carry on to the edge of the seedlings. I am trying it, so we shall see. I have also seen WOIA used with H. 'Fringy' (Stamile 2008) with nice results. A few years ago, I had 15 pots of WOIA in the greenhouse with one to six fans per pot. I got to looking one day and I thought I had a lot of pods set on WOIA, so I counted, and there were 165 pods. Is that fertile, or what?


On our March trip to California to speak to the Bay Area Daylily Society, we stayed a few days longer and went to one of our favorite places, Wine Country. We were joined on our tastings by Curtis and Pat Montgomery of San Jose, CA. Here are the four of us, Lee, Jean, Pat and Curtis enjoying the wine and scenery of Sonoma Valley from Pezzi King Winery. Notice the yellow Labradors, so Jean was able to get her "fix" for the day.

Life is very, very good.

Lee

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