Monday, June 28, 2010

Field bloom 8 . . .

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The daylily bloom season is all but over here in southeast Tennessee. I have even quit walking the seedling beds, the second year beds for the last time. I will now dig out my selecteds and pot to take in the greenhouse to hybridize with this winter. The remainder will get Round Up and then tilled into the ground with my new Woods tiller. 

There was one selected seedling blooming this morning that I thought worthy of a picture. It is Seedling No. 8067 (Mandalay Bay Music X Larry Allen Miller). I hope you enjoy it.


There were also a couple very nice blossoms on previous introductions.


H. 'Age Of Miracles' (Pickles, 2000) Height 26", bloom 4.5", season EM, Rebloom, Dormant, Tetraploid, 25 buds, 4 branches,  Creamy mauve with burgundy eye above green throat. (Rhine Maiden X Daring Dilemma).



H. 'Bodega Bay' (Pickles, 2008) Height 28", bloom 5.5", season M, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid, Fragrant,  Pink pearl polychrome. (Edge of Heaven × Horny Devil).



I am sorry to see the season come to an end. Sure, we will have some rebloom, but it just is not the same as the big flush. Yes, the daylily bloom is gone, but the people are still here. Attend a meeting near or far from your home and make some new friends.


Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!



Life is very, very good.

Lee




Saturday, June 26, 2010

Jean's perennial beds . . .

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There is a sign out in front of our house that states, "Daylilies For Sale." People all the time stop to see the daylilies but end up taking the most time viewing Jean's perennial beds. They have been absolutely glorious this year. Jean spends a lot of time grooming them so they show to their fullest possible brilliance. The annuals she uses in the front border are marigolds 'Janie' which she starts in the greenhouse every March. Yes, I do allow her some space!!!! These first three pictures are along the side of our property (you can see the neighbor's house in one and it is not as close as it appears in the picture). The first one is the left side and the second one is the right side which takes a 45° turn toward the driveway, the third is a continuation. There is a split rail fence behind the gardens. Hope you enjoy her artistry.

If you enlarge the third picture by left clicking on the image, you will see the color of the phlox (bright fuchsia). When Jeff Salter visited, he saw that color and said, "Why can't we get a color like that in daylilies?"Good question!




This is what we refer to as the raised bed. Mountain rock were used to build a wall to raise the bed.

 

Please enjoy the fruits of her labor. If you enjoy them, leave her a comment at the bottom of this page.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!


Life is very, very good.

Lee


Thursday, June 24, 2010

Salter's visit . . .

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I have to agree with Kay Day Pricola who coined the phrase, "We come to daylilies for the flower and stay for the people." A couple years ago, I lost my best friend, Bob Carr, and I miss him every day. He was one of the good guys.

Two more people that we am privileged to call friends are Jeff and Elizabeth Salter of Rollingwood Gardens in Gainesville, FL. Jeff and Liz arrived around 5:00 pm yesterday afternoon and after Jeff enjoyed his Diet Coke, we headed out to dinner. Of course, conversation centered around daylilies and daylily people. Jeff hybridizes the type of flowers that I prefer, the round bagel form, and Liz has no equal in eyes. 

When we got up this morning, Jeff and I took a tour around the garden. Although we are way past peak, Jeff still found a couple seedlings that he liked and we numbered them on the spot. After the tour, we moved to Jean's perennial beds where the picture below was taken. Since there were only the four of us, we could not get in the picture at the same time so I chose the one with Jean to post on this blog since she is much prettier than me.



Jean said I should put mine on also, so here it is.


 Daylilies are our favorite flower, but it is the people that make the daylilies!


Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee









Saturday, June 19, 2010

Field bloom 7 . . .

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This morning I had an appointment at 8:30 a.m. with Charlie Dorsey to do some "shooting" to finish up the Chattanooga daylilies segment for "The Daylily Addict", the DVD series that Charlie is doing on hybridizers and daylilies in general. If you have not see this electronic publication, you are missing a quality "journal", saving information on some of the most outstanding hybridizers and daylily people of our time. The first "issue" featured David Kirchhoff and Mort Morss, Richard Norris, and others. I believe Charlie plans to publish "The Daylily Addict" four time per year for one small fee. I think this would be a great thing for clubs to purchase and use as some of their club programs, or just loan it to members. To find more information, go to: http://www.thedaylilyaddict.com/ I have no financial interest. Here is Charlie pretending to be a cinematographer:

I had just about given up on finding anything new in the seedling bed but as Charlie and I were going around this morning, I did number two more. Here they are:
Seedling No. 0041 
[(Mardi Gras Ball X J. T. Davis) X Serenity Bay]


Seedling No. 0042
(Edge Of Heaven X Horny Devil)
This was the parentage shown on the tag, but if it is, I don't know where the eye and edge came from. I do know it has a lot of teeth.








Here is one of the 2008 seedlings that bloomed:

 
Seedling No 8056
(Symphony Of Praise X Wonder Of It All)










Here are a couple of our previous introductions that were blooming:

H. 'Bodega Bay' (Pickles, 2008)
Height 28", bloom 6", season M, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid, Fragrant,  Pink pearl polychrome. (Edge of Heaven × Horny Devil).
 
  
 
 
H 
H. 'Italian Lace' (Pickles, 2009)
Height 30", bloom 5.75", season MLa, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid,  Pink infused with cream and tuscan red edge. (Lipstick on My Collar × Minstrel's Fire).
 
 
 
 All of the pods have been harvested out of the greenhouse. Seed planting will begin soon.
 
I am afraid the season is winding down too quickly. Guess we will have to go north to David and Mort's at the end of June to see some bloom. 
 
I get so frustrated that I cannot (or haven't learned how) to control the spacing on "blogspot".

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee
 

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Field bloom 6 . . .

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We have been terribly hot here in the Scenic City. There have been five days over 90° this week with more predicted. This is unusual for this time of year. Rarely has it been below 70° at night so the daylilies are mostly wide open early in the morning. 

Charlie Dorsey, the guru behind the DVD series "The Daylily Addict" will be coming to Chattanooga Friday night to do his final recording for the segment on Chattanooga Daylilies for an upcoming segment. Those of you looking for club programs could do a lot worse than using "The Daylily Addict" for a program for your club. The first DVD highlighted, among others, David Kirchhoff and Mort Morss and Richard Norris. We plan to have dinner with Charlie and Helen on Saturday night at one of our favorite restaurants in Chattanooga.
Now to today's bloom. We have three seedlings that we selected this morning:
Seedling No. 0038 (Wonder Of It All X Roses And Gold)
 Seedling No. 0036 (Victorian Lace X Robert W. Carr)


Seedling No. 0037 (Cosmic Sensation X Larry Allen Miller)








We just had a thunderstorm go through. We get them almost every afternoon. The daylilies love it. Tomorrow is another day.


Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Field bloom 5 . . .

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I just spent a great weekend at the Region 13 meeting in Hot Springs, AR. All of the gardens were impeccable and at their absolute best. I neglected to take my camera, so I don't have any garden pictures to show you. However, I did get to see my old friends, Jim and Cathy Elliott. They came to our garden shortly after we moved here in 1993 and Jim said he bought H. 'Midnight Magic' from me . . . how he remembers that I will never know. Anyway, here is a picture of Jim and me doing what else, but eating. (Picture by Cathy Elliott)

I had the real pleasure of meeting Josh and Nikki Jaques from Louisana. As you can see, Josh is young and an up and coming hybridizer. Sometimes I worry about the future of daylilies and then you meet someone like Josh and you know things are going to be fine. Here is a picture of Josh and me . . . he is the tall one! :-) (Picture by Nikki Jaques)

This mornings tour around the garden showed some great bloom. Here are a few of our previous introductions that were blooming this morning:

H. 'Eleanor Frye' (Pickles, 1998) height 24", bloom 6", season EM, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid,  Light rose with merlot red eye and edge above lime sherbet throat. (Rhine Maiden × Elizabeth's Magic).

H. 'Denver Scott' (Pickles, 2000) height 28", bloom 6", season EM, Rebloom, Dormant, Tetraploid, 30 buds, 4 branches,  Pale pink with burgundy band above green throat. (Moonlit Masquerade × tetra Barbara Mitchell). This daylily was named for a special friend and mentor, Denver Scott of Harrison, TN who passed away a few years ago. At the TVDS show a year ago, DS was named Best In Show.

H. 'Horatio Alger' (Pickles, 2007) height 35", bloom 5.37", season M, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid,  Smokey rosy polychrome with pale corn yellow ruffled edge and throat. (Palace Garden Beauty × Forbidden Dreams).


Now for a couple seedlings:

Seedling No. 0624 (Doc Branch X Bas Relief) 30" 6¼", 3", 1¾". One of our most heavily carved seedlings. Will probably be a 2011 introduction.
Seedling No. 0751 (Horny Devil X Golden Tentacles)







Seedling 0040 (Awesome Bob X Christmas Greetings)






That is the group for today. It is always exciting to see what tomorrow will bring.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee



Sunday, June 6, 2010

Field bloom 4 . . .



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There has been no rain today, but the dogs are acting antzy like something may be coming in. They do not like the thunderstorms we have been having. They can tell when the weather is going to change.

This morning I collected another 100 or so pods in the greenhouse and got them shelled after checking the field for blooming seedlings. I don't know if I got out too early or if there just weren't as many good blooms this morning as in previous mornings, but, I didn't number as many today. Here are some of the seedlings:

Seedling No. 0031 (Judy Farquar X Larry Allen Miller) 31" high, 5¾", 3", 1¾". Has good substance and a nicely branched scape for a first year seedling.

 
Seedling No. 0029 (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis X Robert W. Carr) 5¾", 3", 1¾". Another RWC kid. RWC ahs been giving me excellent form, great substance, ruffling, and many with sculpting.

Seedling No. 0006 (Royal Presence X Max Pickles) a medium purple with a white edge and a small watermark. I did not get the measurements on this one.

Seedling No. 0030 (Belle Cook X Larry Allen Miller) 5½", 2¾", 1½". A round, full purple with a darker halo and great substance.

Now for a couple of previous introductions blooming today:

H. 'Choo-Choo Perfection' (Pickles 2007) height 25", bloom 4.25", season EM, Semi-Evergreen, Diploid, Very Fragrant,  Bright pale mulberry with true fresh mulberry eye above lime green throat. (Lavender Blue Baby × Connie Burton).

H. 'American Bandstand' (Pickles 2009) height 36", bloom 6", season EM, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid,  Honey cream self. (Wonder of It All × Candied Popcorn Perfection). From two of Bob Carr's introductions.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee


Saturday, June 5, 2010

Field bloom 3 . . .

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What great daylily weather we have been (and are) having. It has been raining every afternoon (Friday 1"), the temperature and humidity have been high which gives us nice big puffed up blooms. Both seedlings and named varieties are blooming profusely. I have never seen better branching and bud count. As with my last post, we will start with a couple named varieties that are blooming

H. 'Supreme Pleasure' (Pickles 2002) height 28", bloom 5.5", season M, Rebloom, Dormant, Tetraploid,  Citrus yellow self above lime green throat. (Sherry Lane Carr X Smuggler's Gold). I am told that this cultivar grows well in upper New York State so I guess it is pretty hardy. :-)



 
H. 'Free Lee' (Pickles 2007) height 29", bloom 5.75", season EM, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid,  Lemon creme brule with small lipstick halo and light midribs above olive green heart throat. (Summertime Splendor × tetra Wings of Chance). This cultivar was named during my "bad boy" days on the Email robin when I got set to "no post" for 3 months for telling blonde jokes (they were clean). One of the list owners did not like blonde jokes but one of the others sent some to me to publish. Anyway, my friends would end their posts with, "Free Lee", thus the name.

H. 'Max Pickles' (Pickles 2006) height 30", bloom 5.25", season EM, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid,  Dark red with a darker halo and small gold edge. (Pure Indulgence × Awesome Bob). Named for our grandson who is now 10 years old.

Now for some seedlings. We do some other things besides yellow!

Seedling No. 0018 (Christmas Greetings X Jean Pickles) bloomed this morning for the first time. I love the halo and the green throat. The substance was very good

Seedling No. 0026 (Awesome Bob X Christmas Greetings). Also bloomed this morning for the first time. Seems as though the yellows were all that were blooming and all of a sudden, the reds and purples are in abundance.

Seedling No. 0027 (Cosmic Sensation X Larry Allen Miller). Another first bloomer this morning. H. 'Larry Allen Miller' has been a good parent for me for purples and variations thereof. 

And last, but certainly not least, Seedling No. 0024 (Elisa Dallas X Crazy Ivan). It will be interesting to see if this is the normal bloom. 
Maybe another report tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Field bloom 2 . . .

Comments can be made at the end of this page . . . it is easy and I would like to know how you enjoy the blog. If it not against your nature, please identify yourself. Speaking of comments, Jim Elliott and I were discussing by email why no one takes the time to make comments. We cannot figure it out.
 
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Before I post the seedling images from this morning, I would like to show three of my previous introductions that were blooming.
H. 'Choo-Choo Fantasy (Pickles 1996) height 22", bloom 4.25", season EM, Dormant, Diploid,  Light rose bitone with yellow to green throat. (LULLABY BABY X BONBINI). The two parents are special for me. We had never grown anything but "the lemon lily" that we brought home from Jean's mother's garden. I happened on a daylily show at a local mall around 1986 and saw H. 'Lullaby Baby' and immediately fell in love. The other parent, H. 'Bonbini' (Wedgeworth/Pickles 1996) was a rose/red bicolor that I acquired as a seedling from the Wedgeworth's (Jedi fame) in Alabama on a garden visitation trip with the late Denver Scott of Harrison, TN. Both have fond memories for me.

The second former introduction blooming was H. 'Mojave Sunrise' (Pickles 2004) height 28", bloom 5", season EM, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid,  Cream brushed yellow with light mulberry eye above lime green throat. (ANTIQUE FRINGE X WISEST OF WIZARDS). Just nice clean color with a patterned eye. H. 'Antique Fringe' is one of Van Sellers introductions of a few years ago that I really liked and used it quite a bit as a parent.

The third introduction blooming was H. 'Aztec Sunrise' (Pickles 2009). 27” SEv/D E/M Re 4 3/4” 23 buds. Tet. There is a lot going on with this flower. Each blossom day seems to be a little different in shape, halo pattern, color, or something. It is fun to go out every morning and see what it is today. The color is a rich mango/peach, lighter on the petal edges, with a rouge halo. A large yellow throat leads down to a green heart. The dominate color did come from ‘Tennessee Afterglow’. (Tennessee Afterglow X Belle Cook).

Now for a couple seedlings:
Seedling No. 0011 (Wild Cherry Roundup X Max Pickles) A cherry/red that was open this flat the first thing this morning.


Seedling No 0014 (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis X Robert W. Carr). Another cream/yellow that just seems to keep popping up. H. 'Robert W. Carr' is really giving me tall, well branched scapes, with large ruffled petal edges. Some are sculpted in various amounts.

I guess now I just wait and see what tomorrow brings.


Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good.

Lee