Sunday, May 27, 2012

Inside/Outside

I have blooms to share with you today, both from inside the greenhouse and from outside in the field. It has turned extremely unseasonably HOT here in southeast Tennessee, like many parts of this fine country of ours. I have been working on the display beds here at the farm, the ones between the fence of Jeans perennial bed and the greenhouse. I have dug and discarded all of the selected seedlings that turned out to be not worthy of selection. Funny how great they can look early in their lives and then just fall to pieces . . . . kind of like my friend, Tommy!

Well, this is the greenhouse image. I thought the greenhouse was about done and it keeps surprising me with these very nice faces.

Seedling No. 2109 (Bluegrass Memories X Desire of Nations)

Now to the outside flowers.

Seedling No. 1053 (Rock Solid X Bluegrass Memories)

Seedling No. 8192 (Country Jazz X Wonder of it All)

Seedling No. 1109 [(Mandalay Bay Music X Wonders Never Cease) X Robert W. Carr]

Seedling No. 9054 (Some Sweet Day X Robert W. Carr)

Seedling No. [(American Doll X Some Sweet Day) X Tom Allen Seedling]

Seedling No. 0745 (Wonder of it all X Shelter Cove)
Will be introduced in 2013.
 
I will end with one of my previous introductions taken in the field today.

 H. 'Dancing With The Stars' (Pickles 2011)

That's all for today. Remember, left click on image will make it larger.

Life is very, very good.

Lee

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Bloom at Chattanooga Daylilies

Over the last three days, we have had around 3" of rain but it usually has come in the afternoon so I was able to look at outside bloom in the morning. One of the big problems with field growing, are the thrips that strip the color from the blossom. I just don't spray outside and let Mother Nature take it's course. I do have one more inside blossom to show you. David Kirchhoff stopped by on Monday and saw this flower blooming in the greenhouse and said, "You must pick that." Here it is.

Seedling No. 2098 [(Royal Presence X Max Pickles) X Home of the Free]

Now to the outside bloom. Some of these will be 2013 introductions and i will identify those to you.

 I hope you remember my Seedling No. 1004 (Camelot Red X Doug's Caress) that I used quite heavily last year when it bloomed in the greenhouse. Many of the seedling I have shown you this year involved this seedling. This is the way it looked out in the display bed yesterday and the next image was taken in the greenhouse last year. very similar!

This is Seedling 1004 last year in the greenhouse.

This is Seedling No. 0742 (Mandalay Bay Music X Wonders Never Cease)
This will be a 2013 introduction.

This is Seedling No. 8169 (Awesome Bob X Larry Allen Miller)
This will be introduced in 2013 as H. 'Black Sears', Named for one of our favorite wineries in Napa Valley. Ashley Chambois, one of the owners, said, "It is the color of our Zinfandel".

Seedling No. 0020 (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis X Wonder of it All).
This will probably be a 2013 introduction.

Seedling No. 0768 (Golden Tentacles X Horny Devil)
This will be a 2013 introduction.

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

And finally, the last image.

 Seedling No. 9033 (Lipstick on my Collar X Crazy Ivan)
Will be a 2013 introduction.

Thank you for looking at my blog, I hope you enjoyed it. Remember, for a larger image, left click on any image.

Life is very, very good.

Lee

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Some of last greenhouse bloom

The greenhouse is coming to a fast end, bloom wise. I will probably begin to pick pods in another week if not before. Outside bloom is really beginning to pick up and my next blog will be outside blooms. Here are the greenhouse blooms.
Seedling No. 2085 (Doug's Caress X Home of the Free)

Seedling No. 2087 [Heartbeat of Heaven X (Shores of Time X Larry Grace)]

Seedling No. 2089 (Angels Gather Around X Irish Halo)

Seedling No. 2093 (Robert W. Carr X Irish Halo)

Seedling No. 2090 (Bluegrass Memories X Desire of Nations)

 Seedling No. 2092 [(Santa's Little Helper X Running Hot) X Home of the Free]

While adding some images taken outside this morning, somehow, I lost all 2012 images from 2001 through 2064. I thought they were backed up, but evidently my Maxtor has not been doing it's job. I am not a happy camper. I did find them later.

Lee

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Blooms, May 8, 2012

Blooms in the greenhouse, May 8, 2012

Left click on image for a larger picture.



Today, Jean and I put the shade cloth on the greenhouse. Since the top of the greenhouse is about 14' high, handing it over is impossible. We roll out the shade cloth on one side of the greenhouse, then on each end I tie a rope attached on the other end to a baseball and throw the baseball over. Then we each grab the rope on the other side and pull the shade cloth over the top of the greenhouse. The shade cloth probably makes about a 10º difference on the inside. It looks like there will be some good seed setting weather ahead for the next week as they are showing our temperatures to be in the high 70ºs. I do have a few more seedlings to show you today.


Seedling No. 2044 (Angels Gather Around X Irish Halo) One of the greenest edges I have produced. It has a large green eye that radiates out onto the petals of soft pink.
Seedling No. 2076 (Grand Masque X Free Wheelin') Another of my H. 'Free Wheelin' kids. I am checking each one to see if they are pod fertile.
Seedling No. 2078 (Camelot Red X Home of the Free) A nicely saturated red self.
Seedling No. 2080 [Camelot Red X (Santa's Little Helper X Running Hot)] A dark velvety red with a nice watermark and a green throat. Petals have a white edge.
Seedling No. 2083 [Rockets Bursting in Air X (Camelot Red X Doug's Caress)] Nicely saturated red, watermark and a green throat.
Seedling No. 2082 (Doug's Caress X Home of the Free) A rose red with an impeccable form.
And last, but not lease, Seedling No. 2081 (Blue Grass Memories X Desire of Nations) All of these crosses involving Karol Emmerich's cultivars are late bloomers.




That is it for today. If you are having too much rain where you are, please send some to us. Bloom is beginning in the field.


Life is very, very good.

Lee

Saturday, May 5, 2012

I fell off the wagon . . .

Blooms in the greenhouse, May 2, 2012

Left click on image for a larger picture.

I must confess, yesterday, I fell off the wagon. I had promised myself that on May 1 I would stop hybridizing. I did pretty good for 3 days, but then, I fell. When I walked into the greenhouse, I saw all of those pretty blooms and I just could not help myself. I probably made in the neighborhood of 30 crosses. Then this morning, I went all out, and pollinated almost every blossom open.


9-month seedling bloom is slowing down, but I do have a few to show you in this blog.


Seedling No. 2068 [(Camelot Red X Doug's Caress) X Barbara Mandrell] Another in a long line David Kirchhoff's H. 'Barbara Mandrell' kids. Continually she stamps that round, full form with nicely ruffled petals. She really stamps herself on her kids.


Seedling No. 2069 [(Roses and Gold X Some Sweet Day) X (Camelot Red X Doug's Caress)] The Camelot Red X Doug's Caress seedling that I used a lot was a 9-month seedling last year. It was one of my favorite seedlings from the 2011 crop. It is a definite advantage blooming seedlings in 9 months.


This is Seedling No. 1004 (Camelot Red X Doug's Caress) that bloomed for me in 9-months in 2011 and I was able to use it in some of my crosses last year that are blooming this year. 9-month bloom is a definite advantage

Seedling No. 2065 (Desire Of Nations X Bluegrass Memories) The seedlings involving these two parents are probably late bloomers is why it has taken them so long to get started blooming. If you will notice in the larger format, this seedling has a triple edge.

Seedling No. 2074 (Heartbeat of Heaven X Bluegrass Memories) Another of Karol Emmerich's introductions crossed with Ted Preus' fabulous H. Bluegrass Memories'.

And, last but not least, this is Jamie Gossard's outstanding H. 'Outer Limits' (2008), I believe my favorite of all of the narrow petaled toothy cultivars. It's biggest downfall for me is that it is a late bloomer and has just now began blooming in the greenhouse. This is one of the reasons I began hybridizing again.

It is hot, hot, hot here in southeast Tennessee and the forecast doesn't show much relief in either heat or rain. We are now 3.8" below normal. I did some field tilling today, and the ground was so hard that I had to make two passes to just break the surface. Also, it was so dusty that the volunteer fire truck showed up thinking there was a fire!

Life is very, very good.
 
Lee

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Blooms, May 2, 2012


Blooms in the greenhouse, May 2, 2012

Left click on image for a larger picture.

I thought last week that the greenhouse was at peak, but I am beginning to wonder. It seems there are more spent blossoms in the deadhead bucket than last week. They just seem to keep on coming. I made a pledge to myself to stop hybridizing on May 1 and so far I have been able to resist (2 full days). However, I keep looking and thinking, "What would that look like with '?' on it?" I keep seeing all these red blossoms, blossoms with teeth on them and blossoms with green edges that are just crying out for someone to make them pregnant. Am I that person?


On April 29, there was one partially opened blossom in the field. On Monday, there were 3 blossoms open. Today there are 6, and the temps will hover around 90º. Is this crazy weather, or what? Okay, here are today's saved seedlings in the greenhouse.

Seedling 2057 (Rockets Bursting in Air X Barbara Mandrell) Another of those round and full BM kids.


Seedling No. 2063 [(Shores of Time X Larry Grace) X (Shores of Time X Larry Grace)]. This was a self, something I rarely do but this time it seemed to work.


Seedling No. 2065 (Desire of Nations X Bluegrass Memories) Not as striking as the same cross in the previous post but never-the-less, a very nice flower.
Seedling No. 2067 [(Camelot Red X Doug's Caress) X Barbara Mandrell] Another of those round and full BM kids.






We will see if tomorrow I can continue to resist spreading some pollen.


Life is very, very good.

Lee