Rebecca
I have a question for you about breeding the doubles;
is the trait recessive?
h2o
Yes doubling is recessive but you often see a partial
doubling in the F1 hybrids between single and double
forms. When I get rebloom in the South, often ones
that are carriers for doubling bloom fully double.
Using these varieties as parents give a good proportion
of doubles in the first generation in crosses with
full doubles.
Janice Brown, for example, often gives double seedlings
and is often double itself on rebloom.
Richard
Any recommendations for good cultivars with patterned
eyes? I've seen a couple terrific ones of yours,
Kevin, and was wondering if this is a particular
specialty? Would love to get Elfin Illusion if it
is anything like the photo in Petit's color dictionary.
H2o
Yes I love the patterned eyes and have been crossing
for them at both diploid and tetrapoloid levels.
The diploids have come much faster. Basically the
patterned eye is a water mark PLUS an eye zone.
Where one watermark ends you get a deeper edge.
Liz Salter's multiple eyes are probably the most
advanced and my See My Etchings is from a Siloam
X Salter cross.
At the tet level I have found tet Exotic Echo to
give very good multiple eye patterns and the Benz
cultivar Ring of Shadows (a tet Exotic Echo seedling)
gives a lot of them. Tet Little Print is also good
parent. Liz Salter has put out three nice ones from
it with multiple eyes. The one that Pete posted
combines the tet Exotic Echo and tet Little Print
lines. All of the sister seedlings had multiple
eyes and all had pretty form too. There are problems
in breeding this group.
In the bigger ones Web of Intrigue is a very easy
parent and I'll see a number from it next year.
This year the prettiest multiple eye was Heavy Metal
of Petit's. It really has a metalllic sheen and
I crossed it a good bit with those from tet Little
Print and tet Exotic Echo. Mort Morse's multiple
eyes are another good bet at breeding. These descend
from Paper Butterfly and are large lovely flowers.
Gerda Brooker and the new ones from it are just
amazing flowers. These tend to be tall and semi-spidery.
Ruby Doo
Being completely new to this I was wondering, Just
how hard is it to start daylilies from seed? Is
it something that a beginner could do or should
I start out with the plants first and then go into
doing seeds?
h2o
I have found daylilies to be about the easiest
of seeds to grow. They are fairly good size so I
don't need to put on my glasses to see them. A good
diploid seed pod will have any where from 10 to
25 seeds in it, where as seedpods from a lot of
tetraploids seem to have few seeds.
Germination time varies from 4 to 8 weeks.
Now up north if I am lucky I may get a flower
or two the 2nd year, but most of the time I have
to wait 3 years to get a flower, and sometimes 4
on some of the smaller flowered types.
If you are lucky enough to be in the south or
out west with a good winter you will get a flower
in 9 months!
Ruby Doo
Now do you have a recommendation for a "reliable"
place to purchase the seeds? Having been burnt a
couple of times from some not so good sources on
other seeds, Where would you suggest that I order
or buy my seeds?
h2o
Although I haven't purchased seeds in some time,
the ones from Fran Harding (Forestlake Gardens in
VA) germinated at nearly 100%. The prices are high
but the quality is quite good. She sends them in
little plastic bags and some will germinate right
in the bag.
Tina:
Do you have recommendations on true pink varieties?
Not hot pink or peach, but an honest soft pink?
Thx!
Z8/western wa
h2o
Favorite pinks. Although Chance Encounter is raspberry
it is a great flower and the plant habit is wonderful.
Performs well north and south. Any of those Stamile
pinks are great flowers. My favorite newer pink
is Virginia Little Henson of David Kirchoff's. Just
lovely! Ed Brown is a great light pink with a gold
edge. Very vigorous plant too. Older ones that are
very nice include Siloam Appleblossom, and the two
Stout Medal winners Fairy Tale Pink and Barbara
Mitchell.
Lawn Goddess?
I want mine to naturalize. Have I ruined their
chances of doing this by deadheading them this year?
h2o at: 08.10.2002 10:59
Daylilies are clumpers so they will stay put pretty
well. The only exception is old Kwanso, the sterile
triploid double from Asia. It reproduces by stolons
so will spread. It is very vigorous though and you
should only plant it where you want nothing else!
Unless you want to plant seeds the deadheading
has done no harm and, in fact, will make your plants
increase better as the seeds don sap the plant's
strength.
Richard
I'm wondering whether the gender if the parents
makes much of a difference in hybridizing in terms
of the traits passed on to the kids. Are some traits
like gold edges, picotee or eyes better passed on
from the pollen parent or the pod parent?
h2o
Most traits are inherited by both parents, including
all of those mentioned. Some people think that using
the plant with the best growth habits as the pod
parent is a good idea as those might have some maternally-inherited
component.
Variegation is maternally inherited in most cases.
Thus, if you want variegated daylily seedlings,
you must use the variegated plant as the pod parent.
Tina
While I improved the soil before planting my daylily
border I have not fertilized. What sort of fertilizer
would you recommend for spring application?
h2o
I like using Osmocote as it lasts so long and
is so simple. I use ~10 lbs in my yard of ~0.8 acres.
I also supplement with Mir-Acid every couple weeks.
The pH of our town water is rather basic and the
daylilies like things acid so I think this counteracts
the effect of the water. Have also used cotton seed
meal and alfalfa pellets with good luck.
Tina
What is the process you go through to hybridize
a new daylily?
What do you base your parent selections on?
What sorts of things do you avoid/lessons learned?
What determines a successful new daylily versus
an unsuccessful one?
I'd like to learn more about the how's of hybridization.
h2o
Wow that's a BIG question! Most people cross "pretty
face with a pretty face" and they do quite
well without any sort of training. Pauline Henry
is a perfect example. She introduced over 300 daylilies
and most are quite nice.
Now that I'm in the fourth or fifth generation
of my lines, I tend to cross my own stuff with each
other or introduce someone else's plant as a parent
into my seedlings. Generally this is done to add
a new characteristic to my lines. I am insistent
on several things in a parent: 1) good plant habit,
including copious #'s of buds; 2) clean color of
the flower (I don't like muddy colors!) and 3)distinction.
I want my daylilies to be told WITHOUT a label.
You'd be surprised how many "me toos"
are out there!
After I bloom a good new seedling it is allowed
to clump to determine if it makes a pretty clump.
Then I send them to FL to see if they perform well
there as the nursery that sells my plants is there.
They don't want a poor performer! They look at additional
factors related to how commercial the plant is and
whether it can take their conditions. Any that pass
all those hurdles are marketed.
Tina
I read in your response to Richard about variegated
daylilies. I've never seen one. Any good recommendations
for sources or named varieties?
h2o
White Stripe of Hite's is probably the one most
commercially available. I recently saw two new ones
being propagated that look quite nice and one is
a variegated version of the old Corky that should
make it a real good landscape plant. There is also
the old variegated 'Kwanso' the sterile triploid
from Asia. It is nearly a weed though and I would
plant it where nothing else is. It's almost bamboo!
Cornus
I've had three main daylily beds for about ten
years. The first few years they just seemed to get
better and better. The last few years they seem
to be dwindling and this year was the worst for
them. About five years ago I added several hundred
daff bulbs to each bed so that there would be an
early spring bloom and then the dl's could take
off for the summer. Do you think that the daffs
may be in conflict somehow with the dl's?
h2o
Doubt it. Generally daylilies and daffs are happy
co-campers. If you are not watering the daylilies
for fear of rotting the daffs, that could be a problem.
Daylilies are water pigs!
Richard
Our climate isn't ideal for daylilies in some respects
-- it is often so cool at night that many don't
open well, and often times that picotee I see in
pictures just doesn't seem to show up in the flesh.
Not much to speak of on Alaqua, Royal Braid or Strawberry
Fields Forever, but they are new plants so maybe
they just need to settle in. One exception for me,
though, is Awesome Blossom, which shows a consistent
edge no matter what, and even the first bloom on
a new plant with but a single fan looked perfect.
Are their others you might recommend that I might
look for?
I have some seeds from Wisest of Wizards x Merry
Moppet, and am really hoping to get an edge similar
to the latter.
h2o
Well you are already using Wisest of Wizards and
that's a great start. One year at Salter's there
must've been 5K W of W seedlings and there were
some very interesting eyes and edges out of those
matings.
Ed Brown seems to put gold edges on everything
and the plants tend to be good growers too.
In Zone 8 MS everything opens pretty well, although
the ones you mentioned are problems for me too.
Or should I say WERE problems; they quickly left
the yard!
All of the new Kinnebrew flowers have opened well
for me and almost all of these have elaborate edges.
Spacecoast Apricot Fringe was lovely in my yard
this spring, for example. One thing I do in crossing
with those which don't open as well to use some
of the things from Liz Salter's small pastel line.
These SPRING open at 5AM and they seem to pass that
tendency to the kids too. They also have such good
substance that they last until night in good shape
too.
I have used Fooled Me to wicked excess since I
first bloomed it and my Macho Hombre (Bill Norris
X Fooled Me)is giving more beautiful edges than
I could imagine. Most of these have a glittering
gold edge around a purple or bright red inner edge.
I have used Awesome Blossom as a parent but didn't
many too exciting from it. The best to bloom was
this spring from AB X Spacecoast Bold Scheme. They
were cleaner than AB and smaller (that's what I
wanted).
Richard
What Kinnebrews I have -- one starburst and some
Lori Goldsten and Pink Lady kids, open very well,
and do show that nice edge. Seems in general, the
gold edges are more consistent here than the colored
ones.
I'll have to keep my eye peeled for Macho Hombre!
Is Daylily World going to have it? I do know Bill
Norris and Fooled me do very well here. I have a
Bill Norris kid that has about the most intensely
saturated color I can imagine. Very nice.
Andrea
Hi I live in the UK and have boggy clay soil but
would dearly love to grow them, will they survive
my conditions lots of rain here in Wales. I did
have one a few
years ago but just died off in the winter
h2o
Daylilies are tough customers. They take most
any conditions. With heavy clay the best bet would
be a raised bed. Try adding organic matter to the
bed prior to planting. Diana Grenfell is an old
friend and she could give you specific recommendations
for ones that grow well in the UK. As I remember
the Siloams grow well over there.
judi z.
A three-parter from a novice:
1. When is the best time to divide?
2. What's the best way to do it?
3. What size should the divisions be?
h2o
Best time to divide in Zone 5 is early September.
Later in zones further south. Where I live in MS,
mid October is best.
Best way to do it? I dig the entire clump and
them soak it in water to soften it up. Take a stout
knife and then cut into segments of 2-3 fans. Cut
the foliage off to ~4" and them replant.
Lawn Goddess?
Adding to judi's questions, how do you tell when
they need to be divided? Although I just planted
mine this year, and am sure they don't need it now,
I do need to know for future reference.
h2o
How often you divide depends a bit on climate
and cultivar. For example, growth is so rampant
in FL they need to be divided every year. I divide
them when the bloom quality goes down (generally
3 years)but they don't mind if they don't ever get
divided. There are clumps at my folks that were
planted in '68 and they are still blooming. As I
said VERY tough customers.
Richard
I can't afford too many of the pricier new daylilies
coming down the pike, so I often purchase seed of
various crosses. Usually, these come prechilled,
but this time of year, they are often right out
of the pod. Also, I have a bunch of my own pods
setting and nearing dehiscing.
Do you have a favorite method for chilling seeds,
and does the amount of evergreen vrs. dormant blood
affect the chilling requirements?
h2o
Up North, I usually collect all of my seeds in
the fall place them into marked envelopes and then
toss them into the fridge and wait until Feb to
pull them out and place them into wet moist paper
towels that are placed into baggies then I place
them back into the fridge for 1 - 4 weeks.
For evergreens you don't need much of a chill but
in order for any of the dormant recessive seeds
in the cross to germinate you will need at least
4 weeks.
Rebecca Blubaugh-
Instead of using envelopes I use the clear or
opaque plastic canisters that camera film comes
in. I can write the I.D. code right on the outside
of the canister and they seal nice and tight. I
do leave them sit, open, for a few days before I
cap them and put them in the fridge. In mid March
or so I add a few drops of water to each canister,
replace the caps and pop them back into the fridge
until the first week of May. This year I used cell
packs to plant out the seed in. All the flats were
put outside in a protected area to sprout. (I have
several unused fish tanks that fit perfectly over
the seed trays and they make great mini-greenhouses.)
From cell packs the seedlings are transplanted into
6 inch plastic pots where they are grown until the
following spring. Then they are transplanted into
the "Seedling Bed".
Donna Lockman
Am I correct in thinking the throat is the deep
center, and the eye is around the edge of the throat,
and the picotee refers to the edge of the petal
itself. If so, then what is a water mark?
h2o
The flower has a zone of different color or a
darker shade of the same color located between the
throat and the tips of the flower segments.
It is an Eye if the zone occurs on both the petals
and the sepals. It is a Band if the zone occurs
only on the petals. It is a Halo if the zone is
faint or only lightly visible. It is a Watermark
if the zone is a lighter shade than the rest of
the flower segments.
Donna Lockman
Hope I am not too late! There are daylilies that
produce babies on the bloom stalk after blooming.
I have a lot of these. When do I take them off?
How? Do leave any of the stalk attached? Do I plant
them in dirt or immerse them in water?
h2o
Donna, this is a tough one that I do not know
much about. What those little plantlets are called
are: "proliferation" and I know they can
be rooted to produce another plant. They will most
likely carry the traits of the plant that they came
off of. I would treat these just like cuttings and
probably soak them for a week till you see roots
starting to develop and then try potting them for
a couple of weeks and in the fall when this hot
dry spell like weather passes transplant it into
it's garden spot.
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