Ken and Cindy Dye's Homeplace Gardens

     Last year around this time I was at John and Faye Shooter's Marietta Gardens when I discovered this wonderful blue eyed daylily called Mitchell Hagler that was hybridized by Cindy Dye.  I logged onto their website and the first daylily I saw was Megabite....WOW!  What a cool toothy daylily.  Unfortunately Megabite is currently sold out.  You can see some cool pics of Megabite at the top of the page.  I wanted to learn more about Homeplace Gardens so I decided to ask Cindy to describe her path to daylily hybridizing in her own words.  Here is what she wrote:

When my husband (Ken) and I moved to the Homeplace Gardens property 30 years ago, I was a young mother with a new home and 10 acres of blank space. Having grown up in a gardening family, I was eager to get dirty. Funds were short so I asked everyone I knew for cuttings, etc. A friend gave me a car load of hybrid daylilies without names and a garden was born. I often propagated my own plants and grew many things from seed. I saw a notice about a daylily show in town and thought it would be a good place to look for other hybrids. The rest is every daylily addict's history! I began hybridizing in the late 80's and registered my first introduction in 1994. Daylilies gradually took over our 1/2 acre vegetable garden. My husband started making his own crosses about 10 years later. We won back to back hybridizer's awards from Region 15.

We were active in our club, held offices, hosted an AHS National tour, started a new club winning our Region's Service Award in 2009, but always knew our first desire was to create plants that people would cherish in their gardens for years. Our gardening motto is "In passionate pursuit of the best". We travel to regional and national meetings and do some limited speaking engagements. Van Sellers lives within 30 minutes from us and taught us so much. He was brutally honest ( in a southern genteel way ) when viewing my seedlings in the early years. Our breeding focus has shifted with the trends as needed but we still breed for great performing garden plants. Ken's budbuilding dormants have found a niche in the northern gardening market and my love of color in the garden keeps me looking for that fancy faced garden performer. We make a great team and are each other's worst critic and greatest fan. This year we planted a few thousand seeds using MEGA BITE, TO DYE FOR, TETRA LINDA GLUCK, and CAROLINES FASHION (unregistered). We are excited to see bigger blooms, longer teeth, triple edges, adding patterns along the way. It is a wonderful time to be a hybridizer. Each year brings fantastic surprises in the garden. We are less than 2 hours from the 2014 AHS National Meeting site so come see what's new. 

 



The photo above is a futre Dye introduction called WHOODAH MAN!

 

 

 

 

The picture above is another future Dye introduction.  The photo at the very bottom of the page is another of their new introductions called Beautiful Madness.  Thanks to Ken and Cindy Dye for letting me share some photos of their wonderful daylilies!  You can contact them at hpgardens@aol.com.  Their website address is http://daylily.net/gardens/homeplace/index.htm

I hope you enjoyed this weeks installment and happy gardening!  

My daylily Han Solo, a 2013 introduction

     I was emailed a picture of my 2013 introduction, Han Solo from Gil and Nancy Fuleki of Rushville,Ohio.

They were nice enough to let me share their photograph.  This picture was taken in JANUARY in their greenhouse.  Wow, that was really neat to see a photograph in January when here in Ohio everything is covered in snow.  Thanks Gil and Nancy!  I hope it set some pods for you.  Han Solo is my first introduction from my 2011 introduction Millennium Falcon.  The cross for Han Solo is Millennium Falcon X Catcher in the Eye.  It is both pod and pollen fertile. 
      Sorry this week's post is so short, but I have been digging daylilies that I sold on the Lily auction and tomorrow have to ship them to various places across the country.  Hope everyone is having a nice spring!

Jeff and Elizabeth Salter's Daylilies, part 2.

     Well, here in northeast Ohio we have been getting a lot of rain.  It's getting the daylilies to start growing more, but next week we are expected to get another dosing of rain all week and sometimes I wish I could turn the weather on and off like a spicket, but that's not how life goes.  Anyway, let's continue with more of Jeff and Elizabeth Salter's wonderful daylilies.  Featured at the top of the page is a Salter seedling that said on the tag Pixie Pinwheel Party.  Not sure if that is going to be the official name, but that's what it is for now.

Right below it is Jeff Salter's 2012 introduction Cosmic Blast. What a really cool applique pattern!

The daylily pictured above is the Jeff Salter 2011 introduction, Sea of Cinders.  Nice orange parent!

This daylily above is the Jeff Salter 2011 introduction Camelot Red, also suppose to be a grand parent.

The daylily pictured above is the Jeff Salter 2010 introduction, Emerald Dream.  Nice green edge.

This daylily pictured is Jeff Salter's 2008 introduction Highly Dramatic.  The yellow daylily at the bottom of the page is a Salter seedling.  Hope you enjoyed this visit with the Salter's daylilies.  See you next week.

Jeff and Elizabeth Salter's daylilies.

     I wrote a segment last year on Jeff and Elizabeth Salter's daylilies, but I felt as if I didn't post enough pictures, so this year I am going to focus more on posting the pictures I took at their garden back in 2011.  I will be going down to visit them again this May, so I am really excited to see their new daylilies.  The daylily at the top of the page is a Salter seedling that I believe to be their new 2013 introduction "The incredible Earl Watts."  Nice teeth!  The one right below it is of Elizabeth Salter's "Serenade in Springtime."  One of my favorites.  I will break this write up into two segments, since I have so many pictures to share.

This photo above is Jeff Salter's 2012 introduction Chorus of Angels.

The photo above is Elizabeth Salter's 2012 introduction Mix and Match.  Another favorite of mine.

This photo above is Jeff Salter's 2011 introduction Vintage Velvet.

This photo above is Jeff Salter's 2010 introduction Fully Exotic.

This photo above is a Jeff Salter introduction called Romney Marsh.

Next week I will feature even more great Salter daylilies.  Hope you enjoyed part 1!