Jammin's Daylily Garden, Lakeland, Georgia
Jammin's Daylily Garden, peak bloom.
I wanted to kick off the blog season with Jammin's Daylilies, the daylilies of June, Amanda, Ben, and Mark Singletary. I am constantly on Facebook and have enjoyed seeing pictures of the Singletary's intros and seedlings all year long. They just added a pond on to their property, and their place really looks great. They also posted drone photographs recently, which was the icing on the cake for this segment. With nothing further here is my interview with the Singletarys.
1. Where did the name Jammins come from? (June, Amanda, Ben, & Mark)
June’s Response:
I (June) was born in Adel, Georgia, but grew up in Nashville Ga. and Mark was born in Sylvester Ga. but grew up Lakeland, Ga. We met years ago cropping tobacco as young teenagers. We finally got back together in my Senior year of high school.
We were married on June 12, 1981, so we have been married now for 36 years. We have lived in Lanier county Georgia since 1984. We choose not have children until 1995, we were married about 14 years before Amanda Leann Singletary was born on March 31, 1995. Marcus Benjamin Singletary was born in October 4th, 1998. Our two children have been the best thing that has ever happened to us.
Jammin’s Daylily Garden name was created by using Ben’s nickname. My nieces had called him “Ben Jammin” since birth. Ben played in his high school marching band, and was the drum major his Senior Year. Ben played the trumpet most of his middle and high school years. Really good at this and had many solos as the trumpet player for the band. He even was asked to play the National Anthem at football games and Veteran Day celebrations. In high school Ben even received a National FFA Organization award for Nursery Proficiency.
Mark works as a maintenance leader with Propex for the last 38 years, and I (June), am a Registered Nurse/Med/Surg Nurse Educator with South Georgia Medical Center for 23 years. Both of our children are students at Valdosta State University. Amanda’s is a Junior, and majoring in Early Childhood Education, she will complete her degree in Spring of 2019. Amanda also works as a substitute teacher for Berrien and Lanier county Pre-K-8th grades. Ben is a Freshman majoring in Environmental GEO Sciences, and plans to further his education in possible Physics or Meteorology.
We have (all) been hybridizing for the last 9 years, and I can tell you my kids think outside the box when creating new daylily babies. Singletary’s have together a total of 60 registered cultivars so far.
2. How did you first get interested in daylilies? (June, Amanda, Ben, & Mark)
We first got into daylilies with Mary Frank & Philip Gaskins of Gaskins Daylilies. Mark would to go by their place, and buy me flowers to put in my yard for Mother’s Day, My Bday, and anniversary’s.
After doing this for years, we both loved seeing what turned out from our hybridizing, so I guess you could say we caught the daylily fever. Our kids are the same way, if you come by our place in the spring you would see our family up before daylight with flashlights trying to look at the new babies before having to go school or work. I know most people think we are crazy how much we work, but it has instilled in my kids to work hard to achieve what you want in life. In our presentations we do for clubs, we labeled ourselves as June - CEO, Ben - President, Amanda - Shipping Supervisor, Mark - Chemical Engineer. We also have 4+1 on the way Dachshunds which are our Security Force/Bosses, Camo, Mowgli, Andy, Opie and next will be Barney, and yes we love the Andy Griffith show.
3. What were your initial goals in hybridizing? (June, Amanda, Ben, & Mark)
Our goals are to have something in our garden and daylily hybridizing that everyone would like to purchase. We hybridize for Miniatures, Tetraploids, Diploids, Spiders, UFO’s and Doubles (which are Amanda favorites), Yes, at first, we were only doing Tetraploids, but we saw that everyone did not just like certain types, so we expanding our program to include more variety for all our customers.
4. Which daylily hybridizers influenced you in the beginning? (June, Amanda, Ben, & Mark)
The first influences were Mary Frank & Philip Gaskins.
Some our favorites now are Karen and Guy Pierce, and have become good friends with them. Dan and Jane Trimmer, Nicole Devito, we have been to these gardens every year for the last 5 or so years.
Ludlow, and Rachel Lambertson, Heidi and Charles Douglas, Pete & Rossen Harry, Larry & Cindy Grace and Mark Carpenter are also some great ones we follow closely. Also love the daylilies of Sandy Nall.
5. What are some of the challenges you've had in hybridizing? (June, Amanda, Ben, & Mark)
Our biggest challenge is trying to find the time to work our full time jobs, school, and have time to do the daylily hybridizing that we love so much.
6. How many seedlings do you grow each year? (June, Amanda, Ben, & Mark)
We grow about 2,500 seedlings a year. In addition to the seedlings we also have around 450+ cultivars, and adding to this database yearly with our own introductions, along with our favorites from other hybridizers.
7.What are some of your favorite daylily introductions from others? (June, Amanda, Ben, and Mark)
June’s favorites: Royal Extravaganza(Carpenter), Clark Gable(Kirchhoff), Obi Wan Kenobi (Lewis), Boca Grande (Petit), Boss Hogg (Douglas), Cream and Sugar(Trimmer), Kaleidoscopic Intrigue(Carpenter),
Can’t Touch This(Devtio), Ima Big Timer (Devito), Crowning Light (Stamile), Green Eyed Envy(Harry), Emerald Tarantula(Pierce), Light Me Up(Devito), Veto(Townsend), Golden Sweet(Pierce), Spacecoast Art Deco(Kinnebrew), and OMG I have too many to list!
Mark’s favorites: Verdant Glow(Pierce), Sweet Cotton Candy(Pierce), Bo Jangles(Pierce), Bluegrass Shadows(Pierce), Quoting Hemmingway(Pierce), Boss Hogg(Douglas),
Ben’s favorites: New Day Sunshine(Pierce), Kindred Jewel(Pierce), Light Me Up(Devito), Galactic Green(Pierce), Icicles(Pierce), many of the miniatures from Pierce.
Amanda’s favorites: Sweet Cotton Candy(Pierce), Cream & Sugar(Trimmer), Lucky You(Petit/Goff), Clark Gable(Kirchhoff), Sebastian the Crab(Joiner), Soul Searching(Petit/Goff).
8. What are some of your favorite daylilies that you've introduced? (June, Amanda, Ben, & Mark
June’s favorites: Jammin’s Oh My Goodness, Jammin’s Pinky Toes, Jammin’s Spellbound, Jammin’s Halo Heart, Jammin’s Beyond Infinity, Jammin’s Misty Midnight, and Jammin’s Lighthouse Beacon.
Mark’s favorites: Jammin’s Lipstick Kisses, Jammin’s Oh My Goodness. Jammin’s Ribbon’s of Hope (Named in honor Mark’s mother Margaret Singletary who was taken to a better place Heaven, the morning it bloomed from Cancer)
Ben’s favorites: Jammin’s Misty Midnight, Jammin’s Tie Dye, Jammin;s Beyond Infinity, Jammin’s Spellbound, Jammin’s Oh My Goodenss.
Amanda’s favorites: Jammin’s Sweettater, Jammin’s Paisley Park, Jammin’s Pink Stiletto, Jammin’s Ribbon’s of Hope.
We have so many favorites it’s truly hard to say…
9. What are some of your favorite daylily gardens you like to visit? (June, Amanda, Ben, & Mark)
Floyd Cove
Water Mill Gardens
Nicole’s Daylilies
Art Gallery
Bell’s Daylily Garden
Would love to take a trip to these two gardens:
Browns Ferry Gardens, Lily Farm
And now with nothing further, here are some of the Singletary's favorite introductions:
Jammin's Oh My Goodness (June Singletary, 2017)
Jammin's Pink Stiletto (Amanda Singletary, 2017)
Jammin's Beyond Infinity (Ben Singletary, 2016)
Jammin's Spellbound (Ben Singletary, 2016)
Jammin's Thunder and White Lightning (Mark Singletary, 2017)
Jammins Misty Midnight (Ben Singletary, 2017)
And now some of the Singletary's fabulous daylily seedlings:
Jammin's "Special" seedling
Jammin's patterned seedling. Wow! Awesome!
Jammin's applique seedling
Jammin's applique seedling
Jammin's toothy seedling
Ben's favorite seedling
Jammin's future diploid intro
Well that concludes today's segment with Jammin's Daylily Garden. Special thanks to June, Amanda, Ben, and Mark Singletary for taking the time to share their daylilies with us. All above photographs are the property of the Jammin's daylilies and use without prior consent is prohibited. You can view their daylily website at: http://www.jamminsdaylilygarden.com/. Hoping to bring more great hybridizer's interviews to you in the weeks and months to come. Thanks for stopping in.
