Parker Raymond (John Kulpa future intro)
Tom and Doug (John Kulpa future intro)
I think I first became aware of John Kulpa's daylilies when I saw a very large flowered daylily called, Regina Sitko on The Lily Auction, and it was being bid up very fast. I wound up buying Regina Sitko through the The Lily Auction,and was amazed at this impressive daylily. I had to know more about the hybridizer, John Kulpa. Through Facebook I come to find out that John lives in the neighboring state of Michigan, and had a very impressive toothy program as well. I also bought some seeds from one of his outstanding toothy introductions, Cheryl Mae Taylor, and bloomed some really nice seedlings from them. I wanted to learn more about John and how he began hybridizing, so with nothing further, here is our visit with John Kulpa:
Introduction written by John Kulpa:
My name is John Kulpa. I am a 65 year old single, retired elementary school teacher, who was born and raised in Warren, Michigan. Warren is a large city just north of Detroit. I am currently living in my childhood Warren home that I have lived in for 59 years. My small abode on it's small suburban lot is definitely my paradise on Earth. My passion for gardening was sparked by my 91 year old Mother, who lives with me, and by my Grandmothers, who came from Poland to the United States when they were teenagers. I observed their enthusiasm and love for gardening when I was growing up, and it just rubbed off on me in a big way. I loved to garden from the age of 6 and had a wonderful vegetable garden. However, after several years of planting vegetable gardens I wanted to look at colorful flowers. I then planted all of the garden beds with colorful annuals, many of them I had grown from seeds. When I became a teenager, I was very interested in growing dahlias and exhibiting them, so the many flower beds were planted with all kinds of dinner plate and cactus dahlias. The "dahlia phase" of gardening lasted for several years until I discovered Hostas, and I dove right into purchasing and hybridizing them. I have registered about 15 Hostas, and some of my favorite Hosta introductions are: "Whirlwind," "Diana Remembered," and "Ann Kulpa."
1. How did you first get interested in daylilies?
John: While I was growing and hybridizing Hostas I was introduced to Pat Salk, who also grew Hostas and daylilies. I visited Pat's beautiful gardens, and she insisted that I take home a couple fans of a registered daylily that was growing in her garden. I told her that I did not like daylilies because I did not like their leaves, but I would take it home and plant it in my Hosta beds. The daylily was planted at my house and it bloomed a lot every year. Well, you might have guessed it by now, but after twenty years of growing and hybridizing Hostas, I finally came to the conclusion that I absolutely loved riots of color in the garden, so I turned to growing and hybridizing daylilies and have done so since 1999. You know the rest of the story...
2. What hybridizer introduced you to daylily hybridizing?
John: Pat Salk introduced me to the late Nick Balash in 1999. Nick was such a kind, generous, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable mentor and friend, who took me under his wing and taught me about growing and hybridizing daylilies. He passed away this past November, 2017, but he will not be forgotten because he touched the lives and hearts of so many people.
3. What were your first goals in the beginning of your hybridizing?
John: My first main goal was to hybridize daylilies with teeth on the petals.
4. What were some of the challenges you've faced with your hybridizing over the years?
John: One of the major challenges that I have faced was to hybridize daylilies that have teeth on both the petals and the sepals. The other challenge was to get some height in toothy daylilies, which tend to be short.
5. How many seedlings do you grow each year?
John: I plant about 250 to 300 seedlings each year. I have had great success over the years because out of those seedlings, I will get 3 to 5 future introductions per year.
6. What are some of your favorite introductions from other hybridizers?
John: Some of my favorite introductions from other hybridizers are:
John Kulpa (Sheila Green), Bass Gibson (John Rice), Vampire Academy (Tom Polston), Soli Deo Gloria (Karol Emmerich), and Wolfman (Jamie Gossard).
7. What are some of your favorite daylily introductions?
John: My favorite introductions include: Nick Balash (Kulpa), Regina Sitko (Kulpa), Barbara DeLisle (Kulpa), Kit Walter (Kulpa), Mike Kulpa (Kulpa), Teresa Dillon (Kulpa), Gianna Kulpa (Kulpa), and Cheryl Mae Taylor (Kulpa) just to name a few.
Here are some of John's favorite introductions below:
Nick Balash (John Kulpa)
Cheryl Mae Taylor (John Kulpa)
Kit Walter (John Kulpa)
Teresa Dillon (John Kulpa)
Gianna Kulpa (John Kulpa)
Mike Kulpa (John Kulpa)
Regina Sitko (John Kulpa)Photo courtesy of Kathy Rinke. Huge 9 to 10 inch flowers.
Here are some more of John Kulpa's seedlings and future intros:
Beverly Leitch (John Kulpa future introduction)
Gabriella Kulpa (John Kulpa future introduction)
Sophie Kulpa (John Kulpa future introduction)
Franco Cimaroli (John Kulpa future introduction)
Brian Greene (John Kulpa future introduction)
Jack and Sandy Wolfe (John Kulpa future introduction)
Raymond's Romance (John Kulpa future introduction)
Denise Woods (John Kulpa future introduction)
All Things to All Men seedling (John Kulpa seedling) I love this one!
I would like to thank John Kulpa for taking the time to share his wisdom, experience, and most of all his fabulous toothy daylily program. I am blown away by seeing these pics and look forward to growing some of these in my garden in the years to come. John does not have a daylily website, but you can find him on Facebook, and he occasionally lists a few daylilies or seeds for sale on the Lily auction. I hope to continue with more toothy daylilies in my next segment, Toothy daylilies from Ohio. Stay tuned!
