A visit with Bob Faulkner.

                 Bob Faulkner future intro, Garden name: Orange Turkey Tail

                             FKA  J.T. Polston (Bob Faulkner 2019 intro)

   Living here in the state of Ohio is really a blessing from the standpoint of being a daylily hybridizer. There are so many different hybridizers that live in this state.  Because of  juggling my full time work of landscaping with my daylily hybridizing, I don't always get to visit every daylily garden in my state, but Bob Faulkner's place is one I would like to see in the future. I've never met Bob in person, but we both share the love of pattern hybridizing, so I figured this would be the next best way for me and all of you daylily lovers to get to know him better.  With nothing further, I give you Bob Faulkner:

INTRODUCTION Written by Bob Faulkner:

Bob Faulkner in a paragraph....I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio in an old farmhouse which was built by Hesikiah Hutchins in 1834.  That was over 72 years ago and I still live in that house. Myself, my 2 brothers, and 3 sisters all grew up there. I worked several places including, Sears and Roebuck in downtown Dayton for 13 years. I retired from Hobart Corporation after serving there for 30 years. Both sets of my grandparents were farmers, so I got a double dose of the desire to grow things from them. I planted my first petunias at the age of 6 and never looked back.

1. How did you get interested in daylilies?

Bob: I was in my mid 40's, re working my front yard perennial beds, when a friend stopped by and declared, "you need some hybrid daylilies. The ones you have are dated and very old fashioned." This was true. They would bloom in a flush for around 2 weeks and that was it for the year. Not knowing what a hybrid daylily was, I said, "how do I find these?" My friend suggested we go to Cincinnati to visit the first hybridizer I had ever met, John Benz.  I saw some very cool daylilies there, especially one that really caught my eye, and that daylily was 'Fooled Me' (Reilly). The thing that got my attention was that 'Fooled Me' had an eye, something I had never seen before. I asked if John could sell me a fan, but when he told me it was $50, it caught me off guard. This was back in 1994, and I was living paycheck to paycheck, so $50 was out of the question for one daylily!!! On the way home I was steamed that someone would try and ransom my wallet for a flower. It just didn't seem fair, so I'd show them! I'll raise my own! I have land, I know how to grow things, and I won't be spending that much for a flower.  So, that is how I got started in daylilies.  It was out of anger. LOL!


2. What daylily hybridizer or hybridzers helped you when you first got started?

Bob: I can't actually put a finger on any one particular hybridizer. I had a mentor/friend by the name of Mike Walters.  Mike was the most knowledgeable person I had met, being well versed on plants in general. Mike gave me plenty of advice.  We sort of started hybridizing at the same time.  He would order all these daylilies and split them with me. Before the end of the year, I had about 50 daylilies in pots and needed to get them in the ground.  I hybridized for nearly 3 years before I found out about this meeting in Dayton put on by the local daylily gardeners and hybridizers, "The Midwest Hybridizers," organized and run by the late Shirley Farmer. This meeting opened my eyes to the daylily world and so the journey began.  I can't say any one person was the catalyst, but this group  was the next level. It wasn't long before Shirley and I became best friends.....she was such an encouragement, and propelled me into the world of daylily hybridizing and doing presentations.  I'm the kind of personality that when I find something I like, I like to search everywhere to find help. I went to meetings, read what I could..... I did a lot of trial and error.  What I learned is you can not know what works best for you without making some mistakes along the way.  My curiosity caused me to do a lot of crosses that just weren't logical on paper. I learned from the experience of my experiments how to be a better hybridizer. Edison didn't invent the light bulb on the first try, and you will likely not be an elite hybridizer from your first cross.  Edison finally got a good light bulb once he figured out what didn't work.  I should also mention there weren't as many hybridizers back when I started.  The very best ones were more likely to keep their growing and hybridizing secrets to themselves. It was their way of staying on top....however it certainly didn't promote daylily hybridizing. It served only to frustrate those people starting off looking for advice. In the present tense, it's nice that there are those people who are willing to teach newer hybridizers about growing and hybridizing. If you are a beginner now, you have so much information in front of you.  Failure is unlikely if you persevere.


3. What were your first goals in the beginning on your hybridizing?

Bob: My first goals in the early 90's were breeding eyes.  The first eyed daylily I ever saw was 'Fooled Me', introduced by the late Phil Reilly.  I loved this daylily, especially the fact that it was eyed. My first 3 years hybridizing for eyes showed little progress.  I would get one that I thought was good, then a catalog would show up in the mailbox from Stamile, Trimmer, or Kirchhoff, and there would always be a daylily intro that was better than mine.  It was frustrating. One of the reasons for this was I was only making what I considered to be "safe" crosses. I listened to what every one advised, but the results were boring.  Once I started experimenting and not listening to that sage advice, I started seeing things that were new, unusual, and much more desirable.  I always thought when I got a new daylily catalog, that the patterned daylilies I saw were the nicest flowers in the catalog. So, in the Fall of 1999, I had an epiphany.  I thought....I like patterns the best....why am I not breeding for them?? In the beginning, I thought I would either fail miserably or be a success.  Either way I would take a stab at doing what I liked the best. It all just made sense. So, now my new goal was patterned eyed daylilies, and that continues today.

4. What are some of the challenges you've been faced with your hybridizing over the years?

Bob: The first challenge was making a new bed to hybridize with. I bought a tiller and tilled up the grass.  Brought in 18 tons of sand to amend the clay soil with.  The dump truck that brought in the sand left huge ruts in the lawn which took many seasons to heal.  In the beginning the cost to do daylilies was growing faster than I could have foreseen.  The second challenge was keeping the number of seeds I produced to a reasonable amount.  I would limit myself to 200.  I wouldn't go crazy like the other hybridizers, I would retain my sanity.  The third challenge was where to build my next bed, since the original number of 200 seedlings had grown to 1000 seedlings, and I needed a place to keep the ones I liked the most.  More cost and more beds.  The challenge became worse since I now needed a way to water and fertilize my ever growing hobby.  Sprinklers and hoses were added to the inventory.  Fertilizers were a must.  Soil additives, digging tools, containers for storing pollen, small baggies for my seeds etc. etc.  The need never slowed down.  I asked myself, "have I lost my mind?" The fourth challenge became clear as I began to attend meetings.  People wanted to see my seedlings and I didn't even own a camera, much less a computer.  More money.  I spent way too much on a 35 mm camera, only to find out that in two short years the entire world had simultaneously changed to digital media.....more money.  The fifth challenge was that I began to get pressured to show my flowers, travel, and do presentations to clubs.  I didn't even have my first introduction at the time! I also didn't have a clue how to put together a power point presentation, so I had to get help.  Then people were pressuring me for daylilies. Like I said prior, I didn't even have my first introduction at this time. A very wise hybridizer told me to not introduce until I felt I was ready.  Sage advice.  I waited another 2 years and don't regret it.  The sixth challenge is one I never saw coming and I've only shared this with my very close friends.  You think that once you begin producing flowers that your peers and other hybrizers would be happy for you and encourage what you have accomplished. To my shock and dismay that wasn't true at all.  Some people who were already successful became jealous.  Some stopped talking to me and said things behind my back. Not everybody was this way, but I was very disappointed to find out the ones that were. So being successful has it's downfalls and it's true to a certain degree that there is much loneliness at the top.  What I've learned from this is that I'm much tougher than I thought I was.  A blessing in disguise.  Your true friends will quickly stand out from the crowd and your rewards are worth the disappointments, so never give up!

5. What are some of your favorite daylilies from other hybridizers?

Bob: That is a tough one to answer. I probably would have been diagnosed with ADHD as a child if they had diagnosed things that way back then. I find that I become jaded fast with new daylilies.  I will like one for a year or two, then it is on to something else.  What thrilled me two years ago, I will walk past and pay little attention to today, so favorite daylilies are rare here.  One daylily I never tire of is 'Lavender Blue Baby' (Carpenter).  Jack Carpenter gave me a piece of his original clump back in the early 2000's when I visited once.  I still have that original piece and look forward to seeing it every year.  It's a large clump now.  I don't think this is too unusual in the world of hybridizers. In fact, I think it's the one thing that keeps them hybridizing. Looking at new seedlings is the most thrilling part of the entire process.  One of the newer ones I've grown very fond of is 'My Friend Ellen' (Scott). It's an amazing daylily.  He did well with this one.


6. How many seedlings do you grow each year?

Bob: I know you are talking about first year seedlings. They are all seedlings until one gets named.  I grow 2000.  Any more than that is too much work, and any less isn't satisfying.


7. What are some of your favorite daylilies that you've introduced?

Bob: Tooting my own horn goes against my nature.  I don't believe in bragging. However since you asked, here is what I think. I love 'Barb Kedler' (Faulkner).  Bi tones are a favorite here and this one has and throws such white sepals, hard to get in bi tones. 'Switched at birth' (Faulkner) another bi color, but has opposing color and great substance, not to mention a neat violet patterned eye.  'Almira Buffalo Bone Jackson' (Faulkner) is named after a very deserving Indian lady with vision beyond any of her peers.  Good growing, nice branching, and a wonderful flower with such a clean background. It is fertile both ways.  Both the dip and the converted Tet. throw introductory quality seedlings as well.  My best all around pattern so far, and she won the R.W. Munson Jr. award this year for outstanding patterned daylily.  Big props to my friend Patricia Wessling-Briggs for agreeing with me on this name choice.  There is something I like about every introduction.  I could go around the intro bed with any visitor and point out what I like.  They are all tested well before they get named.  The final test is do they hold up all day? I will go out at 7 p.m. and re evaluate the blooms.  If any lack substance at that time, they get flagged for removal.  Some beauties have been eliminated for this very reason.



8. What are some of your favorite daylily gardens or nurseries to visit?

Bob: I should have a warning sticker on my bumper...."warning! this car stops at all nurseries!"Favorite nurseries locally (Dayton, Ohio) are Knollwood Nursery and Meadowview Nursery. They both have fun and amazing plants for sale.  Any Mom and Pop stand also.  I always find at least one plant I can't live without at these neat places.  Favorite daylily gardens are Slightly Different Nursery (Paul Owens), the finest daylily and other plants garden I have ever visited.  Ashwood Gardens (Bob Selman & Eric Simpson) visual overload in a fantastic setting. All the hybridizers in the Northern Mecca rivals any group of hybridizers anywhere.(IMHO)  Karol Emmerich's place was another overload....no rival there.  Dan Hansen had the best, most unusual and plentiful variety of seedlings in his huge gardens.  Just wonderful.  He's a genius and was my favorite hybridizer during the Florida National a few years back.  Jack Carpenter's Lily Farm was excellent.  The first time I visited there I could not keep my jaw off the ground. One of the best hybridizers ever.  I'm sorry he stopped hybridizing.  Dan Trimmer and Luddy Lambertson, both just salt of the Earth men with very cool daylilies.  I'm sure there are more I forgot.


9. Share some of your favorite memories associated with daylilies?

Bob: Wow, there are legions of them.  One of my first memories was my friend Shirley Farmer visiting. This was 3 years after I had made the decision to work on patterns.  She was a great audience. She couldn't get over what she saw and proclaimed the next meeting, "Bob is the Liz Salter of the North!" Meeting David Kirchhoff for the first time at the Chattanooga Choo-choo Holiday Inn at the winter symposium was a thrill.  Being a last minute fill in at the Niagara Falls Winter Can Am with the likes of Pat and Grace Stamile, Tommy Maddox, Linda Agin, Betty Fritz, and a host of other dignitaries was outstanding. My first talk out of Ohio and people were flabbergasted at my presentation. That is a moment I will never forget.  It felt like a rock star moment.  Sitting under the shade trees at the edge of one of Jack Carpenter's seedling beds and having him tell stories of conversations with Pauline Henry, Kate Carpenter, and other hybridizers.....such fond memories of that. First time seeing one of my intros for sale on The Lily Auction was something I won't soon forget.  Becoming friends with Dan Trimmer, Pat and Grace Stamile, Luddy Lambertson, Larry Grace, Phil and Pina Reilly, and Guy and Karen Pierce will be something that is always special to me. All the people I admired from a far as a beginner, and discovering they are all regular, wonderful people. Doing a talk at the Region 2 Winter Symposium and having Heidi Douglas come up on stage and push my buttons for me.  Turned out to be a comedy act when I told her I didn't show my tets....LOL!  Watching a couple walk down my driveway and then realizing it was Liz and Jeff Salter.  That was a moment I will never forget.  I felt like I had made it.  Finally realizing that even though these are just flowers, (despite there being bigger fish in the ocean) that I have truly found my calling. Nothing in the world can satisfy me more than that.


10. In your own words, summarize what hybridizing means to you?

Bob: Hybridizing- what people do in hopes of creating a new daylily that other people can not live without.  It has some very bad side effects.  After a couple years it can cause all grass to disappear, it can cause the hybridizer to pollinate every daylily that blooms, and then makes them scramble next Spring to find gardens far and wide in which to plant them all.  It can create a condition called "kennel blindness," where the specific hybridizer can not see a beautiful daylily any further than 5 feet past their property lines. It also creates an illusion called, "introductions," which makes the hybridizer register any daylily that doesn't fall over in their yard.  And finally, hybridizing creates a condition where the hybridizer can not attend any family functions between the first bloom and the last seed pod removed.  This is called bloom season and woe to any child wrongly conceived as to be delivered during this period....they may have to wait.  (Written by Bob Faulkner)

Now here are some of Bob Faulkner's introductions:

       Almira Buffalo Bone Jackson (Bob Faulkner) Photo by William Marchant

                                         Switched at Birth (Bob Faulkner)

                                         Barb Kiedler (Bob Faulkner)

                          Feng Zhu (Bob Faulkner) Photo by Kirsten Hatfield

                                 If I ran the Circus (Bob Faulkner 2019)

                                         Tiger Colors (Bob Faulkner)

                                   Room Full on Mirrors (Bob Faulkner)

                                      A.J. Monnin (Bob Faulkner)

                                      Eric Simpson (Bob Faulkner)

                                   Greetings Earthlings (Bob Faulkner)

And now here are some of Bob Faukner's seedlings and future intros:

                                              Bob Faulkner seedling

                                            Bob Faulkner seedling
                                       

                                          Bob Faulkner seedling

                         Bob Faulkner seedling (Photo by Carol Seajay Mock)

                                           Bob Faulkner seedling

                                            Bob Faulkner seedling

WOW!  What a wonderful group of daylilies!  Bob, thank you so much for taking the time to share your wonderful experience and wisdom with everyone who reads this blog including myself.  Exceptional patterns!  Daylilies everyone should grow in their gardens. To see Bob's website you can log on to: www.naturalselectiondaylilies.net. As Bob says on his website, "Where the extrorinary is common."  It was a pleasure.  Looking forward to bringing you another interview in the weeks to come with our friend and Bob's friend, Eric Simpson. Thanks for stopping in.