David Kirchhoff's red daylily introductions, Part 2

Betty Ford plaque in the garden at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Michigan(Photo by Renee Johnson)

                    Betty Ford (David Kirchhoff 2002) Photo by Carol A. Sims

                          Betty Ford display in 2011. Photo by Steve Dalzell

I had no idea how many red daylily introductions David Kirchhoff had hybridized until doing this segment.  I was even more impressed by the fact that David has his introduction, Betty Ford planted at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in the garden there. What a wonderful honor. My interest in David's reds began when I started to notice all these lovely red daylilies planted at my neighbor, Curt Hanson's Crintonic Gardens back in the early 2000's. David was good friends with Curt and shared a lot of his red introductions with Curt.  Curt would plant them all along the main walking area, and I was always drawn to look at them.  I believe the one I loved the most back then was Power Lipstick.  Lovely red flowers perched on top of tall scapes.  I wanted to know where all these red daylilies started from, so I found an article in the AHS Winter 2005 journal, written by Mary Baker that summarizes David's journey with reds.  Here is Mary's article, posted with permission:

                                               
               Mort Morss and David Kirchhoff (Photo by Brenda G. Macy)

                                           (Written by Mary Baker)
FIRST DAYLILY INTRODUCTIONS AND FIRST SIGNIFICANT TETRAPLOID PARENTS

Edward Kirchhoff (David's father) and David headed for the 1973 AHS National Convention in Shreveport, Louisiana, where they noticed daylilies hybridized by A.J. "Gus" Wiese. They greatly admired one of them, a red diploid, so much that they registered and introduced it for Gus as H. 'Cathay Caper' (Wiese-Kirchhoff 1973)
     David worked with his own red diploid lines and converted some of them to tetraploids, but these no longer exist in David's program. David treated and converted H. 'Cathay Caper' and incorporated it into his tetraploid lines.

     Former Region 12 RVP Connie Fleischel, who passed away just before David moved back to Sanford from San Francisco, had a seedling that went back to the Sutton lines, which became a parent of another unregistered seedling with the garden name, "Cochineal." David crossed the "Cochineal" seedling with H. 'Cathay Caper' and induced it's child. David pollinated Virginia Peck's 'Scarlock' (1974) with the induced child and was rewarded with ten seedlings ranging in height from 26 inches to 54 inches with great well branched scapes. From these 10 seedlings, David selected and named 'Amadeus', which he registered in 1981. A lovely 5 1/2-inch scarlet self with yellow to green throat. 'Amadeus' became one of David's first significant tetraploid parents. Amadeus produced two other significant tetraploid parents: the outstanding 'Study in Scarlet' and 'Vintage Bordeaux'. David registered the extremely sunfast blood-red, brilliant green-throated 'Study in Scarlet' in 1985. 'Study in Scarlet' has a 5 inch flower on 28 inch scapes and is from ('Midnight Magic' x 'Amadeus'). David registered the dark and alluring 'Vintage Bordeaux in 1986. 'Vintage Bordeaux' was quickly noted as the most sunfast of it's type in it's day. 'Vintage Bordeaux' is a 5 3/4-inch black cherry with yellow edge and chartreuse throat on 27 inch scapes. It is out of ('Amadeus' x Seedling).

                       Amadeus (Kirchhoff 1981) Photo by Micheal F. Anders

                  OUTSTANDING TETRAPLOID REDS (Written by Mary Baker)

H. 'Amadeus' and it's progeny 'Study in Scarlet', 'Vintage Bordeaux', 'Ring of Change', and it's child, 'Bittersweet Holiday' became the cornerstones of David's legendary red tetraploid hybridizing program. Although reds are difficult, David's combine clear and clean color with impeccable form. Many (if not most) are sunfast. Some lines incorporate a large be-still-my-heart triangular bright green throat, while others have round emerald throats.

Bill Waldrop and David Kirchhoff (Photo by Brenda G. Macy)

     David used and evolved his own breeding lines for his red program but also incorporated significant non red cultivars from other hybridizers, such as Jeff Salter's H. 'Lady Arabella' (1992), 'Chestnut Mountain'(1989), and 'Ed Brown' (1994) and Curt Hanson's 'Life on Mars', (1999) and 'Joan Derifield' (2000).

Karol Emmerich and David Kirchhoff (Photo by Brenda G. Macy)

     Many of David's outstanding reds come directly from the H. 'Ring of Change' and/or 'Amadeus' lines. Four of them, 'Hunter's Torch' (1988), 'Leonard Bernstein' (1991), 'Forever Red' (1993), and 'Ruby Fantasy' (2002) are children of 'Vintage Bordeaux'.

David registered three significant and stunning reds in 2002. H.'Betty Ford, 'Hoochie Coochie Man', and 'Seattle Dreaming'. 'Betty Ford', important for it's hardiness, is registered as a  garnet red with a Chinese red watermark halo, and yellow to green throat. 'Betty Ford' is out of [('Leonard Bernstein' x 'Crimson Wind') x ('Torrid Tango' x 'Forever Red')] David's favorite red of this group was 'Hoochie Coochie Man', a round bright red with a faint watermark halo, and a wire gold edge from [( 'Forever Red' x 'Reason for Treason') x ('Reason for Treason' x 'Maria Callas')] While 'Seattle Dreaming' was a selected seedling, David used it extensively in his hybridizing program. Cardinal red 'Seattle Dreaming' beckoned to me at Daylily World from across the garden. It's parentage is {[('Leonard Bernstein x 'Forever Red') x ('Strawberry Jazz' x Seedling)] x (Seedling x 'Perfect Pleasure')}

Mort Morss, William Marchant, and David Kirchhoff (Photo from William Marchant)

Here is a collection of David's reds over the years.  I tried to select some of the best ones, but I know I have left some out.  One of the first pictures is David's Kent's Favorite Two (1988), which David says is probably the great grandparent of many modern day red tetraploids. Here is a collection of David's red tetraploid introductions:

                              Kent's Favorite Two (David Kirchhoff 1988)

         Leonard Bernstein (David Kirchhoff 1991) Photo by Micheal F. Anders

                     Dragon King (David Kirchhoff 1992) Photo by Mary Baker

                             Reason for Treason (David Kirchhoff 1996)

                   Hotter than July (David Kirchhoff 2002) Photo by Mary Baker

              Hoochie Coochie Man (David Kirchhoff 2002) Photo by Mary Baker

               British Redcoat (David Kirchhoff 2003) Photo by Brenda G. Macy

                  Fabulous Frieda (David Kirchhoff 2007) Photo by Jacob Henry

                  Fabulous Frieda (David Kirchhoff 2007) Photo by Mary Baker

               Barbara Mandrell (David Kirchhoff 2011) Photo by Julie Covington

                     Mary Baker (David Kirchhoff 2012) Photo by Mary Baker

                   Red Fortune (David Kirchhoff 2012) Photo by Paul K. Lewis

                    Sister Valerie (David Kirchhoff 2012) Photo by Mary Baker

 David's sister, Valerie Kirchhoff Barnett, for whom the Sister Valerie daylily was named for.

              Great Red Heron (David Kirchhoff 2013) Photo by Theresa Maris

                  Cardinal Kisses (David Kirchhoff 2013) Photo by Paul K. Lewis

                  Mister Harold (David Kirchhoff 2018) Photo by Paul K. Lewis

                     David's Gift (Kirchhoff/Baker 2018) Photo by Mary Baker

Fractured Heart, Seedling R119 (Kirchhoff/Baker 2020 future introduction) 

David Kirchoff presents Barbara Mandrell with her namesake daylily. Photo By Troy B. Marden

Holy cow that's a lot of fabulous red daylilies.  David Kirchhoff has won many awards for his hybridizing, including 2 Lennington All American daylilies, and 2 Stout Medals.  He has always been very active in the AHS.  If you've ever gone to a convention, chances are you have met David Kirchhoff.  I would like to thank David for allowing me to do these segments on his program.  Special thanks has to go to Mary Baker who has been EXTREMELY helpful with gathering of photographs and letting me use parts of her very well written article on David's program.  I would also like to thank Brenda G. Macy, Jacob Henry, Micheal F. Anders, William Marchant, Julie Covington, Troy B. Marden, and Theresa Maris for sharing their photographs as well. To see David and Mort's website, go to: https://daylilyworld.com/  This has been a very wonderful experience putting this together.  So, the excitement doesn't stop here folks. I have a segment coming up on cristate daylilies, then an interview with Kirsten Hatfield.  Stay tuned.

Daylily World, the daylilies of David Kirchhoff and Mort Morss, Part 1.

                                          David Kirchhoff and Mort Morss

               Mort Morss, Barbara Mandrell, and David Kirchhoff (Left to right)

I was trying to remember the first time I met David Kirchhoff and Mort Morss.  It was probably back in the early 2000's, down at the original Daylily World location in Sanford, Florida. David would come up to visit my neighbor, Curt Hanson every summer, so I got to know him better during that time.  I love red tetraploid daylilies, so I would pick David's brain about hybridizing them every chance I got.  David has always been very nice to me, so I wanted to share some more about their history with the help of my friend, and David's friend, Mary Baker. Here's is a couple paragraphs from a nice piece Mary wrote in the AHS Winter Journal, 2005: (with permission from Mary)

                              HOW IT ALL BEGAN (Written by Mary Baker)

David's mother, the late Mary Helen Kirchhoff, told him his first word was "flower." From birth until he left home, never a week passed by when there weren't a dozen fresh gladioulus diplayed somewhere in the house. The horticultural influence originated with David's father, Edward's paternal family, although Mary Helen loved and appreciated daylilies and other flowers due to her maternal family's farming background
     In 1890, David's great-grandfather William Kirchhoff, who was an engineer in Germany, immigrated to the United States. William and his family settled in Pembroke, New York, where they had greenhouses and sold cut flowers. William's son, William Kirchhoff Jr., became a gladiolus grower, supplying "Gladiolus of Unusual Merit" to wholesale markets throughout the United States. David's father Edward operated the gladiolus business together with William Jr. Their many farms encompassed Fort Meyers, Bradenton, and several hundred acres in the Sanford area. In addition to Florida, their farms stretched north to Foley, Alabama; Driver, Virginia; and Pembrooke, New York.
     Edward and William Jr. grew gladiolus as well as continually experimenting in other cut flower sidelines, such as strawflowers, statice, Bells of Ireland, and gypsophila. David's great Aunt Ella Lee Kirchhoff, who was one of the first women at Cornell University in horticulture, taught David how to propagate everything from azaleas to ficus and hibiscus. The family branched into these other areas while continuing to ship hundreds of thousands of glads from Florida, New York, Alabama, and Virginia.

                                              DAVID'S JOURNEY

One of the gladiolus farms consisted of the old Boley estate, which encompassed 20 acres and had previously been a packing house. In 1952, Edward decided to relocate the gladioulus growing operation from the old Boley estate, and David and his sister Valerie Kirchhoff Barnett into the house, where David currently resides. (Written when David resided at Daylily World in Sanford, Florida)
     David attended the University of Montavallo (Alabama College), where he majored in music. During a stint with the Navy, David performed as a musician. From 1964, David lived in San Francisco, where he worked in the retail music industry and met Mort Morss. In 1969, David moved back to Florida, where Mort later joined him. Interestingly, although the gardening bug originated in David's father Edward's family, it was Mary Helen who first began to dabble with daylily hybridizing. When David was in high school, he and his mother experimented with hybridizing. Edward became interested as a result and subsequently began to hybridize daylilies during the late 1960's.

Some facts from David Kirchhoff himself:  David's first cross was in 1958(though it could have been in 1956) David Kirchhoff has registered a little over 700 daylilies, (soon to be updated in the AHS site) and Mort Morss has registered 280.  David Kirchhoff's first introduction was Jean Wooten in 1976.

 David Kirchhoff speaking at the Region 10 convention in Lexington, Kentucky in 2014.(Picture by Susan Okranski)


Now here are some pictures of Daylily World when it was down in Sanford, Florida:

































































































David and Mort moved their daylily program in 2007.
And now here are some pictures of the present location of Daylily World in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

Daylily World pictures by Jacob Henry.

Daylily World (Photo by Paul K. Lewis)2008








                                                                               

David Kirchhoff and Jacob Henry, June 2018

                                                                               















                                                                               

David, Mort, and friends.

      The first daylily catalog I got from Daylily World was in 1997, and featured the daylily, Fortunes Dearest (Morss) on the cover.  It was one of the earlier toothy daylilies that is probably in the parentage of many of today's modern day purple toothies.

Well, I really hope you enjoyed that trip down memory lane as much as I did.  Special thank you has to go out to Mary Baker for sharing some of her article about David Kirchhoff and his family with me.  A big thank you to David Kirchhoff as well for sharing pictures with me to help me put this together.  This is only part 1 of a two part segment on David.  The second part will feature David's red daylilies from the early days to present tense.  I really look forward to sharing that with you fairly soon as well.  Stay tuned.