A visit with our friend, Mike Grossmann

 

Mike Grossmann seedling 

Mike Grossman future introduction

I think I first got to know Mike Grossmann from buying daylilies on The Lily Auction. Mike was one of the better sellers there and I bought a lot of daylilies from him and many others since the early 2000's. (and I still do. LOL.) I always liked to check in on Mike's Northern Lights Daylilies website (www.northernlightsdaylilies.com) to see his introductions year after year. Mike has always had a very cool toothy program and introductions just get better and better each year.  I figured this winter was a great time to get to know more about Mike Grossmann, so here is his interview:

INTRODUCTION WRITTEN BY MIKE GROSSMANN

I was born in Orange City, Iowa and lived there until I was 18. I attended the University of Iowa, and the Florida Institute of Technology where I earned a B.S. in Molecular Biology. I earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Mayo Clinic. I did post-doctoral studies at the N.I.H. and St. Jude's Children's Hospital. I spent the majority of my research career studying cancer. 

I have been hybridizing northern hardy daylilies in southern Minnesota since 1999. I enjoy working with flowers with bold eyes and edges, teeth, purples, and large unusual forms. In addition to my breeding program, I run Northern Lights Daylilies and sell from my website. 

Mike Grosmann and Kathleen Nordstrom

1. How did you first get interested in daylilies?

Mike: My Mom introduced me to gardening. She said I was always able to tell the weeds from the garden plants even when I was very small. When I got a place of my own I had a few flowers and lots of vegetables. Then, in 1999 I was online and saw daylilies that didn't look anything like the daylilies I was used to seeing. I also saw that you could hybridize your own totally new daylilies and that is what I wanted. I bought 2 daylilies and that is what I did. 

2. Which hybridizer introduced you to daylilies and hybridizing?

Mike: I have to thank Karol Emmerich for being a wonderful friend and mentor to me. I have a basic science background but didn't know anything about hybridizing daylilies. Karol already had a fantastic daylily hybridizing program. She gave me tons of information and helped me get started in my own hybridizing program. 

3. What were your first goals in daylily hybridizing?

Mike: When I started hybridizing, I bought an eyed double and a toothy flower with the goal of breeding a toothy double with an eye. I knew there was no such flower and I've been working toward unique daylilies ever since. 

4. What were some of the challenges you have faced with your daylily hybridizing?

Mike: There are tons of challenges from the mundane to the very daylily specific. Some of the mundane include finding space and time for planting seedlings. Keeping the seedlings weeded is an ongoing challenge as well. A more daylily specific challenge is figuring out parents that will forward my own personal goals. To do this you need to have some understanding of how daylily traits are passed on to the next generation of seedlings and who may have the best flowers to help your program. 

5. How many seedlings do you grow each year?

Mike: I plant approximately 5,000 seedlings each year. My wife, Kathleen also plants approximately 5,000 seedlings, so each year at Northern Lights Daylilies we plant 10,000 new seedlings. We work on a four year rotation, so there are 40,000 seedlings in our seedling field.

6. What are some of your favorite introductions from other hybridizers?

Mike: I really enjoy 'I Lava You' from Sandy Holmes, 'From Sea to Shining Sea' by Karol Emmerich and 'Wishing on a Star' by Mike Georges for their tremendous color and garden presence. Some I have used recently in my hybridizing program include Karol Emmerich's 'Blood of the Martyrs', 'Shannara' by Mike Holmes, and 'Feathered Serpent' by J.T. Polston. 

7. What are some of your favorite daylily introductions? 

Mike: I'm always enthralled by my newest unnamed seedlings, but we have a bed at Northern Lights Daylilies just for some of my favorite introductions including 'Sword of Camelot', 'Lovie', 'Sweet Miss Rose' and 'Stars and Stripes Forever'.

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

Mike: Springwood Gardens by Karol Emmerich, the Horan Garden by Steve Horan, Blue Ridge Daylilies by Bob Selman and Eric Simpson, Woodhenge Gardens by Margo Reed and Jim Murphy, Riverbend Daylily Garden by Sandy Sandy and Mike Holmes, and Gossard's Heavenly Gardens. 

9. What are some of your favorite memories involved with daylilies over the years?

Mike: I have so many wonderful memories surrounding daylilies - all of the fantastic people at many Nationals and Regionals, helping bus captain for a number of those events, just walking the gardens of close friends and seeing so many beautiful flowers, sitting with friends in the fall and reminiscing about favorite daylilies from the summer. On a more personal level, I love getting up with the sunrise all summer long to walk the seedling fields with Kathleen. I am so grateful for all of these memories and so many more. 

NOW HERE ARE SOME OF MIKE GROSSMAN'S SELECTED SEEDLINGS: 

Mike Grossmann seedling 

Mike Grossmann seedling

Mike Grossmann seedling 

Mike Grossmann seedling

Mike Grossmann seedling

Mike Grossmann seedling

Mike Grossmann seedling

NOW HERE ARE SOME OF MIKE GROSSMAN'S FUTURE INTROS:

Mike Grossmann future introduction

Mike Grossmann future introduction

NOW HERE ARE SOME OF MIKE GROSSMAN'S INTRODUCTIONS:

Sabertooth Terror (Mike Grossmann 2021)

Opa's Whiskers (Mike Grossmann 2023)

Pomegranate Prize (Mike Grossmann 2022)

Banana Bites (Mike Grossmann 2021)

Magical Eye of Ra (Mike Grossmann 2021)

Blazing Eyes (Mike Grossmann 2022)

Sweet Miss Rose (Mike Grossmann)

Sword of Camelot (Mike Grossmann)

What a wonderful collection of introductions and selected seedlings.  If you would like to purchase any of Mike Grossmann or Kathleen Nordstrom's introductions, Google Northern Lights Daylilies or log on to: www.northernlightsdaylilies.com.  Their contact information will be on their website.  All the above photographs are the property of Mike Grossmann and use without prior consent if forbidden.  Thank you Mike for sharing your experiences with us.  It was a pleasure reading what you wrote.  Not sure what the next segment will be, but stay tuned for more daylily pics!

A visit with our friend, Kathleen Nordstrom

Luscious Kiss (Kathleen Nordstrom 2018)

Change It Up (Kathleen Nordstrom 2023)

For some time now, I have been meaning to do an interview with Kathleen Nordstrom and Mike Grossmann of Northern Lights Daylilies.  Finally, I have found the right opportunity to do an interview with each of them.  I figure it's best if I break it down into two parts and do each one separately. Ladies first, so with nothing further here is Kathleen Nordstrom's interview:

INTRO WRITTEN BY KATHLEEN NORDSTROM

I was born in Bismarck, North Dakota and lived there for the first seventeen years of my life. I chose Arizona State University for college, mainly so I could escape the snow and cold. Unfortunately, I traded -45 degree winters for 110 degree summers. I attended medical school at the University of California San Diego, followed by an internship in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and residency in Radiation Oncology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After completing my training, I worked in Portland, Oregon for a couple years, then Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I then returned to Bismarck and practiced there for 10 years. If you told me in high school that I would be practicing medicine 2 blocks south of my high school, I would have not believed you! For the past 10 years, I have been working part time providing coverage for nearby clinics. I discovered this was the best way to have control over my schedule and allow me to hybridize in the summer. I retired in January 2022. 

I first met Mike when he came to my garden in Bismarck the day before the 2010 Region 1 Summer meeting. Steve Horan had driven down from the Twin Cities with Mike and another friend. Steve parked in front of my house. Mike thought they were going to see one of the Open Gardens. I came out of the garage with totes and gloves for everyone. That was when Mike learned he was volunteering to live head my garden! We met again the following year at club meetings of the Daylily Society of Minnesota. I moved to southeast Minnesota where we live in a rural setting about ten miles from the Northern Lights Daylilies greenhouse. 

1. How did you first get interested in daylilies?

Kathleen: My mother had a lovely perennial garden in Bismarck. Once I had my own home, I started my own garden. I had two daylilies planted among the many perennials. In 2004, three girlfriends invited me to come along on a trip to the Twin Cities "to shop for daylilies." The first large daylily business I saw was North Star Daylilies by Norm Baker. We also bought daylilies from Kyle Billadeau in Chaska, Minnesota. When they bloomed the following summer, I was hooked. 

2. Which hybridizer introduced you to daylilies and hybridizing?

Kathleen: My earliest lessons in hybridizing came from Karen Schock in Bismarck, and the hybridizers in the Daylily Society of Minnesota. Of course, Mike is the one who has taught me the most. 

3. What were your first goals in daylily hybridizing?

Kathleen: At first I was just dabbling, and wanted to make some small flowers that were hardy for cold climates. That soon expanded to unusual forms, patterned daylilies, bitones, and polymerous daylilies. Now my main goal is to create daylilies that are unique.

4. What were some of the challenges you have faced with your daylily hybridizing?

Kathleen: Our cold winter weather is one of the biggest challenges. The low temperature usually gets to -30 to -35 degrees every winter. Part of my program involves crossing non-hardy fancy faces to my hardy seedlings with a goal of getting fancy looks on northern hardy plants. Every year, Mother Nature does some heavy culling of the weak ones for me. The hardest part is walking the seedling fields the following Spring and seeing long rows of seedlings that did not come back. But I finally convinced myself that that is actually a blessing in disguise, because that leaves me with hardy plants to carry forward in my work. 

5. How many seedlings do you grow each year?

Kathleen: I plant 5000 seedlings each year. We have a four year rotation in the seedling field, so between Mike and I, we usually have about 30,000 plants blooming in late July.

6. What are some of your favorite introductions from other hybridizers?

Kathleen: I assume you want me to list introductions from hybridizers other than Mike Grossman? LOL. Early on in my collecting years, I was enamored with the small flowers of Grace Stamile and Elizabeth Salter. I am currently in love with the luscious colors in Mike Georges' introductions. 'Wishing on a Star', 'A Tale of Revenge', 'Alphanie,' and 'Dogs, Cats, and Pompadour Hats'. I have them planted in an area where I see them every day. I am fond of the polymerous daylilies of Don Herr. From Riverbend Gardens, each summer I enjoy 'Red-winged Blackbird' by Mike Holmes, and 'Hope Hunt' by Sandy Holmes. Other favorites have come from Jamie Gossard, Kim McCutcheon Eby, Margo Reed, and Jim Murphy. 

My favorite Mike Grossman introductions are 'Opa's Whiskers' (2023), 'I'm In Love' (2020), and 'Magician's Cloak' (2018).

7. What are some of your favorite daylily introductions?

Kathleen: Well, I still like my first two introductions, 'Quasar Cutie' and 'Luscious Kiss'. 'Quasar Cutie' blooms early, so many people have reported it is the first daylily to bloom in their garden, plus it gives two rounds of rebloom. Other favorites include 'Popoki Pookie', 'Gift of Life', 'Pink Starfish', 'Crack Me Up', and 'Something For Everyone'. 

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

Kathleen: I have had the pleasure of seeing many spectacular gardens at National Conventions - Tim Bell in Georgia, Linda and Bill Pinkham in Virginia, and Blue Ridge Daylilies (Bob Selman and Eric Simpson) in North Carolina. What I really loved about these gardens were the impressive collections of other types of plants in addition to their daylily collections. Every summer we visit Steve Horan's garden in Woodbury, Minnesota at least once, more if we are able. Steve grows daylilies better than anyone I know. He also has a spectacular collection of daffodils, peonies, and ornamental grasses. 

9. What are some of your favorite memories involved with daylilies over the years?

Kathleen: I have to say I am grateful for every friend I have made and the memories I have from my experiences in the world of daylilies. We have many fond memories from participation in National Conventions and Hybridizer meetings. I had a very humbling experience at the National in Asheville in 2022. I was astounded by the number of people who came up to me, introduced themselves, and proceeded to tell me how much they like 'Quasar Cutie', or one of my other introductions. Some well known hybridizers were encouraging me to submit nominations for some of my introductions for the AHS ballot. Wow! Hard to believe.

10. What is the one piece of advice you have for people just getting started with hybridizing?

Kathleen: My main advice? Remember to have fun! I try not to take it too seriously. Just enjoy yourself. Live in the moment, find joy in each experience. 

NOW HERE ARE SOME OF KATHLEEN NORDSTROM'S SEEDLINGS:

Nordstrom seedling 7.77

Nordstrom seedling 9.198

 

Nordstrom seedling 9.295

Kathleen's comments on her seedlings: I am excited about some of my futures which will likely be introduced in 2024. Seedling 7.77 (yes, I was lucky) has a very soft yellow base color with a dramatic purple quasar eye. It comes from crossing my 'Quasar Cutie' with 'FKA JT Polston'. 

Seedling 9.198 has a lovely clean ivory base with a dark purple eye and patterned sepals. The petals show pattern on rebloom. It started blooming in early July this year and it rebloomed around August 23rd. 

Seedling 9.295 has been a favorite of mine. It will be my first introduction from my polymerous work. It is poly about 50% of the time. I wish that the poly percentage was higher, but that is coming in later generations. Nonetheless, 9.295 has a pretty face with good color and pattern, it reblooms, and it makes a beautiful clump. In addition to garden visits, I study the seedling and future intro photos that people share on social media, and I think it is one of the more unique looking poly's. 

NOW SOME OF KATHLEEN NORDSTROM'S INTRODUCTIONS AND HER FAVORITES FROM OTHERS:

Popoki Pookie (Kathleen Nordstrom)

Alphanie (Mike Georges)

Pink Starfish (Kathleen Nordstrom)

Hope Hunt (Sandy Holmes)

Something For Everyone (Kathleen Nordstrom)

Quasar Cutie (Kathleen Nordstrom)

Thank you to Kathleen Nordstrom for taking the time to share her beautiful program.  I must admit I really enjoyed reading all her answer to my questions.  It was truly a pleasure doing this interview.  Next up will be Kathleen's husband, Mike Grossmann.  Mike's been hybridizing for a quite a while and I am looking forward to seeing what he says.  Stay tuned!

Lewis Daylily Garden Popularity Poll

 

Rich Howard's favorite seedling for 2022 (Just One Bite X Heavenly New Frontier)

John Kulpa Kit Walter seedling. (Paul K. Lewis's choice for best new seedling. I have not seen this in person yet, but hope to one day.)

If you didn't know any better, you'd think I am about to put together a segment on best toothy daylilies for 2022.  BUT I'M NOT.  No, actually I got this great idea from reading a thread on Garden.org posted by Steve Todd with some of his favorite daylilies for the 2022 season.  Got me to thinking....I'm a member of the American Daylily Society and they have a popularity poll each year.  I have voted for years, but all I keep seeing are a lot of really old daylilies.  Now I think they are changing their format a little saying you can't keep voting for the same daylily each year, but unfortunately the members must all grow predominately older intros.  I am always looking to see if any of the cutting edge daylilies are on the list of favorites and I never see any votes for anything new. Well, I still love you American Daylily Society, but I thought I would throw together a small group of people to see what their favorite daylilies were.  I picked people that are growing the newest cutting edged daylilies and have exposure to a lot of daylilies either by virtue of the fact that they re sell or buy a lot. This years panel consists of Steve Todd (Illinois), Rich Howard (Connecticut), Kirsten Hatfield (Ohio), Theresa Maris (Kentucky), Elaine Seifert (Illinois) and myself living in Ohio as well.   Here are a list of their favorites.  I will start with Steve Todd since he gave me this idea. 

I broke them into categories.  So here we go:

Steve Todd's favorite new seedling goes to this Jeff Vitale future intro Guardian of the Blood. WOW!

Steve Todd's favorite new introduction goes to Starman from Rich Howard. This is also Rich Howard's choice for favorite striped introduction.

Steve Todd and Rich Howard's choice for favorite patterned intro went to The Downward Spiral.  Gentlemen, your check is in the mail.  Ha ha. Good choice.

Steve Todd and Rich Howard's choice for favorite toothy intro was John Kulpa's Joel Thomas Polston.  It is lovely.

Rich Howard's favorite introduction from another hybridizer is Yoga Man from Dan Hansen. 

Kirsten Hatfield's favorite introduction from another hybridizer is Wrecking Ball from Dan Hansen.

Kirsten Hatfield had 3 favorite seedlings. I picked this one to show. Wow.

Kirsten had 2 choices for favorite patterned intro.  For tets, it was her Jeepers Creepers and for dips it was this photo, which is FKA JT Polston from Bob Faulkner.

Kirsten Hatfield's favorite toothy introduction is If Pelicans Could Smile from Kimberly McCutcheon. A diploid with teeth. 

Kirsten Hatfield's favorite striped intro is Wacky Wednesday from Elaine Seifert.

Kirsten Hatfield's favorite double introduction is Grit and Grace hybridized by her.

Theresa Maris's favorite seedling (Exotic Starfish X Unknown)

Theresa Maris's favorite introduction this year was Pray Without Ceasing from Karol Emmerich.

Theresa Maris's favorite patterned introduction is Beach Party Pedicure (Gold). This was also Elaine Seifert's choice for favorite patterned daylily. 

Theresa Maris's favorite toothy was Lily Among Thorns from Karol Emmerich.

.

Theresa Maris's favorite striped introduction was Yankee Pinstripes from Rich Howard.

Theresa Maris had a 2nd favorite striped daylily.  Wacky Wednesday from Elaine Seifert.  2 votes for Elaine's intro. 

Elaine Seifert's favorite toothy this year was Bloodsport from Mike Holmes.

Elaine Seifert's favorite seedling was seedling #85 (Biting Pumpkins X Sweet Pibble Kisses)

Elaine Seifert also said she is excited about this seedling. (Speaking of Speckled X Northwood Dot Com)

Paul K. Lewis's favorite introduction and favorite toothy introduction for this year was Parker Raymond from John Kulpa.  WOW.  It blew me away.

Paul K. Lewis's favorite striped introduction is Laurelwood's Midsummer Masquerade from Angela Ridder.

Paul K. Lewis's favorite patterned daylily is my future intro, Whisper to a Scream.

Well, there is our mini popularity poll in a nut shell. I liked that were several intros that had more than one vote.  For such a small group I feel you got to see some of the newer daylilies out there and also got to see what's coming in the future.  Maybe the ADS should do some sort of segment on member's seedlings and future intros.  I would be interested to see pictures like that in our journal.  Anyway, hope you are having a nice holiday season.  I hope to begin 2023 with an interview with Mike Grossman and Kathleen Nordstrom.  Stay tuned!