Usually during the winter, I spend a lot of time perusing hybridizer's websites and the Lily auction, trying to figure out which daylilies I'd like to buy to add to my collection. I don't have an unlimited budget and usually depend on my pizza delivery tips to buy new daylilies. Being a landscaper during the summer, I depend on delivering pizzas part time to pick up the slack in the winter and help pay the bills. It has worked quite well for about 25 years. With limited space in my yard, I find myself trying to pick only the best hybridizing daylilies in recent years, daylilies that hybridizers consider their best parents.
After reading some articles in the AHS journal written by Karol Emmerich a few years back,
I started emailing Karol asking her about her hybridizing. She has been very kind in sharing
information about her daylilies and hybridizing in general. I have never met Karol in person, but hope
to in the years to come. (It is always hard to find time to get around and see every daylily nursery, but
I do my best.) The two daylilies I wanted to feature today are Karol's Gnashing of the teeth, and her Desire of nations. It was so exciting to see Gnashing bloom for the first time in my garden this year. I took the pollen and spread it all over the place. I have two photographs at the top of this page of Gnashing of the teeth, taken in my garden this year. Karol also suggested her daylily Desire of nations which is featured at the bottom of this page. She said it is a powerful hybridizing tool, and I didn't hesitate to cover it with pods, and spread it's pollen around the yard as well. Obviously it is gonna be a couple years before I will see my results, but it will be exciting to see these seedlings bloom. If you would like to see some of Karol's seedlings from these daylilies, log on to http://www.springwoodgardens.com/. Karol also writes a blog which you can access through the Region 2 daylily website where she details her work and shows pictures of her new seedlings. I look forward to growing more of Karol's daylilies in the years to come.
