After reading my good friend Bill Waldrop's blog this past week and seeing a picture of his introduction, Kennesaw Mountain Hayride, I thought I would write about Bill's daylilies and how much I've come to enjoy his blog.
I believe Bill Waldrop introduced Kennesaw Mountain Hayride in 2008. I seem to remember seeing an auction on the Lily auction for a plant of Kennesaw Mountain Hayride in the beginning of that year. I was really blown away by the photograph, so I was fortunate enough to buy a plant of Kennesaw Mountain Hayride. That June it bloomed for the first time and it was every bit as pretty as the photograph, so I spread it's pollen all over the garden. I'm just beginning to see some seedlings bloom from Kennesaw Mountain Hayride, and I hope I have more photos to post this coming year. As a result of looking at Bill's website, I found that he wrote a daylily blog and began following that. That next winter Bill was showing through his blog how to treat a diploid with colchicine and convert it to be a tetraploid. Now I have to say, prior to seeing Bill explain this on his blog, every hybridizer I approached asking to teach me how to convert diploids seemed to blow me off, or try to explain the process all at once without showing me. It was as if they didn't want me to learn how it was done. Perhaps. I thought it was pretty cool that Bill Waldrop was sharing this information with everyone on his blog, going step by step how it's done. Even showing his results and sometimes disappointments when a conversion didn't work. That following June 2009, I had the good fortune to go out and meet Bill and Diana Waldrop with my wife Kyle. What a lovely garden Bill and Diana have and what gracious hosts they both were. Bill showed me the greenhouse and the photographs at the bottom of the page are of his future introduction, Marlee Jane,(which is out of Kennesaw Mountain Hayride) and his 2010 introduction, Irish Halo. The photographs at the top of the page were taken with Bill in his garden. Following Bill's blog it has also been neat to not only see his new seedlings as they bloom, but I like that Bill shares pictures from his everyday life. I get a kick out of seeing what Sammy the cat brings back and leaves on the deck, and I'll never forget the snake that got into the greenhouse segment. Anyway, if I lived somewhere in Georgia I would probably stop by and visit more often, but being up here in Ohio, reading Bill's blog is the next best thing. If you are anywhere near Marietta, Georgia, especially during peak bloom, make sure you get a chance to see Bill's daylilies. They are definitely some of the most cutting edge daylilies out there. If you would like to visit Bill's website the address is
http://www.kennesawmountaindaylilygardens.com/. Hope you enjoyed this weeks entry.
