Ed Burton seedling F-71 (Sandi Jacques X Angelique Fringes)
Moon Girl (Ed Burton)
I first became aware of Ed Burton and his wonderful daylilies on Facebook. I have a thing for polychrome daylilies, and after seeing pictures of Ed's wonderful polychromes and some of his other seedlings, I wanted to learn more about his program. I think this is a great way to kick off the month of April. So with nothing further, here is my conversation with Ed Burton. The segment below was written by Ed.
Hi my name is Ed Burton, Paul K. Lewis asked me do a segment for his blog so here it is:I live in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, on slightly less than an acre lot.
We moved to Grand Chute in the early 90's. My wife wanting a nicer house and me wanting the larger yard because of my hobby of gardening.
In those early years I grew many perennials of all kinds.
My earliest daylily buy came out of a catalog from Richard Owens nursery. 16 plants for $20 bucks, they arrived in a small onion sack that fit in one hand. At the time I didn't think anything of it. I planted them, waited a few years, and found out that half were ditch lilies. The rest grew and I was pretty happy with the way the looked.
I think it was 1996 that I made my first cross. I planted the seeds and actually waited 3 years to see them bloom.
My daylily world was turned upside down in 1999! I got a catalog from Roy Klehm and I bloomed some of my first seedlings.
One of the plants I bought from Klehm in 1999 was Techny Peace (Reckamp-Klehm, 1987). When I saw this plant in bloom, I was hooked on daylilies. Even more I was hooked on what I call the Reckamp Glow polychrome.
Another turning point was in 2000 when I bought 15 more plants from Klehm. Crimson Shadows, Country Melody, and Lavender Peace being the key plants in my hybridizing future, although at that time I didn't have a clue I was going to have a hybridizing future.
In 2000 I bought my first computer which showed me a daylily world I never knew existed. I found the daylily auction and Charlotte's Daylily Diary. I started buying plants, lots of plants because I was going to hybridize. I made up my mind.
My acre lot of perennials was converted to almost all daylilies over the next several years. Every year I added more daylilies.
In 2001 I bought 34 plants from Marietta Gardens, the most important being Caledonia (Whatley, 1983) Things kind of snowballed from there.
Back in my early years around 2000 when I started hybridizing, I didn't know about clubs or the AHS, so I just bred on feel. It was all trial and error. The only good thing about not knowing what your doing is that you try everything. In the later years after I got a feel for what to expect. I didn't make the crazy cross anymore. Sometimes I miss those days.
You really do learn some hard lessons when you're on your own. The one I would like to share the most for anyone starting out, do not count on only one plant. One year I fell in love with Smugglers Gold. I set a lot of pods, and used the pollen. 3 years later I bloomed out I bunch of rusty gold, not what I was looking for.
I have 8 registered plants right now Appleton Sweet Start S-452 (Ode To Faith x Spacecoast Starburst), Ava's Toothy Smile N-40 (Forestlake Ragamuffin X Wide Awake), Cereal City Sun Catcher, Youngchild/Burton, Gish, Lady Majestic D-49 (Spacecoast Starburst X Awesome Blossom), Moon Girl {N-24 (Edge Of Heaven X Techny Spider), Thailand Sunset S-280, {Sirocco X unknown sdl) x Thunder & Lightning}, Tooth Fairy Jaz N-3 (Angelique Fringes x Forestlake Ragamuffin}, Sandi Jacques P-16-B {S-414 Annette's Magic x Wonder Of It All) X Lemon Fringed Pastel}
I have several more under consideration, including one that first bloomed in 2016, F-71 (Sandi Jacques x Angelique Fringes) 6.6 x 44 which was the best plant in the yard last summer. I have favorites, but F-71 has the potential to be special.
I also have a few seedlings, C-51 (Ruffled Strawberry Parfait X Fantastic Fringe), F-38 (Vampire Bat x Wild Hair), F-69 (Heavenly Pink Fang x Silver Bullets), F-48 (Pizza Crust x Something In My Teeth) Some from seeds I bought, and some of my crosses, that are turning a few heads.
Three of those seedlings are darker with teeth so at age 67, I'm starting on a shared goal of dark, tall, with white or yellow teeth, to go along with my polychromes.
I really don't know if I have a favorite hybridizer, but Charles Reckamp and his polychromes have been my biggest influence.
Plants that will be with me forever Angelique Fringes, Princess Of Alexandria, Bass Gibson, Shattered Glass, Something In My Teeth, Ruffled Strawberry Parfait, Sandi Jacques, Persian Ruby, Rob Cobb, Ode To Faith, The Goldilocks Effect, newer not proven yet but Larry's Twilight Bite put on a show, same with Blown Away, and those seedlings mentioned before.
I don't have a yard big enough to be a plant seller, but I have become a seed seller in the past 9 years, ("gramps" on The Lily Auction in case you're wondering.)
Here are some of Ed Burton's seedlings below:
Ed Burton Seedling N-11
Ed Burton Seedling N-12
Ed Burton Seedling N-14
Ed Burton Seedling F-69
Ed Burton Seedling F-38
Now here are some of Ed Burton's Introductions:
Appleton Sweet Tart (Ed Burton)
Ava's Toothy Smile (Ed Burton)
Lady Majestic (Ed Burton)
Thailand Sunset (Ed Burton)
Tooth Fairy Jazz (Ed Burton)
Well, that is a really nice program! What an enjoyable visit with Ed Burton. All photographs are the property of Ed Burton and use without prior consent is prohibited. I want to thank Ed for taking the time to share some of his hybridizing experience with us. I really enjoyed it. Hope to share some garden pics from around the world in the next installment. Thanks for stopping in.
