PATTERNS!!!

     After reading the most recent A.H.S. journal I was inspired to write a quick segment on patterns.  I think of all the the categories of patterns, my personal favorite is concentric rings or bands.  One thing that I've noticed in the years that I have grown daylilies with patterns is that some are heat dependent (they seem to show up better when it's more hot or humid) where as others show up all the time.  It seems there are only a few patterned daylilies that show their patterns all the time.  As a good friend and fellow hybridizer said to me recently, " I think it is still early in the progression of patterns in daylilies."

      I think my friend is right.  I thought I would highlight a few that are fairly consistent.  At the top of the page is Ted Petit's, Through the looking glass.  I got this daylily quite a few years back when Gavin Petit was selling some of his Dad's daylilies to pay for his way through college.  I was very pleased to see that the pattern looked exactly like the picture in Ted's catalog.  Once Through the looking glass had established, I had no problem setting pods on it and it's pollen is quite fertile as well.  I don't have any seedlings to show you yet, but should in a year or so.  From what I've seen from other hybridizer's photos that have used it, it passes on it's pattern quite easily.

       The other two daylilies that show their pattern quite regularly are Rings of Wonder and Get Jiggy, both from Pat Stamile.  I've had more luck setting pods on Get Jiggy and I would add that both are pollen fertile. I really can't wait to see the results of those crosses.  I have one patterned seedling out of Vertical Horizon with concentric circles, but so far those circles only show up when it's hot so I'm just using it as a bridge plant for now. Rings of Wonder shown below at the top, and Get Jiggy at the very bottom. 

Some cool Frank Smith daylily seedlings and my new Youtube video.

     Today's blog entry will be kinda brief, because I think I'm coming down with a cold again. In spite of the fact that this winter has been one of the easiest I have ever had in Northeast Ohio, I can't remember ever being sick as often as I've been this winter.  I think this is my third cold in about three months.  Gotta start taking my vitamins more regularly.  Anyway, this past summer my wife and I went got a chance to visit Frank Smith's daylily garden in early June.  It was a little past peak, but there were still a lot of daylilies in bloom.  The most impressive was seedling 8-106 which is featured at the top of the page.  I don't know any information about the parents or when it will be introduced.  I even contacted Pete Harry to see if I could find out more but he didn't have any information.  Also featured at the bottom of the page is seedling 8-172.  A very nice seedling that I unfortunately have no information on either, but man what a nice eye.  Looks like it could be a Tet. Peppermint Delight seedling, but that's just a guess.  Hopefully we'll see these introduced in the years to come. 

     I shot a 15 minute video which is posted on Youtube of all the daylilies in my front and backyard.  I will add a link for you to click on.  If for some reason that doesn't work, just go to Youtube and put "Paul K. Lewis's daylily garden" in the search box.  My video should come up.  It was shot during peak bloom July 19th, 2011, and it features many hybridizers introductions, including a few of mine.  Hope you enjoy it. http://youtu.be/M1_z_Q3yBJ4

Stan Holley's daylily, "Oklahoma Sand Burr" and my toothy Mort Morss seedling.

     Feels like spring out today!!!  Temps in the 60's and sunny!!  Nice for March in northeastern Ohio. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend! So, today's blog entry takes us back to toothy daylilies and one that has been a standout lately is Oklahoma Sand Burr from Stan Holley of California.  First of all, let me say that dealing with the Holley's over the past couple of years to purchase daylilies has been a very pleasant experience.  They sell a lot of their introductions on the lily auction and always send very healthy plants.  I think I first saw Stan's daylily Oklahoma Sand Burr at Dan Trimmer's place.  The thing I remember was it looked exactly like the photograph in the Holley's catalog.  A lot of times we daylily people have to buy daylilies without seeing them in person, buying a daylily based on a picture alone doesn't always work out, so it is refreshing when someone has a daylily that looks exactly like the photograph.  Oklahoma Sand Burr is a dark purple flower with some very nice teeth, both on the petals and sepals.  The photograph above was taken in my garden last year.  The cross that produced Oklahoma Sand Burr was (Mary Lena X Robes for the Queen).  The plant I got of Oklahoma Sand Burr arrived this spring and it bloomed and set a few pods for me in it's first year.  Fertile both ways, and I seem to remember Bonnie Holley saying it's putting teeth on all it's seedlings. 

     The other daylily I thought I would highlight was a toothy seedling of mine.  The cross that produced this seedling is Pirate King X Mort Morss.  I think the thing I love about the seedling is that blue eye and how nicely it contrasts with the purple in the flower.  It has some nice teeth, but on some mornings it does seem to water spot.  All pictures below are of this new seedling.  I'm going to keep watching it to see how it does in the next year.  A little on the fence as to whether I will introduce it, but it's got some good features.  Anyway, hope you enjoy these flowers as each day we get closer to when we can actually see blooms out in the yard.  I know my southern friends are already enjoying greenhouse blooms. 

Jeff Salter's "Dark Moon Fair," and Vic Santa Lucia's "City Center."

     When I go back over the daylily photos from the past year, it seems the ones I photograph the most are my personal favorites of that year.  This year I had a ton of photographs of Jeff Salter's Dark Moon Fair.  I had bought Dark Moon Fair in 2010, but it seems to take a year for the new arrivals to settle in, and this past summer it really impressed me.  It is a fine purple color with a lighter lavender watermark, and a very nice ruffled gold edge.  Jeff writes in his description that Dark Moon Fair was one of the brightest, cleanest colors and was used extensively in his breeding.  Dark Moon Fair's parentage is ((Forbidden Fantasy X Seedling)X Spring Sensation.)  I highly recommend this daylily to you all.  Photos at the top of the page are Dark Moon Fair.

       The other daylily that caught my attention this year was Vic Santa Lucia's City Center.  Being a fan of great plant habit, City Center had very nice height, branching, and bud count.  Each bloom was very consistent and it was easy to work with.  It increased fast as well, making a nice clump for me.  I grow a lot of blue eyed daylilies and this one was very nice.  Very reasonably priced through Iron Gate Gardens for only $20.  Both photographs at the bottom are of City Center.  Well, that's this week's installment.  Here in northeast Ohio, winter is still holding on giving us a dusting of lake effect snow and temps in the 20's and 30's. March....in like a lion....out like a lamb.  Let's hope.  Winter is just too long for me.

Kelly Mitchell's "Dan Mack Mitchell," and Linda Agin's "Paul Aucoin."

     I thought today would be a good day to highlight two very impressive blue eyed daylilies.  We'll start with Kelly Mitchell's Dan Mack Mitchell, named for his father.  Kelly says in his description that Dan Mack Mitchell is the creme de la creme of his blue eyed and edged flowers.  The two photographs above are of Dan Mack Mitchell, taken in my garden this past year.  Kelly goes on to say that he believes Dan Mack Mitchell expands the gene pool for blue breeding in large Tet. flowers as it comes from lines that do not include Tet. Lavender Blue Baby in the parentage.  The cross for Dan Mack Mitchell is [(Ginny Mitchell X Seedling) X (Ginny Mitchell X Vanilla Lace)].  Introduced in 2009, it was very pollen fertile for me, and Kelly says that pods are moderately easy. I am excited to see what results I get from my crosses.

       The second daylily I would like to feature is Paul Aucoin, introduced by Linda Agin in 2009.  I was fortunate to buy a plant of Paul Aucoin from Barbara Burkhart and with the help of Linda's husband, Alan Sr., I received my plant in the spring of 2010.  Let me say both Alan Sr. and Barbara were very helpful in my purchase of Paul Aucoin.  If memory serves, Barbara said it was the last plant of Paul Aucoin sold.  It took one year to settle into it's new northern Ohio home, but this year it went to town.  I was very impressed by Paul Aucoin's plant habit.  Nicely branched and it was very easy to set pods on.  In the spring 2009 AHS journal Oliver Billingslea wrote a very nice article on Linda Agin's hybridizing and in it he says that in Linda's bluish eyes program, she was using the daylily Paul Aucoin.  It's no suprise, the daylily Paul Aucoin was very impressive in my garden this year.  I have two photographs featured below.  If you have a desire to buy Paul Aucoin I see it frequently available on the lily auction and I know of several sellers that have it.  These two blue eyed daylilies were some of my favorites this year.  I hope you enjoy the photographs.

Shirley Farmer's daylily Shabby Chic.

      One of the more exciting things for a daylily hybridizer is having a daylily delivered in spring, seeing it throw up a scape, and if the bloom looks as good as you'd hoped, you get to use the pollen and put it on your favorite daylilies.  That was the case with Shirley Farmer's Shabby Chic this year.  Not an easy daylily to find since it was just introduced in 2010, I was lucky enough to buy a fan for a pretty hefty price on the lily auction.  I had read a lot about the daylily on Mike Holmes blog, so I was excited to purchase it in December of 2010.  Now I would say when you get a single fan of something, the chances it will scape in the first year are pretty slim, but in mid July Shabby Chic started blooming for me.  Boy was this daylily easy to set pods on.  I might also add that it's pollen is very fertile as well.  All the photos below and above were taken in my garden this year.

     The cross for Shabby Chic is ((Forestlake Ragamuffin SIB X Enchanted April)(Angels Smile X Idas Magic)X Forestlake Ragamuffin).  Introduced by Shirley Farmer's daughter Rebecca Stegall in 2010, it's parentage is interesting in the respect that Shabby Chic has Forestlake Ragamuffin's sib in the cross.  There are not too many daylilies that possess that parentage and for me it is exciting to get to use such genetics in my hybridizing.  To quote Dave Mussar from Mike Holmes blog, Dave says, "Shabby Chic has a double dose of Reckamp breeding in it, with the cross from Enchanted April being (Techny Peach Lace X Wedding Band)."

     "Shabby Chic also throws green teeth," as mentioned by John Benz on Mike Holmes blog. Both Mike Holmes and John Benz have a Shirley Farmer seedling called "Shirley's Green Teeth," which is a green toothy seedling out of Shabby Chic.

     Shirley Farmer was a retired school teacher that hybridized in Bellbrook, Ohio.  She and her daughter Rebecca co owned a nursery called Serendipity Gardens.  Shirley was also responsible for starting the Midwest daylily hybridizer's meeting, which I would like to attend in the future, if I can find some time away from my busy work schedule.  The next meeting of the Shirley Farmer Midwest Daylily Hybridizers is March 10th, 2012.  For more information you can contact Sandy Holmes at ohiodaylily@yahoo.com, or log onto the Region 2 daylily website.

     I never had the good fortune of meeting Shirley Farmer, but it is quite an honor to grow one of her favorite daylilies.  I should also mention according to it's description that Shabby Chic puts teeth on first generation kids and is a strong dormant producer.  A must for anyone hybridizing teeth.

Nicole Harry Devito's Black Tie Affair

     Back in 2009, the big national convention was down in Florida and my wife and I wanted to try and get to as many daylily gardens as we could.  Nicole Harry was one of the newer hybridizers that had some introductions of interest to me, so we had the good fortune to see her daylilies and meet Nicole one Saturday morning.  Of the many daylilies I liked, the one that stood out that day was a seedling simply entitled A-6.  It really blew me away.  Such a nice dark rich color with some very prominent teeth. The photograph at the top of the page was taken the day we visited.  That following fall, Nicole introduced seedling A-6, now known as Black Tie Affair.  If you go to Nicole's website at http://www.nicolesdaylilies.com/, you can find Black Tie Affair listed under the fall 2009 intros.  In Nicole's description of Black Tie Affair, she says it was the number one hit of the 2009 National Convention, and if she had it potted up ready to sell, she probably would have sold out.  I feel fortunate I was able to buy Black Tie Affair the following spring and it has done quite well for me.  I have featured two photographs taken in my garden this year at the bottom of the page.  Black Tie Affair is from a cross of Mort Morss X In Cahoots.  One other thing I'd like to point out is her 2012 introduction, Bright in the night is out of Black Tie Affair.  If you are down in the heart of Florida, don't miss out on seeing Nicole Harry Devito's daylily garden.