Todaylily

Pink Stripes Reblooms!

2011-08-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

I only had a dozen daylilies blooming today, and NO TETS! But Pink Stripes rebloomed, and STILL has ONE bud left. So all the below got pollinated with it.

Showtime now would be nothing special in July, but in August it's a keeper.

Fat Man does have a nice full form.

Charon the Ferryman (Bachman 03) is my most prolific today, with 5 blooms.

Fox Ears has always been one of my favorite late Dips.

Cool Cassie (Harwood) is one of Betty's less well knowns, but it's big and blooming, along with her Last Reward; I'll get a photo of it next post.

Sunset Returns is smallish and doesn't bloom as long as Stella and Happy Returns, but its color is SO much nicer!

Final photo is Rosy Returns, one of the best rebloomers of Apps' series. Also blooming today was Autumn Minaret, unremarkable orange flowers but tall and late.

First 2011 Stippled Daylily

2011-06-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

First stippled daylily of 2011 is Royal Speckles, a 2006 Kelly Mitchell Tet, 26EMRe6 registered with 4 branches, 25 buds. Just got it this spring, from Kelly herself, who is further North than here in Pittsburgh. So why is an EM blooming so early? Only 3 other tets blooming today, but they're getting dabbed with this.

My first non-yellow / non-orange was Burgundy Twister, registered as an extra early 36EERe9.75 by Pat Stamile 2003. Tet, blooming again today, so it gets Royally Speckled.

This is a seedling that was blooming in Philly yesterday, so I brought it back for further evaluation. When I find my seedling database, I'll probably discover it's a self-pollinated carbon copy of its pod parent, which happens a lot to me. In Philadelphia the mornings are so humid I didn't have viable dry pollen until midmorning. Last year (my 2nd year of pollen dabbing) I started saving dry pollen for the next morning, but I haven't started putting chastity belts on my girls (yet), as I've heard some do.

Also new this year, Princess of Wales, gets pollinated today too.

And my final pollen repository for today, Long Stocking. If I had any more tets blooming today, I probably wouldn't try to speckle this, but it 's registered at 46" tall (shorter here in the north).

Dip blooming first time today, Coral Taco (Ned roberts 04) 30MRe10 with a 7.50 spider ratio. Again, why is a Midseason daylily blooming mid-June? It's new last fall, but I got it from Mary Ann Pruden in PA.

Mike Huben's Early and Often is doing its thing. Dip 26ERe4.

Finally, Stella's Sparky has been blooming since Saturday. Chrichton 99, Dip 20ERe3.75

First Full Open Daylilies 2011

2011-06-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

June 5 was actually second open for Black Eyed Stella in Philadelphia- I wasn't there for the first. I didn't move this because I have no use for it in hybridizing, and every clump moved has a real cost in time and other resources to move and re-establish. So the next owner of the Philly house gets this one. Stella was blooming elsewhere in the neighborhood, but I gave away all mine and my Happy Returns long ago.

First Pittsburgh bloomer was Earlybird Orangeade (Megan Skinner 2006) and second will be her Earlybird Sunshine, a yellow registered in 2001. I believe both descend from an oldie Esperanza. Megan and Ron hybridize on a small city lot in Allentown, PA, so they sell through Manatawny Creek near Olney, PA http://www.manatawnycreekfarm.com

Finally got the main hosta bed mulched. This is from the screened porch. Now I have to weed and mulch 700 daylilies. This weekend I'll be redistributing (evening out) the 300 remaining daylilies in Philly and mulching those beds. Mucho mulching: my brain is turning to mulch.

Still Moving Hostas to Pittsburgh

2011-06-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

Almost the final load of hostas being moved from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh- next weekend will be the final check of Philly inventory; still debating whether Krossa Regal and a couple others are worth moving.

The "lowlands" hosta bed at Pittsburgh is in prime deer path, so it's completely covered with chicken wire. Not pretty but absolutely necessary until the Philly house sells and we can afford a full-lot deer fence in Pittsburgh.

The "back porch" garden is protected by the daylily garden's temporary deer fence- Melanie hates the temp fence's look, but I hate the look of deer-devoured plants more.

The hostas dug Memorial Day are going here, in the third temp-fence protected area under Spruce trees I "limbed up."

Overview of the daylily garden at Pittsburgh- almost 700 clumps crammed around the pool, still not mulched. But I bought another roll of weed fabric today, and hope to get it and mulch down in the next week or so. Yesterday was over 90 degrees, so the weeds are growing like weeds.

Hostas are UP in Pittsburgh before Mayday!

2011-05-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sagae on the right is an "early riser", as is montana "Aureomarginata", which I haven't moved from Philadelphia yet. It's almost fully leaved out when the hosta on the left is just breaking ground. I kept the potsw above podophyllum "Kaleidoscope" top left to cover things in case of frost- we aren't to frost free date for another week or more.

Green Splash is another fave up fairly early. Smallish, nice gloss.

High Society has my favorite pattern- bluish outer margin, cream center, with an intermediate chartreuse "bleeding" between the two that is a little different on every leaf.

June needs strong light in early spring to give max contrast between margin and center. This one's in a wire cloth cage to protect from deer until I can get a deer fence in.

First Frost is in another temp deer cage- this is a $1.00 wire wastebasket from Dollar General.

Sea Fire is from Mildred Seaver- beautiful spring color, but it's "viridescent"- it greens up as the season progresses. Most hostas that emerge very light do this, or they wouldn't have enough chlorophyll to grow. Mildred Seaver died just this year at 98 and her son Charlie is carrying on the family tradition in Delaware.

Check out Nikki Schmith's Daylily Blog

2011-04-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

The April 19 posting on Nikki Schmith's Michigan blog has some good shots of Daylily Rust she took in her own garden last fall.
http://www.agirlandhergarden.com/ is a blog you should follow for her photos of favorite daylilies and related daylily info. Nikki is a garden show judge and has an eye for distinctive daylilies- a subject she's written about in the national publication of the American Hemerocallis Society.

The forsythia is past peak in Pittsburgh; tomorrow I take the snow blade off the John Deere and put the mower deck back on. I've got 35 thousand square feet of lawn to mow- that's straw over new grass toward the right. Had 3 dead trees removed and tree service ripped up the area pretty good.

Two pics of my re-reblooming Zygo (?) cactus- one below shows how it's just blooming on one side. The other side rebloomed about a month ago, and when I turned it 180 degrees to enjoy those blooms, buds formed on this side.

Spring is Springing!

2011-04-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

The forsythia is in full bloom in Pittsburgh this week, and for a change I actually got the crabgrass preventer down before this sign that it's too late.

Hostas are poking up- this is Sagae, one of the normally earliest emergers, as is Montana aureomarginata (it's spectacular in early spring, average later). Today I got cages over most of the emerging hostas and daylilies that aren't behind my temp deerfence. I'm way behind schedule on getting a permanent deer fence. Cages are wire cloth or wastebaskets / laundry baskets from the dollar store.

This podophyllum "Kaleidoscope" (chinese may apple) is behind the deer fence; expensive and easy to kill because they emerge early, so I keep a big pot right next to it in case of late frost. I had another cultivar, "Spotty Dotty" but I think a rabbit ate it.

Heuchera, Tiarella, and Heucherella are evergreen, so some look pretty ratty in early spring, but they're one of the few plants that work in both sun AND shade. I had about a dozen in a single 4x6 foot patch in Philadelphia, but I think I pulled the wrong tag when I transplanted this to Pittsburgh. This doesn't look like Tiarella Heronswood Mist to me.

April Showers Bring Drowned Flowers

2011-04-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

This is hail in early April- the weather is all over the place this spring.

Heavy wet snow took down about half the deer fence in late March- the sections of deer netting held to the clothesline by nylon zip ties mostly held, but sections held up by clothespins mostly pulled loose. Live and learn.

The Zygo cactus rebloomed! Bloomed after Thanksgiving, then this side rebloomed in early March, on the side that was facing the window. I turned it 180 degrees so I could enjoy the color, and now (early April) the OTHER side is reblooming. So rebloom must be dependent on getting plenty of sunlight.

DANGER! No matter what the package says, the serving size of Easter Egg Peanut Butter M&M's is ONE BAG!! Orders of magnitude better than Reeses- the peanut butter is premixed with the chocolate, sinfully delicious! And the Easter eggs are better than the standard peanut butter M&M's I think because they're bigger, so there's more melty goodness per piece. Don't buy any unless you're at least 10 pounds below your goal weight.

I'm raising the planting height of daylilies in several areas of the garden where I've got ponding, then I'll fill between with topsoil I just got delivered. I originally covered aisles with solid plastic to kill grass underneath, but I have to change to landscape fabric so the aisles function as drainage canals between raised beds.

Winter Water Ponding- DANGER!

2011-02-25T08:01:00.000-08:00

End of February, and we've already had over 4 feet of snow in Pittsburgh. And it's snowing again. But if you've got daylilies, get out into your garden as soon as the snow melts and look for this dangerous condition. When the ground is still frozen and drainage is bad, water can pond around plants. This might rot the crown if the water sits in contact too long. Once the ground thaws, the drainage improves and you won't know why all those plants just didn't come up in the spring.

I found this bumper sticker at http://www.zazzle.com/ and got one for both cars. I think it was designed by Tee Money of Ric-A-Tee Daylilies. The INNOVATION is that Zazzle lets you customize the design, changing the photo and (as I did) ADD TEXT. Less than $5 each, $3 shipping; get a bunch for your own club!

Pittsburgh Iris and Daylily Society has a couple of joint meetings each year with the Daffodil and Hosta Society of Western Pennsylvania. Speaker this winter (at left) was Mike Shadrack, who just released a NEW book- "The Book of Little Hostas" with his wife and Diana Grenfell. It covers extensively the special conditions the mini hosta requires, and I'll bet it saves the (less than $20 at Amazon) cost when it keeps you from killing just ONE mini hosta.

The cheap deer fence is holding so far- only one break-in. But if I do it again, I'll twist tie the deer netting to the clothesline along the top; the clothes pins don't hold in high wind. The bottom 3 feet is rabbit fence to keep the smaller critters out, but it also reinforces the net at the bottom from deer nosing under.

The snow man is wearing his snow cap a lot this winter. My big idea for next winter is to fill 2 big white trash bags with styrofoam peanuts after threading them down over the pole.

Dave Guleke Daylily

2011-01-17T21:46:00.000-08:00

Above is photo of Tim Herrington's intro "Dave Guleke" named for the President of Delaware Valley Daylily Society. I'm just using this post to resize it for inclusion on the DVDS website http://delawarevalleydaylily.org/ because pages load faster if the browser doesn't have to resize photos on the fly. Here you can double-click on the photo and blogger will open it at its 690x459 full size.

Tim Herrington's table at last spring's DVDS luncheon. Tim is facing us, white shirt and glasses. Upcoming DVDS spring luncheon is March 19, 2011, again at the Concordville Inn and speaker will be Darrel Apps! I'll have the preliminary DVDS 2011 meeting schedule up on the club website by this weekend.

Merry White Christmas from Pittsburgh!

2010-12-25T21:42:00.000-08:00

I can't take credit for this- I copied it from my next door neighbor in Philadelphia. I will reset the date on the camera before I take any more pics, I promise.

The Thanksgiving/Christmas Cactus peaked last week but it's great that it lasted till Christmas- there are ways to fool it into blooming later but it's too much trouble for me.

I didn't know Jade plants bloomed at all until a couple of years ago- I don't know if it's age or root crowding, or what but we've had this one at least 10 years.

By the way, my fellow stippled and striped daylily lovers should check out a new site by Loretta Zink, of Winchester, Ohio (central south Ohio). http://www.loborose.com/ shows photos of many of her 50+ stipples and 7 stripes plus seedlings, with one new stripe, Plum Stripe, already introduced. She's the only person I know that has Shattered, a 2006 Gayle Story stripe sold only one year before the originator stock was almost wiped out by flood then voles. I have 16 stipples and 3 stripes, so I'm a small fish in the stipplestripe pond. But my wife gave me "stipplestripe cash" for Christmas.

Daylilies Under their Winter Blanket in Pittsburgh

2010-12-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

I got about 2/3 of my thousand or so daylilies transplanted from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh before the freezing weather, and about half (100 or so) of my hostas. If the old house isn't sold by May, I'll get a few more. But the pool garden is essentially filled, as are the easy places to plant hostas. The deer fence you see has only been broken down once so far, protecting the evergreen daylilies from the giant rats' browsing. The deer actually did more damage trampling things with their cloven hooves than eating them. The first line of defense was covering them with $1 wire wastebaskets and launtry baskets from the Dollar Store (you can see some still in place). Cheap temp fence is 4 foot welded wire to give strength, topped with netting to 7 feet, held up with clothespins on clothesline. Gotta get a good "field fence" before spring, but this works for now.

Didn't transfer my golden Dawn Redwood (shown here) from Philadelphia; got another delivered to the hole in Verona for $200, probably saving thousands in back surgery. The fence posts here are to prevent deer rubbing their antlers on the trunk, which almost killed it last year.

Wife Melanie turned left in front of another car (truck turning left from opposite direction blocked both their views), disabling the primary tow vehicle in early October. She's recovering slower than the car, which was patched together by early November. It delayed everything, but I got all my favorites. Furniture didn't get moved though, so we're still living like campers, with two card tables in the dining room, and the patio set furnishing the living room. I'm leaving for Philadelphia later today to get a load of bookshelves, etc.

Is the Pool Garden half FULL or half EMPTY?

2010-09-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

It's the end of September, and here are some of the daylilies that have been blooming back in Philadelphia, in spite of NO watering. They just happened to bloom while I was back choosing which next to move.

Kanai Sensei is from Mike Huben of Boston, who has bred some great rebloomers on a small city lot- you should have him present his story to your daylily club if you haven't already.

Little Wine Cup was one of my first rebloomers, old but reliable and NOT YELLOW!

Scentual Sundance IS yellow, but good rebloomer and not small like Stella, Happy, etc.

Wolf Eyes surprised me with BOTH eyes open this day.

But this one, Moana twirler, made my month with half a dozen blooms from late August to mid September. This last bloom opened after moving it to Pittsburgh, in the garage waiting to be replanted.

I'm studying the native dialect in my spare time, but there's not much of that.

330 daylilies planted, and tomorrow I have about 60 more going in the ground after 2 days of rain. So not only the daylilies will get "mudded in" this time. Will I get 200 more transferred by the end of October? Stay tuned. Even that leaves 40% of my collection back in Philadelphia, but every one costs time and money: each trip with 60 - 80 daylilies costs about $150 in gas and tolls alone. I missed a PIDS (Pittsburgh Iris & Daylily Society) meeting this weekend to dig those 60 daylilies in 89 degree heat Saturday, and 65 degree showers on Sunday. So every transplant has to meet the "Is it worth it" test.

Moving to Pittsburgh- Progress Report

2010-08-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of posts , but I'm moving my daylily collection from the Philadelphia suburbs to Verona, PA, a northeast suburb of Pittsburgh. This is Zastrugi, the first daylily to bloom in Verona.

The Ford Freestyle has about 25 square feet of cargo space, but I've also got a 6x9 enclosed trailer that triples my capacity. I pull and pot the whole clump with whatever soil clings to the roots (not much in current drought), then top off the pot with sifted compost, which I add to the planting hole in Pittsburgh.

The pool garden rototilled and ready for daylilies. A wise friend, Ralph Maiwaldt from Ringoes, NJ advised me to put my best as close to the house and water supply as possible. Sod cut from the beds is laid in the aisles, and will be covered with weedblock and chips from dead trees I'm having cleared. The big innovation is separating Dips and Tets to make hybridizing simpler. From this vantage point, it's Tets to the left, Dips right, meeting near the center of the pool.
So it's mid-August and I've moved less than 100 daylilies. Part of the delay was when we rototilled and found 100% clay only about 6 inches down. So we've added 10 yards of composted manure to the beds so far, and may add more to raise the beds a bit and improve tilth. Luckily, I have a paid helper in Pittsburgh who has done most of the heavy work.

Stars (Stipples) & Stripes for July 4

2010-07-04T10:38:00.000-07:00

I started last year to pimp my stipples and stripes, or for July 4, my STARS & STRIPES. My Prime Directive, which is the only thing that keeps me from making crosses 8 hours a day, is that I ONLY pollenate with Stippled or Striped Daylily pollen. My aim is BIGGER and BETTER stippled and striped daylilies. Above is a favorite Diploid Stipple, Gail Reese. Small but great uniform dots.

Undercover Angel is a muted stippling, so some might call this "misted" rather than stippled. But there's no recognized terminology as of yet in the AHS dictionary, so we can call them dotted, freckled, measled, or just plain weird.

Expanding Universe is a great name- looks just like that graphic when Enterprise or Star Wars ships went to warp.

Goldmist Red has a highly variable red overlay, as shown by these two blooms.

Speckles is appropriately named; looks orange, but it's really red specks on a yellow base.

Connect the Dots is a bit blah, but good pattern and long bloom season.

Spacecoast Freaky Tiki is small, but amazing dot structure.

Drop Cloth is another great name, bigger dots and more on the petals than the sepals.

Seurat is a bit more muted, but it has an eye.

China Veil is just beautiful.

Persimmons, Cinnamon, and Marmalade is 1/4 Connect the Dots. More misted than speckled.

Jim Murphy's Lotsa Dots is small but tall.

Bacon Gold Nugget is an oldie, but a goldie in more ways than one.

And NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! Pink Stripes is now considered the "Classic" striped daylily, and some people are working with the TET conversion, but I'm old fashioned, so I'm only breeding with the original Diploid (until I find somebody willing to sell me some converted Pink Stripes, of course!).

But there's a totally separate line of striped daylilies based upon Don Lovell's Peppermint Ice, which he crossed with Susan Weber to get this Lovely Margie. Less dramatic, but better plant habits. So I'm crossing this BACK to Pink Stripes to get both striped lines together. Check back in about 5 years. I expect from other "Stars & Stripes" breeders some pretty interesting stuff over the next few years to add to my collection. Anybody hybridizing stipples and/ or stripes, please contact me (Terry Oates, now in Philadelphia, moving to Pittsburgh this summer) at hemehostaholic@gmail.com if you know any Yahoo group or AHS Robin I can join to learn more about stipple and stripe hybridizing.

July 4 Open Garden, Jacque' DeJesse

2010-07-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

Jacque' DeJesse lives just a half mile south of Granite Run Mall, on Route 452, just West of Media, PA. Every 4th of July recently she has hosted an open garden, and she has some spectacular cultivars and interesting small spider seedlings. Above is Zip boom Bah (Dickerson 97).

Wild And Wonderful (Stamile 02) poly. We're supposed to say polymerous rather than polytepal now, so is this polymerousing? This is NOT on the AHS Polymerous list, and it's registered 36ERe8.5 so this must be rebloom.

Northwind Dancer (Schaben 01).

Jacque' and two Memories of Oz (Herrington 01).

And Candy Cane Dreams (Jim Murphy 05).

Got a Pistil on Happy Hooligan and it RAINED!

2010-06-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

Got a few photos before starting to Pittsburgh for a couple of days. Happy Hooligan has a pistil, but I didn't even try to pollinate it because rain was predicted (and did come) within a couple of hours. Should I have tried anyway?

Today was the LAST Begin With a Bang for this season- it's NOT a rebloomer. But it's EARLY and NOT (totally) yellow!

Moving All Over (Pat Stamile 01, 30EERe11 Dormant Tet) is a great name choice.

Goldmist Red is a Kirchhoff from way back in the 80's. It's a Tetraploid, and I also had one Connect the Dots bloom today. All the pollen washed away in the rain.

Another oldie I like, Peacock Maiden first bloom today. Carpenter 82, 31MRe9.5 Evr Dip.

It's Daylily Midseason but still Spring in Philly

2010-06-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

Big Time Happy first bloom yesterday, but it's an EERe4 Dormant Dip. I've got a theaory why this year the Earlys and midseasons are all blooming atthe same time: Dormants are blooming late and Evergreens are blooming early. Haven't got data to back this up yet, but some day I may have time to see if that's the case. We had a couple of early heat waves, and my theory says the Evergreens were able to take advantage and make buds, as if they were in Florida. But the dormants were still in the ground, so they didn't see the early energy.

New this year, Bite Me! Even this FFO has some teeth to it.

New last year, Carol Emmerich's Eyes on the Prize 18EMRe5.5 Sev Tet. This is first full open- it does get better.

Mike Huben's Twist Again will be auctioned at GSDG September 12 Auction at Ruddy's Daylily Farm.

Green Treat, a Dip I got for the eye last year. I'd have crossed it with Happy Hooligan, but I had none today, and I'm out of town tomorrow, so can't even store pollen. Maybe next week.

Raspberry Masquerade ffo. Edge gets better with time.

Had two of Connect the Dots today; so I had 12 stamens and only enough blooming Tets for 6. Gonna have to get some centrifuge tubes to use for freezing pollen.

Lizard's Dashing Spider is a Dip registered 36M8, but it's taller for me. One scape is 36, but the other two are four feet!

Jim Murphy's 2007 Peace Out looking good today. But it's a Dip and I had no Dip Stipples to pollenate it with. Or if you're an English major (my wife is), I had no stipples with which to cross it.

Finally, Visual Intrigue got her eyes right today. This got crossed both ways with Connect the Dots.

First 2010 Stippled TET Daylily- Connect the Dots

2010-06-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

But first: last night, after 10 hours of off and on rain, some heavy, I brought in these 3 daylilies for my wife to enjoy. Hold Your Horses (left), Dotted Petals (bottom), and Painter's Splash held up beautifully.

Connect the Dots first bloom (Jerabek 2002, 27MRe5.75 Dor Tet). Bred in the North (Indianapolis). Midseason? I've got lots of registered midseason cultivars blooming already in early June, right alongside Early and EM. Will lates be blooming by July 4?

Exotic Etching first bloom (Pat Stamile 05, 19M4.5 Dor Tet).

I'd love to get a stipple with a complex eye like this!

But THIS is what I used on Connect the Dots: Sunday Sandals first bloom today. Grace/Smith 03, 22MRe4 Sev Tet. Love that double edge!

Edged in Red first bloom (Carpenter 03, 26EMRe5.25 Evr Tet) got a dose of Connect the Dots pollen.

This view of Tooth shows the extent of the "sharks tooth edge" on two of the petals. This was state of the art just 10 years ago! Whata country!

First Child Within is NOT one of the 90% that the registration says will be doubles. But it's pretty as a single too. Gail Stamile 04, 17M3 Sev Dip. This got pollen from Mark's Bouquet (also a double) in my quest for a small double stipple.

First Spacecoast Dixie Chick today. Got 3 blooms, but too far apart on the clump to get a group shot. All 3 got pollinated with Connect the Dots.

Chama Valley (Dan Hansen 2000 24EERe7 Sev Tet) was really expensive for years because of its crispate sepals, but you can get it this year for $10.

Fancy Face first bloom is a bit more pinched than normal, but that didn't interfere with it's virility, I hope. Registered 1994, this is one hot 16 year old! Pollenated it with Mark's Bouquet.

Bridgeton Icing first day got 3 blooms! A classy color, but of course it would look better stippled. So all 3 got Connect the Dots (tet) pollen.

Today I got enough Magic Attraction to start an amusement park! Salter 05 28MRe6 Sev Tet. All 3 got Connect the Dots pollen. It's amazing how far 6 stamens can go!

This is my prettiest seedling so far this year, and it's from an open pollenated seed. In 2008 I planted only half a dozen 2007 planned crosses and about 100 open pollenated pods that I thought might be worth the effort. So far the O.P. seedlings have been unremarkable, most often looking just like the known parent (self pollenated). So when I look this up tomorrow the pod parent wil probably look just like this.

Web Browser first bloom. Stamile 02 32ERe12 Tet Sev. Not trying to stipple this one; I just got it for its size.

Three Sunshine in Clouds. First bloom was about a week ago. Double click on the photo, and it will open up full size in your browser. Then you can see this is cream with yellow veins.

Got FOUR Happy Hooligans today, but NO usable pollen and only ONE pistil in the bunch! It's the middle one here. Put Mark's Bouquet on that one, trying to see what double stipple by double stipple gives me. HH pollen on MB a couple of days ago failed to set a pod.

First bloom on Green eyed Triangle, a twenty year old Carpenter. 20ERe5 Evr Dip. Neutral base color, nice throat, let's try to stipple it.

Finally, first Bety Warren Woods (Munson 87). This won't get crossed, and it probably won't even get moved to the new house this summer. It's not something I'd dig up and compost, just not worth moving.

Raven Woodsong and other Great June Daylilies

2010-06-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

My MUST HAVE for 2010 first bloomed today. I saw this in three DVDS Club members' gardens and it stopped me in my tracks every time. It's Raven Woodsong, a 2004 Ned Roberts intro 40M7 Diploid Sev. This came from Florida, so it's earlier this year; how can I cross this?

First bloom today on Lunacy (Morss 03) 32EM6.5 Wouldn't this be a great cross with Raven Woodsong? Kid's name could be RAVEN LUNATIC! Unfortunately, this is a Tet, RL is a Dip. RATS! So I crossed it with Julie Newmar, another complex eye.

Got one bloom on Mark's Bouquet today, but rain was predicted for late AM, so I just harvested the 6 stamens and brought them indoors. It's a double, but this photo makes it look like a poly- 4 petals and 4 sepals. This one also has 4 pistils- that would be one weird looking seed pod if all 4 got pollinated.

If rain wasn't predicted, I would have crossed Mark's Bouquet with this Siloam Double Classic; see the pistil?

And I would have crossed Double Mandarin (Apps 95, 27EMRe4) with Mark's Bouquet if this had a pistil. Siloam Double Classic is one of its parents.

Small Tempest first bloom today. Liz Salter 2000, 22MRe3.5 Sev Tet. How are we getting Midseason bloomers so early? Philadelphia just had the hottest April and May on record.

First bloom on Julie Newmar (Morss 2000, 32ERe7 Evr Tet). Crossed this with Lunacy (see above) with it's complex eye. But since it started raining a couple hours later, I don't expect anything.

First bloom on Painter's Splash, an old (82) Gilbert Wild. But it's registered at 8.5 inches, so I'd love to see if I can stipple it.

Not first bloom, but this is a good example of Mary Alice Stokes (Dan Hansen 01, 25ERe5.25) Sev Tet.

Terry Lyninger is yellow, but I love this eye pattern. Jack Carpenter 03, 24ERE5.5 Evr Dip.

I've posted other photos of Hold Your Horses this year, but I'm REALLY impressed with its look and performance. Held up in rain too.

Malachite Prism (Doorakian 99) first bloom didn't recurve one petal, but I've gotten it through 3 winters in Philadelphia, even though it has the reputation of being tender for Zone 6. Strange, since it was hybridized near Boston. I've heard some daylilies will survive where there's reliable snow cover, but not in our severe freeze/thaw cycling.

First Little Wine Cup. An oldie, but the "original" non-yellow reliable rebloomer. Carter/Paul 69, 20ERe2 Dor Dip. Stella was registered 6 years after this.

Francois Verhaert not first bloom, but doesn't look bad today.

Finally, first Jazzy Graphics, a bicolor Dan Hansen 99, 24ERe4.5 Sev Tet. Other first blooms but not photogenic enough for publication were Tennessee Flycatcher, Bridal Path, Chaco Canyon, Inky Fingers, Egyptian Queen, Siloam Russell Morgan, and Goldmist Red.

Three Happy Hooligan, hails a Happy Hybridizer!

2010-06-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry- I loaded Happy Hooligan first, and that puts them last in the blog- You'd think I could remember something simple like that. Above is the reason I like and will keep Merlot Rouge, besides that it's an early double (for me, registered Midseason). That's the light edge around especially the sepals, which gives the doubled parts (the "hose") a little extra character.

Tooth yesterday wasn't a first bloom, so I COMPLETELY MISSED that this was a POLY!!! Count'em- 4 petals and 4 sepals. Don't look for sharks teeth on this ten-year old Dan Hansen intro (32ERe6.5) even though that work appears in the registration. Ten years ago Dan had a different definition of sharkstooth than we do today, and his job is to sell daylilies. SOMETIMES there is a single white-edged knob near the base of the petal.

Tar and Feather first bloom. Kaskel 99, 26MRe6.5 Evr Tet.

Another case of advertising "puffery"? Pat Stamile's 2002 Green Mystique. The mystery is because it takes a Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass to find the puny green throat.

But Pat has a WINNER in Burgundy Twister! 2003, 36EERe9.75 Evr Tet. Why is a registered EE blooming after lots of my EM's? Microclimate? This spot gets afternoon shade from my shed, so maybe the soil stays cooler longer. This year Philadelphia had the HOTTEST average temperature on record for April AND May. Several PA daylily growers have remarked the season seems early and compressed this year.

Arms to Heaven is registered MIDseason, but Ellen Laprise of Partridge Hill Farms near Boston says it blooms early for her too. Roberts 01, 36MRe8 Sev Tet. I wouldn't kick this out of my bed even if it WAS a midseason!

Vanilla Stella good macro. This is getting some of today's Happy Hooligan pollen if I can find enough. Most of the stamens on doubles like Happy Hooligan are converted to petalloids, with little or no residual anther. HH DOES have a viable pistil sometimes, though. Whoever buys Vanilla Stella at the GSDG auction will have to mail me the seeds if I can't harvest them beforehand.

Good macro of one of three Happy Hooligans blooming today. Talbott 92, 18EMRe5.5 double. Evr Dip. Registered as a "blend" because I don't think anybody had a consensus for a term to apply to daylilies with measles. I think FRECKLES describes most of the existing cultivars better than stipple, a painting term for using "small short touches that together produce and even and softly graded shadow."

My other two Happy Hooligans. At least the left one has a pistil. Since I have no other Dip stipple or even Dip double today, I'll cross these with reblooming Dips with non-yellow but light base colors. like Vanilla Stella, Peace Out, or Lullaby Baby, all blooming today.

A Classic, Spiders and some Visual Intrigue

2010-06-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Siloam Double Classic first blooms today. Henry 85 16EM5 Dor Dip, a "Hose in Hose" double that HAS become a classic.

Waiting in the Wings first bloom today (Stamile 2000, 32ERe8 Evr tet.

Volusian Spider first bloom. Trimmer 01 38EERe7.5 Evr Tet. So today I've got EE (Early Early), Early, and EM (Early Midseason) daylilies blooming for the first time.

Visual Intrigue first bloom. Salter 2000, 29EMRe6 Sev Tet. It's an eyeful. Just gave me a great name for a tall, eyed intro: Eye-Full Tower!

On the left: Liz Salter's 2000 (mis)registered Echos in the Mist, as sold to Betty Harwood and the Shooters. Does it look lavender with no eye to you? On the right is MY SEEDLING (Echos x Unknown- open pollinated 2008) which I might register as "Echos in Zindi Mist". That would allow me to enter it in flower shows and legitimize what I believe to be the bastard son of Witches Wink x Tetra Little Print. Any reason I shouldn't? Leave a comment or email hemehostaholic@gmail.com pro or con.

More Pretty Early Daylilies

2010-06-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

Blackberry Jack first blooms, and I got two! Trimmer 02, 22EMRe6.

Sunshine on Clouds first bloom. This will also be at the GSDG 2010 auction (see earlier post). Mike Huben 06, 26ERe4.5 is more yellow than some of his other intros, but it's a bud builder, which means a long season. Other budbuilders are Beautiful Edgings, Apps' Final Touch, and Iktomi. The last two are late bloomers.

First Peace Out, Jim Murphy 07, 43E6 Dip. Today I got lucky; my double stipple Happy Hooligan had a pistil! But no pollen. BUT- my second double stipple, Mark's Bouquet, had 3 stamens (but no pistil)! So I got to cross the two. And had plenty of leftover DIP pollen for this one and the other Diploids below. It's a Sunday- did somebody pray for me?

First bloom on Dynamite Returns! This is Apps/Blew 07, and Lois-Anne Burek talked me into splitting one with her, because I had ALL the other "Returns" series. It's Romantic Returns by Red Hot Returns, and since I had both, why did I need another red? It has grown on me; better rebloom and the color reminds me of satin sheets. I still owe LAB her half, because I tried to split the 4 fans in the ground, to minimize shock to "my half". And I totally severed two offshoots, with no roots attached. From now on every clump comes out of the ground for dividing.

First bloom today for Megan Skinner's 1999 intro, Extended Twilight. Yes, it got pollinated with Mark's Bouquet. Imagine this spotted! Claim to fame is 26-hour bloom (technically nocturnal extended bloom). Only downside is if it rains overnight. And if you deadhead at night, you've got to remember not to do the new blooms. But it's almost like having twice as many blooms, because the new blooms open in the evening before the day-old blooms close up!

Rather average looking gold daylily isn't it? But this photo was taken from two inches away! This is Demitasse, an honest two inches small.

"And now for something completely different." I love this combination of short tawny lilies in the Sagae hosta. Total accident, of course. The lilies were left over from my father-in-law's plantings 20 years ago, and I just put this Sagae here to test one of 3 sun exposures (morning, afternoon, and filtered all day). Results? Inconclusive. So when we move to Pittsburgh this summer, I'm planting the 3 hosta together in a triangle, underplanted with these lillies.

Pretty Season Has Arrived for Philly Daylilies

2010-06-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

I am a stipple freak- I'm trying to increase the gene pool of these dotty daylilies (some people think I'm a bit dotty too!). This is my second stipple to bloom, Mark's Bouquet (Joe Agosta from Florida, 2006). 22ERe4.3, Evergreen Diploid. It rebloomed late July last year for fellow DVDS member MaryAnn Pruden, who has been breeding "stars & stripes" longer than I have. http://lilyhouseonline.com is her site.

Today is the first day I had more than 5 "pretty" daylilies to choose for the blog. Most early daylilies are, at most, "not unattractive". But here's Applique, 10 inches of "UnF" which stands for "Unusual Form". It used to be abbreviated UFo but people confused that with Flying Saucers. The cultivar name refers to the applique throat, which appears to be raised, or pasted on. Stamile 02, 30EMRe10 Evr Tet.

Mary Alice Stokes ffo today. HansenD 01 25ERe5.25 Sev Tet.

Magic Attraction ffo- but It's registered as a Midseason! Salter 05, 22MRe6 Sev Tet. Bought it to cross with tet stipples, but no tet stipples bloom this early!

But these ARE getting crossed with Mark's Bouquet today. These are the first blooms of De Colores (Temple 92, 28ERe8.5 EV Dip). Oldie, but big with repeat bloom, so I think it's worth trying.

Mike Huben Day in the Oates Garden

2010-06-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

But first, I've got a new garden name for my (assumed) misregistered "Echos in the Mist" (SalterEH 2000). It's "Echos in Zindi Mist" for you Star Trek spinoffs fans. Why do I think this was misregistered as lavender instead of mustard with plum eye? Because the registered parents are Witches Wink x Tetra Little Print. Witches Wink looks very similar, but smaller. Little Print is cream with a dark eye. This looks like it could have come from those parents much more than a lavender with NO EYE. Rebuttals?

But today has been declared MIKE HUBEN DAY in the Oates garden; first full open for Sunshine on Clouds (Huben 06). 26ERe4.25 Dormand Diploid. Also scheduled for GSDG Auction September 12 (see previous listings).

Delicate Lace ffo today (Huben 03, 18ERe4, Dormant Diploid). Stella is a grandparent. This isn't a great example, but pretty good for a first bloom! And this is from the single fan I got to keep for babysitting it until the auction last year. It's definitely narrower than Sunshine on Clouds above, which has Happy Returns as one Grandparent. But BOTH have 1/4 Monica Marie in them.

Third Huben blooming today = Vanilla Stella. See more photos in earlier posts, but this one shows the flesh tint pretty accurately. MINE are measuring about 3.5 inches rather than the registered (Boston) 3.0 when they recurve like this. Sometimes the sepals don't recurve, but those photos won't get published by the sellers.

Finally, 4th Huben blooming today, we END with Begin With a Bang. I also had 3 Merlot Rouge bloom today, all blooming double (hose-in-hose). The Earlybirds are both going strong, as are Apple Pie Spice and Siloam Button Box. Hold Your Horses is awesome as usual. Kathy D'Alessandro had Paper Butterfly blooming yesterday, but I can't remember where mine is planted to check on it!

First Stippled Daylily of 2010 = Happy Hooligan

2010-06-04T05:44:00.000-07:00

Not a full open, and no pollen or pistil, but the stippling is there. Happy Hooligan (Talbott 92, 18EMRe5.5) is a double, and it did rebloom for Cynthia Marriott last year, but not for me. This, Spotted Fever, and Mark's Bouquet are the only stippled doubles I know. Leave me a comment if you know of any others.

Merlot Rouge ffo was yesterday, but this second bloom is more photogenic. Double, Petit 94, 21M5.5 Evr Tet. Does this bloom early for anybody else, or is my siting? (3 foot strip between house and drive gets afternoon sun and heat off west side of house.) No, it's NOT a variegated daylily, it's just next to Kwanso Variegata.

NOT first open (5/30) but these two just begged for a photo op. Hold your Horses is registered as 8 inches, and these are real close! This should be in your garden if it isn't. Trimmer 04, 36EMRe8 Evr Tet. Expensive until last year, but check it out- a couple of suppliers have it at reasonable prices now.

Finally, Musa basjoo made it through the winter with no protection. Last year the mother plant and 3 of 4 offshoots rotted in the wet early spring, even with protection. Philadelphia is at border of Zones 6 and 7, so I think good drainage is probably more important than winter protection here.

Black Eyed Stella and Wineberry Candy

2010-06-02T10:43:00.001-07:00

Black Eyed Stella isn't one of my favorites, but it blooms when not much else does, so I keep it. It probably won't make the cut when we move.

Wineberry Candy (Stamile 1990) 22EM4.75 Dormant Tet first bloom today; a $5 daylily, not a rebloomer, but I like the eye.

And Earlybird Orangeade just keeps bloomin' along! When we move this summer, I'm going to separate Diploids from Tetraploids (for hybridizing). Then I'll try to group the early and late (including reblooming) ones.

Early Reblooming Daylilies

2010-06-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

Not first bloom, but I had two blooms on Mike Huben's "Begin with a Bang" today. Disregard photo date 2/8/2040- something very weird happening with the camera to come up with that date.

Apple Pie Spice FFO (first full open). Joiner 97, registered 28EMRe4.

Stella's Sparky, good rebloomer registered 22EERe4, but this FFO was a lot shorter- almost missed it down in the foliage. Crichton 99 intro.

FFO of Ret Hot Returns has a few color defects, but shows the "true colors" of this fire engine red Apps intro. It's really yellow, with a red overlay.

FFO Mike Huben's 2009 intro Vanilla Stella. This will also be at Garden State Daylily's September auction. Registered 18ERe3, Mike's goal is early rebloomers that aren't yellow.

3 Eyed Yellow Early Daylilies

2010-05-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

Another photo of Siloam Button Box, registered as 20EM4.5, but definitely EE for me this year.

Pat Garrity (Stamile 02) IS registered EE with rebloom. I remember this blooming late June / early July so that's probably its rebloom time. Registered 25 tall, 5 dia.- I like the lipstick eye with a bit of bleeding.

And my magical mystery; Betty Harwood, John Shooter and at least one other source I've identified (in Canada) bought this from Elizabeth Salter as "Echos in the Mist," probably before she (mis)registered the name as lavender. A couple of other sellers use the same name for a different cultivar, but it doesn't match the registration either (has an eye). If you like mine, it's still available on Shooters' site. Unfortunately, since it doesn't match the registration, I can't enter it in a flower show. But it's early, reblooms like crazy, has great bud count. Gets a bit dimpled in hot afternoon sun, but that's its biggest fault besides the name thing. I now call mine "Echos India Mist".

Mikado Daylily Early Oldie but Goody

2010-05-26T10:25:00.001-07:00

It's over 90 degrees out, only 6 degrees from a Philadelphia record for this date. So Karma (male, left) and Sutra (his sister, right) are relaxing on the cool floor. There's an A/C vent at far left, pointed right at Karma's belly. They're Tibbies (Tibetian Spaniels), not real heat tolerant.

First bloom on Mikado, a 1929 Stout intro that's a bit unkempt, but a great eye AND DIAMOND DUSTED! Bet I won't look this good at 81.
And it reblooms!

Second bloom on Mike Huben's Begin With a Bang (09, 34EERe5x) dormant. I wish I could keep more than just one fan for babysitting it for GSDG. It will be at the GSDG auction September 12 at Ruddy's Daylily Farm, 201 Bennett Road, Freehold NJ 07728. Kevin and Cynthia have no web site or even email, but they have lots of great daylilies, including many Betty Harwood seedlings and their own hybrids. They're open the two weekends after July 4, but they don't do immediate delivery. They take your order, then dig all orders at once in late August, and you go back to pickup then. You get better plants because they aren't just whacking off a couple of fans from the edge.

2010 Early Early Daylilies (Philadelphia)

2010-05-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

First daylily of the 2010 season was Earlybird Sunshine, a Megan Skinner (Allentown, PA) 2001 introduction. She says it regularly beats Stella to bloom. Available from Manatawney Creek Farms near Pottstown, PA. Website http://www.manatawneycreekfarm.com/ for mail order. Note the owners are Omish so they're closed Sundays.

A study in microclimates! View from west, so the geraniums and daylily get afternoon sun. The hosta (Sagae) on the far (east) side gets morning sun then shade from the Japanese Maple. The hosta next to the daylily gets shaded all day by the Maple, but it's Titanic, a dark green one that can deal with pretty full shade. But in better light it would be twice as big. The Heuchera Citronelle on the right will take sun OR shade, and brightens up the area.

Second daylily of 2010: Begin With a Bang by Mike Huben of Boston. This is a MUST for early hybridizers becuse IT'S NOT YELLOW!! Available from Harmon Hill Farm in New Hampshire, and possibly from Ellen Laprise of http://www.partridgehillgardens.com/ in Mass. Mike and the Skinners both hybridize on city lots of less than a quarter acre, yet have beat the "big guys" in the early early race by sticking to a narrow goal.

Is this normal? Fourth bloom of 2010 is Siloam Button Box, Henry 76. 20EM4.5 registration, but that was "down South". Is it EE for anybody else? I just got it last spring, but it came from New York, so this isn't "Florida bloom".

Third bloom for 2010 was another Megan Skinner intro, Earlybird Orangeade (2004). Another "close to species" trumpet shape, this clump had one bloom on 5/23, five yesterday and EIGHT today.

The season has begun! Long live daylily season!

Working on Grass Roots Movement

2010-03-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

The grass root movement I'm trying to encourage is OUT OF MY BEDS! I was busy playing with pollen last summer, and I neglected the weeding in the "cheap seats" beds. So I'm having to hunker down and pull out as much of this rhizome-spreading grass as possible now, while I can. I'm using up my daily allowance of the Dover Twins (Ilene and Ben Dover) and I'm going to have to stock up on Ibuprofin.

Spring Primroses, Daffodils, Magnolia

2010-03-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Pink and blue Primroses, of the variety "goodole", bought at Genardi for 99 cents a couple of years ago.

White primroses, same story. They're evergreen- you can see the old tired leaves below the new growth. Did you know in Philadelphia there's a club devoted to JUST the Primrose? They meet in the conservatory at Fairmont Park. You could probably attend a plant society meeting every week of the year in Philadelphia, but I only belong to three plant societies and STILL they have meetings on the same day occasionally! As President of Garden State Daylily Growers Club (New Jersey affiliate of the American Hemerocallis Society) I wait until I know the schedules of Delaware Valley Daylily Society (Phildaelphia area), Delaware Valley Hosta Society, and Tristate Hosta Society (NJ, NY, CT) before I schedule New Jersey Daylily meetings. And this year, DVDS changed their November meeting to the same weekend as GSDG AFTER both schedules were published. So I'm changing the NJ date so our overlapping membership doesn't have to run a marathon the first weekend in November. "The best laid plans...."

Daffodils in the flower bed next to the porch, which mother nature thinks is "a prairie meadow lacking only grass, and she's trying to correct that oversite." I'm paraphrasing- the quote can be found, attributed to the correct author, on Katie Cook's blog www.gottagarden.blogspot.com at the bottom of the right column. Anybody who remembers the weedkiller that will kill grass but not daylilies, and/or knows of a source in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, please leave a comment. This is a good time to remove the grass, but the only way I've been able to get it out of the daylily clumps is to dig up and separate the clump.

On a brighter note, aren't these cute? I needed a "point" of reference to show how tiny these are.

Finally today, the week of unseasonably warm weather has caused the magnolia tree to drop its protective bud sheaths, so if we get a freeze in the next month plus (frost free date for Philadelphia is after May 1) the tree won't bloom. This amazingly only happens about two of three years, so we get a great show about every third year. I'll post photos if frost holds off. This tree is more than 60 years old, as am I, which is about the only thing that keeps me from cutting it down.

Spring has Sprung in Philadelphia!

2010-03-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

The DOG DAYS of WINTER are over! Time to get off the couch and back into the yard. Get that pre-emergent spread, get those winter weeds out of the garden, and hope March goes out like a lamb.

Problem: Southern evergreen daylilies think they're in Florida! This one's up 10 inches, and we're 5 - 6 weeks away from historic frost-free date. So it's going to get frozen back to the ground and turn to mush at least once, maybe more, taking energy and increasing the chance of rot or disease. I'll put pots over the most valuable ones during cold snaps, but I can't protect them all.

Daffodils announce the arrival of spring- these are of the "Plainole" variety; I haven't been bit by the daffodil collecting bug yet.

Favorite Late and Reblooming Daylilies

2010-03-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

"Florida Rebloom" on this year's arrival Popcorn Pete (Petit 02) 25MRe6 Tet, and rebloom on Northern-bred Eyes on the Prize (Emmerich 2002) EMRe5.5 Tet. And I had NO TET STIPPLES blooming to pollinate them! I guess I will have to learn how to freeze pollen next year.

Apps' Rosy Returns won't ever win a beauty contest, but it's one of the half dozen best rebloomers, and it's not gold or yellow! 16EERe3.75 Dip.

Trahlyta (Childe 82) 30EMRe6.5 Dip was a contributor to many of Margo Reed's introductions, and I have seeds from crosses with a couple of violet-based stipples, the best of which I hope to cross against each other.

Jim Murphy's 2004 Margo Reed Indeed 28MLRe7.5 Dip is a great name, probably inspired by garden visitors mistaking it for one of Margo's. I wonder what it would look like crossed with Pink Stripes? Hopefully in two or three years I'll have an example. Will I get red stripes on cream, or white stripes on cream? Or something completely different? That's what's addicting about hybridizing- it's like gambling with the lotto drawing held in three years. Stay tuned!

Mid-July Favorite Daylilies

2010-03-19T12:50:00.001-07:00

Brown Exotica (Gossard 04) 43M9 is really big for a DIP, not exactly brown but definitely exotic. I'm trying to take it even further out by crossing it with my stripes.

Fox Ears is a late- this is ffo first full open. Ned Roberts 02 40ML8 Dip. I got pods crossed with Peppermint Ice and Pink Stripe, and later crosses with my 2 reblooming stipples.

Karen Burgoyne (Harwood 98) 30M5 Tet is New Jersey bred. When stippled tets weren't available, I did cross this with a couple of good reblooming Tets, but since Mike Huben has pretty well established that rebloom is recessive, I'll have to decide whether to continue that path. Mike presented to Garden State Daylily Growers Club last November, and said his successful crosses for rebloom have almost all involved four reblooming grandparents. One grandparent on each side can be a Southern rebloomer (reblooms in the south, but gets killed by frost in the north before reblooming).

Eskimo Kisses isn't an exciting color combination, but that's a thick edge for growing in Pennsylvania. Trimmer 02 26MRe4 Tet. So I crossed it with tet stipples, hoping for a stipple with an edge in a couple of generations.

Fashion Police. This is the biggest edge I've got. I'm really not a big fan of how it looks some days in the garden, but as a breeder for edges, it's my ace, I hope. Trimmer 2005 34MRe6.25 Tet. Evergreen, but it made it through last winter in Philadelphia.

Early July Favorite Daylilies

2010-03-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

Twisted Mint Julip first full open. Dan Hansen 07 36EM8 Tet. A Desert Icicle kid, diamond dusted UF. How could I possibly improve on this? Well, it doesn't rebloom. But I crossed it with my tet stipples unless none were blooming; then I crossed it with a Northern reblooming Tet.

How Beautiful Heaven Must Be, universally known by its acronym HBHMB. Jack Carpenter scored with this; it lives up to the name! 26EMRe7.5 Tet registered in 2002 and still selling for $30 - $50! But I'd like to see little dots all over it, while keeping the base color and edge. Is that sacrilegeous?

Party Pinafore ffo 7/8. Kirby 99 20EM5 Dormant Dip. Jack Carpenter converted this to a Tet, and has introduced several of its kids, if this isn't pretty enough for you. I crossed it with stripes, because my brain is obviously damaged. Like crossing Jessica Simpson with Dave Letterman.

Pirate Beads ffo July 8. Another Pennsylvania native (Kendig 02) 21M5.5 Tet Evergreen. The edge gets better after the first day. Nice eye and edge, it just needs some purple dots on that nice white surface!

It's all in the eyes of Julie Newmar (click on the photo for a full sized view, then zoom in!) Morss 2000 32ERe7 Evr Tet.

Lies & Lipstick (Kinnebrew 03) 25EMRe5.5 Tet is an example of what happens when a Southern-bred daylily grows in the North. Look at the photos on Tinkers Daylily Database http://db.tinkersgardens.com/ and Kinnebrew's site and the edge will be three times as wide for photos taken in Florida. But it's still pretty pretty.
Lavender Suspenders (Don Herr 02) 48M8.5 is Pennsylvania born and bred dormant Tet. Big and tall, I'm crossing it with stripes and stipples.
This is Pat Cochenour's Screamcicle in DVDS VP Jacque DeJesse's garden. 2003 35EMRe8 Dormant Tet. From Primal Scream by Outrageous, an inspered cross of a 7.5" screaming orange to a 4.5" screaming orange with an eye, and getting an even bigger screaming orange with an eye.
I saw this in three Delaware Valley Daylily Society members' gardens in 2008 and 2009, and every time it stopped me in my tracks. I have one on order for 2010. Raven Woodsong (Ned Roberts 04) 40M7 Sev Dip. Doesn't have rebloom or great bud count (registered 4/14) but I've gotta have it!
Memories of Oz First Full Open (ffo) July 6. K. Herrington 01 Dormant Diploid. 40MRe9 Spider, not UF. Gets prettier after the first day; I like the veins and since it's a Diploid, I crossed it with stripes (all 3 of my striped daylilies are Dips) as well as stipples. I'll cross this one's kids with Katisue Herrington's 2010 stippled UF intro Alabama Sweet Tee I'm ordering this week.

More Good Late June FFO Daylilies

2010-03-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

Shores of Time (Stamile 02) 26EMRe5.5 just came this year, so I hope it's hardy in Zone 6. It's expensive for a 2002 but I think it's worth it. Available 2010 at Sassafrass and Peace for $25df.

Dynamite Returns was one of the last everblooming "Happy Ever Appster" daylilies introduced by Darrell Apps before he retired to Wisconsin. It's Romantic Returns by Red Hot Returns, Registered 2007 Dip 17EMRe4 with 4 branches, 36 buds. He said it's his best reblooming red so far. Available at nurseries carrying Centerton Nursery offerings, which also include the "Trophytaker" series and "Blew Label" perennials. I found it outbloomed both parents, and even Rosy Returns.

Another Apps/Blew (registered 2004 but not introduced till 2007 or 8) which I love is Mean Mister Mustard, Tet 26EMRe5.5 registered as 4 branches, 24 buds. Remember these are New Jersey bud counts, NOT South Florida. My impression is that you can take a couple of buds and 1/8 inch off the edge for every 100 miles north of the breeder. Anybody got a more scientific analysis? Anyway, as a "stipple freak" I love the eye on Mean Mister Mustard, and I crossed it with a couple of Tet stipples.

Beautiful Edgings (Copenhaver 89) 30MRe7 Dip is an oldie but it's a budbuilder, which makes it great for hybridizers like me who don't freeze pollen. I crossed this with every Diploid stipple I could, hoping for something "edgy" in a couple of generations.

Bali Watercolor is a Tet (Stamile 02) 35MRe9 and interesting veined petals, but I'd like to see those sepals stippled. But I'm not kicking this one out of my bed.

Favorite June Daylilies for Hybridizing

2010-03-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

Primal Scream, I was warned, does not form seeds easily, so I pollinated it multiple times for each potential mate, and even though only about a fifth of my crosses developed pods, I got plenty of seeds crossing Primal Scream with Spacecoast Freaky Tiki and Speckles. I also got a couple of successful crosses with Goldmist Red. This was first day bloom (ffo).

Heavenly Pink Butterfly (Gossard 04) 49M6 first full open 6/29. I crossed any available Dip lavender stipple or any available stripe on this every time it bloomed. Nowhere close to 4 feet tall for me, but this is its first year in my garden.

Cesar Barsocchi (Haynes 03) 24M4.5 is "just" an edged cream, but bred in Zone 6, Northern New Jersey. Crossed with tet stipples and it generated pods the size of walnuts. CB is from Rich's Joan Elizabeth Haynes by Forestlake Ragamuffin. This was ffo, it gets even better.

Indian Giver ffo was July 2, but this photo is better. Mike Derrow got great kids crossing this with his Pink Stripes, so I crossed it with Don Lovell's striped Peppermint Ice.

Volusian Spider (Trimmer 01) 38EERe7.5 July 2 (rebloom?). Crossed this with my violet-toned Tetraploid stipples, looking for BIG.

Favorite 2009 Double Daylilies

2010-03-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

Siloam Double Fringe was one of my favorite doubles last year, not a stunner but a great performer. Henry 86 30EM5 Diploid.

At left is Peach Magnolia (Joiner 86) 32MLRe6 and the chief interest is the base color. Crossed with double stipples when available, and with other stipples including reblooming Gail Reese.

Dinner and a Movie (Apps 99) usually has a pistil, but not much pollen. I crossed this with Betty Harwood's stippled seedling, which was blooming late like this one.

Scatterbrain (Joiner 88) 32MRe6 is a "hose in hose" type double, and a Diploid. What I like is its "neutrality" and I'm hoping to get double kids that look more like the other parent.

Spacecoast Two Eyed Jack (Kinnebrew-J 06) Tet 24EMRe6, 90% double got a lot of pollen from the lavender-based Tet stipples. Goal is a big stippled double.

Darya (Pat Stamile 03) Tet 33MRe5.5 also got Tet stipple pollen whenever available. Second generation, I'll cross Darya kids with Spacecoast Two Eyed Jack kids, trying to bring out the recessive stipple in each.

Peggy Jeffcoat is a perennial popularity poll favorite, even though it's 15 years old (Joiner 95). 18MLRe6.5 Dip so I crossed it with my double stipples first, then with other diploid stipples.

Meringue Mirage (Apps 99) Dip 33M5.25 is 100% double, which would be great except it almost never has a viable pistil or stamen. I didn't get a single cross from it last year.

Newt's Folly, on the other hand, almost always has a viable pistil and a couple of stamens. Apps 95 27EM5 Dip. So I have lots of seed from crosses with double stipples, Bacon Gold Nugget and Lotsa Dots. Goal is another stippled double, but probably in two generations by crossing seedlings back to a stippled double.

One More Dip Stipple and a 2010 Stipple UFO!

2010-03-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

This is Lotsa Dots, a Jim Murphy 2004 Dip intro 44EMRe5.25 which is the TALLEST stipple I know. So I crossed it with short stipples and large-flowered but short others.

Tim Herrington just presented his 2010 Intros to Delaware Valley Daylily Society this past Saturday. http://www.delawarevalleydaylily.org/ And this year he's introducing an Unusual Form STIPPLE! Its name is Alabama Sweet Tee, named for Tee Money (of Rick-a-Tee Daylily Farm). It's Katisue hybridized out of Lola Branham. It has purple veining as well as dots above a green throat blending to yellow before the stippling starts. 28MRe7, Semievergreen in Georgia. I'm definitely ordering one! See it at http://daylily.net/gardens/herringtondaylilies/ and click on the thumbnail for a bigger photo. It's SPECtacular! Too bad that name is already taken. I wonder if they'd allow me Speck Tacular.

Another note to any other stipple hybridizers out there: Margo Reed told me she has seen stippled seedlings out of Helga Bjornerud Burkey, which ALSO is out of Lola Branham. So I'll be crossing Lola to my Diploid stipples next year.

Tet Stippled Daylilies- Purple on Lavender

2010-03-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Macro of Drop Cloth (Salter 95) 28M5.5 which has a cream base color. I love the name- makes the color "defects" into a positive characteristic!

Clump of Drop Cloth. Almost every major hybridizer has introduced ONE stipple, but (almost) none have introduced two. That alone tells me that stipples must be a really recessive trait, so I'm going to have to cross the "F1" seedlings (first generation) with other stipples or kids of stipples and only a small percentage of those will be stipples. Stipples are the blue-eyed natural blonds of the daylily world.

Connect the Dots (Jerabek 02) 25MRe5.75 has lots going for it: decent size, uniform dot distribution, bred in Indianapolis (cold-hardy) with some rebloom and some diamond dusting.

I think China Veil (Munson 89) 30EMRe6 is my favorite lavender-ish stipple. It has a "washed" lighter eyezone that my others don't.

Seurat (Moldovan 90) 26MRe6 suggests the painter's style, but the stippling isn't as distinctive as the others, especially on the sepals. So that's my breeding pool from my first year of pollen-dabbing; 9 Tet Stipples, half a dozen Dip Stipples, and 3 Stripes. Now I have to plant the seeds and wait 2-3 years for them to bloom before I get any feedback. Then I'll have to cross the best seedlings to try to bring out that recessive stipple characteristic. Since I'm on the slippery side of sixty (it's all downhill from here!) my goal is to help expand the stipple gene pool for younger hybridizers. So if you're under 50 and hybridizing stipples, let me know and I'll put you in my will.

Tet Stippled Daylilies - Red on Yellow

2010-03-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

My Tetraploid stippled daylilies are so far limited to two color combinations: red on yellow and maroon on cream lavender. Above is Spacecoast Freaky Tiki (Kinnebrew 06) 20EMRe3.5 with great stipple count plus ruffled edges on the petals. I crossed this last summer heavily with bigger and edged daylilies, and with Primal Scream.

Speckles (Ziarko-Rood 98) 26M4.5 looks orange from afar, but it's really red stiples on cream yellow. I have lots of this if somebody wants to trade for Judith Weston's Fizziwig (98) or Hairbrain (08), or for Cochenour's Doctor Strange Love (07) which I don't have yet.

I just got Joe Agosta's Mark's Bouquet (06) last year, and it didn't bloom for me. But Mary Ann Pruden, a Lancaster-area hybridizer of stipples and stripes and unusual forms (see her website under "Links" at club site http://www.delawarevalleydaylily.org/ ) brought this rebloom to a club event, and I used the pollen that night on everything still open.

Expanding Universe (Petit 98) 26M5.5 is a great name; stick your nose up close and it looks like the Enterprise going to Warp.

Goldmist Red (Kirchhoff 94) has lots of variation among blooms, but it's really pretty in a clump.

I hybridize Stippled Daylilies (Part 1)

2010-03-13T16:50:00.000-08:00

A "stippled" daylily, sometimes called "plicata", has dots of color over the base color. Above is a Betty Harwood Diploid seedling I've been crossing to see what develops. Check back in about 5 years.

My favorite diploid stipple is Gail Reese, named by Bob Reese of Florida for his wife, registered in 2001. 28MRe2.75 with 6 branches, 50 buds in Florida. It reblooms in Philadelphia, so last summer I crossed it to northern everbloomers and big stuff. I hope maybe beginner's luck will give me something interesting as a base for improvement.

Bacon Gold Nugget (M. Herrington 1981) is bigger, but still grape stipples on cream yellow like Gail Reese. My "Prime Directive" for my first summer of dabbing pollen was to ONLY spread stippled or striped pollen, but then I could put pollen from my best "others" back onto the stipples and stripes. Otherwise I would have been spreading pollen from dawn till dusk.

Spotted Fever is probably the best-known "spotted double", a great name. 22M3.75 (Brown-Oakes 1995). Doubles are harder to hybridize because some of the stamens, and sometimes the pistil, turn into petalloids, but this one has good male and female parts on most blooms.

I like Happy Hooligan even better than Spotted Fever, because it's bigger: 18EMRe5.5 Talbott 1992. It rebloomed for a friend this year in Philadelphia, mine didn't.

Striped Daylilies: Pink Stripes, Peppermint Ice

2010-03-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

Pink Stripes looks like it's got a virus, but unlike the striped tulips, it does not appear to be a virus, and the trait can be passed to children. Mike Derrow initially rejected his ugly stepchild, but he didn't destroy it, and it sat for years before he showed it to another hybridizer. He finally registered it in 2006.

Another shot of Pink Stripes, more true to real color. Hybridizers are busy crossing this to everything under the sun, and it's been converted to Tet by several, so expect to see lots of striped hybrids soon.

Peppermint Ice (Lovell, 2004) was hybridized from a completely different line than Pink Stripes. It fades with sun exposure, but people have crossed it with darker solid-colored cultivars for improved sunfastness.

Lovely Margie (Lovell 05) is Peppermint Ice crossed with Susan Weber, giving it better foliage, buds, branching, etc. I'm looking forward to the third, fourth, and fifth generation striped daylilies.

I crossed all these last summer with Unusual Form and Double cultivars to see what might develop.

New Curt Hanson Daylily Website

2009-09-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

Curt Hanson is one of the premier daylily hybridizers, with over 600 daylilies introduced over the past few years, but his old website www.crintonicgardens.net has not been online since last winter or so. But he now has a new website www.crintonic.com with his 2009 spring and fall introductions as well as the past couple of years' catalogs in PDF (Adobe) format. Last year Curt spoke to both Delaware Valley Daylily Society www.delawarevalleydaylily.org and New Jersey www.gsdaylily.org Garden State Daylily Growers club. His daylilies are hybridized and grown near Cleveland, Ohio so they thrive in northern climates. Get him to present to your group if you can- he's got great plants and great stories.

It's Daylily Day in New Jersey

2009-06-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

Cheerful Heart is big and I like the vein pattern on the petals.

Always Afternoon is a classic- the throat really lights up.

American Revolution has an interesting color- the dark sort of overlays the red.

The Saturday before July 4 is Daylily Day in New Jersey. The Garden State Daylily Growers Club has an exhibition of blooms every year at Deep Cut (Monmouth County) Park near Middletown, NJ. I'm contributing the above daylilies and some others to the sale. We offer everybody who comes a complementary bare-root daylily, usually Happy Returns and this year including Black Eyed Stella.

First Bloom, Begin With a Bang & Mexicali Miss

2009-06-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

First bloom on new arrival, but from New England, so it may bloom here even earlier next year. This is Mike Huben's "Begin with a Bang", of interest to hybridizers because it's extra early but NOT Yellow or Orange. I'm hosting it for the GSDG auction this year or next, depending upon how it does this summer. Because my job is to make it grow, I have to cut off this scape now, since I've confirmed identity.

I keep Mexicali Miss ONLY because it's early. It does have interesting veining.

"Echos In the Mist" (???) 4th daylily to bloom

2009-06-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

A GREAT daylily doomed to obscurity by probable registration error. This was sold to at least two hybridizers & commercial growers as "Echos in the Mist" (EH Salter, 2000). For me it's 24ERe4 (registered 26EMRe4). BUT the color doesn't match the registration (registered as "Lavender above Yellow Green Throat"). I personally believe Salters screwed up the color on the paperwork, because the parents (Witches Wink by tet Little Print) seem to be much more likely the parents of this than of a lavender. There is another daylily being sold in the trade as "Echos in the Mist". But I believe it is LESS likely the "correct" Echos, because though it is lavender, it has a prominent eye not mentioned in the registration. It's a shame because this is early, and a great rebloomer. I've given mine the garden name "Echos India Mystic". Anybody know anything more about this daylily? Why did she misspell echoes? Did she name it for the Andrea Kane book?

Stella's Sparky Daylily Second Bloom

2009-06-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Stella's Sparky first bloomed in the rain about a week ago, finally produced a second photogenic one. This doesn't show the great diamond dusting from grandparent Stella De Oro.

My Podophyllum 'Kaleidoscope" survived another winter- they tend to rot during wet winters or freeze because they emerge early. But I think they're worth the trouble, and just got a "Spotty Dottie" too, but (typical of mail order plants) it's too small to photograph without a macro lens.

Leave a garden cart half full of dirt overnight, and it's almost guaranteed to rain over an inch!

Early Daylilies- Earlybirds get the Prize!

2009-05-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

This is my new bed for Flore Pleno, a triploid variety of the fulva species. It's orange, but with 9 petals and 9 sepals. They can't be planted in the same bed as hybrid cultivars, because they spread by rhizomes. So they come up in the middle of other clumps unless there's a mowing strip around them like this.

This arrived from Florida last week with a scape, so I let one bud bloom to confirm identity. It's "Mister Right" (Joiner, 2003). I think that's a great name for a daylily worth waiting for.

The second daylily to bloom this year here in Philadelphia was Megan Skinner's Earlybird Orangeade, which she says gets its early genes from Esperanza.

The first daylily to bloom for me this year was Earlybird Sunshine, by Megan Skinner of Allentown, PA. They hybridize on a small city lot, so they sell their introductions through Manatawney Creek near Pottstown, PA. http://www.manatawnycreekfarm.com/ has additional links to the Skinners' introductions, and also has a gallery of Stout hybrids.

I tried to space out my purchases this year, but two dozen (3 orders) arrived on the Wednesday after Mother's day, our traditional "frost free" date (although Allentown, PA got a 32 degree night over a week later this year). I soak them in a weak fertilizer solution for 4 to 24 hours using milk containers with the tops cut off. (I used the kitchen pots until my wife found out.) Then I water them in with the same solution.

Digging Daylily Beds for New Daylilies

2009-05-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

I've been digging this new daylily bed forever, it seems, due to some really rainy weather, and my orders started arriving before I've finished. This is the last available spot in the deer-protected (fenced) back yard but it's on a slope. So the top side is a 4x4 at ground level, and the bottom side is a 2x8 or 2x10. After digging out the sod and rocks, I add compost and topsoil to level. The outline of lumber in the foreground is the final section, hopefully to be finished this week.

My order from Sassafras (Floyd Boatwright) was the first to arrive. I also got my orders from Memory Jordan and Tim Herrington. I'm planting them only 10 inches apart this spring, then next spring I'll relocate every other row after I clear out a bunch of old clumps for Garden State Daylily's "Daylily Day" June 28, and the Delaware Valley Daylily Society sale in August.

A recommendation: check http://gottagarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/2008-ahs-national-conventiongarden-nine.html Katie Cook's photos of the last garden at last year's AHS national convention in Houston. They were worth the wait. The other eight gardens are also linked from this entry. If the link doesn't work, just go to http://gottagarden.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to the May 4 entry, or find the link from the subject list at the right. And watch for her postings from the 2009 national convention in Florida- she's attending next week and should have some great photos. Put this one in your favorites!

Roses in Snow in Snow

2009-03-05T09:05:00.000-08:00

No cooking out on the grill tonight!

The "Roses in Snow in Snow" I had to post for your amusement. I went out last week to record which daylilies were acting like evergreens, so I can make a note to mulch the expensive ones next year. The mulch isn't to protect them from the cold, it's to KEEP them cold once the ground freezes, so they don't do this destructive sprout-die-sprout-die dance in our extreme freeze-thaw cycles here in Philadelphia (Zone 6.9). Yesterday it was 9 degrees, with 65-70 degrees predicted for this weekend. I mulch with spruce branches, which don't retain moisture but shade the ground from the sun.

It's Not Easy Being Green in February

2009-02-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

It's not good to be green if you're a daylily in February. This is going to get covered by 7-12 inches of snow tomorrow night, then killed back when the cold returns next week. What a waste of energy.

My Thanksgiving Cactus has put out all these buds 3 months after its regular bloom, for some crazy reason. I thought shortening days caused buds to set, but any bloom is welcome this time of year.

I'm not sure what this ground cover used at a local home & garden show is, probably a tradescantia (?), but I'd like to know what it is and if it's hardy. Please leave a comment if you know what it is.

Spring 2009 Daylily Speakers Announced

2009-02-09T20:33:00.000-08:00

Top Row= Black Eyed Stella, Siloam Plum Tree,Scentual Sundance, Little Wine Cup, and Apricot Sparkles. Bottom Row= Stella D'Oro, Tuscawilla Tigress, Nature Girl, Happy Returns, Rosy Returns, and Siloam Double Fringe. Below is another shot of Siloam Plum Tree.

Delaware ValleyDaylily Society (Philadelphia, Eastern PA and Northern Delaware) has announced its Spring Luncheon speaker will be Dan Bachman, who hybridizes fantastic Spidery daylilies in SW Ohio. Luncheon will be March 21 at Concordville Inn, reservations required. Garden State Daylily Growers (New Jersey) will have Boston's Mike Huben speaking at our Sunday, April 26 meeting at Deep Cut (Monmouth County) Park, 1:30 pm. More info on Mike at
http://hubendaylilies.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default fyi. GSDG meetings are free and nonmembers are welcome. Directions ar posted under "Schedule" link at www.gsdaylily.org Mike Huben has used the daylily above, Siloam Plum Tree, in hybridizing for Northern rebloom. Look at the rebloom buds still on this scape in mid-September! The top photo is most of the daylilies blooming for me on September 10 last year- about 1.5% of the cultivars I grow. So if I bought all of Mike's introductions so far (11), I might be able to enjoy twice as many daylilies blooming in September.

Planning for 2009- Can You Dig It?

2009-01-20T12:27:00.000-08:00

First- a plug for Party Pinafore, becoming widely available for $15-$20. OR- take a look at what Jack Carpenter has done crossing Tet ParPin with Roses in Snow- two spring 2009 intros ("Jitterbug Jessie" and my fave "Just a While Longer") and a fall 2008 (Happy Charmer) at http://www.lilyfarm.com/ AND they're priced at only $65 - $85!

And MEAN MISTER MUSTARD (Apps/Blew), released last year by Centerton as the first of what I hope will be a long line of daylilies with CHARACTER. Not everybody's cup of tea, but I love the stipply eye. Available wherever Trophytakers and Happily Ever Appsters are sold, and at White Flower Farm.

I've gotten Malachite Prism through two winters in Zone 6b, so it may be less tender than I was told- I found a nursery in Mass. selling it.

My way of testing new bed configuration: these beds are subject to giant rodent browsing, since our township won't allow deer fencing in the front yard, but I've run out of space in the back. So this is for pretty but expendable clumps- I'll still drench them with Liquid Fence.

And this will be the final bed out back- on a slope so I've got some retaining wall work to do before May. No, I didn't order enough daylilies to fill up this whole bed. But I want to group all my lates and rebloomers so I can water them easier.

Arum italicum 'Pictum' at Scott Arboretum

2008-11-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

Chesapeake Crablegs, my last blooming daylily of 2009. This scape still has buds, but I think this may be the last to open.

My Ice Plant, which loved the drought this summer, is still blooming. All it needs is good drainage and full sun.

After a lecture on shade plants at Swarthmore, I found this great ground cover planted under the Dawn Redwoods next to Lang Hall. Arum italicum has fall and winter foliage, then flower and fruit similar to other arums in the spring. Then it goers dormant, so it's great for spots in some shade that need some winter interest, like hosta beds. Available from Breck's for about $1.50 per corm. I have some planted with my native jack-in-the-pulpits.

Remember the Garden State Daylily Growers November 9 (Sunday) meeting at Deep Cut Park, Middletown, NJ 1:30pm. I will be presenting slides of members' favorite "overlooked" daylilies, ones that don't make it to the top of the AHS popularity poll, but deserve to be more widely grown.

October Final Daylilies of 2008

2008-11-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

Scentual Sundance October 15 still had over half a dozen buds, but a deer got them that night.

Little Wine Cup finished about mid October. Loses color in the cold, but reliable rebloom.

Nature Girl (Apps) has impressed me with its rebloom this year. Very similar to Sunset Returns (below) but narrower petals, a bit more "unruly", possibly the reason for the name.

Sunset Returns is one of the super diamond-dusted Apps hybrids.

Rosy Returns rebloom scape lasted longer this year than I remember in the past, or maybe it's just that deer didn't find it this year. Deer also got Siloam Plum Tree rebloom scape, or it would have been on this list.

Variegated Daylilies

2008-09-26T14:10:00.001-07:00

Note the all-green "reversion" leaves in this Kwanso variegata- they must be culled, or they will ultimately take over, since they are actually more efficient. I dig up the clump every year or two and compost the reverts.
My variegated Tiger's Eye is still alive, but still one fan. I've moved it to a better spot for next year. The pattern isn't always 50/50, and color varies. But the bloom is definitely Tiger's Eye.
These cheap ($10) trellises I bought from the craft store have been recycled below:
I got this trick from Betty Harwood- she elevated some of her plant labels on (pvc?) pipe. I use the steel tubing from surplus trellis to bring the tags up to readable and photographable height. My favorite non-daylily new plant this year is this Ligularia- still looks good after a year with alternate droughts and drownings.

Polytepal Nature Girl NOT a Fluke!

2008-09-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

Today I got another 4x4 polytepal Nature Girl. Had another on the 15th.
Beautiful Edgings continues to amaze! It's been blooming since June- just keeps building buds, and there are two more on this scape. AND a proliferation, which I managed to pop off and put in water today.
My Flore Pleno patch on the left was sneaking into adjacent cultivars, so this is my solution: vinyl siding makes an excellent separator strip, deeper than any other edging material I know. I think it should be angled with the top farther away from the "aggressive" side, so roots hitting the barrier don't go down and under. I try to set it an inch or so above ground level, so it gets just covered by the mulch.
And this is my poor man's shade cloth, picnic umbrellas from the dollar store or the party store, I can't remember which right now. It protects new transplants and proliferations while they get roots established.

Tuscawilla Tigress Isn't Orange?

2008-09-17T19:30:00.001-07:00

This color "defect" above might be of interest to hybridizers: it appears Tuscawilla Tigress isn't Orange, it's really YELLOW with a red overlay!
I didn't notice when I took this Nature Girl photo that it's a 4x4 polytepal.
Penn Hort Society had a Member's Day event in Philadelphia and invited other plant groups to participate with informational displays.
And here's Dave! DVDS President Dave Guleke manned the DVDS display all day- that's dedication deserving a medal!
Siloam Plum Tree is a dependable rebloomer for me- look at those buds!

GSDG Auction & Where I Put Them

2008-09-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

Do you have a problem with voles, tree roots, or both? This is my equivalent to planting a pot in the ground, but with better drainage. The black "sack" is known as a "tree bag"; the inside is treated to keep tree roots from penetrating the bag in the nursery. I turn it inside out to keep tree roots from growing INTO the bag, then encase the bag in 1/4" wire cloth to keep voles out. The wire has to extend a couple inches above the ground, but the bag must be buried or it wicks moisture away from the plant. In places I just have voles OR roots, I'll use one or the other.
These were blooming the day of the DVDS Sale & Auction. Top row Just Plum Happy, Carolicollosal, Be Thankful, Grape Magic and Showtime Now. Bottom = Stella, Happy Returns, Little Wine Cup, Siloam Double Fringe, and Commanche Maiden.
I bought more plants at the auction than I had space for, so I was finally forced to get rid of this pile of dirt that's been sitting here for over a year, to build the ramp to the right hand garage door you see in the background. But after filling in the ramp (at right, below), I still had a big ol' pile of dirt left. So rather than move it, I built this block wall around the remaining pile and got a raised bed for my DVDS and GSDG auction wins.

DVDS Split & Splash Daylilies (August 16)

2008-09-17T17:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month, starting with DVDS Split & Splash, where we get together to split & tag the donated daylilies we sell the next Saturday in Paoli, PA.
Cynthia Marriott brought these from her garden: from top left= Shimmering Sunray, Third Witch, Unknown Red, a Don Herr seedling, (row 2) Last Man Standing, Tiger Prince, Mynelle's Starfish, Fancy Button; (row 3) Don Herr seedling, Victoria's Secret, Twice as Nice, Fire King.
Terry Oates' Point of View, Bridgeton Gem, Beautiful Edgings; (Row 2, inset) Lady Neva, Be Thankful (orange), Showtime Now (Lavender), Frans Hals; (row 3) Tuscawilla Tigress, Chesapeake Crablegs, Harwood seedling HS-40 from Ruddys, and Bridgeton Eyecatcher; (bottom row) Peacock Maiden, Night Vision, Little Wine Cup, Siloam Double Fringe, and Commanche Maiden.
Jacque' DeJesse's (top row) Point of View, Cool Cassie, and Annabelle Rose; (row 2) Subliminal Message, Cerulean Star rebloom, Nicole Joyce, Singing In the Sunshine; (bottom) Planet Max, Red Hill, Jersey Jim, Sandra Elizabeth, and The Sky is Falling.
On August 12, I started 7 proliferations from one clump of Jim Murphy's "Rocket Science". I use Cynthia Marriott's method- stick it in water just up to the root line until roots are about an inch long, then plant directly into garden soil. You can sometimes pop the prolif off the scape, and get it started without sacrificing any unbloomed buds, but the scape gives the prolif support during the rooting process. I cut off the scape before planting, but Cynthia leaves it on if possible to provide aditional support.

August 11 Daylilies

2008-08-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

Last Spell Fire today- it's a bit out of focus, I think, but then so am I sometimes.
This is the last time this year I can wax ecstatic about Party Pinafore, but it's one of my prize cultivars. No, I won't trade any of it- find your own at these Eureka nurseries: Moon's (I highly recommend Bruce), Eller's, Knob Hill, and Brown's Ferry (Charles Douglas- also ordered and very happy with results) are $20df. Newbury ($19df) is in Illinois, for those who prefer ordering from more northern gardens.
Last Pirate Beads. No Eureka sources on this, but worth looking for.
NOT the last of Don Herr's Whistle a Happy Tune, but it still looked good after a drench.
Finally, Just Plum Happy has returned for rebloom season. This was the first eyed "Happy Ever Appster" and it tends to rebloom down in the foliage, but at least it's blooming! Rosy Returns is also blooming, but it's my least favorite of the series- also reblooms low. Stella is reblooming, but Happy Returns is still in it's summer nap here in Philadelphia.

August 8 & 9 Daylily Favorites & Finals

2008-08-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

Siloam Little Fairy gave us two blooms for it's last hurrah today.
Don Herr's Her Purple Eyeliner last bloom.
Depending upon which side of the fence you're on, you can have a completely different Point of View.
Calgary Stampede blooms are highly variable, but it is a parent of Betty Winkler, Geneva Firetruck, Happy Apache and Miss Apache, among others.
Priscilla's Dream (Shooter 93) is an interesting color, and also showing a proliferation on each of two scapes this year.

August 7 Daylilies

2008-08-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

Last El Bandito- another oldie but goldie.
Last Siloam Amazing Grace- this always looks good, with interesting shading & ruffles.
Betty Harwood's Cool Cassie is still going strong- I may bring this to the GSDG Auction. Darrel Apps' Dinner and a Movie still has some season left.
And here are the last two of Margo Reed's Origin Stories. Last year it had a couple of prolifs, but none this year. But I've got prolifs on Fox Ears, which has never had them before. Go figure.

Daylilies August 6

2008-08-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last of 2008 Night Wings- one of my favorite dark daylilies.
Last Castle Orchid Frostings.
Last Joan Senior- if you have only one near-white, this should be it.
Night Vision is NOT the last, as you can see from all the buds. Similar to Pardon Me, but later.
And Fox Ears has started its bloom season. This year it has a proliferation, but I'm not going to sacrifice any blooms to root it. When the last bloom on the scape is done, I'll stick it in water.

August 5 Last Daylily Blooms

2008-08-05T10:48:00.001-07:00

Last of Don Herr's Lavender Suspenders still looks pretty good.
Panda Bear's last scape is down in the foliage, but this is still one of my favorites.
Gail Reese will be missed- I wonder if Gail Reese was or is a freckled redhead??
Last Jordan Verhaert (Kinnebrew 01) which has a better edge here than Raspberry Masquerade (Salter 2002).
Last Persian Ruby- recognizable from 500 feet, but tends to burn in afternoon sun. Best viewed from a few feet away here in Philadelphia sweltering summer.

Daylily Last Blooms August 4

2008-08-05T10:29:00.001-07:00

Last bloom on Night Wings, not the darkest but I love that bat wing texture.
Is this Pirate's Patch? Another lost tag, and that's my best guess. Notice the color pattern in the eye that adds close-up interest.
Surprising Anomaly normally has deeper color, but this is it's last hurrah.
My Sabine Baur may be an imperfect tissue culture- it never looks as good as the catalog pictures. Or does NOBODY's Sabine Baur hardly ever live up to the "best of 100 shots" catalog photos?
Last Bridgeton Kodak Moment for 2008. Not a girlie flower, and the yellow fades in strong afternoon sun, but it does get your attention!

August 1 - 3 Daylilies

2008-08-05T09:45:00.001-07:00

I THINK this is Baja, and this is repeat bloom. 30" tall, velvety standout. Anybody think it's something else? I lost the tag on this one years ago moving from New Jersey to Philadelphia.
Bridgeton Jim Dandy is still going strong, pretty composed on a hot day.
Things are thinning out in the daylily beds- that's Carolicollosal in the foreground.
Charlie Pierce Memorial last bloom- this is another favorite oldie (1987).
Note the proliferation at the bottom center on Chesapeake Crablegs. I also have two prolifs on Fox Ears, but none on Rocket Science or Origin Stories, which both had multiple prolifs last year.

Catching Up: July 31 Daylilies

2008-08-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

When My Sweetheart Returns is one of my favorite "Happy Ever Appsters".
Spider Breeder has that little something extra over lots of other yellow spiders.
Peacock Maiden is another oldie I love- and so does the mini bee on the top sepal.
I think this is rebloom on Cameroon Night- it's been blooming forever.

Carolicollosal isn't much as a single bloom, but a clump of them shows up from orbit.

July 30 Daylilies

2008-07-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

It appears that bees like Caviar just like some of us do.
Apache War Dance comes along in the late season to brighten up the place. An unusual red.
Connect the Dots last bloom this year. Supposedly good stipple for breeding, but not a looker.
Bridgeton Gem is making up for all the midseason daylilies that are bloomed out.
Another great mid-late: Fox Ears. These days I'm recording lots of "last blooms" so it's nice to have some of these "shoulder season" performers to fill in the voids.

July 29 Daylilies

2008-07-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

Today is my last Lola Branham, and I'll miss her.
If you double click on the above pic, I think you can catch the diamond dusting on Party Pinafore that makes me stop and appreciate it every single day it blooms. One of my favorites.
And here is my clump of Citrina, which is ALSO diamond dusted. A special species.
This is how I record the last bloom of the season with minimal effort.
This came to me as something else, and I've been trying to find a name for it for a couple of years. Then yesterday a fellow blogger published a photo of Janet Benz on her blog http://gottagarden.blogspot.com/2008/07/dayliliesless-but-still-bloomingjuly-28.html that looks pretty close. She said it was a bus plant at last year's Region 3 tour, so a number of people should have it in their garden. Mine has a very slightly darker eyezone that gets easier to see late in the day, not mentioned in the registration. Anybody have an opinion? Leave a comment or email me directly at hemehostaholic@gmail.com if you have any other ideas.

July 28 Daylily Faves

2008-07-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Divine Comedy just catches my eye every day it blooms- there's a balance between the elements that just says "Look at me!"
Wolf Eyes is one I haven't seen in anybody else's garden.
Siloam Peony Display is an oldie, but it's the very definition of a peony form double.
Green Swamp Gas says it all.

Stargate Portal (E. Shooter 2000) does have a throat big enough to walk through.

Hail the Harwood Hybrids- Late Season is Here

2008-07-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in the late summer, Harwoods and Apps are over half of my blooms. This is my clump of Laura Harwood, Betty's most widely distributed daylily.
Ora Lee was the first Harwood I bought, because it reblooms in New Jersey, not just south of the Georgia border like so many other registered rebloomers.
Twirling Parasol has the bad habit of "bed head"- most of the time the sepals get stuck together, and must be teased apart before the bloom will open. So it's high maintenance, like many other pretty things.
Cool Cassie, not a stunning color, but 8 inches for those of you that feel size matters.
My favorites for today, gathered just before the rain started: from top left to bottom right =
Peacock Maiden, How beautiful Heaven Must Be, Siloam Double Fringe, Lavender Suspenders. Second Row = Druid's Chant, Bridgeton Icing, Fashion Police and Origin Stories. Bottom Row = Laura Harwood, Point of View, and Jordan Verhaert.

July 26 TO Daylilies

2008-07-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Fashion Police is looking better after we got some rain. Is that an edge or a mane?
Last bloom today for another inspired name, Do the Twist (Lambertson 98).
Scatterbrain (Joiner 88) is the perfect name for this disheveled double.
This might be rebloom on Jordan Verhaert. Big edge, big eye, big treat.
Starman's Quest (Burkey 89) is Trahlyta X Persian Pattern. It was blooming July 1st too.

10 Favorite Daylilies July 25

2008-07-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

I couldn't pick just 5 favorites today, so you get a double dose of Dudie Drive delicacies.
Meringue Mirage is another inspired name from the Apps breeding powerhouse.
Dinner and a Movie, another Apps double delight.
I can't walk by Party Pinafore without stopping to drool. Double click on the photo and see if you can pick up the diamond dusting that makes this glisten like a gemstone in the sun.
Druids Chant doesn't always look this good, but it's pretty pretty pretty often. That's HBHMB in the background. If you don't have it, get it. I hear it's a difficult parent, but it you had Bo Derek in your bed, why would you want kids?
Topguns Snowballs, another inspired name; this is from Bob Scott in Oklahoma.

Autumn Minaret is already blooming! It's been an unusual year.
Happy Apache is new this year, so I don't know if this is delayed bloom or rebloom.
Above is the definition of "Ne Quitte Pas".
Border Lord has been blooming so long I can't remember when it started.
Bridgeton Elegance is a great name for an always neat and presentable daylily.

July 24 Favorite Daylilies

2008-07-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

After the rain yesterday, I went looking for daylilies relatively unaffected by the rain, and found only these 3: Which Way Jim, Siloam Amazing Grace, and All American Chief (polytepaling). Jim WAS under a dogwood.
Laura Harwood's petals are so wide I thought at first glance it was polytepaling. It's a great late!
Edge of Paradise (Stamile 98) is a great look for only about $15 at multiple Eureka sources (Cottage, Jordan, Marietta).
Point of View started blooming for me today- you can see this for MILES. Memory Jordan has it for $15, and I was really happy with my order from her this year. www.gardeneureka.com/JORDA
I traded JDJ another Curt Hanson for this, his 98 Swallow Tail Kite. Interesting combination of patterns.

July 23 Favorites & Amaranthus

2008-07-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

Melanie standing in front of one of our purple amaranthus- this is an annual! But it seeds itself around, and I made the mistake of not moving this one out of the daylily bed.
This amaranthus was growing in a crack in the patio, so I left it to see how big it would get before choking itself or falling over.
This is the second year for Musa basjoo, which was left in the ground but covered with a pile of leaves over the winter. It's now four stalks, eight feet tall.
Ruddys sell this Harwood seedling as HS40, but I call it Seersucker.

Last bloom today on Steve Trimmer. This was blooming for me before Garden State's Daylily Day in June- a great cultivar!

July 22 Favorite Daylily Blooms

2008-07-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Jean Barnhart is a great underused daylily- just look at that green throat, and great substance.
If you'r not growing Don Herr's Lavender Suspenders, you're missing a great show! Mine are over 4 feet tall.
First bloom on my Star Asterisk (Pat Stamile 02). Registered at 9.5"
Thundering Ovation: beautiful! Double click on the photo to see the airbrushed color- almost stippled.

And the same color on the eye of Spacecoast Gator Eye. Airbrushed, speckled, stippled, whatever it is I love the look.

Daylily Favorites July 20 & 21

2008-07-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

Dynamite Returns is one of the newer of Centerton's rebloomer series. This one belongs to Lois Anne Burek- it's not my style, but it you're into pink, go for it. I prefer Red Hot Returns.
Lois Anne and I both have Lola Branham, but hers blooms way above its 38 inch registered height- anybody else have a five-foot Lola?
I like the weird ones, like Nowhere to Hide. It's one of the parents of Shooter's Mapping Carolina.
I didn't get Primal Scream until last year because I couldn't imagine why anybody would pay "that kind of money" for an orange daylily. 2008 Eureka average is still $35, but it's worth it.

My most expensive daylily, and you may love it or hate it. But nobody can argue Bridgeton Kodak Moment isn't a great name!

GSDG Picnic at Answered Prayers Farm

2008-07-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

Garden State Daylily Growers Club picnic was held at Kevin & Cindy Ruddy's Answered Prayers Daylily Farm near Freehold, NJ. With temperatures over 90, we stayed in the shade most of the time.
Sabine Baur (Salter 97) held up pretty well in the heat.

Tepaled Harwood seedling out of Cerulean Star.
Ruddys don't even have a name for this (it's "S160"); I bought it last year.

Not at Ruddy's; this Petite Palace Rose (Klehm 87) was polytepaling at Lois Anne Burek's. Double click on the photo and try to count the stamens. If it was simply doubling, there would be less than 6.

July 17 - 19 Daylily Philly Favorites

2008-07-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

Stargate Portal has that eye that you can see from across the galaxy.
Zuni Thunderbird looking crispate and cool.
Betty Harwood's Twirling Parasol often needs help getting out of it's own way in the morning, it twists so much.
Double click on the photo of Breed Apart to appreciate the stippling, the dotted pattern on the petals.

All American Chief has been polytepaling regularly lately- all three of these have 4 petals and 4 sepals.

July 14 & 15 Philly Favorite Daylilies

2008-07-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

Fashion Police, won at club auction last year (Trimmer 05).
Another 2007 auction win, Azure Wings (Stamile 05).

Bought this from Florida as Skinwalker, which it is not- I think I like this better. Anybody out there have a guess what it really is? Email hemehostaholic@gmail.com - it's only about 25 x 6 in my garden.
Persian Ruby can be recognized from across the yard, but it tends to burn a bit in the hot afternoon sun.

July 15 is the first good bloom on Origin Stories, a Margo Reed that dances in the breeze and has had proliferations on multiple scapes each year.

July 13 Favorites Near & Far

2008-07-22T12:35:00.001-07:00

July 13 was the final day of DVDS Open Gardens; I got to Nancy Nordberg's in Vineland, NJ and Rick & Shirley Stout's in Wilmington, Delaware. Below is my favorite at Nancy's:
Panda Bear.
Magic of Oz was my favorite at Rick & Shirley's. Herrington 1995 and still hot!
My Unique Display (Yes it is). An old Gilbert Wild (1989) thatI just find mesmerizing.
Surprising Anomaly, a 1993 Carpenter, has great substance and character.

Finally, Picotee Rippled Ruffles is a "modern" (2005) Jack Carpenter, with the big eye and edge.

Other Favorites, DVDS Flower Show July 12

2008-07-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

Eggplant Electricity (Margo Reed, 03) does have a special spark.
This one is Jamaican Me Crazy. Enough said.
Dancing Crab is a great name, and a big green throat.
I just got Desert Icicle this year.

This seedling is from Mary Ann Pruden, and shows the "striped" character of Pink Stripes or Peppermint Ice. She and I are both stipple freaks, and "stripes" are sort of "stretched" stipples.

DVDS Flower Show Winners July 12, 2008

2008-07-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Lois Anne Burek's "It's Soul Time" took the UF offscape prize.
Banana Pepper Spider took the spider offscape title (from Doris Campbell).
Four Diamonds, submitted by Beth Creveling, took best polytepal and best offscape overall.
Panther Eyes, from the Politowski's, won best small offscape bloom.

Double click on any photo for a full-size view.

Beth Creveling won the Best in Show for this scape of Extinction.

Manatawny Creek July 12 (Pottstown, PA)

2008-07-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 12 I visited Tim Glick at Manatawny Creek Daylily Farm west of Pottstown, and picked up this-Scandalous! (Yes, it is.) Over 7 inches with quilled sepals.
I also got Extended Twilight, by our GSDG May speaker, Megan Skinner. Under 4", but it stays open over 24 hours! And reblooms.
Another Megan Skinner intro, Lemon Shadows (2004). Most of their pre- 2005 intros are $10 or less, including this one. 30EMRe3.5 dormant dip.
Leprechaun Eyes- love the green throat contrasting with the eye.

And I had to have Bacon Gold Nugget, because I am a stipple freak. Eastern PA daylily lovers, support your PA daylily farms! Glicks are on the web at www.manatawnycreekfarm.com

Friday Favorite Philadelphia Daylilies

2008-07-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

First of my favorites today is Tepaled Teddy; available for trade, Rosemary, if you don't have it.
Last bloom on Bali Watercolor today, so I will not be taking it to the DVDS Flower Show in Glenedd, PA tomorrow. Details on DVDS website at www.delawarevalleydaylily.org but public is invited from 1pm to 4.
This is why I bought Monterrey Jack (on right); I saw it next to Wings of Chance (on left) and dubbed it "Wings of Chance on Steroids".
This is Cynthia Lord Ruddy's Spreckles; I wish she would register it so I could enter it in the flower show. The GSDG Picnic is at Ruddys' Answered Prayers Daylily Farm near Freehold, NJ on July 20. Directions will be posted shortly on the GSDG website www.gsdaylily.org if you want to join us- their farm is open to the public July 13 & 20 12 - 4 only.

A final plug for Mean Mister Mustard, a new intro from Darrel Apps through Centerton Nursery this year. It's on sale at Waterloo Gardens in Devon and Exton, PA through July 16 at $15 (actually buy one, get one free, your savings may vary). It's not one of the Trophytaker or Happily Ever Appster series, but the first of a new "Creature Feature" series of daylilies with "unique ... character". Six inch bloom plus rebloom, 26" tall.

Daylilies Black & White and Bred All Over

2008-07-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

Double click on the photo below to get the full-sized close up view;
I think you can see the velvety texture of Night Wings if you look closely at today's example.
Mal doesn't impress unless you hold a ruler behind it- this is seven inches on the nose.
Lime Frost is average size, but the neat look and lime throat make you think of mint julips on the veranda.
This is Flore Pleno - just try counting the petals and sepals on this. The petals are FOUR thick, piled on top of each other. It's a species triploid

First bloom today on Peppermint Ice. Doesn't look like much, but look at those six stamens! I harvested them just before a light shower, and now I'm planning who will be the lucky recipient of their pollen. I'm going for bigger and repeat bloomers as first priority. PI is a Diploid (Lovell 04).

Other Interesting Daylilies July 8 Philadelphia

2008-07-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

Tossed Salad got mysteriously booted from my near-whites post, but it has a wonderful green throat and the substance of lettuce. A $5 daylily that more people should grow.
Breed Apart is a favorite because it looks like nothing else. (Salter 96)
Carpenter had guts to name this "How Beautiful Heaven Must Be", but he could be right.
Bridgeton Kodak Moment is a great name for a standout bloom- nobody mistakes this for anything else.

Finally, Party Pinafore first bloom today (Kirby 99). Was hard to find but getting more available; it's worth looking for. When I visited Jack Carpenter's Texas Farm he was using this in his breeding program.

Lights on Dudie Drive July 8

2008-07-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

Here are 5 near-whites blooming today in Philadelphia; take your pick or do like me and grow them all! This first is an oldie, Nanuq (1986).
Hannah Murphy is newer (Jim Murphy 2003) and is maybe a bit less white, but has diamond dusting.
Joan Senior (Durio 77) isn't the whitest either, but may be the most grown because it just looks good.

Arctic Snow (Stamile 85) has a little yellow in it, but probably so does arctic snow after the huskies pass by.

My favorite near-white is Winter in
Eden (Petit 96) 6" with lots of diamond dusting.

The Dark Side of Dudie Drive

2008-07-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

This is for Tracy, who likes dark daylilies, some of my recent bloomers: First is Smith Brothers, a truly fitting name for this daylily.

Siloam Plum Tree isn't the darkest, but it repeat blooms for me and is one of my longest bloomers.
Black Briar Bay isn't the darkest either, but that's a great name. There really is a Black Briar Bay.
Night Wings is much like Midnight Magic, but more velvety texture, like a bat's wing. If you've got a bat's wing, bring it over and we'll compare.

Cinderella's Dark Side (Apps 95) is pretty dark, and that green throat is really interesting. We finally got almost half an inch of rain today, more than in the whole last month. Sunday we got absolutely nothing while three miles away they got over an inch. What a wild season it's been! Start preparing your tags for the Show on Saturday at Church of the Messiah on Rt. 202 just south of Sumneytown Pike (Gwynedd, PA). Submit before 10 and come back 1 to 4 pm to see the display. Between 10 and 1, visit Manatawny Creek Farm just west of Pottstown, PA where the Skinners' hybrids, vintage, and lots of other cultivars are available. Directions are on the web at http://www.manatawnycreekfarm.com/

July 6 Favorites at Jane Guillard's

2008-07-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

The rain held off until late afternoon, so we got to enjoy Jane's collection of over 1200 cultivars at our leisure. This is Navajo Princess, registered by Florida's Ra Hanson in 1992 as mid late. Mine hasn't bloomed yet, but some of my others are ahead of hers. It's been a weird year.
Sabine Baur also hasn't bloomed for me yet. Salter 97
Long Stocking has never polytepaled for me, but it put on a show for the Garden State Daylily Growers tour. Count the stamens! You could pollinate the whole garden with this.
When I Dream (Yancey 79) has that presence that makes it identifiable from 50 feet away ("a 50 footer").

The rain held off but the table under the umbrella was still popular. That's about a quarter of Jane's garden in the background. DVDS AND GSDG members: she will again open her garden Sunday, July 13, 10 - 4 and you should see it! Directions are in the latest newsletters of both clubs.

Favorite at Jacque' De Jesse's

2008-07-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

Jacque opened her garden to DVDS members on July 4 and these are some I loved: Stamile's Rhodolite Prism with the rhodolite ring Melanie was wearing- pretty good match!
Raven Woodsong (Roberts 04) is big and dark- a real standout.
Navaho Talisman (Stamile 2000) is my kind of bloom- 8.5 inches and that triangular eye. And yes, he spelled it with an "h". It sure makes it easier to Google.
I'm trading Tracy something for this one- Adorable Tiger (Rasmussen 98) because it just shines in the garden.

Eager Beaver is a 2002 Apps; I just like the unusual color and veining. She has about 900 more, and you should mark your calendars for next July 4 to go see them. Some she and I both have that were blooming Friday are Asterisk, Blueberry Sundae, Egyptian Queen, Lies and Lipstick, and Street Urchin.

Light Edged Red Daylilies

2008-07-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

Beaufort Slim Pitkin, not widely known because hybridizer Emily Olson lacks the web presence most others have, but Marietta, Moons and Zoloc carry it. Registered 2000.

Geneva Firetruck is a great performer and the edge is good on the sepals too. By Dan Hansen 2001.
Pocket Change is an oldie (Crochet 85) but ahead of it's time.
With All My Heart (Carr 2000) impressed me with its first bloom today.

For Cynthia, whose Chili Spice was deflowered by deer, another sample. See some of you at Jacque's open garden tomorrow morning, and / or Sunday at the GSDG Tour of Falcon Turn Daylily Garden in Southampton, NJ (1pm+). Note Jane's garden is open to the public on both the 6th and the 13th, so DVDS members can go either Sunday.

Favorite Not-first Daylily blooms July 2

2008-07-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

I forgot I had Speckles until it showed up today. I have to move all my stippled daylilies to one bed.
This shows China Veil's stippling better than previous posting, I think.
Drop Cloth is also better today than prior photo.
A non-stipple, showing a bit less yellow than actual color, Whistle a Happy Tune is by Lancaster PA hybridizer and DVDS member Don Herr.

Ferengi Gold (Petit 94) looks great in a clump, and has just enough of that flesh pink caste to not be garish.

July 2 Favorite First Blooms

2008-07-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

All these are first blooms of 2008 today. Brocaded Gown is an oldie and yellow, but I wouldn't be without it.
Avante Garde (Moldovan 86) is just a striking combination of colors.
I love the applique throat on Venetian Magistrate. Munson, 1982.
Spacecoast Carnival is a bit more recent (Kinnebrew 98) but old enough to be reasonably priced. $15 at John Shooter's Marietta Gardens this year, and worth every penny.

My favorite near white (in my garden) is Winter in Eden (Petit 96) because of the diamond dusting which doesn't show up in photos.

July 1 Favorite Daylily Blooms Part 2 of 2

2008-07-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Jean Barnhart (Carpenter 90) is an oldie, but it has great substance and that "Carpenter character".
Golden Compass is my kind of daylily: IN YOUR FACE! Salter 96, 6 inches of attitude.
First bloom on another of my stipples, Drop Cloth (Salter 95). A great name and the first bloom is not the best example of its stippling.
China Veil (Munson 89) is a better example of its normal stippling.

Spacecoast Gator Eye (Kinnebrew 2000) is unfortunately for you NOT one of the 50+ 2001 to 2008 cultivars Kinnebrew has on sale until July 31 or sellout. Most are half catalog price rounded to the next $5. Get yours while it's hot- they must be shipped by August 15. Garden State Daylily Club and Delaware Valley Daylily Society members ONLY: the list and order form are posted in the FILES section of our Yahoo Group. Everybody else- contact them through www.kinnebrewdaylilygarden.com There's a $100 minimum order plus regular shipping and no bonuses, but I'm placing my order tomorrow (SC Two eyed Jack, SC Freaky Tiki, and SC Dragon Prince, fyi).

July 1 Favorite Daylilies

2008-07-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

This IS Rocket Science! (Jim Murphy) and it is produces prolific proliferations .
Her Purple Eyeliner is one of my favorite Don Herr introductions.
Roses in Snow first bloom today- another of my light edged reds. Roses has better sepal edges than most.
Celebration of Angels first bloom looks perfect. Trimmer 99

Starman's Quest (Burkey 89) was registered 19 years ago but I'd take it over 90% of this year's intros. I only have 2 clumps of about 10 cultivars, and this is one. Others are Moonlit Masquerade, Ferengi Gold, Daggy, Her Purple Eyeliner, and Happy Returns. And the last is the only one I'm willing to trade half away.