Ok, please don't scold me for not writing...because you will see via the following photos... that I have been in heaven.....:)
June was about the last time that I have had a free moment. I kept up with weeding, until the blooms started... and now I am just coasting along. Pollinating in every good weather day becomes a priority. It is all about the PODS!
So here are some babies I bloomed this year. Some are dolls, some are ODD or in your face and some are just future stars.... and you know it.
Hope you enjoy these.... email away if you have any questions!!
Claudia
TOTAL surprise !!!! (below) Rock Candy x Happy Happy. Looks like a bi-color as well as the sepals are a different shade than the petals. I am moving this youngster to the "future" bed ... so he can go crazy!! This baby has pattern potential !
This was one of the DOLLS...(below) oh my ! such grace and beauty..in a perfect package. Each bloom looked like this and each bloom set a pod!! Join me in welcoming Ava Gardner x Bluegrass Music !
Welcome Baby Viva..... another enchanting beauty. Thanks to William Marchants' Viva Glam Girl, I can enjoy this cutie out of Italian Kaleidoscope...my hero! :) IK added serrated edges and looping ruffles.
Breaking the Rules x Diane Rose ( Conway) An old Kirchhoff and a newer Conway produced this demure sweetheart (below) stole my heart early this season. She will also be moved to a better bed this fall....so that she can grow to her hearts' content! Diane Rose has been a surprising parent for patterns and eyes. I am crediting the Tet. Lavender Blue Baby genes behind her.
Below- From a cross that I just dared to do.... I dared to cross the buxum Carol Todd with the frothy white edged Larry's Obsession. AND I got this rocking red vixen with bubbling white edge. It was love at first sight. She is a keeper... nicely fertile both ways... Yep.... keeper...
The garden name for this girl (below) is Gools Beauty. She is out of The Great Goolsby x Cerise Beauty. Wow on the charisma beauty scale. She just melted my heart!
Who would have thunk??? Patsy Cline x Get Jiggy Has Patsy's shape
and Jiggy tweeked the color and gave it a shapely eye! Loved it... !!
Another "out on a limb cross for me".... WHAT IF ???? I did this?? and I only had to wait 2 years to find out. haha I am NOT disappointed:) Italian Kaleidoscope x Gnashing of Teeth.... That thick bubbly edge will definitely pop teeth in the next generation.. Another 2 year wait!! .... this baby is loaded with pods... very fertile like his pod parent. That is what I like!
From a cross of Johnny Cash and one of my intros Queen's Guard I can see a pattern
emerging in future generations... I will hit this eye zone with patterns.. I attribute these breaking eye zones to Tet. Lavender Blue Baby. Will be interesting to see if the rebloom scape will show the pattern more. I am getting a lot of late rebloom scapes and I should have bloom into October..as long as they can stand the frosts.
Hope to post more seedlings in a day or two... ENJOY!!
Claudia
OK OK I know it has been a while...:) We have been thru cold weeks, rain, snow ( on Memorial Day!!!!!) and now a massive heat wave..all by the end of May! I will be happy to get some normal weather which should show up next week. OR so they say :) After all this is New England and the weather can change at a moments notice.
I am on vacation and 2 weeks of this nonsense, above, has not helped matters,... BUT I have gotten out there and done some serious work nonetheless!
It just goes to show you that all it takes is a fresh set of eyes to show you the treasures we take for granted every day. As in the photo above, taken by a new friend who sits by our pond to capture these super shots...ones I know I am missing as I dig in the daylily beds...! I will feature more of her gentle candid nature shots... she sure has an eye. Thanks Karen!
Which brings me to a subject of spring seedling size..and what to expect. We are at the mercy of mother nature, especially here up north. I try to plant this years' seedling crop by May 31st of the year as many have a great opportunity to bloom the following year. By the end of the season (... end of August or September...) the seedlings are a nice hefty size.. as in the second photo below.
Above are newly planted seedlings in May. Thru growing the season, they end up looking like this below.
Yes... thick and lush like all get out!! Now they are going to head into winter and this will be the real test for what they are made of. They have hopefully grown excellent root storage systems so they can weather the worst that nature has to throw at them. Now I am a risk taker by nature. I have brought southern daylily genes NORTH... and a certain percentage will NOT survive our -11 to -18 degree F winters. BUT the rewards of those surviving urge us onward to improve the beauty and strength of our northern bred daylilies.
Here is a photo of a bed this spring. These have done exceptionally well and are my own crosses. I am already 2 generations into using the southern daylilies here. I am very pleased with their vigor.
Their roots obviously carried them thru to our current spring. Most will get larger with each successive year. After this, the surviving seedlings will come up as larger fans in the spring.
This photo below is my risk taker bed. Mostly purchased seeds in here. People who work with greenhouses for hybridizing can stretch their hardiness via an artificial environment. It is not the best way to set yourself up if hardiness in your seedlings is a goal. To eliminate the false sense of security this creates.. it is advisable to work with nature in the natural setting these plants will be subjected to in everyones' gardens. Hardiness is demonstrated by the seedlings that survive and DON"T survive. It teaches me valuable lessons about which parents to use. Seedling size is another factor.. which fits right in along with vigor. Both factors are dependent on genes and well as climatic conditions.
Several seedlings were sold from this bed, but they do not demonstrate what I am capable of growing here. I like more vigor than this :) These seedlings most likely will grow to a nice large size by the end of the season. They just need loving care, fertilizer and WATER WATER WATER, I hope to be able to show you a photo again of this bed in the fall. I will be filling in the blank spaces with some of this years' new seedlings.
That is all for today. Please enjoy all of nature around you. Look forward to the beauty and the abundance!
The winter storm NEMO dumped a good 2+ feet in our locality last weekend....
I was marooned in a hotel room closer to work... Boy did I miss being home.
By the time I could get out...I was eager to see what had happened at the farm.
This is the sight that greeted me.
My husband had been busy plowing. I wondered if I would ever see my lovely daylilies again :) The wind had been fierce and had blown the snow in great drifts. One part of my garden cleared faster than the others...and I could again see bare ground by mid-week. Some daylilies still had partial green leaves at their bases. I am thinking that these must be the evergreens and semi-evergreens. More snow flurries have come and gone...and now we have another winter storm that is primarily bringing us howling winds. Any snow that fell is swirling into small "snow devils".
Last night I concentrated on the growing seedlings. Many are 6 plus weeks old now and got their first hair cuts and mild fertilizers. I cut back top growth to about 6 inches. This forces the roots to gain attention from the growing seedling as opposed to growing excessive top foliage. Many hybridizers are divided on this subject..but it definitely makes these kiddos easier to manage. I have lost seedlings by foliage getting caught and seedlings getting uprooted in the moving of trays.. Each one is precious... so I try to avoid that :) The robust root systems when I remove them for planting... encourages me to continue this practice.
Here are some of the kids today...... Notice how wonderful and large the seedlings are on the left. They are from a friend Dan, who shared seeds with me. They are growing gangbusters! Sharing seeds is so much fun and really educational... as we each have our different spin on what is beautiful in a daylily and it is good to keep an open mind when hybridizing.
In closing, stay warm.....and think SPRING...it is definitely on it's way.... Then the outdoor fun will begin!Claudia
Four days ago, I woke up to this wintery scene. These are always welcome here, up north, as the snow is the perfect insulator for the daylilies. It maintains them at a nice 29 degrees and helps prevent frequent heaving of the plants due to thawing.
Luckily we do not see as much of this freeze thaw cycle in Zone 5b. Further south, I hear more hybridizers moaning :) But my joy over a nice 6-8 inch snow cover was short lived.
Two days later temperatures bounded up to 50 degrees with 2 inches of warm rain overnight... and this is what we see now.
Voila... the grass is even still green... :) I let my daylilies to go to sleep " Au Natural" in the fall.
After bad experiences cutting green scapes I decided to let mother nature " do her thing". There are pros and cons about garden tidying up .. but somehow I simply cannot fault mother nature. The foliage stays on as long as it survives...and then settles down to mulch the crowns. We mulch all first year plantings and seedlings with a high quality, fine fir bark mulch to protect the crowns. Once they get through heir first winter, they are on their own.
Since I experiment a lot with southern cultivars.... I am taking a risk that I hope will help others make decisions about what they would like to try for themselves. I am finding a huge degree of adaptabilty in the daylily. Dormants, semi-evergreens and evergreens all live here. The risks I have taken have netted me some stunning seedlings.
I hope to share stories of successes ( as well as failures) with you in my blogs.
Again I invite any questions ...
Spring...... is on it's way!!
Claudia
Hello....
I tried starting this blog 2.5 years ago... but the free time just never materialized....
A recent change in work schedule has given me more time to concentrate on the daylilies.. so now is the time to pick up where I left off :)
My husband Dave and I own this lovely property in Canterbury, NH We decided to become an "Organic Based" farm, and although not certified, everything is done by those methods. We raise produce in limited quantities, sharing the overflow with friends, family and people who stop by the farm.
The daylilies , however, are my passion. Dave does the heavy work with machinery, helps with preparing beds, watering and fertilizing. I help, plus I do all the other "stuff " involved in raising and creating these beauties.
I sell seeds and plants on THE LILY AUCTION and sell from the farm as well.
Hopefully I can share some of the in's and out's of hybridizing daylilies.... and the inherent joys that come from this worthwhile pursuit. It is an amazing thing to see your creations grow and bloom.
Hope to share more with you on a regular basis. Please feel free to message with topics you would like me to write about...
Will be nice to get to know you....
The lovely daylily on the blog header is my beloved DAVISSIMO... named for my husband and a variation of his name :)
Claudia
The Promise of New Seedlings
