DaylilyNut Introductions DaylilyNut Futures
Introductions from the Daylily Nut Farm are occasionally being offered on the Lily Auction.
(Search for user "Diploid".)
Welcome to the Daylily Nut Farm
DaylilyNut Introductions DaylilyNut Futures
Introductions from the Daylily Nut Farm are occasionally being offered on the Lily Auction.
(Search for user "Diploid".)
Welcome! The Daylily Nut web site is an amateur one person effort, showcasing the diploid daylilies of hybridizer Pete Wetzel. On this web site you'll find shamelessly verbose descriptions, and plenty of accompanying pictures (For those of you on dial-up, your patience may be tried at times. If so, please accept my apologies in advance.).
I have begun to register a few daylilies with the official world-wide registration authority, the American Hemerocallis Society.
I've been hybridizing since 1988, starting with the small collection of daylilies I had at that time. Immediately my interests gravitated toward the clear non-yellow colored diploids. Among the two dozen daylilies that were my very first acquisitions at local club auctions were Hemerocallis 'Little Business' and H. 'Graceful Eye'. Of the varieties that I owned, those two best exemplified the color clarity that I naturally gravitated to. So I crossed them. And one of the seedlings that resulted has turned out to be important in my hybridizing, even 15 years later.
So the rest, as the hackneyed phrase goes, is history. That focus on non-yellow color clarity has remained my overriding daylily passion ever since. So at the core of my hybridizing program, in all its various lines, you will find that singular focus as the common denominator. The base color is as damn near white as I can get it. It should show through on the back of the flower; and it should be apparent in any part of the flower face that does not have an overlying coloration. Where there is coloration the base color should amplify and clarify that overlying hue. I try to pick daylilies that have an exceptional "luninescence", no matter what the color or pattern.
So if I've not already drilled the point home sufficiently, let me reiterate. In my humble opinion, there are just too many daylilies that come across as the same boring melon/yellow when viewed "en masse" or from a distance. Dare I say it? Most daylilies are just plain dull! Doubt me? Just plant a bunch of petunias in front of your daylilies and face the music. My mission is to purge that almost universal yellow/melon base coloring found in the genus Hemerocallis, replacing it with colorless/pale green/white base tissue.
My other radical opinion is that the only good "Late blooming" daylily is one that has already bloomed its heart out for you since spring. So my second important goal is to extend the bloom season by selecting for bright (near white base color) daylilies that are Extra Early (EE) bloomers, and hopefully strong all-season repeat bloomers (or better yet, continuous bloomers) as well. (Again, take the cue from the humble petunia.)
I've come to the conclusion that both of these goals are better achieved through breeding with diploids rather than tetraploids. Tetraploids tend to have larger, thicker tissues which seem to enhance the unwanted dirty coloration in the base color. So the attempt to eliminate this base coloration in tetraploids begins with a handicap from the very outset.
And when it comes to truly continuous bloomers which perform well in the north, I am not aware of any that are tetraploids. A few of the most famous repeat blooming diploids (such as H. 'Stella de Oro') have been converted to tetraploids. But the thicker tissue that results seems to hamper rapid development of rebloom scapes. This problem seems to be magnified under the cooler average summer temperature conditions found in zone 7 and northward. (With colder temperatures, it takes longer for a given amount of tissue growth to occur). So, as far as I know, there hasn't been a lot of success breeding with this converted material to produce the really nimble scape production needed for cooler climates.
Through the years, I'm gradually gaining enough experience and understanding to begin registering a few things. Spring 2004 marked the debut of this web site and my first registered and introduced daylily.
I'm continuing to add pictures and descriptions of more seedlings and other interesting stuff, so check back here often. This is a home-made web site, but I've tried to make navigation easy. Please have a look around. And any comments on the site, or on the daylilies, are welcome -- just email me. Enjoy ...
-- Pete
Click here for Daylilies registered by the Daylily Nut
Click for Future registrations, Seedlings, and other images
The "Back 40" -- a compendium of random stuff.
